The BMW i3 and Fiat 500e that people I know have seen so much shop time I’m surprised they are surprised that it happens. Stupid electrical gremlins and random things, no necessarily directly part of the drivetrain, but nevertheless extremely expensive to fix once out of warranty. The eGolf won’t be any different.. It’s just the way that these European car companies build their cars. Things like Bosch fuel injection don’t normally break because that’s usually using common components every other manufacturer uses. But all the other electronic gizmos that comes from the company itself always tends to be buggy, and when it does need to be replaced, will be expensive because it’s closer to a custom/manufacturer only part than anything else. The eGolf/500e/i3 are such a low production car that when they do break, finding parts will be difficult, and being electric, it will only come from the manufacturer. It’s just a money pit waiting to happen.
Toyotas, on the other hand, have been doing their hybrids for so many years and while there have been a lot of advancement, there’s also been plenty of carried over technology. And because of the volume of the cars, their wont be a parts issue when things do break.
I’m not against European cars in general. Germans make fun ICE cars, and as a weekend/fun/toy car, they are great. Because you won’t be using/counting on them on a daily basis and you probably won’t trying to get 100-200k miles out of them. But for a commute/daily/car, where you’re going to drive it into a ground and expect repair/maintenance costs to be low, I wouldn’t count on something European.
