Suggestions to VW

[NeilBlanchard]

I have a couple of things that I would change with the e-Golf:

It has no visible way to tell from outside the car when it is done charging. The Leaf has three blue lights at the base of the windshield, that do this. There is an app for your phone to do this, and more - but it has a 6 month trial period, and after that you pay a fee. No thanks.

You have to unlock the car in order to remove the charging cord. Again, the Leaf has this as an option, while the e-Golf has it all the time.

The HVAC system resets to Auto / 72F every time. So, you have to shut it off, or change it to where you want it. I would much prefer that it stayed where it was left when you shut it off.

It doesn't have a tradition trip odometer, but rather it has several different automatic trip data screens on the center console touch screen. I may get used to this, but I think I would prefer a traditional trip odometer.

 

[svento]

Welcome to the heaven and hell that is 2015 e-Golf ownership

Most of your suggestions have been covered a lot in this forum. So first I'd suggest reading through everything (most problems don't have solutions, but at least you know you aren't alone!) And my second biggest suggestion is to email [email protected] . This may be a black hole of complaints, but if enough people send these complaints to them, maybe something will eventually be fixed (I will say, the people who respond to that email address are very nice and try to be very helpful).

One thing that there is a "solution" (a horrible solution) for is your trip odometer complaint. If you hold the 0.0 button long enough it will eventually give you an option to switch to display trip odometer. The problem is that the trip odometer then shows up where the range indicator used to be, and thus you have no range indication. Clearly one of a set of many of the software hacks that were put in place to switch the gas Golf to the e-Golf.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

A couple more suggestions, in no particular order:

An illumination LED in the charging port so you can see to put in the J1772 plug in the dark. I am also unsure how well the open charge port will fair when left plugged in overnight during crappy weather with snow and sleet, etc.

The stereo needs to remain on the iPod playlist is was last playing when you start the car. It would be nice to see the cover art for songs, rather than taking up a large bit of screen space with a generic logo-thingie. And also to display the playlist stats, like the playlist name and song #X out of #Y in the playlist.

Is it possible to toggle back to the compass, after your phone connects to Bluetooth?

Is there a USB port for the audio, so that other types of MP3 players could be used?

Continue the belly pan all the way to the back:

 

[BeardedRobot]

I know these have been covered here and elsewhere, but please allow me to concur- and pile on a bit!

- Charge scheduling. Seems his bug has been around for a while, so the dealerships should know about it. My dealer specifically showed me this feature, without telling me it didn't work (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt here that he didn't know, but still...). Of course, I woke up to an uncharged car. IMHO, this is ridiculous, and should be fixed or removed from the app altogether.

- Radio presets. I really only listen to one station, which I have set as a preset. About every 4th time I start the car, the radio has defaulted to a different station a few clicks down the dial. Annoying, but not life changing.

- Charge plug lock/unlock. I can understand why you'd want this, but I'd echo the desire for it to be optional. Also, mine never actually unlocks first try; I usually have to hit the unlock button on the key fob 5 or 6 times to release the charge cord. Annoying.

- Climate control issue: ditto! Super annoying.

- Charge port light: ditto! My Chevy Volt had an LED built into its charge cord, which was handy.

- Clock. With a car this "connected", I'd expect the clock to be automatically sync'd. I admit, this is pretty minor- but I just got an email from VW showing me how to change the clock for DST, which made me think of it.

Anyway, I still really like the car. What baffles me though is that some of these issues, at least to the layperson, have nothing to do with the car being electric. I could be wrong, but I don't believe that the other (non-E) Golfs have the same bugs wrt radio, climate, etc.

Thanks for listening, I feel better already


** Updated: found the "GPS" setting for the clock... Check one off the list!

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Now that I have driven car more, I see that the direct heating defroster is quite anemic. It barely affected some frost I had on the inside of the windshield, and I doubt it would even be noticeable in an ice storm. I hope that VW can make it have higher heat output to quickly melt frost and ice on the glass. Like the way the rear defroster works - there is no reason the windshield can't work at least as quickly as the rear window.

I also think the method used by Ford (in the 1970's and 80's) was better - a molecule thick coating of gold. I can see the wires at night in headlights, and I see rainbows when looking into the setting sun.

 

[formerdieselrumbler]

** Updated: found the "GPS" setting for the clock... Check one off the list!

Can you elaborate on this? I just picked up my e-Golf last night, and couldn't believe such a connected car (GPS, phone, car-net, satellite radio) needed to have it's own clock manually set.

Can you give me somewhat detailed steps to get to this setting?

Thanks in advance.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I hope the the VW / BMW partnership to build ~1,000 CCS quick chargers can keep us all updated on their progress.

