The good thing about plug-in hybrids is that you don’t need to worry about charging up with electricity to ensure a journey’s completion.

The admittedly smaller-than-standard 40-litre petrol tank still ensures a decent range all by itself (it’s been good for 275 miles lately), but while range anxiety has been banished, it has occasionally been replaced by ‘un-needed local air-emission anxiety’ instead.

Because the bad thing about plug-in hybrids such as the Golf GTE is that a fully topped-up battery only adds up to 31 miles of electric range at best, thus making the process of finding public charging stations – that are working, available and with a provider you have a card for – less of a necessity than with a fully electric or range-extender model (like our previous BMW i3).

Consequently, one can fall into the trap of not powering up regularly with electric power and denting your mpg and eco plug-in halo in the process (we’ve barely topped 30mpg so far). Without the benefit of off-street parking at home, one of our new year’s resolutions is to more keenly plan routes with public charging points in mind and visit friends and relatives with off-street parking.