Adrian's ScrapBook (CAR 12)

Well this is a great car, as good as the old GTE hybrid with one or two caveats and several improvements.

Volkswagen have addressed many of the problems associated with the MK8 golf making the wait for the GTE 8.5 worthwhile.
It has a bigger battery giving 50 - 80 miles of electric range.
The 360 view cameras are brilliant and the build quality seems to be good.
LED matrix headlights are fantastic, shaping the high beam to put other cars in the shade whilst remaining high elswhere.
The "pre-heat" function seems to be more efficient, warming up quickly to defrost the car in winter whilst the heated steering wheel is a "nice to have".
The voice assistant works very well, understands and can control most functions. Especially good is the fact when the passanger says "set the seat heating to level 2" it will set the passenger seat heating and not the drivers!

One major failing is the inability to set a charging schedule - despite the manuals saying differently.
At the time of purchase, the worst styled 17" wheels were the only option so I had to organise a replacement myself.
The assist systems, whilst on paper should be a good thing, are not the best (eg. on a 60mph road, it sees a 30 limit on a side road so thinks the limit is 30mph).
Lane assist is positively dangerous! ... When passing a cyclist to give more room, unless you put the indicator on, it tries to pull you back!
The assist systems can be turned off individually but they come on when the car is re-started.