I was impressed with the E-golf, but not with the $40k price tag. The dealer in Portland marked the car up $4k over MSRP and called it a "demand charge". They have sold 6 of them in the couple months they have been available.
The Golf has something like 6 modes of driving that affect economy. The salesman was saying that the most efficient mode was the braking mode, which applies heavy regen when the accelerator is released. He said that many people prefer this mode and don't even use the brake, instead using just a single pedal. That seems dangerous and inefficient to me. It's important to have the reflex of pushing the brake pedal for when sudden stopping is needed, and training yourself to rely on releasing the accelerator just seems like a bad idea. Furthermore, coasting down is more efficient than regen to a stop.
I ended up buying a 2012 Prius plug-in and have been averaging 70mpg. This will have to do until more EVs come out. I'm looking forward to the Chevy Bolt or whatever they are calling it, and really looking forward to Tesla's "affordable" EV. Something with 100 miles range would be perfect for me.
Another thread about the E-Golf here