Volkswagen Golf GTE 1.4 TSI GTE 5dr DSG Owner Review

A fantastic car for the modern person that wants the latest and greatest in tech - hands down.

Now, a lot of older generation people will say a lot of bad things about this car because simply put - they are the older generation, they prefer as much buttons as much as possible, but that's simply not practical, not to mention - harder to clean.

Let's start with the good;

Capacitive touch buttons - Perfect! Super easy to clean, sliding gestures for volume is super welcome. The feedback you get when pressing a button actually fools you thinking you pressed a button. It's just wonderful all around. People say they accidentally press buttons on the steering wheel, I have a question to those kind of people.... HOW DO YOU HOLD YOUR STEERING WHEEL?? Hold the steering wheel properly, it's necessary not just for control but also for your hands posture.

Infotainment system - Love it! So much tech and cool stuff that you can get out of a car, no other car compares, especially after trying a BMW. Everything is organised, clean, set in their correct places instead of being thrown a bunch of options at you that don't relate with one another. Awesome.

Sound quality - Gives me so many good vibes! Even if the standard speakers are not the be all and end all, it's by far the best standard speakers I have heard from a car, certainly beats the standard speakers from a BMW 3 Series 330e. Bass response is strong. Mids provide clarity very well. Highs do roll off a little compared to an audiophile set up, but the average person will not realise it and even an audiophile will consider it acceptable for the price. PERFECT! The sound cabin filters out the outside noise pretty well.

Driving profile - Fantastic! Fast and responsive, though I do wish the boost from the hybrid models kicked in sooner as it feels a little laggy when you put your foot down. Other than that, it's really good. Things like adaptive cruise control is something I rave about a lot! It's just perfect, slows down for cars, stops and starts in traffic, slows down for bends and junctions/roundabouts (does not stop for them though), and everything you need to just take your feet off the pedals.

Mobile app - Cool! You can get a lot of information from your car, like unlocking temporarily (locked behind biometrics), using horn and signals, and preconditioning the cabin.

Hybrid system - Very nice. A little confusing at first but got the hang of it after properly giving it a play around. Efficient, and very high mileage for a hybrid system on electric only, though charging is a little slow when too low charge or near full, but this is to be expected to preserve the battery health.

OBD VAG - The best thing to be ever created?! You can configure your car just the way you want with advanced tools (that people really should stay away from if they don't know what they are doing or you can risk potentially bricking the car, but then again... a car for modern tech people, remember?). It's wonderful in it's own special way that no other manufacturer can compete in.

Comfort - Extremely satisfactory. Seats provide full posture support, as a standard. Not a lot of creaky things, and the build of it seems fairly decent for the price. Very clean and no clutter. The door pockets are ENORMOUS. Center console has good space. The space within the legs, how close things just feel, and modern design just makes it wonderful to be in.

Now, the bad;

Air conditioning unit - Sluggish, cumbersome to use. Don't get me wrong, I love the design of a lot of the car, but putting the air conditioning controls behind one button that you have to then look at the screen to change things like the speed of the fan or temperature, can be a little dangerous, especially at high speeds where looking away for a second can stray you away from your lane quickly. It's a little slow to warm up the cabin alone too.

Wheel size - Just too big! Now, a lot of people like the larger alloys because it looks better, I get it, but that sacrifices the ride quality, you will feel the road a lot, and it's not fun that way. If I had the choice, I would choose smaller wheels for more tyres to make my ride just feel awesome.

No rear view camera as standard - Wait, what now? This car is from 2021, how does it not have a reversing camera as a standard, especially on a car about tech?? By far the most disappointing part of the car, and was the first thing I retrofitted when getting my grubby hands all over it. And thankfully, with the OBD VAG that VW has made, just makes all of this awesome to do.

Low profile - A little annoying but you can cope with it. I like to sit high behind the wheel so my feel properly make contact and keep my hands at a proper angle to maximise correct posture, which makes it a little hard to see the lights because of how low the car is. But really... it's not that big of an issue.

That's it - No really! That's it. I actually cannot think anything else wrong with the car, it's just that good that you can really overlook these.

With all that being said, should you recommend it to an older generation person? No, they will hate it because it stray away from their expectations and dares to define what a car experience should be. But for a person that is actually into the latest tech, clean experiences and that actually competes in the current day market? Wonderful car to recommend to.

It's just a shame that so many people buy a new car expecting it to be the same. You're buying something new, either expect to be kept with the time, or stay with older cars where it everything stays the same, simple as 123.

If you're in the market for a new car, go get a test drive for the Mk8 and above. You might find it to be just perfect for you. Sorry this is a long review, but it's probably the most truthful and detailed review that you probably need for this car. Thanks for reading it through!