It’s quite sporty to drive but has about twice the torque you can easily put down with energy efficient ev tires in a small light FWD car so you need to go easy if you want tires to last. Handles great also. Those might be low specs nowadays but were respected performance car specs not long ago, and roads haven’t changed any- plus those were big specs at redline in a combustion engine, feels like a heck of a lot more with the instant torque at any speed of an EV. It’s still way more power than you need, and more than enough to have fun. And I say that as a Porsche enthusiast that drives a lot of fast and sporty cars.
I'm not talking about specs on paper, I'm talking about the actual experience of driving it in the real world. As the saying goes, “people buy horsepower but drive torque.” Horsepower on an electric motor vehicle is often effectively a software setting based on what RPM or top speed they allow, and the eGolf is set with a low rev limiter/top speed from the factory probably to limit battery temps.
For example, in the eGolf you have a flat torque curve with 100% of the power available instantly at any speed, without shifting.
A basic crossover SUV with a 4 cylinder engine and slippy/slow responding automatic can easily have more horsepower, and a faster 0-60, but still feel gutless in normal driving compared to the e-Golf because you have very little torque at normal RPMs, and you need to rev the engine to the redline to actually use the horsepower, which typically involves a lot of lag time, and then a lot of jerking and noise in your typical basic low end car.
You could for example compare it to a Nissan Rogue from the same era, which has 170 horsepower. The Rogue sometimes feels scary slow like it can’t get out of its own way and has to be floored and ran to the redline to get it really moving, whereas with the eGolf it takes some finess to launch it smooth without wheelspin due to the instant on torque. Most people would be shocked to hear that the Rogue technically has a more powerful motor.
Consider that the ALH TDI Golf and Jetta (diesel) had literally only 90 horsepower also with a totally flat torque curve, way less than the e-Golf, and are also feel a lot more sporty than your typical 4 cylinder gasoline economy car, despite being radically slower on paper, or floored in a straight line drag race.
Extend this to other cars- take an early Porsche Boxster with only 200 horsepower, one of the best drivers cars in history, but on paper slower than a lot of low end economy cars nowadays. But the amazing handling, and wide torque band let it hang with a lot of supercars in a real world track race. It would literally lose a drag race against a modern low end economy car, yet it feels way faster and is way faster on say, a track with turns.
The eGolf isn't a sports car, but it will never feel like it's lacking in power for normal driving.
Too little torque for what? I grew up driving full sized trucks and vans that had only half the power of an eGolf in a much larger heavier vehicle yet can still keep up with modern freeway traffic.
Model 3 isn’t even in the same league for build quality, driving experience, or overall design and engineering. It has a more powerful drivetrain and larger battery because it came out years later, but the Golf is all around a great car in all of its forms, and the model 3 is just not. It’s not a crazy powerful car but its no dog- it has twice the power most people will ever want or need for regular driving.
If you actually thought you were arguing with a bot you wouldn’t bother replying. Most of those “slow” 70s cars with nowhere near the power of an eGolf could still leisurely cruise all day at over 100mph even up a grade, hit freeway speeds in a tiny fraction of the onramp, and keep up with freeway traffic towing a heavy trailer, for some reasonable context on what is actually needed and usable for transportation on public roads.
I feel I’m arguing with someone that has never actually driven a car, nor is able to have a civil disagreement like an adult. Your tone is simply not how we do things on HN.
