Anyone own a Volt?

[McRat]

Thinking of getting a Volt as a beginner's car for the 2 kids.

Out the door on the 2013's is now reasonable.

Looks like about $25k after everything is done.

Anyone own one? What do you think?

 

[hondarider552]

Last I checked they were 40k..? Wonder how much the power power bill goes up after charging such a oversized golf cart.

 

[gassux]

I drive one occasionally around nyc. I've taken them on the local streets and highways. We can get 4 adults in one comfortably. The geniuses never hooked up the charging bases so we just run them on the engine. They have the power and handling of any 4cyl car and the interior is nice and quiet.

 

[Mike L.]

I thought Fingers bought one.

 

[SSchmi5519]

My neighbor has one of the LTZs, nice looking car for sure

 

[Fingers]

I have a 2012 Volt and have been very pleased with the car. 21K miles to date. The Dealer is another story. Here in the Pittsburgh area, an electric car is the red headed step child. I think they are still pissed I didn't buy a pickup. I don't think that will be near the issue on the west coast.

About the car and how it works for me:

I drive about 50% on the battery over all. That is mainly because I use the car for long business trips that can rack up the miles. I use it for those longer trips because the car is one of the nicest highway cars I have owned in many many years. On the highway, I get about 37 MPG.

At home, I almost never run on gas. the 30 plus mile range is more than adequate for each day's travels. I have a 240Volt charger, so it takes less than 4 hrs to recharge. Even so, there are no worries because the gas is there to back it up. More or less worry free.

You get used to the silence of the car after a while. So much so that when the gas engine kicks on, you think something is wrong. "What's that noise?" Kinda funny,

In winter, the electric range goes down because you use a lot of power for heat and the batteries are less efficient. Not a big deal. Still get around fine and it is decent in the snow.

Personally, I have not noticed an increase in the house electric bill. I'm sure it is up, but not enough to give me sticker shock. We use a lot of electricity anyway, so it would be hard to pick out an increase from the car. Worst case would be $1.00 a day, more like $20 a month tops for me.

It is a shame the bad press the car has gotten. It is a nice car. Definitely not a Prius. I personally hate Prius-es. Comments like Hondarider's above go to show how much damage the press has done. Either that or the general public really is that naive.

IMO, GM has done an excellent job bringing a practical electric car to the market with the available technology. As a company, they stand behind the product 100% and have gone out of their way to provide good customer service. The dealer has had to be recalibrated by me and corporate a couple times. I think they are getting better.

I have had the car back to the dealer for a safety inspection and a bad proximity sensor for the parking assist. They tried to tell me that the parking assist was something unique on the Volt. BS!! That red headed step child thing again.

 

[hondarider552]

My mothers pool car is a 2011 Prius, as long as it gets bomb MPG, I don't care what it is, my comment was not to belittle the car :thumb:

 

[RedHotGMC]

Ive heard good reviews from the volt and for 25k thats not a bad deal. Personally im a fan for the prius, I drove a 2010 prius for work, bought it brand new in 2010 and logged over 160k miles on it in two years. Other than oil changes and 3 sets of tires the car never had any issues or parts fail, and mileage was pretty consistent ranging from 40-50 mpg. They may get a bad rep for being a green car, but any vehicle that can take that much use on all stock parts for that many miles is plus to me.

 

[408.Luke]

Any Idea on how many miles the batteries last (life wise)? From my understanding 100k seems about average but maybe its more now. Also 30 miles per charge seems a bit low for someone living on the west coast. I know a 30 mile range in Houston wouldn't get me very far, not to mention here in Tyler where I'm living now. A VW tdi (or maybe even the new cruse diesel) is a better economy car/eco friendly car than a hybrid, but thats my opinion. I love my 2013 Passat TDI. Ive had it a little over a year and it has 23,000 miles on it so far with zero problems besides needing the bluetooth module replaced. I average around 40-43mpg per tank, about half city half highway, and if I'm doing a road trip I can get into the low 50mpg range.

 

[McRat]

Well we got one. Just now.

Full safety package including frontal collision avoidance, pedestrian beeper, lane change warning, etc.

A lot of very trick electronics in it.

It will probably take a month to figure out what everything does.

GM is giving $7000 cash, dealer gave $3000, we had $1000 worth of GM points, and there is $1500 California cash, and $7500 Federal.

Out the door before gov't rebates was $33,800, so after Tax Incentives, it will be $24,800.

