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So I test drove a 2012 Chevy Volt...

Discussion in 'Chevrolet Volt' started by Ashlem, Aug 24, 2015.

  1. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    Other than the fact that it's smaller inside than the prius, I actually liked it. Accelerates faster, much less road noise, and after I figured out how to move those icons around, liked that the Tire Pressure Monitor System actually shows you the tire pressure for each tire, vs the Prius which just uses the "idiot light" to warn you when one is low.

    Since I already know a lot of hybrid driving techniques such as pulse and glide, driving the Volt felt pretty natural, though I did put it in sport mode to see the acceleration from a stoplight. Then I wondered why everyone was far behind me. Then I realized the speed limit was 40 mph lol.

    It was listed for slightly under $18k with about 27k miles on it. Another local dealership has a 2012 with 83k miles for just under $13k. My guess is that in a few months when the Gen 2 comes out, these prices will probably drop at least another $1-2k.

    Starting to wonder if I shouldn't of just bought a Volt last year instead of the plain ol' liftback now that I want more of an EV driving experience. I still like my prius; just wish Toyota wasn't so anti-plug in.
     
  2. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Ahhhhh, another one samples the EV taste and likes it. :cool: I'm sure there will be some Volt 1.0 owners trading in for a 2.0 but there will also be many lease units coming on the market too.
     
  3. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    Sometimes, all it takes is a test drive. :D
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i would consider one if they were bigger. does anyone know chevy's philosophy on size? i always heard bigger is better.(n)
     
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  5. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Not necessarily bigger, but seating for 5 is a must for our family. Therefore, the Volt was never a candidate for us.
     
  6. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    I have to admit, doing some more research, I might just trade in my brother's prius c (which is technically still mine anyway as he's very slowly paying me for it) for a used Gen 1 volt, let my brother takeover my liftback, then save up for one of the 200 mile ranged EV's, or a later model Gen 2 Volt or maybe even a Gen 3 if they make it that far.

    There's absolutely nothing wrong with either of my prius, but I am craving more EV range, and unless the Gen 2 Plug in Prius has AWD capability (and is available nationwide unlike the Gen 1), I doubt it's going to wow me over the Gen 2 Chevy Volt.

    It's just me in the car most of the time, so I doubt I'll miss the room in the liftback. And if I decide to go camping at a faraway state park, I can still take the liftback as I live in the same house as my brother and he can take the Volt to work.

    How are Volts holding up as far as reliability so far? I've heard their batteries are in much better shape compared to the Leaf, but what about the other parts of the car? I'd hate to trade the c in, and then find out that the Volt has tons of issues I'd have to fix repeatedly.
     
  7. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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  8. dbcassidy

    dbcassidy Toyota Hybrid Nation, 8 Million Strong

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    I hear you about GM - got burn too many times by them. Finally , switched over to Toyota, never looked back since.

    DBCassidy
     
  9. berylrb

    berylrb Member

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    I put a deposit down on a 2016 Volt last week. 3-4 weeks they say ... *cough* ... I have a condo and just got eVgo to install a station today, deal with our HOA.

    Anyone know of a sample spreadsheet I can begin to get into? I'm moving from a 2004 Prius, not trading it in but it will be a backup car and put-around for my wife.
     
  10. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    Well, one of my brothers ended up needing a 2nd car, so I sold him my c, and my other brother's going to take over my liftback and make payments on it.

    So I ended up buying this 2014 Volt. Was a buyback and had to get the transmission and struts replaced, but only 2400 miles on it, and was a loaded one with a $38k MSRP. Was $23k after taxes and stuff, which is still less than if I bought a new one with the tax credit. Went with this instead of waiting for a Gen 2 because a comparably equipped one would probably be in the $40k range. While I would love the 53 miles of EV, 42 mpg using regular, and slightly better car, I figure a nearly $20k price difference will pay for a lot of premium gas.

    Hopefully I don't have any issues with it, but it's still got the warranty if something does go wrong.

    Dealership was 3 hours away from where I live, so got to take it on a mini-road trip and burned up about 4 gallons to get home, thanks to my brother mostly doing 75-80 mph. Definitely drives a lot quieter and nicer than the liftback though.

    20150912_182518.jpg 20150912_182504.jpg
     
  11. nwprius

    nwprius Member

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    Sounds good to me. After three Prius I am ready for 'electric' but will wait for the just announced 2017 Volt so I can have the Adaptive Cruise Control that I now enjoy on my 2011 Prius. So must wait until February 2016. Not so long from now, I guess I can wait. Have fun with the electric miles and keep us posted.
     
  12. NR427

    NR427 Member

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    I'm craving an electric car myself. My wife's friend has a Volt and she loves it. I drove a Leaf a couple weeks ago and really liked it but the dealer keep trying to sell me a Sentra when I said the payments were too high. I asked about a used Leaf and she said everyone keeps them forever and they never see them used. That was my cue to try somewhere else. They 2016's are supposed to have a larger battery, so I might be able to get a better deal when they come out in a month or two. EV choices are slim here in Utah. :(
     
  13. berylrb

    berylrb Member

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    I'm curious what they charged you for the Volt doesn't have a transmission? Transaxle? How much was the repair?
     
  14. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    It appears that GM bought it back from the original owner because the repairs were done under warranty and they didn't want it anymore.
     
  15. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    The mention why the transmission needed to be replaced? Just curious. I won't worry about the replacement, the GM drive train warranty is 5yr/100k miles.

