2011 Chevrolet Volt gets an EPA certified rating of 93 MPGe and 37 mpg in gasoline mode

As constructive of an approach that may sound, it translates to basing measure upon what GM wants to sell us rather than what consumers actually needs.

GM clearly stated goals of 50 MPG and "nicely under $30,000" originally, then ended up giving into the temptation to deliver a niche sports car rather than a family vehicle for middle-market.

Haven't you notice how all the promotion places heavy emphasis on performance (power & handling) while downplaying engine-efficiency and price?
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I'm disappointed to see so many negative attitudes towards the Volt. I think we should all be very happy to see GM put this very serious effort into the market. Volt is a novel, first-of-its-kind design: An electric plug-in car that can offer an unlimited range via an ICE engine. Plug-ins like Leaf have a very serious disadvadvantage, which is that they cannot be used for long trips, and they are dead if the battery is uncharged.

The fact is that, on a daily basis, most Americans drive less than the Volt's electric range, so the Volt is a perfectly good plug-in with the added benefit and reassurance that it can operate on gas. For these drivers, gasoline consumption with Volt will likely be far lower than with Prius.

I'm a Prius fan, but I dearly want Volt to succeed financially for GM. I want the US automakers to build fuel-efficient cars, not gas-guzzling SUV's.

 

Is there no Hertz, Avis, National, Enterprise, etc. near you? I drive across the country every other year, but often in rental vehicles. (U-Haul)

 

I do not know, Jimbo, sometimes I just take the family somewhere on a whim, and I would t want to own a car with a "hard-stop" range like Leaf's. But then, there are people who live in cities and drive Smart Cars, and they'll never exhaust the Leaf range in even three days. To each his own!

I drove through Laramie, Wyoming long ago, and asked the locals where they go for fun. "Denver," they replied. It's 150 miles away... Nearby, by their standards.

 

I am not certain I dislike the Volt, too bad that is not what GM 'sold' us. Much of the negativity about a lack of 230 MPG and not being an electric car and not having better Cd than the Prius and 40 mile electric range is not because any car that does not do them is worthless, but because GM promised them.

Not being a SULEV, (no use of HOV lanes) 37 MPG, and using premium fuel are low points of the car, but the other points are just low points in GM's honesty.

 

GM's choice of configuration is what we take issue with, not the idea. To be serious, they would have strived for the balance they originally promised.

Their one-size-fits all approach that sacrifices efficiency & price for the sake of performance is the concern. The engineering reveals design decisions were not based upon consumer need.
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When I moved to Elko NV in 1988, it was 240 miles to a Mall, 180 miles to a Sears, my mover asked "Elko Nevada, what that near?" I never found out. (OTOH, it was a 4 gold mine, 5 casino, 6 whorehouse kind of town. I worked at a gold mine)

 

Actually, the only ad I've seen for the Volt just pointed out that plugging in a car doesn't have to be a scary thing. The only fact mentioned that could be considered performance was its top speed of 100mph. Until very recently, the only EVs that could be purchased only did 25 to 35 tops. It's an assurance that the Volt will do fine on the many highways with 65 to 75 limits. Besides, until the hybrid Highlander and Accord came out, the public believed hybrid systems would only work in small, slow cars. With the myths still circulating, partially due to GM, you can't wait for the facts to spread on their own.

It is overpriced for a Chevy, but they probably felt tied to badging it that brand. If they didn't feel the need to pipe their own horn, they could have made it a Cadillac when they realized they couldn't meet their price target. Maybe during better times, they might have been able to sell the first run at a lost, but not now. The economic troubles may have affected pricing. It is a production first, and a small number, limited market release. Which all tends to add to the cost.

The first Prius and Insight were $20k. Depending on how you want to do the math, that's 25% to 33% than most of their competitors at the time. The lease is $350. As I under stand the same as the Leaf, a less expensive vehicle to buy.

Hey, go ahead and bust on GM for not meeting the expectations they put forward. They deserve it. Just don't let that negativity color your judgement of the car we actually got. Compromises had to made to get this car to production, and you may have preferred them going another way, but it is a decent car. Hopefully it will get better. It will have major role in moving the public to EVs. Bigger one than the Leaf, and maybe even the Prius PHEV.

 

Remove the 35 EV miles from the Volt. What else about this car is still appealing?

 

Wow!

That's quite the way to summarize its shortcomings.

With the engine running, there are a number of other vehicles available which are just as appealing.
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^^ and about $20k cheaper, with records of reliability.

 

Remove HSD from the Prius....

That is just silly. That is what it is all about.

 

You do realize the EV vanishes from Volt every 35 miles or so, making the "removal" extremely realistic. In fact, that would be just about a daily occurence for some of us.
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It is a silly question, but anyway.

Don't want an EV capable Volt, you can get a Cruze. With a comparable level of features, it will cost $20 to $21 thousand. The Eco trim costs a little more, but has a manual transmission. I can't honestly say how much of the price difference between the two cars covers the battery, motor/generators, inverter, cooling, and other supporting systems.

A comparable genIII Prius will run about $26 to $30 thousand. It isn't possible to spec out a direct comparison between any of the models.

It's a silly question because what's appealing depends on the individual. Seat comfort is a perfect example of this. Their needs are also another consideration. Whether or not they need cargo room. I've had SKS on my Prius. While nice, it isn't a must have for me, so whether a car has it or not wouldn't appeal to me.

If the idea of reducing total fuel use, electric drive, plugging in, or even the basic concept of a hybrid doesn't appeal to a person, then they aren't going to bother looking into the Volt deep enough to find anything else appealing about the car.

 

If your daily driving goes far enough beyond the EV range that you'd you use less fuel with a Prius or HCH, then the Volt isn't going to appeal to you no matter what other features it has.

 

How many GM engineers does it take to make the Volt real competition?

A. 1,000

GM, Chrysler to bring 2,000 high-tech jobs to region | detnews.com | The Detroit News

To put this in perspective:

• $100k/year - cost of an engineer including the newbie college grads and non-USA imports including benefits
• $200 million dollars - direct, engineering labor cost over two years

Why does it only take two years? What is magic about 2013? After all, it is nearly 2011 and the current Volt started in 2006-07 . . . four-five years ago?

Bob Wilson

 

You mean like the two teeny tiny bucket seats in the rear?

I swear I'd have to ride back there with the hatchback open


Sorry ... I just couldn't resist

 

Cruze won't seem to hold up to even the 2006+ Honda Civic - The backseat head / legroom was lame. And Honda may clobber it harder with the all-new Civic next year. GM hater? Nah. Just try to see things objectively.

And what's with the Cruze's puny 1.4L gas engine? think they can get torque and HP out of that teeny mill?

A 3rd gen Prius II (base model) can be had easily for $21k + TTL these days (courtesy of Toyota bashing). I'd take one of those over a Cruze any day. More comfortable, more space, and 50 MPG is easy to get.

Quite simply, what is primarily going to strangle the Volt is ..... the price.

And SKS, love it. Hate taking fob out of pocket anymore. Feel like I'll drop and break it sometime.

 

This is exactly the same thing that I intended to say. Well done.

 

1,000 engineers? My GAWD . . . that's more than their EV1 had, for an entire staff, isn't it? 12 year old technology ... 100 mile range way back in the day, and yet GM still needs to researgh to death, an old idea that worked great. I really want post Banko GM to make it ... but I'm having doubts. Their EPA ad ought to say, "$41,000 Charge Sustaining Mode ... Keeping BP in business"



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