I had to drive our Leaf yesterday because there is an available CHAdeMO available on the ~91 mile drive I had to take my family on yesterday. With the temperature in the 20's and the highway speeds, it required a quick charge to make it round trip. So my e-Golf had to stay home.

 

[BeardedRobot]

@ formerdieselrumbler

I'm away from the car right now, so detailed instructions will have to wait... I found the "GPS" setting for clock when browsing through the settings pages via the main console. IIRC I still had to choose the time zone (which seems odd, given that the setting is called GPS (!!!?))...

I'll try to duplicate the steps later today.

-JM

 

[BeardedRobot]

@ formerdieselrumbler:

You can get to the clock settings via the center console Menu button. Then use the touch screen to select Setup -> Time and Date. Choose Time Source = GPS, and enter your time zone and if you want DST.

Hope that helps!

-JM

 

[formerdieselrumbler]

Yay! That's it!

Thanks million for the follow-up.

 

[dad488]

No second chance if you accidentally hit power off instead of economy mode. You need to stop and put in Park to restart.

I've already contacted VW

 

[jack8trades]

No second chance if you accidentally hit power off instead of economy mode. You need to stop and put in Park to restart.

I've already contacted VW

I hope VW changes this functionality -- it's on my list of peeves that include most/all of what's in this thread, that I intend to eventually give to VW.)

As a workaround, I've changed my process of switching to a different mode from pressing mode repeatedly until I get the right one, to pressing it once to show the mode selection menu on the console screen, and selecting the desired mode there. Since it takes 2 presses of Start to turn off the car while you're in motion, this avoids the second press.

Learned from experience... at 50mph, but fortunately on a quiet road with a spot to pull over and restart.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Have you tried Neutral?

I have a smaller change suggestion: it is very difficult to open any of the side windows just a bit. They most often go to the full open / close, making it very frustrating trying to get just a little air flow, without killing the aero drag by opening them all the way.

 

[jack8trades]

Have you tried Neutral?

I have a smaller change suggestion: it is very difficult to open any of the side windows just a bit. They most often go to the full open / close, making it very frustrating trying to get just a little air flow, without killing the aero drag by opening them all the way.

I don't usually have the problem of the windows accidentally going full-auto (which is a bit surprising considering how many times I fully activate the turn-signal when I'm only trying to initiate a 2-blink lane change,) but I do have trouble getting the windows open just the right amount. Those glass elevator motors are fast little suckers. :!:

You know, I did try putting the car in neutral when I had that 50mph accidental Start-instead-of-Mode button mishap, but after trying it again today just to make sure, I discovered I had goofed. See, I put it in neutral and pressed Start again, and it seemed to start, but wouldn't accelerate or recuperate, so I thought it didn't work (and it did complain that I had to press the brake to start.) However, it turns out I'd forgotten to put it back in drive after starting it. In my defense, an ICE engine would at least rev in that case, giving me a clue I was still in neutral.

So, thanks for motivating me to try again -- it does work. :mrgreen:

I still think it's too easy to accidentally kill the motor though, and can imagine it happening again in the future in a sticky situation being too flustered to react correctly before getting into trouble. Therefore, unless and until the problem is fixed, I'll probably practice the recovery now and again to make it more natural if I need it.

 

[egolfone]

@neilblanchard :
there is an USB port in the glovebox, just beside de SD-card receptacle. At least on european cars .

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I will take a look - that would save having to buy a cord for each type of MP3 player you want to use.

Suggestion: offer an option for all-weather mats, that have full coverage and a nice high lip to hold in water/snow/goop in the winter time. I have the standard Golf all-weather mats, but they do not fit, and don't have the edge lip.

 

[tigger19687]

Good luck with that Neil. I have yet to find a dealer that will sell me something like what this place sells. And is worth the price

http://www.weathertech.com/volkswagen/2015/golf-gti-rabbit-r32/
I was going to get a set for my F-350 but still have not after 10 years of having her

 

[formerdieselrumbler]

Tigger19687, or anyone else,

Do the WeatherTech mats fit the e-Golf? I read somewhere that there is a bump in the floor, just in front of the driver's seat that prevents a proper fit of VW's own MonsterMats, and the WeatherTech site doesn't seem to indicate a difference in the e-Golf mats vs. the other 2015 Golf models.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Two suggestions to VW:

Complete the belly pan all the way back to the back bumper, to lower the aero drag a bit more.

Use lower rolling resistance tires; Continental makes these, or use Nokian or Michelin. This would also help the range a bit.

 

[tom]

Two suggestions:

1) Locate the charge port to the front of the car (front-center would be best, if possible).

2) I would like to see a fully electric memory seat (driver side) option for multi-driver households