Questions for owners

I had a few specific questions for owners of e-Golfs. Please answer if you can, or feel free to ask more in this thread if you have questions.

1. Can you start the air-conditioner from the key fob?
2. Can you start the AC remotely from the car-net app? If so, how many seconds does it usually take to activate? (I have a 2012 Volt, and although the iPhone app works, it's slow: often takes 2-3 minutes to connect)
3. How does VW's car-net compare to GM's OnStar? http://www.vw.com/features/vw-car-net/
4. VW's car-net is through Verizon towers. Does it have a voice call feature? LTE hotspot?
5. VW's car-net : is it free for the 3 year lease?
6. VW's car-net : can you set a text message reminder to plug in by a specific hour?
7. Navigation: How does it compare to other systems (google maps, Waze, apple maps, garmin, tom-tom etc?)
8. Navigation: Does it show charging stations? (especially, DC fast charge stations?)
9. Freeway Range @ 70mph : what's your miles/kWh at that speed?
10. Charge port: pictures show is is on the right-rear side of the vehicle? Do you find that annoying?

1. Not that i know off
2. Yes (both from browser and iOs or Android app). Is not instantaneous
3. I have not used OnStar
4. Voice calls go through my bluetooth linked Android phone
5. Only 6 months free - but parts of the App remain free for e-Golf owners (but not the entire app)
6. Don't think so. It does support delayed charging
7. I prefer Google Maps over anything else. Not huge fan of onboard NAV in general. It's not bad though.
8. Yes it does show Charging Stations. I've turned off all other POI categories to make it more clear. However, I notice Plug Share App on my phone is best vs all alternatives which I intent to use moving forward.
9. around 3.7 m/kWh
10. Does not bother me at all, it works fine for my one way street parking where we are installing the charger curbside

Flyingdutchman81 said:

1. Not that i know off
2. Yes (both from browser and iOs or Android app). Is not instantaneous
3. I have not used OnStar
4. Voice calls go through my bluetooth linked Android phone
5. Only 6 months free - but parts of the App remain free for e-Golf owners (but not the entire app)
6. Don't think so. It does support delayed charging
7. I prefer Google Maps over anything else. Not huge fan of onboard NAV in general. It's not bad though.
8. Yes it does show Charging Stations. I've turned off all other POI categories to make it more clear. However, I notice Plug Share App on my phone is best vs all alternatives which I intent to use moving forward.
9. around 3.7 m/kWh
10. Does not bother me at all, it works fine for my one way street parking where we are installing the charger curbside

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I concur with all of these answers...
And I'll add a couple of comments:

Online documentation and videos of the Euro model show an in-car menu in the infotainment system that is called an e-Manager. It is similar to the in-app e-manager in that you could set-up charging times, climate control, etc. However, the in-car version is curiously missing in my e-Golf, and I find it rather infuriating to have to set up all that in the app, which has to always wait for the car to respond (in my case it only takes about 10-30 seconds) but I'm struggling to understand why VW left this out of the infotainment system. I'm hoping for an upgrade at some point, but it may be wishful thinking.

The nav system is adequate, but the resolution and responsiveness is something you'd expect from 10 years ago.

I haven't seen a way to highlight DC Quick Charge stations as opposed to L1/L2 EVSEs in the POI section of the nav, and like Flyingdutchman81, I prefer PlugShare anyway.

Range has been great so far, but I haven't pushed any limits yet. Consistently averaging above 3.5-3.7miles/kWh for mixed freeway/city streets (all city we get well over 4.0mi/kWh).

In terms of the location of the charge port, I've gotten used to backing my car into the driveway.

Thank you to both answers, very helpful.

The video review also points out that the Nav features are dated (low resolution screen, slow UI) http://www.myvwegolf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=113 but that's not a deal-killer for me.

The 3.7mi/kWh figure @ 70mph is better than I get in my Volt (probably closer to 3.0 or 3.25 at 70mph). That's encouraging.

Do we know the actual usable battery %age of the eGolf?

Great thread. I value this information far more than whatever VW puts out.

I am pleased to hear you are getting 3.7mi/kWh on the highway. My Leaf only manages about 3.2 at those speeds. I assume the biggest difference is the smaller frontal area (hence better aero).

Another question - in some cars, you can press and hold the "unlock" button on the keyfob and the car will roll down all four windows (very useful on a hot day, to vent the car out). Does the eGolf have this feature?

GetOffYourGas said:

Another question - in some cars, you can press and hold the "unlock" button on the keyfob and the car will roll down all four windows (very useful on a hot day, to vent the car out). Does the eGolf have this feature?

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The Golf does have this, but not in north america, some laws and rules jibberish made them remove this function.
It can easily be be activated by altering some coding with VAG-COM/VCDS.

1. Can you start the air-conditioner from the key fob? No.
2. Can you start the AC remotely from the car-net app? Yes, from both. Takes about 1 min.
3. How does VW's car-net compare to GM's OnStar? Used "i" button after first charge at ChargePoint station. (Could not get the plug to unlock from the car. Trick is to push Unlock on the FOB. Anyway, VW car-net took 30 minutes to figure it out. Said I was one of the first people to talk to them.
4. VW's car-net is through Verizon towers. Does it have a voice call feature? LTE hotspot? Don't know.
5. VW's car-net : is it free for the 3 year lease? No. 6-months, I think.
6. VW's car-net : can you set a text message reminder to plug in by a specific hour? No.
7. Navigation: How does it compare to other systems? Resolution is not as good as my iPhone, but it's more convenient and safer to use.
8. Navigation: Does it show charging stations? (especially, DC fast charge stations?) Yes, but didn't see any DC fast stations. Also, as you know, a huge number of ChargePoint stations, for example, are not shown on the maps even though they are accessible by the public, because their owners have requested that the stations not be shown on the map.
9. Freeway Range @ 70mph : what's your miles/kWh at that speed? 3.75mi/kWh @70mph. 3.6mi/kWh @80mph
10. Charge port: pictures show is is on the right-rear side of the vehicle? Do you find that annoying? No.

I think I've read somewhere that you can search for an destination on your iPhone, and then transfer that address to the car's navigation thru Car-Net - is this possible?

LAeGolf said:

I think I've read somewhere that you can search for an destination on your iPhone, and then transfer that address to the car's navigation thru Car-Net - is this possible?

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Yes, that is one of the features of the Car-net app.

-Rachel

7. The nav system is okay. Just okay. I wish there was an easy way to send an address direct from the iOS maps app to the VW app and then directly to the car (this is possible using the "share" app options if the VW app developers supported it)... right now the best you can do is search for a location or address in the VW app (which is poor), and then send it to the car. Once you send it to the car, you need to go into the nav menus and pick it out of the list of known destinations (where it has been added in the background). I expected something to pop right up on the screen and confirm the destination... but it doesn't work that way. I think all of this could be easily improved with app updates and possible car software updates... but I know not to hold my breath!

10. Personal preference, obviously. I, personally, hate it on that side based on where my charger is and how my driveway/garage is situated. (But I also hated my old BMW gas tank being on the passenger side.) Besides extra walking around the car, my biggest issue is really cord length. I need to back in to charge just so the cord reaches.