Chevy VOLT, soliciting info- is it a GO or a dud?

I have read thru this thread a couple of times with a lot of interest. I have been thinking about purchasing a Volt for a couple months now as opposed to a hybrid that is not a plug in. Are there any updates from you guys driving the volts? How are you liking them after owning for a while and what kind of milage have you driven now. The only down side I see, reading the thread, is that on a longer trip of several thousand miles the fuel economy would not be as good as a regular hybrid. Here is the Peoples Republic of California, the global warming nazis are getting ready to slap another .15 a gallon on gas as part of their cap and trade agenda.

I finalized my 2 year lease in July with a tad under 30,000 miles on the odo. My lifetime average was around 107mpg, and that's with a work commute of ~110 miles plus a trip to Montreal from NJ which was all on gas. Prior to the Montreal trip my lifetime was much higher, almost 140MPG if I recall. The car was a pleasure - I'm going to lease another one. I was almost set on a deal over Labor Day but backed off as I'm waiting for better deals as the year goes on.

MPGs on pure gas are usually 38 in my experience, in mixed cycle. I did break 40mpg often on pure highway. That's not bad - it's not as good as say, a Prius, but the Prius is miserable to drive.

There was a chart I saw once comparing OVERALL MPGs of the Prius Plug-In vs. the Volt. The Prius only gets 13 miles on battery but then over 50mpg on gas. The Volt gets almost 40 miles on battery but then around 38MPG on gas. Bottom line was for any trip under 200 miles, the Volt comes out ahead, and after 200 miles, the Prius' better MPGs on gas give it the advantage. Obviously, a "non plug in" hybrid would fare even worse, meaning even more than 200 miles to gain the advantage in efficiency.

Since I'm guessing your average daily grind is less than 200 miles straight, the answer of Volt vs. another hybrid is obvious, in terms of efficiency at least.

If you're in CA you're golden. Go see Keyes Chevy. Their prices are ridiculously low and by the time you're done, the lease rate for a loaded $40k Volt is less than you would pay for a $23k Civic.

-MKL

-MKL

Cool. Thank you for the update. PA gives you a $3000 tax rebate on top of the $7500 federal credit. I can't believe I don't see more of them on the road around here. I only see one on a daily basis. It's only a matter of time before I buy one......or two if I could talk the wife out of her POS gas guzzling Grand Cherokee

I believe I read that GM is planning to unveil the Gen2 Volt this coming January. I am VERY interested to see what happens with that

We bought ours in March, and now has 8K miles.

If your electric rate is low say 10cent, your first 40 miles on battery will cost around a $1.

While it may or may not say much, but it equals to - when gasoline was $1 a gallon and your car got 40 mile to a gallon.

The car was mine at first but now my wife drives it mostly , because she commutes more.

When she goes to the gym, it is around 16miles one way- so 32 miles round trip. You can swing that for $1, that is a good day.

Going grocery shopping, taking the dogs to the park, driving to the bike path(with 2 adult bikes), all around a $1 or less.

On gasoline in the mid Texas summer heat with A/C on a freeway going at 70-75mph, we are at around 40mpg. going a bit slower and we get a bit better mileage.

The car is quiet, smooth and relatively quick, in sport mode the GO pedal mapping makes it even feel quicker ( it just gives you the electric juice sooner) vs. in normal mode a more linear feel.

There is no noise, no gears shifting, no fumes, no stink, no engine warm up needed...just quiet. At the red light it is silence. When the gas engine kicks in there is buzz/vibration coming form the 4 cylinder 1.4 L engine. At normal driving it is almost not noticeable. If you floor it, the engine will rev up and makes noise and buzz to keep up with the electric demand.

Driving performance.

Brakes are excellent. Road manner are even better due to the cars low center of gravity and weight distribution. It will go into the corners nice. Front of the car is super low,(airdam) it will scrape on just about anything , some say it is lower than a corvette or about the same. It is a soft rubber like air-shield it bends out of the way when it hits things.

SOme things to be aware: The car comes with a slow 115Volt charger -8 -10 hours to fully charge,

Get ready to pay $300-500 for a level 2 240 volt charger - 4 hour charger. This is pretty much a must have.

The car does not have a spare tire. It has a compressor with green-goo sealant dispenser built in. $30-$100 to find a nice spare tire.

Headligts are way too dim, I opted to upgrade to HID high intensity lamps, and other $200.

TO sum it up. I/we absolutely love it! No regrets.

