Bought 2016 SE, some differences

[Shooting4life]

So a couple of weeks ago my wife and I leased a 2016 e-golf se.

The reason for buying:

My wife and I work at the same place so we carpool to work. I am starting a new job at the end of the month and will be taking Bart, we have 2 cars, a 2012 Passat tdi sel premium and an 03 gmc 2500hd with 8.1 liter engine. I didn't want to take the truck to Bart, would be a real pain to park. So I started looking for a used car for me and the Passat gets good mileage and is comfortable. I then started looking at the various electric car leases and realized that the car is basically free for us. Instead of paying $100 in bridge toll, my wife will now pay $50 a month. Instead of buying roughly $150 in gas per month between her driving he Passat and me driving my 9 mpg truck, we now buy power and much less diesel for the Passat. In the end our monthly expenses are not changed.

The deal from Hayward VW.
12k/36 months
1k down + 2k vw credit + taxes/licenses (a little over 3k drive off).
139 a month.

Plus I will receive another 2.5k rebate from the state of California in 90 days.


Installed a juicebox pro over the weekend as my evse. It has worked as promised, even got a discount as a local purchaser when I picked it up from the shop in San Carlos during my lunch


My observations and difference from 2015 egolf based on my reading here:
1. The plug no longer locks when plugged into the car.
2. The infotainment system has a way to set delayed charge directly from the car. I have used this twice now and it has worked perfectly. Apple connect is a waste of time.
3. Carnet was not activited at the dealer, so I have to go back next Monday to get them to turn on carnet at the car.
4. They really should have kept the faster charging for the se, but in the end we are charging over the evening so the slower charge does not really impact us. We charge roughly 4 hours every evening for our 50 mile round trip commute.

 

[Slomove]

Got the same car 2 weeks ago, similar deal. I also noticed the difference with the missing plug lock bu apparently this is a good thing. have only a 12 mile/day commute and don't bother charging every night. I activated the car net myself, just call them and it takes maybe 5 minutes. Much faster than a drive to the dealer.

I like the Apple Connect feature, at least for navigation. Since the car does not have built-in navigation I can use the Apple Maps app on my phone just as well. It works pretty good only the SIRI voice input has occasional trouble with my accent. Obviously it needs the USB cable but that is not a big deal and charges my phone while driving. I also tried it with my wife's Android phone and that does not seem to be working as well. It shows the map but I did not find a navigation possiblity.

 

[Shooting4life]

Got the same car 2 weeks ago, similar deal. I also noticed the difference with the missing plug lock bu apparently this is a good thing. have only a 12 mile/day commute and don't bother charging every night. I activated the car net myself, just call them and it takes maybe 5 minutes. Much faster than a drive to the dealer.

I like the Apple Connect feature, at least for navigation. Since the car does not have built-in navigation I can use the Apple Maps app on my phone just as well. It works pretty good only the SIRI voice input has occasional trouble with my accent. Obviously it needs the USB cable but that is not a big deal and charges my phone while driving. I also tried it with my wife's Android phone and that does not seem to be working as well. It shows the map but I did not find a navigation possiblity.

I tried activating the carnet the normal way, the carnet server cannot pick up the car at all. I am all signed up on line and have the app, but always get "no data" error and have contacted carnet support multiple times and this is what they told me to do.

I really have never used a car navigation system, as I always prefer my iPhone. Passing the directions over Bluetooth is adaquit for my navigation needs, the picture is really not needed in my opinion.

The one thing I really miss is steering wheel controls of the stereo and cruise control.

 

[Slomove]

Agree. No cruise control sucks. Only acceptable because I only drive in the city and short distance.

 

[JoulesThief]

So a couple of weeks ago my wife and I leased a 2016 e-golf se.


My observations and difference from 2015 egolf based on my reading here:
1. The plug no longer locks when plugged into the car.
2. The infotainment system has a way to set delayed charge directly from the car. I have used this twice now and it has worked perfectly. Apple connect is a waste of time.
3. Carnet was not activited at the dealer, so I have to go back next Monday to get them to turn on carnet at the car.
4. They really should have kept the faster charging for the se, but in the end we are charging over the evening so the slower charge does not really impact us. We charge roughly 4 hours every evening for our 50 mile round trip commute.

You can, and should activate Car-net yourself. without putting foot on brake, push the start button. Wait for all the idiot lights. Press the i button at the top, where the sunroof switch and dome light assembly is, with radio turned on and volume turned up somewhat. You will ring Car-net, and they will set you up. Have your VIN number handy.


The 3.6kw charger is not bad if you can flow 16 or more amps at 240V at home, over night. What will kill you is if you need to use a public charger, and they charge for parking by the hour, as well as electricity. Paying $0.50 a Kwh or more, plus parking from a Blink charger is not going to happen on my nickle.