Topic: Test Drive: 2012 Chevrolet Volt

[Autos_Editor]

For predominately short trips, the advantages of owning a Chevy Volt make sense, but for longer journeys, they don't.

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[JohnM]

I think the Volt is a huge step forward in automotive design and GM deserves full credit for taking the risk of following through completely on it.

The Volt will clearly appeal to those who do mostly city driving with some highway thrown in.   The Volt is 700 pounds heavier than a Prius but will go much further on a charge.

Now that we are seeing mutations of the tried and true ICE cars we have become used to over the past 4 generations, the Volt has a set of distinct advantages and is probably the most flexible design to come along to this point. 

Weight and price are the major stumbling blocks.

Cheers,
John M.

[nlm]

Wow, the battery density is so much higher than gas being a 400lb battery pack. And, even with the battery pack the Volt still requires some fuel that adds more weight, albeit not significantly more.

At around 15deg C, gas has a density of 162.5lb/100L. So a full 70 litre gas tank at 15deg C weighs just over 110lbs. The Volt is carrying around almost 4 full tanks of gas (@15deg C) all the time!

Agreed the Volt does seem to be a very flexible vehicle particularly for those whom have shorter commutes but occaisonally drive longer stretches during the weeke or weekends. The hatch helps with this too.

The video link is blocked at work; does it include the Star Trek sound upon startup? Hey, that might be a selling feature alone for some Trekkies!

[USAFANG67]

“the Volt is in a class by itself.”

In many way it is.....mostly SCARY and EXPENSIVE. SCARY because ya wonder what other deep dark secrets GM is hiding about the VOLT after it catching fire after an accident . Secondly the STICKER SHOCK is an UNDERSTATEMENT!!

[JohnM]

There are no dark secrets about the fire issue.  It was caused by loss of battery coolant due to a collision and the fire occurred 3 weeks later. ie it took the batteries 3 weeks to overheat.

A learning process here but no huge problems compared to a gas tank.  Just different problems.

Cheers,
John M.

[Mike]

There are no dark secrets about the fire issue.  It was caused by loss of battery coolant due to a collision and the fire occurred 3 weeks later. ie it took the batteries 3 weeks to overheat.

A learning process here but no huge problems compared to a gas tank.  Just different problems.

Cheers,
John M.

No level headed reasonable assessments allowed John   

[sailor723]

There are no dark secrets about the fire issue.  It was caused by loss of battery coolant due to a collision and the fire occurred 3 weeks later. ie it took the batteries 3 weeks to overheat.

A learning process here but no huge problems compared to a gas tank.  Just different problems.

Cheers,
John M.

No level headed reasonable assessments allowed John   

Yeah....How are they going to get a flame war started if you keep using common sense? 

[Vanstar]

This seems a very expensive and complicated solution to an engineering problem. The cost is far too high for the car's capabilities and the nonavailability of the car rather negates the project to begin with.

The Leaf strikes me as a much better solution. So does the Prius, which costs much less and attains similar fuel consumption.

[dewey9315]

I'm pretty sure that the Volt does come with an available rear-view camera, since the one I had a short drive in had this feature.

As for the financial/economy aspect: We need to look at the Volt as a way to ween ourselves off of oil and gas. Sure, the thousands of extra dollars you saved buying a Cruze will buy you alot of gas, but that's not the point. If your driving patterns are like the majority of Canadians, Canadian-made (mostly) clean electricity will be your primary source of energy.

If I wern't halfway through my vehicle finance, I'd have a Volt in a heartbeat. It's a strong contender as my next vehicle purchase.

[Ace]

So let me get this straight.
 The Volt will travel only about 45 km on its fully charged battery, then it hums along with its 1.4 litre gas internal combustion engine JUST generating power for the electric motor. Kinda like a small diesel/electric locomotive. How boring is that, no reving, no shifting, no mechanical interaction.
 I believe electric vehicles make total sense for short distance applications, but I enjoy driving too much to ever choose this mode of long distance transportation.
 And by the way, my TDI is just as economical   

[Oldsguy]

So let me get this straight.
 The Volt will travel only about 45 km on its fully charged battery, then it hums along with its 1.4 litre gas internal combustion engine JUST generating power for the electric motor. Kinda like a small diesel/electric locomotive. How boring is that, no reving, no shifting, no mechanical interaction.
 I believe electric vehicles make total sense for short distance applications, but I enjoy driving too much to ever choose this mode of long distance transportation.
 And by the way, my TDI is just as economical   

Can you plug on your TDI for anything but the block heater?

They are totally different answers to the question of transportation. The Volt is a pretty good solution.

[Ace]

No, but I'm seriously thinking about buying an electric scooter to get me to and from the golf club 

[Karumba]

I quite like this car - drove it a few times in those gm test drive events - really really smooth and nice to drive.  Not that expensive with the gov rebate either and will certainly save a lot of money in gas (for me easily 2k a year).  I only have 2 issues with this car - the interior is more inline with a 25k vehicle, not a 35k one; and the reliability is unknown.

[macedonian]

So let me get this straight.
 The Volt will travel only about 45 km on its fully charged battery, then it hums along with its 1.4 litre gas internal combustion engine JUST generating power for the electric motor. Kinda like a small diesel/electric locomotive. How boring is that, no reving, no shifting, no mechanical interaction.
 I believe electric vehicles make total sense for short distance applications, but I enjoy driving too much to ever choose this mode of long distance transportation.
 And by the way, my TDI is just as economical   

Can you plug on your TDI for anything but the block heater?
They are totally different answers to the question of transportation. The Volt is a pretty good solution.

 

TDI is the answer, but it will take little bit of time for drivers in North America to understand that.
Volt is a step forward, but still needs a lot of work.

[rrocket]

TDI is the answer, but it will take little bit of time for drivers in North America to understand that.

And the Prius is even better (and more reliable) than the TDI.  But will take time for Euro drivers to realize this...

[robsaw]

This seems a very expensive and complicated solution to an engineering problem. The cost is far too high for the car's capabilities and the nonavailability of the car rather negates the project to begin with.

The Leaf strikes me as a much better solution. So does the Prius, which costs much less and attains similar fuel consumption.

No, it is an expensive and complicated engineering solution to a political problem.  Cost reductions and technological options that go hand-in-hand can only arise as vehicles like this (with their own design tangents) are produced in increasing volume.

[dirtyjeffer]

it seems like a decent enough car, however, for $50k, i think i'd rather go with a Tesla Model S...i know, it is electric only (and the options can raise the price), but it looks much cooler.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models

[rrocket]

it seems like a decent enough car, however, for $50k, i think i'd rather go with a Tesla Model S...i know, it is electric only, but for the same money, it looks twice as expensive.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models

Yea, except the Model S is much more.  That's what they were HOPING the price would be.  Now, when the car comes out in ~2013, the base price will be nearly $60K USD.

[dirtyjeffer]

base model is $49,900...but they do go up to $98k for the fully loaded "Signature Performance" model...i know, realistically, you aren't going to probably buy the $50k model, but $60k isn't that much of a stretch...i mean, if you can already afford $50k, why not $60k, or even $70k?

[rrocket]

base model is $49,900...but they do go up to $98k for the fully loaded "Signature Performance" model...i know, realistically, you aren't going to probably buy the $50k model, but $60k isn't that much of a stretch...i mean, if you can already afford $50k, why not $60k, or even $70k?

Base model is now $57,400.

http://www.insideline.com/tesla/model-s/photos/tesla_model-s_actf34_ns_122111.html