Just purchased a 2015 SEL...I think it was a good deal?

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Joined
Feb 27, 2017
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5
Hi guys, so I just purchased a new 2015 SEL for $21.5K this past weekend. Was wondering what your thoughts are on the deal I got.

The lease on my 2014 Fit EV will be coming to an end fairly soon so I thought I would look around for a replacement. Found this deal on a 2015 e-Golf and jumped on it. I'm fairly knowledgeable about the prices on these cars but maybe I jumped the gun on this one?
 
I'd be concerned someone at the stealership registered it, took the $7500 credit, and then dumped it back on the lot. If so..better call Saul. If not, then good deal. A few folks here got one in mid-2016 and payed $27-28k. You're pretty close to JoulesThief's $25k paid in September 2015 when depreciation is factored in.

The only real flaw I saw in the 2015 models was the outdated infotainment system and inability to play podcasts via USB cable rather
than bluetooth. Other than that, 7.2 kW charger with DC fast charging and LED headlights are big advantages over the 2016 SE.
 
I bought my 2015 SEL used, but still had to have the 'power module' recall performed after I got it, so that's something to be aware of. I would check your VIN on VW's website to see if it's been done - I doubt most dealers pro-actively do service for cars sitting on their lots.
 
Spektre said:
I bought my 2015 SEL used, but still had to have the 'power module' recall performed after I got it, so that's something to be aware of. I would check your VIN on VW's website to see if it's been done - I doubt most dealers pro-actively do service for cars sitting on their lots.
They don't bother if they are a busy dealer.
They wait till someone comes in.
 
Thanks for the tip guys. I checked the VW website and there is no recall for this vehicle.

I purchased the car new with 140 miles on it, never registered. I hope I don't have any issues with the Fed credit and CA state rebate. I must admit I was a bit suspicious why the car was priced so low but I guess it is 2 years old now and most of the new EV's coming out will have 200+ mile range.

Question, was I supposed to get something from the dealership regarding the Fed credit? I asked them about it and the salesguy said no. Probably me just being paranoid, but I just want to be sure. I went through the state rebate process before with my Fit-EV but there was no Fed credit since it was a lease.
 
You don't need anything from the dealer. You just need to fill Form 8936 with your federal income tax return.

Remember, you must have a total tax liability of at least $7,500 in order to get the full credit. Unused portions of the credit cannot be carried forward to future years.
 
sounds like a great deal sportmode! i am also looking to purchase a 'new' 2015sel, but i live in ohio and the dealer is in illinois.. what state was the dealer in that you bought from? are you also located in that state?

i did see a recall on the 2015 for stalling - "Under certain conditions, oversensitive diagnostics in the high-voltage battery management system may inadvertently classify a brief internal electrical current surge/peak as a critical battery condition," VW stated in its memo to dealers. "Unexpected shutdown of the vehicle’s electrical drive motor (“stalling”) can lead to a crash."

how do you like driving the car??

thanks
 
I bought the car in Socal at the Coachella Valley VW. The dealer is about 90 miles from me but well worth the drive for this deal.

This car has been great so far. I have about 15K miles on it now. Drives much smoother than my FIT EV and the handling is much better as well. I did love my FIT EV though. It was a very dependable car. I turned it in with about 80K miles on it with no issues at all. There was little to no battery degradation from what I could tell.

Now if I can say the same thing about my eGolf after 80k miles, I will be one happy camper.
 
sportmode247 said:
I purchased the car new with 140 miles on it, never registered. I hope I don't have any issues with the Fed credit and CA state rebate. I must admit I was a bit suspicious why the car was priced so low but I guess it is 2 years old now and most of the new EV's coming out will have 200+ mile range.

Did you do a CarFax check to make sure the car was never registered in another state? As long as the car has less than 7500 miles on it, if it was never registered in California, it could still be sold as a new car here even if previously registered in another state. While it's unlikely due to the low mileage, there is a slight possibility that a dealer out of state could have purchased the car and taken the $7500 for itself (technically illegal), and then resold the car as a "lightly used" car (a Nissan dealer tried to pull that one on me when I was looking for a Leaf). If the window sticker shows the car was originally delivered to the dealer where you bought the car from, the likelihood is even less.

sportmode247 said:
I bought the car in Socal at the Coachella Valley VW.

This is the part that DOES worry me, as this car has been sitting for over 3 years in a hot environment. The eGolf, despite being originally engineered for it, does NOT have an active battery thermal management system. Meaning, the battery is only passively cooled. Heat is the biggest killer of lithium-based batteries and with EV's that especially reared its ugly head with early Nissan Leafs, which also lack a battery TMS even for the 2018 models. From my experience with both cars, it seems the eGolf's battery isn't degrading as quickly as the Leaf's did, but I don't live where it's routinely 100+ in the summer either. Unfortunately, unlike with the Leaf, there is no battery degradation meter display on the car nor are there any consumer-obtainable tools available to measure degradation. Only the VW dealer has them.

There is very little hard data that is consumer-obtainable about the eGolf's battery longevity due to the car's limited availability in the US, with California being the warmest of the states where it's sold in. We got info about the Leaf's heat-related battery degradation issues very quickly as it's always been available throughout the US, including states like Arizona where the issue was first noticed.
 
forbin404 said:
Spektre said:
I bought my 2015 SEL used, but still had to have the 'power module' recall performed after I got it, so that's something to be aware of. I would check your VIN on VW's website to see if it's been done - I doubt most dealers pro-actively do service for cars sitting on their lots.
They don't bother if they are a busy dealer.
They wait till someone comes in.

It's against Federal Law to sell a new car with a safety or emissions recall that has not been remedied. When Dieselgate broke in September 2015, any unsold TDI's including what few 2016's made it here could legally not be sold until the emissions recall (which would take quite some time to come up with) was done on these vehicles. So the OP's car would have to be fixed prior to sale, as it was sold as new.

This law does not apply to used cars. https://www.cars.com/articles/why-can-dealers-sell-used-cars-with-unfixed-recalls-1420692279841/
 
sportmode247 said:
I bought the car in Socal at the Coachella Valley VW.

This is the part that DOES worry me, as this car has been sitting for over 3 years in a hot environment. The eGolf, despite being originally engineered for it, does NOT have an active battery thermal management system. Meaning, the battery is only passively cooled. Heat is the biggest killer of lithium-based batteries and with EV's that especially reared its ugly head with early Nissan Leafs, which also lack a battery TMS even for the 2018 models. From my experience with both cars, it seems the eGolf's battery isn't degrading as quickly as the Leaf's did, but I don't live where it's routinely 100+ in the summer either. Unfortunately, unlike with the Leaf, there is no battery degradation meter display on the car nor are there any consumer-obtainable tools available to measure degradation. Only the VW dealer has them.

There is very little hard data that is consumer-obtainable about the eGolf's battery longevity due to the car's limited availability in the US, with California being the warmest of the states where it's sold in. We got info about the Leaf's heat-related battery degradation issues very quickly as it's always been available throughout the US, including states like Arizona where the issue was first noticed.
.

Yes, it did cross my mind that this car was sitting on the lot for what could have been 2-3 years. But for the price, it was worth any reservations I may have had about the battery. Besides, I still have the battery warranty that comes with any new egolf.
 
If the car was sitting at 40-80% SOC for years, the battery pack is probably in pretty decent shape. If it was sitting between 80 and 100% in Southern CA high temps, I'd be a bit more concerned about degradation due to the combination of high temperatures and high SOC. You can buy an OBD dongle and program, like OBDEleven (that's what I use) and observe the usable battery capacity.
 
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