Our Best Car To Buy award can go one of several ways here on Green Car Reports.

Sometimes it goes to a moonshot car, like the first Nissan Leaf (in 2011) or the Tesla Model S (in 2013).

Those are cars that radically redefined what green transportation could be, changing the auto industry forever.

Other years, the winners are more evolutionary–but are likely to have a bigger impact in sheer numbers of buyers.

Those included the expanded Toyota Prius hybrid range (in 2012) and last year’s winner, the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid.

This year, our nominees for 2015 were all largely evolutionary.

The Audi A3 TDI is an all-new version of the aging A3 diesel, while the Honda Fit is the latest generation of our favorite subcompact.

The Hyundai Sonata Eco is a new higher-mileage model of the redesigned mid-size sedan, and the Kia Soul EV is an electric version of the popular compact tall wagon.

But it’s our last nominee–the 2015 Volkswagen Golf range–that our editors chose as the winner this year. It’s also the car our readers’ poll selected as well.

The 2015 Golf range is our recommendation as Green Car Reports’ Best Car To Buy (and the first European brand winner since the award started five years ago).

The compact five-door Golf, now in its seventh generation, is both lighter and more spacious inside.

It comes with expanded features and electronic safety systems, while retaining the Golf’s fun-to-drive quotient.

It’s the wide selection of powertrains that gives the Golf the gold this year.

From a pair of turbocharged gasoline engines to an all-new TDI turbodiesel (also found in the A3, but at a higher Audi sticker price), the combustion-engined Golfs get better fuel-efficiency ratings than the outgoing models

Then there’s the Volkswagen e-Golf, VW’s first-ever all-electric car and zero-emission vehicle.

So far, we haven’t spent long enough in the e-Golf to test its real-world range or efficiency.

But for the diesel, the Golf TDI is rated at 36 mpg combined–and like many diesels, it overachieved on its EPA rating, giving us a genuine 48 mpg in a week of real-world use.

That’s largely equivalent to real-world Toyota Prius results, with the added bonus of driving pleasure that the Prius just can’t provide.

Whichever Golf you choose, you’ll get fuel efficiency and fun in equal measure–and that applies as well to the Volkswagen e-Golf.

It’s simply the most “normal” electric car we’ve ever driven.

Take a relative who doesn’t know much about cars for a ride in either the Golf TDI or the e-Golf, and he or she may never notice the different powerplant.

Sometimes being greener in a car that’s otherwise entirely normal can be a good thing.

And that’s why the Volkswagen Golf lineup wins our Best Car To Buy award for 2015.  It was also chosen by readers as the 2015 car to buy.  No small feat!

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Source:   Green Car Reports – John V.

The 2015 Volkswagen e-Golf electric car will be priced from $36,265, VW announced this morning.

And the first battery-electric car ever offered in the U.S. by Volkswagen will be offered only in the very top Golf trim level, the SEL Premium model.

The 2015 e-Golf goes on sale in November at selected Volkswagen dealerships in launch regions that include California.

The energy to run a Volkswagen e-Golf is stored in a 24.2-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that powers a 85-kilowatt (115-horsepower) electric motor driving the front wheels. Motor torque is quoted at 199 lb-ft.

The car’s standard onboard charger operates at up to 7.2 kilowatts using a 240-Volt Level 2 charging station, and every e-Golf sold in the States includes a standard DC fast-charging port.

2015 Volkswagen e-Golf

That fast-charging, it should be noted, uses the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard adopted by U.S. and German makers, rather than the CHAdeMO system used by Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Kia.

VW says it will recharge a depleted battery to 80 percent of its capacity in 30 minutes or less.

At present, there are far more CHAdeMO quick-charging sites in North America (several hundred) than CCS locations (perhaps a few dozen), though it seems likely that future DC fast-charging locations will offer both standards.

The range of the 2015 VW e-Golf hasn’t yet been certified by the EPA, but Volkswagen says it’s “between 70 and 90 miles, depending on driving style and charging behavior.”

The e-Golf SEL Premium electric car comes with a long list of standard features and equipment that are options on the gasoline and diesel 2015 Golf models.

Those include 16-inch aluminum alloy wheels, keyless access, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, dual-zone automatic climate control, a 5.8-inch touchscreen display for infotainment and the standard navigation system, and Bluetooth pairing.

The e-Golf offers three levels of regenerative braking, selectable by the driver, as well as three different drive modes: Normal, Eco, and Eco+.

Energy efficiency features include LED headlights and heated front seats, to reduce the need for cabin heating in cold weather.

2015 Volkswagen e-Golf (Euro spec) – Driven, Portland OR, July 2014

Among the standard safety systems are a rearview camera, front and rear Park-Distance Control, and Automatic Post-Collision braking.

Volkswagen says the e-Golf has the largest interior volume of any electric vehicle defined as a compact car: 93.5 cubic feet.

That’s the same as the gasoline version of the Golf, meaning there’s no intrusion of the battery pack or charger into the passenger cabin.

Cargo space is 22.8 cubic feet behind the rear seat, which expands to 52.7 cubic feet when that split seat back is folded down.

All electric Golfs will be built in Germany, while the rest of the 2015 Golf lineup for North America–including a new wagon, the Golf SportWagen, that used to be a Jetta model–will be sourced from Mexico.

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Source:  Green Car Reports  by: John Voelcker