Test Drove a Volt today

how is the hatchback storage? it looks short from the side, but not from the back?

 

I'd love for it to succeed, but at $41,000 for a 4 seater, I'm willing to wait a year for the $27,000 PHV Prius.

 

LMAO!! I loved that last part.

Very nice pictures. What's up with people saying the Volt looks good though? It looks clunky and bloated. I think my Prius looks better than the Volt.

Now ride that champ!

 

When I said the Volt doesn't look very good, I didn't mean to imply there was something wrong with your pictures. I can tell because everything else in the background is proportional. The Volt's trunk is just super tall. Wouldn't you agree?

 

Certain perspectives of the car look *so* Prius. I'm always amused when Volt fans say they love the looks, but hate the Prius look.

 

The white dashboard is ugly and cheap. Looks like a GM slept with Steve Jobs and Nintendo.

 

I still don't like that black border under the windows! The car would be very interesting at $30k, at it's current price it's a big pass!

 

Great write-up! I like the looks, inside and out, but to me the price is way too prohibitive, almost twice what I paid for my Prius! BTW, congrats on your new Prius!

 

Early on, the emphasis on driving experience eclipsed engine-efficiency, emission-rating, and price... the very things people are now expressing disappointment about. Rather than strive for a balance, too much emphasis was set on priorities outside of the mainstream.

There's no doubt the niche crowd will gobble up the limited inventory. It's what happens when more are produced that's in question. The typical consumer vote from their wallet is far harder to get than praise from a test-drive.

The clock is ticking too. How will cost be brought down to a competitive level and those shortcomings be dealt with before the tax credit expires? What about those who want a high-efficiency vehicle but don't have a plug available? What about the competition?


GM got exactly what they wanted.

Now they have to deal with it.
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hm. This is just so wrong. Emissions rating, do you think people in the country care more about CARB's warenty requirement for emissions than the actual pollution? No CARB needs to change. It is engaged with politics, and this politics likely has slowed toyota from getting the phv prius out and other phevs.

The bad engine choice was not about driving experience it was about cost cutting. The same is true about gm reusing two mode components. That was done to reduce the price, gm just wasn't good at it, bad management you know.

The lease price is quite reasonable. Most of the complainers that I hear from complained before they even knew anything. Is $350/mo for a 3 year lease on a volt or a leaf really that high? I don't think so. If you are driving 20k miles a year or more electrification is not for you.

I guess you missed the memo. For the first few years this is a halo vehicle. Something to drive people to dealerships. GM is hoping to sell 50k-100k per year world wide which is not really a difficult goal as long as people like driving the thing.

For efficiency its simple, they can build or buy a better engine and buy a generator not take it from the parts bin. There are 3 easy choices for engine to buy or copy. Mazda's 1.4L skyactive likely around 110hp, fords 3cyl 120hp 1L ecoboost, Nissan's 3cyl 100hp 1.2L miller cycle. Copying or licensing Mazda's tech is probably the best business decision as people don't trust 3 cyl and the engine could be used in the cruize too. Replace the generator with one with appropriate size for the motor instead of the one in the parts bin and you get a 30% CS fuel economy boost for $200-$600 per car.

The cost things are even simpler. Battery costs should drop naturally, cost of other components should drop greatly with volume. If they get to 100K cars a year gm's costs should drop greatly. The question is what the competing PHEVs will do when they are introduced in 2012 and 2013.

 

And clearly Nintendo was pitching.

My sentiments exactly when I saw this thing in Austin. I was turned off entirely by the interior. I don't know what it is about Chevy, but their core concept seems anachronistic IMO. This cabin should look WAY more like the Leaf and a lot less like something from the year 2000. I looked at Chevy 1500 trucks a few years back and I kid you not, the things had either velour or velour-like seats and dashboards that were about 15 years out of date. I ended up buying a Ford, which IMO "gets it" with design. Even the more ho-hum stuff Ford comes out with still has decent aesthetics.

 

I don't know. I think the volt looks pretty similar to most sedans on the road. I don't think it is likely to catch any attention when driving down the road unless somebody already knows what a Volt looks like. Sort of like back in 2003 I had a Gen-1 Prius and a Gen-1 insight in the family. When we drove the Insight, everyone noticed whether they were familiar with the car or not. Driving into a parking lot sometimes a crowd would form around the car asking me questions about it. The Gen-1 Prius on the other hand, never received any attention. Despite being technologically superior, it never got a second look by the public. In fact, on more than one occasion people thought it was a Ford Focus?!

I think the same thing is going to be true of the Leaf/Volt era. The Leaf is going to attract attention with its unique styling. That isn't to say the style will appeal to everyone. In fact, I must admit when I first saw pictures of it I was a bit repelled by it. However, the styling has grown on me and I've come to like it now. But it will certainly get noticed. The volt is going to pretty much blend into the crowd.

 

That's the concern. They already contained costs. How are they going to reduce them even more?
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Interesting how they changed the goal just prior to rollout, eh? For the past 3.5 years, it was intended to crush the competition. Now, that "game changer" isn't expected to emerge until the second generation.

Makes you wonder what choices Toyota will make for the second generation PHV offering... as well as Ford, Hyundai, etc.
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Wasn't this supposed to be their premiere engine, the one that would carry GM to the industry leader position?
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That's a moving target, since the competition's costs will drop too.
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How many other exciting rides are there which sales are low simply because they are too expensive?

As for anticipated quantity, that's what I want find out more about. Volume that low is not a "game changer". That quantity in just the US simply qualifies it as a mainstream vehicle. How long until the technology is spread to other vehicle sizes & types? When will it become profitable at a competitive price?

I have no doubt people will get quite a thrill from the EV driving.
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Thanks for the quick review, i'm looking forward to getting a chance to drive one - some time off yet though!

 

Hey just pointing out facts, since truth doesn't seem to be of a concern to most of you.

No they did things that they thought would contain costs in 2008 under bad management. Just about any car manufacturing person can see ways to squeeze costs out. GM decided not to change some design decisions to get the car out in December.

I guess you don't read the business press. I was giving you the point of view from 1.5 years ago. In the last 3.5 years the volt was a savior, or going to get canceled because it would never sell. GM said a lot of things to analysts and many thought GM was going to cancel the program. I'm glad it survived.

I'm disappointed with toyota for delaying their PHV and talking down lithium. They could easily have phv prii out there if they had bought batteries from jci-saft or lg. But, they likely wanted to keep their battery partnership and without competition no need to innovate. I have high hopes when they redesign the prius in 2016. Ford and Hyundai have a strategy to reuse platforms. This should allow their costs to be lower on low volume and quickly ramp up. I expect Focus phev and sonata phev to be more profitable than the volt.

They made a decision in 2007 or 2008 to not use modern tech like DI in the engine. Its one reason I bought ford stock in 2008 and hyundai in 2009. They are both hungry and willing to use the latest technologies.

Yes indeed. And that should be good for consumers of phevs.

 

i think i heard there is going to be a sweet discount for taxpayer/investor/owners!