Chevy Volt after 10 months

I agree. Love our Volt. Had a Prius V and it was pretty cool. Yes, bigger inside than the Volt but the road noise was terrible and it felt like a tin can. After higher speed commutes my head was pounding. Around town it worked fine but for us the Volt takes it with all electric. The Volt feels much more substantial - doors close with a thump, very minimal road noise, and best it has leather seats - not available on the Prius Plug-In.

I'm still amazed people who ask about it have no idea how it works. They all think it's electric only then it stops.

 

Then your driving needs can be condensed into one-you have five people to transport.
In that case, the Prius wins. Other than that it really isn't a contest. Especially considering this is an enthusiast site, I can't imagine why anyone would subject themselves to the misery of a Prius when better alternatives exist.
As to best car ever designed? Its technology and engineering are certainly right up there and obvious to anyone that's examined the car.

 

Then you have a very closed mind. I have done 2 days in a row, 10 hours each day in the Prius; no problem at all. Do that in your Volt and let me know what your gas mileage is.

I do like both cars. I just choose not to sound like a lunatic heaping praise on one and nothing but disgust for the other. You have GM stocks that you are trying to boost?

 

discussion of the next gen. Volt & the current one
Autoline After Hours
along with some discussion about transmissions

 

What I don't get after running numbers..

If the Volt starts around $34k, while a new Civic runs around $20k. So 34,000-20,000=$14,000 more for the volt.

Let's say the Volt saves you $700 a year in fuel over the average economy car (numbers one Volt owner pointed out).

So, we have $14,000 more that the volt costs/$700 a year saved in fuel = 20 years to break even over the Civic.

How can you still justify buying the Volt?

 

If you're running the numbers, I think there are serious tax credits at play here too. UP to $7500 in federal $$ and varying amounts at the state level. $4400 in Colorado, for example.

That shrinks the gap considerably.

 

Maybe you buy it because you like it, or think it's cool, or you want to help fight global warming. There really is no logical reason to buy a Ferrari but a lot of us do.

 

They considered most commuters wouldn't need gas for their daily trip at about 40 miles or less per day. This fits the consumer research GM did on commuters. If you drove every day, that would put you right around 15K miles a year. If you fit into that category like MOST people do, for starters your saving a lot more than $700 a year with no gas worth mentioning being used.

For example, I'd be saving several thousand a year in gas alone, and in my case can also charge while at work and still use no gas with round trips that are over 65 miles! You add the tax savings and it can make sense financially even compared to a decent "CHEAPER" gas car as that will make the initial purchase costs closer.

Now, if I want to take that same car that isn't costing me gas as a daily commuter on a trip over a 100 miles away on the weekend, I can still do that also with decent economy. As the technology and range continue to improve, it will make even more "cents" to the transportation budget.

The biggest problem with this car right now is that same average consumer that drives less than 40 miles a day doesn't understand an electric drive car. They take numbers that don't go together in the traditional case, that is if they look into it at all, and use that to compare. For example, ONLY 40 miles range, ONLY 35mpg.... that's not impressive, the prius/TDI VW gets over 45MPG ....etc

 

My DD is a 977TTS and it gets great gas mileage PLUS it is a blast to drive on my daily 50 mile commute. Now that's an economical car IMHO.

 

15000 miles per year at 30 mpg and $4gallon gas is $2000. Electricity is not free, but even if it was this is the most you can save per annum in operating costs with a Volt over a car that does not get even great mileage. Get a 40 mpg car and use a more realistic fuel cost and the delta closes. Takes several years to overcome the cost delta between a Volt and say a comparably equipped Cruze or other economy car.

The only reason to buy an electric car at present is because you like it. Musk shrewdly realized that and went way upmarket with the Model S. More "entry" level electric cars are far less popular because that market segment needs affordable transportation, not a cool toy.

 

If you drive it that much and bought it new, your depreciation alone is probably a Volt x2. Non sequitur comment anyway.

 

The delta is almost certainly not that great comparably optioned and the tax credit, but Volt is certainly thousands more than a comparably equipped car in the same segment, and I do agree that the fuel savings is not enough to justify the choice of electric.

 

A Volt is not an economy car. It is very well equipped, very quiet and a fantastic DD. In addition to the fuel savings, there are a number of other benefits. Free OnStar and XM and the ability to drive solo in the car pool lanes are all very nice perks. It is also nice to rarely have to visit a gas station. You don't realize what a pain that is to do on a regular basis until you don't need to do it. Finally, the Volt drives pretty well-far superior to the Prius and the ugly golf cart(Leaf).
Currently nearly a dozen of my friends now have Volts for DD usage.
These are not folks that couldn't afford a Tesla or non enthusiasts. One is a vintage racer that has an impressive collection of real Shelbys, the other designed the tracking system for some of our Mars spacecrafts and owns Corvettes, another is a Highway Patrol trooper that races a Porsche, another owns multiple rare Porsches... All love their Volts and have had zero issues with them. They are great cars.

 

I disagree. The plebian appearance, materials, and clear similarity to Chevy Cruze says economy car to me. And I owned a Volt for about a year, so I have first-hand experience. You can go order a Cruze with the same MyLink infotainment and nav system as Volt and most of the other stuff. Just because I have other nice cars does not transform my purchase of Volt into the purchase of a luxury car. My Cadillac CTS-V is a luxury car.