I can't wait to see the generation 2 VOLT.

PS: federal and state tax rebates make this $40,000 hightech car. a $24K car. Well worth it!

Thanks for the info guys. I am retired so no commute but a lot of short trips that are 16 to 30 round trip miles. About once a week sometimes twice we have a 150 mile round trip commitment. Is there any info out there about what the gen 2 Volt will have for changes?

Is there any info out there about what the gen 2 Volt will have for changes?

I am curious about this too as Chevy said they needed to take $10K out of the cost of making the Volt to make money. $10K is a lot, and I wonder if cheaper = worse.

I'm an ass for not owning one of these yet. I pay $1,800 in express lane bills alone which will be waived by driving a hybrid. Add in $5K a year on gas expenses. Along with the Fed Tax credit, my employer will send a check for $3K my way for buying a hybrid. The economics are a no brainer. Just not sure I will like driving it, and that's only because I haven't yet.

Eyeballing the new Accord Hybrid too.

Is there any info out there about what the gen 2 Volt will have for changes?

 

I am curious about this too as Chevy said they needed to take $10K out of the cost of making the Volt to make money. $10K is a lot, and I wonder if cheaper = worse.

 

I'm an ass for not owning one of these yet. I pay $1,800 in express lane bills alone which will be waived by driving a hybrid. Add in $5K a year on gas expenses. Along with the Fed Tax credit, my employer will send a check for $3K my way for buying a hybrid. The economics are a no brainer. Just not sure I will like driving it, and that's only because I haven't yet.

 

Eyeballing the new Accord Hybrid too.

A cheaper Volt will happen when batteries get cheaper.

The details on the Gen 2 Volt are all speculation at this time, but the top 3 guesses are:

1) 5 seater instead of 4, by reshaping the battery pack from its current "T" shape to one that allows the middle seat console in the back to be used as a seat and not a divider.

2) Smaller, lighter, more efficient ICE. The Gen 1 Volt took an existing GM engine from the Austrian GM parts bin to save cost. It is too big and too heavy for what is actually required. Guestimates are moving from the current 1.4L 4 cylinder to a 1 liter 3 cylinder and increasing MPGs on pure gas from 38-40 to 45-50.

3) More battery range. Not reported widely, the current 2015 models (actually late builds of 2014 and up) have gotten yet another 0.5KWh bump in usable capacity, increasing range by another few miles.

GM was VERY conservative in the usable range of the battery on Gen 1. The battery now stands at over 17KWh and we are not even using 11KWh of it before the switch to gas takes place. As GM learns that the battery is holding up fine over high mileage examples, they feel more confident in opening up the capacity. Several Volts are already into the 150,000+ mile range, which is good considering it's only 4 years old. They hold up very well. Gen 2 should likely continue this trend.

As for the Accord, I got my friend into a plug-in Accord 6 months ago. He already has 30,000 miles on it, and loves it. He's averaging over 60MPG total. It's not nearly as much as he could get with a Volt, but he needed a 5 seater, and he's a fiercely loyal Honda customer. If it's not Honda, he's not buying. The Accord has stellar build quality which GM could learn alot from.

-MKL

With the Tesla battery factory going up near me, I suspect longer range and cheaper EV batteries are coming.

No doubt. All it takes is the economies of scale which accompanies mass acceptance. And mass acceptance is inevitable.

-MKL

So Moshe......Now that the cat is out of the bag, what do you think of the stats on the Gen II Volt?

For my situation, it had me doing a little dance. Now comes the waiting game to see what they do with the MSRP and what kind of deals will be available at launch. I will definitely be buying either a 2016 or a leftover 2015 later on this year depending on what deals are available.

After running the math, a Gen I Volt would still have me stopping for gas about once a week. If the added range of the Gen II holds true, it would bump me out to only stopping for gas about once every 3 weeks. To help things, a few of us started pushing buttons at work and managed to get two dedicated charging stations installed. They are only 120V plugs, but I haven't given up on getting a 240V plug installed later on.

Keith,

Thanks for reviving this.

I owe Moshe an apology and must admit I was very wrong when I posted, one thing I know for sure "gas prices won't be going down."

The local Cadillac dealer is offering $25,000 off msrp on the $75,000 Cadillac ELR. The ELR is based on the Volt.

Got a feeling ELR's aren't selling too well.

And if you spend that kind of money, might as well spend a bit more and get a Tesla.

Due to gas prices, I hear pickups are flying off dealer lots.