    If you are regularly using gasoline in it, you really don't have too use premium. The car will get slightly worse fuel economy on it though.
     
  16. Ashlem

    Ashlem Senior Member

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    Yeah, from what the sales guy told me, someone bought this new late last year, so they also took the tax credit already.

    Then around 2300 miles or so they had some issue with it, had it towed to a dealership who then tried to fix the problem. Apparently it was a long fix and it had to get looked at again a few times, so the lemon law went into effect, and GM bought it back from them.

    GM then took it back to one of their facilities, had their engineers inspect the problem, probably for future QC (quality control) purposes, replaced the bad parts, auctioned it at a private GM auction, and the dealer I bought it from sold it at a massively discounted price. It had only been listed for a week or so, and the salesman told me he had gotten several inquiries about it, including from a person who lived maybe 30 minutes away from them. But because I decided to buy it and put a deposit down to hold it while making the trip there, they sold it to me first.

    The salesman was upfront and honest about this. The asking price was $20499 and they said this was the lowest they could go, though I did at least attempt to haggle a little anyway. But I still felt that this was an incredible price for a car with these options, only 2400 miles on it, and only a year old. Even if I had bought one brand spanking new, I still wouldn't have reached this price with the options on it, unless it was a barebones model that they also massively discounted.


    I don't recall if they said what went wrong. My brother speculated it might have just been a bad part, or whoever was assembling that portion of the vehicle probably did a half-assed job when they were putting it together at that time.

    Regarding the gas, I read about that. I might use regular in a pinch or if for whatever reason premium isn't available at that station at the time. But I anticipate only having to fill up on rare occasions, probably mostly in winter due to colder temps in WI. So I honestly wouldn't mind paying to fill it up if I only have to do it say, 3-5 times a year, vs every 2 weeks in the Prius.

    Yeah, I had slightly more options here, being close enough to Chicago. But a lot of dealerships in my area also had used Volts and Leafs for sale. And oddly enough, one also offered a used Plug-in Prius, which isn't normally offered in the Midwest (there is one that sells new ones in Madison, but can't offer incentives like in the CARB states, which turned me off from it last year). But at this point I want more EV than the PiP can provide.

    I did seriously contemplate leasing one of the new 16 Leaf's with the bigger battery. But many people seemed happy with the Volt, especially if they needed to go anywhere longer distance. In my case, it would be work commute like 95% of the time, which again is exactly 38 miles round trip.

    My main concern with the Leaf is that we have winters with cold weather and snow, so if by chance the freeway slows to a crawl due to an accident, I may not have enough power to make it back home, as my workplace currently doesn't have any places to charge. And I have already encountered this a few times in the Prius, which wasn't an issue since the engine was running most of the time anyway due to the cold weather.

    But if I were living in a region where snow doesn't stick around for longer than a day or two, or at least lived closer to work, then yeah, the Leaf totally would have been a much better choice. My next vehicle is definitely going to be one of the longer ranged EV's, but the Volt, providing it doesn't turn out to be a lemon for me as well, should last me a few years, enough time to get the Tesla Model 3, version 6.0 or whichever one they have by 2020-23 lol.
     
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  17. dbcassidy

    dbcassidy Toyota Hybrid Nation, 8 Million Strong

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    That Volt, IMHO, being under the lemon law - stay te heck away from it. I don't care if the dear paid you to take it off the lot.

    It is asking for trouble. My uncle was a GM mechanic for many years and always told me lemons are just that: lemons. Unless your're into grief and aggravation - walk away.

    I have to this day, always heeded his advice with no problems wi the vehicles I have bought. Other family members, friends, and co-workers who got a "fantastic" deal on a used trouble proned Chevy have learned a hard lesson: never again.

    Nowadays they mostly drive Toyotas, Lexes, Hondas, Hyundias, and Subarus.

    Chevy, to them is fast disappearing in the rear view mirror of the past.

    You will be learning a hard lesson, but take note, it will be a lesson well learned.

    DBCassidy
     
  18. Silver bullit

    Silver bullit Right Lane Cruiser

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    Anyone knowledgeable on the longevity of the Volt hybrid battery? I have read about some Leaf batteries degrading much sooner than Prius hybrid batteries. Also I understand that the new Volt will use regular gas.
     
  19. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    I think if there had been a negative trend at this point, it would have been posted here before now.

    The Leaf battery had some issues in hot climates; most of the problem cars were in Arizona. To save costs, Nissan opted to pass on a liquid cooling and heating for the battery pack like GM and Tesla use. The Leaf has a fan to cool the pack with ambient air. When fully charged, and sitting in the heat, there is no active cooling to protect the battery. Nissan has switched to a more heat resistant battery chemistry.

    Yep, the next Volt uses regular, but using premium in the old one was in no way some financial hardship. With the grid miles, a persons total gasoline costs likely went down compared to other cars. It comes down to specific prices for the octane grades, but a car that can make use of higher octane fuel can cost the same per mile for gas as putting regular in the tank.
     
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  20. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Funny that.

    I got burned one too many times by Toyota and went back to GM in the late 90's....and haven't looked back.

    If a call phone texter turns me into a car shopper today, I'll either get a leftover G3 or a 2015 Volt....but it will probably be a Volt.
    Barring that, and after seeing the G4 Prius and the G2 Volt..........it's gonna be a Volt for sure---especially if the $7500 kickback stays.

    YMMV!