Volkswagen Golf GTE reliability & safety rating

VW developed the latest Golf with a hefty budget and its underpinnings are used across a wide range of other cars in the Volkswagen Group, so it should come as no surprise that it's among the safest cars in its class. The car hasn't been on sale for very long, but no serious issues have come to light so far.

Volkswagen Golf GTE reliability & problems

It's too early to make any meaningful judgements about the latest Golf GTE's reliability, but we can get a feeling for how things might play out by referring to the results of the most recent Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. The Mk8 Golf came 73rd out of the 75 cars included, which is a poor showing. It means it sits lower than the outgoing Golf, which came 50th in the previous year's results. The latest model's top category was running costs, but it recorded low scores for build quality and reliability and also came bottom of the table for infotainment user-friendliness.

Volkswagen as a brand finished in 17th place overall out of 29 manufacturers – a result that takes into account scores from a wide range of categories including comfort, performance and running costs. Most importantly, an average share of 15.3% of VW owners surveyed reported having experienced a fault with their car. This is a lower rate than Volvo (20.5%), BMW (19.3%) and Hyundai (21.1%).

Safety

The latest Golf has taken big steps forward in the safety department – something backed up by a great Euro NCAP score with high ratings across the board. The GTE – like all Golfs – gets adaptive cruise control, driver fatigue detection and road-sign recognition as standard, with GTE adding 'Side Assist' blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, 'Emergency Assist' (which can automatically bring the car to a stop if the driver is incapacitated), plus 'Travel Assist' lane-keeping assistance. Additional safety features include an auto-dimming driver's door mirror and automatic LED headlights.