"Due to gas prices, I hear pickups are flying off dealer lots."

Is that a factory option, or new model?

The local Cadillac dealer is offering $25,000 off msrp on the $75,000 Cadillac ELR. The ELR is based on the Volt.

Got a feeling ELR's aren't selling too well.

And if you spend that kind of money, might as well spend a bit more and get a Tesla.

Due to gas prices, I hear pickups are flying off dealer lots.

Yeah, I don't really understand the ELR. Granted, I have never gone as far as to even stick my head in one......but they make zero sense to me considering how close to the Volt they are in everything but price. I agree that if I was shopping for something electric in that price range, the Tesla would be my only consideration.

As far as the trucks......that also is fitting into my plan perfectly. Within the next year or two, we will be in the market for a used Suburban, Yukon XL, or Toyota Sequoia. By then, I'm kind of hoping that gas prices will go back up and the market will be flooded with cheap ones again (like in 2008).

"Due to gas prices, I hear pickups are flying off dealer lots."

 

Is that a factory option, or new model?

Perhaps those old Popular Science magazines with the flying cars were wrong, they are now flying pickups???????

Keith,

 

Thanks for reviving this.

I owe Moshe an apology and must admit I was very wrong when I posted, one thing I know for sure "gas prices won't be going down."

The only thing I know for sure is that I'm often wrong. And I know for sure that I'm not wrong about that.

Hah......Assumption of the "gas prices will remain low, lets go buy a hemi", or "Trucks are flying off the dealer lot" IS fools' gold.

What's next? When oil price shots back up; those of whom that just bought a pickup truck will (attempt)sue the government for tricking them into buying a gas guzzler?

Back to the topic... the 2016 Gen2 Volt looks mighty nice on paper, and they have improved many things (perhaps based on Gen 1 VOLT user input/complaints) but it is not in production yet, things can change by the time it is released. And of course we do not know the price yet. Hopefully GM will not make the blatant mistake it did with Caddy ELR pricing.

A Volt thread revival!

A few thoughts:

1) I have never, and still don't, advocate "saving money on gas" to be my primary purchase decision. Same for environmentalism. I advocate spending my money on domestic energy sources to the highest extent that I can. I won't touch on the politics of it, but obviously even a cursory review of the headlines shows you where some of your money goes for energy that isn't produced here. So the "I told you so" for gas prices (as if they're staying down) is meaningless in *my* purchasing decision.

2) Also I won't touch on the absurdity of justifying a multi-year asset (most keep cars for AT LEAST a 3 year lease, and some hold for much longer than that if purchasing) on current fuel prices. If you think they're staying down, more power to you. We've seen this movie before. Take a look at the futures market and where the big players are betting prices will be in a few months (nevermind years,) and ask yourself if perhaps, just maybe, oil producers and insiders know a tad more about this field than we do. They're not betting prices will stay down for long. This is an artificial oversupply which we have all read about, caused by you-know-who, and can judge for what it is.

3) As for the car itself, I know what you all know. I think it looks "Civicish" but some old complaints have been addressed. More range, more MPGs on gas, more room for a car seat in the middle of the back seat, etc. etc. It's an evolution, not a revolution. I think pricing will stay about where the current Volt is. As usual, wait a few months and things settle down. The BMW i3 was leasing here for $700 when it came out! Within 6 months the ads were out for $250-300 deals on base models. Same will happen here. Volt owners are a VERY happy group and many will trade in right away. Wait them out and prices will fall.

4) The ELR was a ridiculous joke by the "brand management" crew at GM. From the same folks that gave you the Cimarron. In the ELR's range, there is Tesla, and nothing else comes close. They should have known that going in, and priced it at $50,000.00 or so, giving Volt owners something to "trade up to" without insulting their intelligence. I have said this from the beginning and had a gentlemen's bet with Whip that it would be a flop. He still hasn't admitted that I was right, but I think it's time to throw in the towel on that one.

5) The bigger news was the Bolt, not the Volt 2. Bolt supposedly travels 200 miles on battery and costs $30,000.00. That brings the range of a Tesla into mass market prices for the first time. Tesla is also aiming there with its upcoming Model 3. It will be interesting to see what happens.

