Hot hatch legend goes green

Volkswagen gives famous model hybrid power

Hot hatches were once glorious. Then petrol became expensive and they were prohibitively expensive to run.

After that, climate change became known about and they were the subject of stern glares from environmentalists.

Now they’ve been rehabilitated. No longer are they planet polluters.

Take this, for example. The new Volkswagen Golf GTE is VW’s hybrid hot hatch.

Not only that but this new model costs £3,000 less and is better equipped than the version it replaces.

To be exact, it will cost £3,420 less than before, while also adding kit like the Active Info Display as standard. That means prices start from £28,150 after the government’s £2,500 plug-in car grant.

All cars come with an 8in touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav as standard. Full LED front and rear lights with scrolling indicators are also included, along with the aforementioned digital Active Info Display dials and Volkswagen’s Car-Net App Connect functionality.

The GTE Advance adds 18in alloy wheels, a Winter Pack including heated seats, tinted rear windows and a front centre armrest. It also adds the brand’s updated Discover Navigation system. The 9in Discover Navigation Pro setup with gesture control is an option.

Prices for the GTE Advance start from £29,635, again including the government’s electric car grant.

The car is powered by a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine married to an 8.7kWh lithium-ion battery and electric motor. It can be charged in three and a half hours from a domestic plug, or just over two hours from a wallbox.

There’s an E-mode that ensures it uses only battery power – you can drive up to 31 miles that way when the car is fully charged.

The standard GTE has a range of 514 miles in total and can sprint from 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds. It emits 38g/km of CO2, with a quoted 166mpg combined fuel economy.

The Volkswagen Golf GTE is a plug-in hybrid hot hatch with a quoted fuel economy of 166mpg. It can do up to 31 miles on battery power alone.