New "Limited Edition" e-Golf - Lower Cost

[NeilBlanchard]

VW will be selling a "Limited Edition" edition that will cost $2,000 less, and leased for $70/month less.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news...f-electric-car-gets-less-expensive-trim-level

Changes compared with the SEL Premium models include 16-inch steel wheels in place of aluminum alloys, halogen instead of LED headlights, cloth in place of leatherette seating surfaces, and deletion of the heat-pump system. Equipment and features that remain unchanged from the SEL Premium model include:- DC Fast Charging with the Combined Charging System (CCS) that allows up to 80 percent battery charge in 30 minutes- Standard 7.2kW onboard charger- Versatile cargo area, with 22.8 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats; 52.7 cubic feet with seats folded
- Three driving profiles designed to preserve energy ("Normal", "Eco", and "Eco+") and three driver-selectable regeneration modes
- KESSY® keyless access with push-button start
- Navigation system
- LED Daytime Running Lights
- Climatronic® automatic dual-zone climate control system
- Electronic parking brake
- Electrically heated windshield
- Automatic headlights and wipers
- Rearview camera
- Front and rear Park Distance Control

 

[cove3]

The things being eliminated are worth more than the 2000 price reduction. I'd stick with the SEL trim. The heat pump alone is 1100, leatherette at least 1000, lights 300+. alloy wheels 700+ etc

Ron

 

[miimura]

If I lived where it gets really cold, I would agree that the Heat Pump is worth the money. However, I live in Northern California and I don't think the heat will be that big of a deal. What do other CA people think? I have a RAV4 EV and a lot of owners had heaters that were broken and didn't notice for quite some time.

 

[miimura]

Changes compared with the SEL Premium models include 16-inch steel wheels in place of aluminum alloys, halogen instead of LED headlights, cloth in place of leatherette seating surfaces, and deletion of the heat-pump system.

We leased a Limited Edition e-Golf. Those are not the only things that are different. Here's my list:

- Steering Wheel has no buttons - only a horn over the airbag, so no Voice or Phone buttons, no Instrument Panel Display control and ....
- No Cruise Control

The funny thing is that the manual shows a turn signal and headlight control stalk that does have cruise control buttons on it. Why didn't they just use this stalk on the LE???

Since the LE does not have the Instrument Cluster Display controls on the steering wheel, it has the "Trip" buttons on the wiper lever as shown here.

Does the SEL have these buttons "TRIP" and "OK/RESET"?

 

[cove3]

<<Does the SEL have these buttons "TRIP" and "OK/RESET"?>>

My SEL has these toggles on the right side of the steering wheel. You can toggle the display to show trip data for since ignition on, since charge and extended. It makes it easy to keep an eye on miles/kwh, range left, time, compass and temperature. The cruise control is on the left side of the steering wheel.

My manual shows these both on the wiper/turn signal but I assumed there was a late design change to the steering wheel where they are much easier to access. I'm surprised they didn't stay with that for the LE as I can't believe there's much cost savings eliminating it

I still believe the SEL is the price performer. The difference is too small to give up the heat pump, leatherette seats, alloy wheels, LEDs and now giving up cruise control

Ron

 

[miimura]

The LE has the wiper stalk shown in the picture above, so we do have access to that information. "Cards" are stacked vertically in the display in the center of the instrument cluster and scroll up and down with the TRIP rocker switch. I think the items are SPEED, AVG SPEED, TRIP DIST, TRIP TIME, CONSUMPTION, AVG CONSUMPTION, RANGE.

No question, the steering wheel on the SEL is nice. However, this is a 3-and-out car for us, so these things are not so important. It replaced a 2001 Passat GLX wagon that we bought new and we enjoyed that loaded car for 14 years and 136,000 miles.

 

[cove3]

So you're saying there's no cruise control on the turn signal stalk? If so VW should have listed that as a fifth difference of the LE from the SEL, as it's a multi hundred dollar option on some cars.

Ron

 

[miimura]

So you're saying there's no cruise control on the turn signal stalk? If so VW should have listed that as a fifth difference of the LE from the SEL, as it's a multi hundred dollar option on some cars.

The car has absolutely no cruise control. I agree 100% that this should be noted more clearly. The salespeople play down the differences even more. Mine didn't even mention the halogen vs. LED lights and the missing heat pump.

 

[miimura]

Here is a picture of the steering wheel in the Limited Edition. You can see there are no buttons on the steering wheel and there are no Cruise Control buttons on the turn signal stalk either.

It got me thinking - there is probably no hardware necessary for Cruise Control on this car except the buttons. On an ICE, if you don't have drive-by-wire, you need an actuator to move the gas pedal. If you could retrofit the steering wheel from a wrecked SEL, or put a stalk from a ICE Golf, would it work? I'm assuming the buttons just end up sending CANbus messages or something.