As for me, I gave my Volt back in June when the lease was done. I used my bike as my only form of transport until late October. I wanted another Volt, but Chevy wasn't dealing on 2 year leases. They had 3 years minimum. I didn't want to be stuck with an old Volt for 3 years, knowing Volt 2 is coming out this year and later this year, upgraded offerings from other makes. So I got a good deal on a Nissan Leaf, and took it. 2 years, 15K, $1500 down all in, and $300 a month. No gas whatsoever. So far, it's "OK," but it doesn't have anywhere near the quality, features, ergonomics, or driving experience of my old Volt. In retrospect, I should have just gotten another Volt and lived with it for the extra year. But it is what it is - "OK."

I have my eye now on the next gen of cars coming out with that magic 200 mile range number. And I'm keeping my eye on motorcycles as well, as range continues to climb there. We are witnessing the beginnings of that market (Polaris just bought Brammo, as you know.) My ultimate goal, as soon as the market is able, is to electrify my entire family with US-made product. I think in 3-4 years, that will be very possible.

-MKL

PS - Fire sale pricing on "old Volts" is already underway. You can pick one up from one of the high volume CA dealers for very, very little. That will only get better as we get closer to 2.0 introduction. Right now, as was the case this summer, I can lease a loaded $40,000 Volt for about the same all-in as a $22,000 Civic. And there is no comparison between the two, in any sense. So, bargain shoppers, this is a good time to kick some tires and make some deals.

-MKL

Bringing it back from the dead......again

It was a long time coming, but I finally pulled the trigger this weekend. Between GM knocking 20% off the MSRP for their summer sale and the $9500 I'll get back from PA/federal tax rebates, I couldn't say no. I drove this home yesterday. Had to go to NJ to get it, but so far I think it was worth it. Can't wait to get some miles on it

If anyone cares......my commute is 57 miles each way of mostly open highway with speed limits between 55 and 65. I usually cruise at about 62 and 70.

I drove in to work this morning and used a whopping 0.1 gallons of gas. More importantly, it drives awesome. Having almost 300 ft-lbs of torque instantaneously available at any rpm is amazing. Its not super fast off the line, but its pretty hard to beat in stop and go traffic and for passing on the highway.

Congratulations Keith. I'm looking forward to more ride, err drive reports on the new Volt.

Keith,

Did your employer install charging stations? As I recall, there were discussions about doing so, but I just don't remember the outcome.

Congrats on the new vehicle!

They did. They installed 1 Tesla charging station and 2 dedicated 120V plugs for electric vehicle charging in a prime parking location. I can set it to charge at 12 amps, but that won't allow me to get a full charge during a normal work day. 12 amp charging should get me to maybe 80% or so. In order to get a full 100% charge, I would need a 240V charger. Beggars can't be picky, so I'll take what I can get. That being said, I'm still going to start pushing buttons to see if they could potentially install a few L2 240V chargers. We currently have 2 Teslas and 4 plug in cars (2 Volts, 1 smart car, and VW Golf) rolling around campus, so its going to be interesting to see how we fight it out over the available plugs.

Nice. Did you lease or buy?

buy.....its the only option for me. I commute 30k miles a year

looks good.

2 weeks worth of commuting......120 miles a day, and I'm using 0.3 - 0.5 gallons per day to do it. Plus it's a blast to drive with all that torque available. It is by far the best daily driver I've ever driven. Just hope it ends up being reliable, that's the only wild card at this point. I'm a little over 1200 miles in and completely taken. I don't want another gas powered car if I can help it.

Glad to hear that.

Keith-

I'm sorry, I only saw this today. Congrats! I'm very happy for you. Looks great. I'm waiting for my current lease to end and then I'll check Volt vs. Bolt. Should be May timeframe 2017.

-MKL

I'm guessing in that time frame, maybe Chevy will hopefully at least have some announcements about what they will be doing with the 2018 models. The current 2017 models will have been manufactured for a hell of a long time by then.

I considered holding out for a Bolt later this year, but I think the Volt fits more of what I wanted in a daily driver. I can't believe how little information is being advertised about these. I guess Chevy just isn't making much/any profit on them. Damn shame, its an awesome car. If it was RWD with a sportier suspension, I would be completely in love.

On another note......If anyone is interested, OnStar can track all of the usage data on the Volts and allows it to be thrown into an accessible internet database (with the users permission). This is how I did a lot of my research to decide if it was the right car for my situation. It allowed me to search people in the same general geographical vicinity with similar driving habits to get real world numbers. My car is now loaded into the system as well, and its cool to see how things stack up as time goes on.

Here is a link to my Volt

LINK

Did you say you bought in NJ? Why? I always cross the border and buy in PA - much cheaper there, for some reason.