Not a rocketship, but has adequate acceleration to hit 65mph with 3 people on a uphill freeway ramp.

Has an iPhone app to track the status of your car and where you parked it at.

I think I will feel safe with the kids learning to drive it.

Battery warranty is 8 years, 100,000 miles.
Gas engine is 5/100
Base 3/36

Even with the battery charged, you can run it off gas if you want.

There is "ball" that tells you how to drive for max range. There is a "sport mode" and "mountain mode" as well.

It's no Cadillac, but it I didn't get that Rental Car feeling from it either.

It will charge in about 9 hours plugging into a 120v normal house outlet. Or 4 hours on 240v, or 5 hours on 208v (2 legs of 208 3ph).

 

[Kat]

It's a cute little thing.

MK Smith comes though again.

Funny thing was when I was getting into Wendy to drive home. One of the guys says "They own one of the Best Duramax Sites and they just bought a Volt" :roflmao:

 

[Mike L.]

It's a cute little thing.

Must be talking about the car.:spit::hug:

 

[Kat]

Must be talking about the car.:spit::hug:

HEY last I knew my Hubby wasn't a it :frog:

Love you Mike :hug:

 

[matt78]

Well we got one. Just now.

Full safety package including frontal collision avoidance, pedestrian beeper, lane change warning, etc.

A lot of very trick electronics in it.

It will probably take a month to figure out what everything does.

GM is giving $7000 cash, dealer gave $3000, we had $1000 worth of GM points, and there is $1500 California cash, and $7500 Federal.

Out the door before gov't rebates was $33,800, so after Tax Incentives, it will be $24,800.

Not a rocketship, but has adequate acceleration to hit 65mph with 3 people on a uphill freeway ramp.

Has an iPhone app to track the status of your car and where you parked it at.

I think I will feel safe with the kids learning to drive it.

Battery warranty is 8 years, 100,000 miles.
Gas engine is 5/100
Base 3/36

Even with the battery charged, you can run it off gas if you want.

There is "ball" that tells you how to drive for max range. There is a "sport mode" and "mountain mode" as well.

It's no Cadillac, but it I didn't get that Rental Car feeling from it either.

It will charge in about 9 hours plugging into a 120v normal house outlet. Or 4 hours on 240v, or 5 hours on 208v (2 legs of 208 3ph).

Congrats. To bad they dont have a diesel/electric.

 

[Fingers]

Need to get over the 30 mile battery range thing like it will stop in the middle of the highway or something. Just burns gas till you can charge up again. That is, it will perform wonderfully in Houston. My brother wants to get one and he lives there.

Sent on the run from my Cell Phone

 

[408.Luke]

Congrats on the car!

Need to get over the 30 mile battery range thing like it will stop in the middle of the highway or something. Just burns gas till you can charge up again. That is, it will perform wonderfully in Houston. My brother wants to get one and he lives there.

Sent on the run from my Cell Phone

I know that, just seems a bit pointless to have an electric car always switching over to gas. But then again it depends on the daily commute, if it's 40~50 miles then it's mostly on the battery anyway.

 

[McRat]

One thing that is interesting. It uses a video camera for the frontal collision and lane change.

Need to figure out if you could use it to record video.

It still has the radar sensors front and rear, but the frontal video cam indicates some fairly advanced tech. The rear camera? Not sure what it controls or whether it's just an image.

 

[McRat]

Congrats on the car!




I know that, just seems a bit pointless to have an electric car always switching over to gas. But then again it depends on the daily commute, if it's 40~50 miles then it's mostly on the battery anyway.

Today's EV's aren't for everyone. Average commuter miles in the USA is 18mi one way.

Typical EV is 80-100mi total range, then you call for a tow truck.

The Volt is the only EV you could drive from LA to NY.

So you could have just one commuter car and would not have to rent for long trips.

It is unlikely electric-only tech will ever go 12 hours straight at 70mph in the near future. Which is what would be necessary to replace diesel or gas engines. Well, unless the "20 minute" chargers ever become reality. That would require a lot of infrastructure.

 

[lotsofmiles]

I got a volt in June. Love it. 6700 miles so far, just over 600 of it on gas. Probably 65%+ of my charging is free too! More money for candy

 

[lotsofmiles]

go sign up at Voltstats.net

Here's mine: http://www.voltstats.net/Stats/Details/3393

Fwiw ive hit over 60 miles on a single charge. And 268 ev miles in a single day


Edit - Youre in CA, your battery warranty should be 150,000 miles iirc