Traded Prius for Volt

Thank you to F8L, NYRob and the other Volt Owners here for posting your experiences thus far and whetting my appetite for information on the car.

I'm about a week into ownership after finding a good deal on a new 2014 base w/ Safety 1. Total prices have dropped significantly, with this particular car selling for over $5K under MSRP resulting in a price similar to a Prius 2 after tax credit, effectively making it cheaper than Chevy's own Cruze diesel by a small margin. With the sudden price changes this year, the overall value seems like a very well kept secret.

I'm expecting this to work well on my 60 mile round trip commute with probable ability to charge @ work for no or little expense. They say to expect a range of 25-50 miles EV with a average around 38. So far in summer weather I'm nearer the 50 figure. I'm sure I'll use gas on longer trips and as winter approaches.

The space inside the car is comparable to my Gen 2 Prius with the exception of the back seat legroom as others have noted. Performance seems an order of magnitude better from both an acceleration and handling standpoint, and the quiet cruising I had to strive for in the Prius is virtually automatic in the Volt.

The car never will make sense from a purely financial standpoint over the older Prius, although I anticipate saving 50-75% on fuel costs over the old Prius. Granted that will be a relative pittance at $1000 to $1500 per year.

Anyway, I've enjoyed everyone's contribution to my Prius ownership experience, and am looking forward to a new chapter.

 

I wish I'd kept using my GM Card to the annual maximum. I still have the $3500 max version, and it would have made a good deal spectacular had I used it a little more!

 

I've been consistently driving in L. Normal Drive mode doesn't seem to get very much regen, and my area is fairly hilly. The added benefit I wouldn't have expected with the strong regen in L is mostly single pedal driving. It's been fun to play around and throw it around the twisties.

Sport mode takes the experience to a new level when playing around. Unfortunately it's not much use on my mostly divided highway commute!

I'm getting great range on the outbound commute with a 750ft elevation drop. It's about 32 miles and 20 estimated remaining so far. Unfortunately I suffer a little on the return trip (uphill) with single digit estimated remaining electric range when I pull in the garage. I'm sure I'll be using gas for that leg this fall/winter. Fortunately my work charge is free so far.

I have the Clipper Creek LCS-20 L2 charger on order and have everything else on hand to add my garage 220V circuit. I'm only going with 30A 10AWG at this point, not really futureproofing. I've heard that I can look forward to charging about a mile every 6 minutes with the bigger charger - it'll make it easier to do more electric travel after work.

It has been a fun ride so far!

 

Kudos. I can be insulted AND learn Norwegian history at the same time

 

Please take some time to learn about the car from some of the owners prior to visiting a dealership.

GM doesn't try very hard to sell the car. There are many stories about sales reps lack of understanding of the car. Many intentionally steer people away from the Volts that are sitting gathering dust in the back of the lot. You really need to have an idea of what you want upfront to have a satisfying experience.

The dealers, even the one I purchased from, don't seem to want to keep the cars charged. This leads to an unusual experience on the test drive that isn't indicative of daily life with the car. I was fortunate to learn about Mountain Mode before test driving, and was able to relatively quickly charge the car in the early part of my test drive. My wife thought I was nuts for considering the car as we roared out of the dealer lot with the engine @ 4000+ RPM trying to build charge quickly. Fortunately things quieted down once we had a few bars of charge and I switched back to Normal mode for the quiet electric experience.

I had a relatively local member of the Volt forum that was willing to share his purchase experience with me from a year or so ago, as well as answering many questions that would have taken a while to research. The purchase was a pressure free experience for him, and mine wasn't much worse considering I was more impulsive and didn't have as much upfront communication with the dealer.

I can't tell where you're from, but I was able to check eBay classifieds within 200 miles to get a general idea of what some of the better listings were. I took the best dealer and negotiated from there (which happened to be the same as the dealer recommended to me).

Good luck with your search.