-MKL

One of the car magazines has the opinion that GM is losing some money on every Volt, but makes up for it in energy credits somewhere. (I don't understand the whole thing and don't want to get a headache trying to, just reporting what I read)

This "losing money" mantra is so much nonsense by the automotive journalists who have yet to take B-school 101. The idiots were screaming about selling at a loss in 2011, a few months after the car was introduced. Let's review something basic that these ninnies in liberal arts never figured out:

1) R&D costs billions of dollars for something like this. BILLIONS of dollars. The bet the manufacturer takes is that in time, the new architecture will proliferate throughout the product line, economies of scale will be achieved, and eventually a profit will be turned.

2) By this same standard, Toyota also "lost money" on every new Prius it sold. Until it started making a profit, of course. And now it owns the hybrid market, having shared the Prius powertrain with umpteen models, lowering its costs and increasing its competitive advantage over everyone else, who was caught playing catch-up. Yes, they called Toyota stupid too, just like they're calling GM. Does anyone besides me remember their stupid predictions?

3) Imagine the short-sighted, inane stupidity of a "journalist" coming to Apple 10 years ago when the iPhone was introduced and saying "The iPhone cost $4,000,000,000 to invent, and you've only sold 100,000 so far in month 1 - so you're selling at a LOSS!!" Same here. It's too stupid a mindset to even comment on.

4) Auto makers exchange fines and credits for how far above or below the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards they are. If, say, Company A sells nothing but V12 gas guzzlers with an average fleet MPG of 10, it will owe a boatload of money to Uncle Sam. If Company B sells nothing but EVs, it will rack up a boatload of credits towards the same, which it then can sell to Company A, since Company B's complete lack of reliance on fossil fuels "offsets" Company A's swilling of the same relative to the CAFE number. Is that asinine and full of holes? Of course it is - it's a government program. But it's what we've got to work with.

-MKL

I understand all that you say, but I was just repeating what was in the article, and it could very well be true, and I believe it is, that at the present time, they are not profiting on the car.

But thanks anyway for the B-school101 lesson.

Listen, my venom wasn't aimed at you, but at the idiots who print this stuff without the obvious caveats. They were wrong about Toyota, and they're wrong here too. Find me a Volt owner who isn't gushing - that, in time, translates to success.

-MKL

Did you say you bought in NJ? Why? I always cross the border and buy in PA - much cheaper there, for some reason.

 

-MKL

Normally true......except that the 2016 model year Volts were only made for a few months and only sold in CT, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OR, RI, and VT. Everyone else had to wait on the 2017 models. I had been watching a few for sale in Maryland (since I work there), but no one was really willing to budge on the prices of a lightly optioned base model. Then, over 4th of July weekend, Chevy tossed out a 20% off MSRP sale on most remaining 2016 models. Of course, I was out of town and didn't find out until about 5-6 days later. By that time, all the ones I had been watching in MD had sold. There were plenty of fully loaded premium models, but I only wanted an LT with the comfort package to get the heated seats/steering wheel. The only one I could find that met my criteria on the East Coast was sitting in NJ and the price was right after the discount. It was also the right color.....man I love a clean white car.

I just read a report on the EV (Hybrid in this case) buying experience. The volunteers who visited the dealers (other that those in California) were repeatedly steered toward IC instead of EV. The take away from the report is that the dealers don't educate their sales people. Selling a car with internal combustion is pretty much a no brainer. If you want to buy a Volt you REALLY have to put up with too much BS at the dealer.

Flars, it's on purpose. The dealer loses a boatload on maintenance since there is very little service cost associated with EVs and even partial EVs like Volt. So they do everything they can to dissuade the customers from buying them. It's obscene. On the past "Hybrid Hatred" thread here a few years back, I FINALLY convinced a guy to go try one out in Texas. He makes the appointment to test drive, shows up, and the car has no charge, so it's on gas the whole time. The salesman tells him "They all do that." (Sound familiar?) If I ran GM, such a salesman would be drawn, quartered, tortured, tarred, feathered, and then beheaded.

Noted on 2016, Keith. I'm all set until May. We'll see what's out there at the time. If the Bolt is viable, I'll go for it. 200 mile range and 266 tq. is fine with me. If not it's going to be a Kinetic Blue Volt with every conceivable option box checked off.