I stand by my comment that you buy electric for non-economic reasons. It does not make economic sense for cost per mile of ownership compared to a comparably-equipped alternative - compare the Cruze Diesel for example and fit it out with comparable options to the Volt.

Don't get me wrong, I had a Volt and really liked it, but ultimately could not bear the driving dynamics compared to a CTS-V wagon and since I can afford the V decided it was my 4 pax "utility" car. Don't need 2 utility cars (everything else but the Dually is a 2 seat sports car). But I did not buy the Volt to save money, and anyone who says so can't truly justify the decision when you put pencil to paper and run the numbers.

 

Well, for me I am saving $ by DD a Volt. It really depends on what car you were driving previously. I sold a 2006 Corvette Z06, cost of gas was about $470/month, plus other maintenance. I've had the Volt since March 2013, have used about 25 gallons of gas. My commute pattern fits the GM demographics research. I paid nowhere near $34K for it. I got the $7500 federal tax credit, $2500 rebate from CA, and $1500 from the local county air control board. The drive is far superior to any Cruze or other car supposedly in its class. The Volt is in a class of its own, no others like it. I'm hoping Volt 2.0 will have a longer AER. I like everything else as is.

 

Calling BS on Volt being vastly superior to Cruze, Accord, Camry etc in terms of ride. My Volt drove fine, but NOTHING like my Corvette or CTS-V. It drove like any other basic economy car I have rented. And it MUST be driven very gently to get the rated range, as in about 62 mph max and keep the ball green on the display so very gentle acceleration and braking events. I could get nearly 50 miles on a charge in those circumstances, but driven with any brio or at 70 mph and range goes well below 40 miles.

I have a 2008 Z06 and it survived the coming and going of the Volt. Completely different missions for those vehicles and I am sorry you had to give up the Z06 - it is probably the last of the big NA v8s. I'd be massively bummed to drive a Volt instead of the Z06. I hope you get a chance to get another sports car soon.

Also, sounds like California has crazy incentives with $11.5K coming back to you, so you got into the car for what, $20K? That is cheap indeed. Me, I bought before Chevy dropped the price, so paid I think about $37K (it had all the available options). I decided I just could not stand the driving dynamics compared to my wagon, and sold a year later and took it hard in the shorts, getting about $20K in trade or so. Made my McLaren seem shrewd in comparison!

 

And I should add as a PS that the Cruze is an excellent car. I am not trying to belittle the Volt in comparison. Just saying that absent significant subsidies or customer interest in electric for the sake of electric that the Volt and all electric cars presently can't be justified economically. If I had an autonomous Volt so I could read, sleep, surf or whatever while it trundled along in traffic at 60 mph I would probably have one. But as Sammy Hagar said, I can't drive 55.

 

A Volt, Prius and other such cars are mere appliances. Fun per mile is more important to me than MPG. Since I spend so much time in my DD, I require one that I enjoy driving. In the last 30 years I have used 3 M5s, an M3, Viper, Corvette, Mustang, S5, MS3 and three 911s as my DD and have enjoyed them all. I don't worry much about depreciation as I put around 100k miles on my DD before I move on to another one and all cars depreciate substantially at that point. IMHO, once you drive a car for 100k miles or more, you have already got full value out of the vehicle anyway, regardless of the price you paid new. That being said, a VW Golf TDI is a better choice than a Volt IMHO...700 miles per tank at 35mpg is not bad, plus they drive like a GTi and you never have to buy a $3k battery.

 

I am with you and that is why I no longer have the Volt - an excellent car but not that much fun to drive. But you did use the word "economical" in your post and your series of cars driven high miles is a lot of things, but not economical.

 

ok, This is a great thread, and having driven my volt for 27k miles over the last 15 months I have a few things to add.

1- on this site you's guy's cant accept passion for automobiles? Can't compare a Volt to a prius. A prius driver buys the car thinking it is a reliable, economical choice, and they are singlehandedly saving the earth (at least in western mass lol). If you look purely at data, the average consumer will do better with the prius. at the risk of being filleted .. comparing price, reliability, cost of service, performance, ease of resale we should all be Porsche drivers. Average folks just want to get in, drive, and get good mpg, and they don't care how. I am not average. I did not even consider a prius, they are a dime a dozen and the epitome of soulless.

2- 110volt charge can be changed from 8 to 12 amps and reduce the standard charge time from 12 to 8 hours.

3- Husker - sorry I cant accept you had the AC on in a volt for 1 hr and lost only 1 mile of range. you must be mistaken, or had only the fan on (eco) aside from that in my opinion your posts are spot on.

4-Prius plug-in has a range of 13 miles, wtf?

5- The volt is "technically" a hybrid, but for all intents and purposes it is an electric. The proper definition of a hybrid is a vehicle that both the gas engine, and electric motor power the wheels. This only happens in the Volt over 70 mph when the gas engine is on. There is a planetary gear (not a transmission) that engages to assist in mechanical propulsion directly. Aside from this the car is purely electric, without range anxiety.

my volt is the best car I have ever owned, including my 360. Not my favorite though.

 

Oh, and even in sport mode the car ain't quick. But I didn't buy it for speed.

Back seat leg room is a joke, even my 5 & 7 y/o kids complain about being cramped. Should also be able to seat 5.


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All my cars have been economical. They have "saved" my sanity, as well as thousands of dollars I would have spent on a shrink had I had to drive a Volt of Prius on my 50+ miles/day commute for the last few decades.