The Volt: Saw it ~Touched it ~ took pics

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by bruceha_2000

I sure as heck hope NOT!!!!! Two of the GREAT things about the Prius:
1) NOT having to look THROUGH the steering wheel to see the instruments.
2) NOT having a stupid console mounted 'right down left down' shifter

I'll be VERY mad if Toyota gets rid of the joystick shifter or the 'at the windshield / dash' display in any future Prius. Both are leaps in driving ergonomics.

I saw some pictures of the (released when??) Venza and I was VERY unhappy to see:

1) NOT a hybrid
2) Notched console mounted shifter IN THE WAY of the controls - between the driver and the climate control section of the console

ok, i see no pic... i need to know if Chrome is at fault here

[bruceha_2000]

The article is flawed:

Yes, it is designed to go 40 miles to a charge of electricity. But it won't be economical for long trips after the batteries lose their charge, because it will be hauling around hundreds of pounds of excess weight in those non-productive batteries,

Wrong. AND, since 75% of people drive less than 40 miles in an average day, the 'after 40 miles' MPG is important only to the other 25%. Plus, it is STILL better than most vehicles on the road once it goes into ICE electricity gen mode.

and its performance is lousy - zero to 60 miles per hour in around nine seconds. Most cars in the $40,000 class get to 60 in well under eight seconds.

Which has what bearing on the value of a vehicle? As gas goes up, people will stop 'needing' quick 0-60 MPH and want 60 MPG. You don't get that by hauling around useless horsepower just so you CAN do 0-60 in under 8 seconds. Which, by the way, no one ever really NEEDS to do and very few ever use their 7 seconds 0-60 in normal driving.

My prior vehicle was a '95 Odyssey, listed as 0-60 in about 13 seconds. I never had a need to see if that was how long it actually took, nor was there ever a time when I NEEDED to get to 60 faster. In fact, just to see, I checked the average 0-35 time in traffic before I picked up my Prius, about 10 seconds.

[bruceha_2000]

ok, i see no pic... i need to know if Chrome is at fault here

Venza:
Google Image Result for http://blogs.cars.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/16/venza2.jpg


Or did you mean the Volt?
http://www.gm-volt.com/e/interior2.jpg

[darelldd]

The dinner event was a fundraiser for Plug in America.

Trying to figure out WHICH blonde Patsparks is asking about.

And here, Hill, I'll see your "stars" and add... well, the same ones:

[hill]

Originally Posted by bruceha_2000

The article is flawed:
Wrong. AND, since 75% of people drive less than 40 miles in an average day, the 'after 40 miles' MPG is important only to the other 25%. Plus, it is STILL better than most vehicles on the road once it goes into ICE electricity gen mode.

. . . . . . . . snip

.

Wrong in one other way too ... it's cost as a death blow, because a $30K- ish Prius would cost $40K too, if it had a 40 mile range li-ion battery pack. The hope of both Toyota & GM ought to be that initial high production will eventually lead to affordability, after us early users buy initial R&D costs. Isn't that how Toyota has already done it with the Hi-hy, the hy-cam and various Lexus hybrids?

Originally Posted by darelldd

The dinner event was a fundraiser for Plug in America.

Trying to figure out WHICH blonde Patsparks is asking about.

And here, Hill, I'll see your "stars" and add... well, the same ones:

I am honored to almost be outsmugged by Mr. Smug himself. But keep lookin' over your shoulder. I'm comming after your title.

[asjoseph]

... that car is going to be bug city. I'm not touching it with a ten foot pole.


Regards,
~ Samuel, '04 Pruis

[patsparks]

This hot blond,
If this is your spouse I'm happy for you, very pretty lady.
I also wish GM every success with their second venture into plug in cars.
Maybe the US government could make any financial assistance or tax breaks conditional on no perfectly good cars being destroyed by GM this time.

[PRIvUS]

Wow, I'm digging the front. I love how aggressive it looks. I'm definitely suprised.

[hill]

Originally Posted by daniel

So what you saw at the show was not a Volt, and certainly not a production car. It was a thing with a Volt name plate on it. But of course now a lot of people will believe they've actually built one.

The GM dude told me it was a 'working prototype'. He never said how fast it'd go, but that everything was as it will be delivered in the showroom, "minus the battery pack". So what ever kind(s) of batteries it had, they weren't what buyers will get. Here's a vid link of the dinner:

Viddler.com - 2008.09.27 Plug In America Fundraiser Party - Uploaded by iStef

Towards the end you can see 'em moving the car around, and get a couple more views of the car.

[miscrms]

I think "working prototype" may be a bit of a stretch. The Frontline that was on last night had a small bit about the Volt, where they had been invited out to a GM photo shoot to see it in person. They unloaded it off the truck, it struggled to climb a gentle grade at ~10mph for the cameras, then conked out all together. The GM folks suggested to Frontline they could speed up the film to make it look normal speed

Rob