-MKL

Noted on 2016, Keith. I'm all set until May. We'll see what's out there at the time. If the Bolt is viable, I'll go for it. 200 mile range and 266 tq. is fine with me. If not it's going to be a Kinetic Blue Volt with every conceivable option box checked off.

 

-MKL

That Kinetic Blue was on my short list.....It looks really great in person. I wanted Iridescent Pearl Tricoat, Kinetic Blue, or Summit White. I ended up with the Summit White and I'm happy.

I am very interested to drive a Bolt when it comes out. Considering what they have learned so far with the Volt, I'm sure it will be impressive. I'm just not sure I can get past the whole Honda Fit style shape. I love hatchbacks and small wagons, but those boxy things make my skin crawl. Maybe it will grow on me once I see one in person.

How is the Leaf been treating you?

There's an industry report out from Tuesday night that quotes a southern California dealer saying the Bolt ordering has been pushed back from now (August) until November and the planned first deliveries from October until January. It further stated the first deliveries may go to Lyft, that GM has entered a partnership with them.

They reached out to a GM spokesperson who only stated that they remain on their planned "end of year" timetable for first deliveries. He didn't say who those deliveries would go to, but GM previously announced that first deliveries would go to "EV friendly" states.

Keith-

I hate the Leaf and cannot wait to get rid of it. It is tinny and the ergonomics are atrocious. Every day I miss my former Volt more and more. If the Bolt does not meet my timetable, I can always commute on the bike for a month or two. I hate the boxy shape cars too, but I have 3 daughters, so the extra space they afford is always welcome!

-MKL

Keith-

 

I hate the Leaf and cannot wait to get rid of it. It is tinny and the ergonomics are atrocious. Every day I miss my former Volt more and more. If the Bolt does not meet my timetable, I can always commute on the bike for a month or two. I hate the boxy shape cars too, but I have 3 daughters, so the extra space they afford is always welcome!

 

-MKL

haha.....that is the general consensus from everyone I have personally talked to who has driven a Leaf for any length of time. I also have 3 daughters......one in college, one starting preschool, and one still in diapers. If I had a Suburban, they would fill it to the brim for a weekend excursion.

Fortunately, the Wife's commute is much shorter than mine, so we can somewhat justify a larger vehicle. I would love to replace her Grand Cherokee with something else, but she picked it out and drives it 100% complaint free. I pick my battles. I rarely have a passenger in my daily driver. I fight with letting her use the Volt for her daily/weekend errands. She has put every scratch, dent, and mark on every vehicle we own. I'm not sure my blood pressure can handle it coming home with fingernail scratches behind the door handles and door dings right now. I need a good stone chip in the windshield or something first.

Same thing. Truth be told I HAVE to commute on the bike alot, otherwise I can't crank out as many product reviews as I do. I gave the wife the Leaf to use and, like yours, well..... They just don't seem to care.

The Leaf, like the Prius, is a golf cart. And has many annoying traits as well. The Volt is a real car and I am anxious to get back into one soon.

By next year it will be a Volt/Bolt for me and the wife will still be trucking along in our 2008 Prius Touring, now with over 115,000 on the clock. I think I've replaced one brake light bulb in that time.

-MKL

our 2008 Prius Touring, now with over 115,000 on the clock. I think I've replaced one brake light bulb in that time.

 

-MKL

Sounds like our Corolla.....all it costs you is your soul

Yes. And I don't care when she scratches it, eats in it, etc. etc. It will never die, although I pray for death every time I have to drive the damn thing.....

-MKL

I'm guessing in that time frame, maybe Chevy will hopefully at least have some announcements about what they will be doing with the 2018 models. The current 2017 models will have been manufactured for a hell of a long time by then.

 

I considered holding out for a Bolt later this year, but I think the Volt fits more of what I wanted in a daily driver. I can't believe how little information is being advertised about these. I guess Chevy just isn't making much/any profit on them. Damn shame, its an awesome car. If it was RWD with a sportier suspension, I would be completely in love.

 

On another note......If anyone is interested, OnStar can track all of the usage data on the Volts and allows it to be thrown into an accessible internet database (with the users permission). This is how I did a lot of my research to decide if it was the right car for my situation. It allowed me to search people in the same general geographical vicinity with similar driving habits to get real world numbers. My car is now loaded into the system as well, and its cool to see how things stack up as time goes on.

 

Here is a link to my Volt

LINK

It's two years later. Do you still have the Volt and, if so, what are your thoughts now?

Incoming.

Incoming.

 

Ahhhh.... The electric car not for mere mortals. lol