Wikipedia: Volt Displaces Prius' Fuel Efficiency Crown

I stopped by Chevrolet this afternoon, said just browsing, I like green cars to which they quickly replied, 'Volt is the best green car out now'. They had a couple demo units with huge 'Volt' logo on the side. $42k tag on one of them.

Check this, they had only 8 Cruzes on entire lot. This is Fremont auto row (for perspective, Toyota across street had 60 Pri's in Jan.).

Next door at Honda, there's a slew of Civics. How does Chevy expect to outsell Civic which has a 1.8L to Cruze's 1.4L ? And there's a new Civic coming in Summer. Cruze was pretty nice inside. Engine from Austria you know. What kind of torque from a 1.4L ? eeek.

 

Maybe they cannot afford to sell it at a loss or maybe don't want the bad PR from it (though I doubt most people would really know/care about that).

 

It is what it is. I didn't say they didn't make the best car they could in the time frame. I only said the regulations mean they are not going to kill this car. The conspiricy theorists seem to forget these things.

They second sourced the corola and built them side by side. GM lost money toyota made money. It is not a sound strategy. Do you think people will buy a prius from GM? They moved forward to the next step. They still need to refine the car but it does many things better than a prius - ev range, handling, acceleration.

With the green cars going coming on line, IMHO Toyota will be hard pressed to hit prius sales figures of 2007 again in the united states. I doubt anyone else can compete in japan.

There is already a backlash against GM. Why do you think they can afford to take a $15,000 loss on each car like toyota did? They will be making more volts in the first 2 years than the prius even at these high prices.

I thought this was about a bad wikipedia page. Shouldn't the "gm should kill the volt" or"gm should lose billions on the volt because I want it cheaper" go to a different thread.

 

I'm not talking about building a carbon copy of the Prius (i.e. Matrix vs. Pontiac Vibe).

It seems to me many here have wanted GM to build a highly efficient, solid, affordable green car for many years, but they have failed to do that.

You can talk all day about how the Volt does things better than the Prius, but at the end of the day, the issue is -

1) Is the Volt more comfortable , useful, reliable, efficient, and affordable than a Prius?

I don't think so.

People who buy green cars hardly give a darn about 'handling and acceleration'. it's a green car fer cryin' out loud. Why would you have a green car, then jab the pedal to lower your EV miles more quickly? Who lives for carving up the twisties in their green car? Are they going to get off pulling G's on off ramps? No.

I can go out and buy a regular Prius Two for $23.5k today. Why would I want to buy a Volt for $10k - $18k more?

Here's another thing, the average consumer is very skeptical about big batteries in cars. The regular Prius battery is big enough. How skeptical do you think they are going to be about that Volt battery? I'm not talking about Volt fans, but everyday consumers.

 

Silly me, I thought most here wanted gm to go bankrupt.... again. Most of the anti-volt crowd seems anti-gm. Hey, I didn't think the government should of bailed them out. How many here really have been saying gm I love you please build a prius killer?

:focus:
I thought the main issue here was is a phev more efficient than a non-plug in, and to the epa and me the answer is yes. Then the next question is a phev more efficient than an ev, and the answer is the volt isn't as efficient as the leaf, which is not as efficient as the tesla.

Newer technology is never as cheap as the old tech in the beginning. Reliability can not be proven for years. These same arguments were/are used against the prius even today.

Even the volt doesn't perform that well, hence the thread on the infiniti M hybrid. These things come in a spectrum. I own a gen III and have upgraded the wheels and tires, it still falls short on many things.

I'm sure you wouldn't. I don't think anyone here is telling you to buy a volt. I am just saying its not a trick, its not a bad car. The volt isn't going away, nor is it meant to save gm all by itself.

For the average customer the prius battery is too big and expensive, why buy that instead of a cruze, or focus, or fit, or mazda 3, or elantra etc. For many the volt battery doesn't have enough capacity.

 

If the GM tried to make an absolute, direct competitor to the Prius it would be annihilation. With the Volt they can pretend it's not a competitor or somehow trumps it because of EV-only range.

 

Check out the Volt consumer reviews on edmunds.com .. almost 5 stars, 17 reviews.

"Now in my second month and still have not used more than 2 gallons of gas..."

another one likes it better than their 540i

2011 Chevrolet Volt Consumer Reviews

This is an interesting drive video with CTO -

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbbv-CCVqyg"]YouTube - First Drive: 2011 Chevy Volt[/ame]

Owners are saying it really does drive like an electric car (without ICE popping on often to supplement). Let's see ...

- GM has built a car that drives much or just like a pure EV. So, people are really going to get a taste of what an EV is like.

- and you have the range extender ICE, so can go far.

- they say it's quick and nimble and feels good to drive

- For people who appreciate performance, Volt has the edge over Prius or Prius PHV

...

I wouldn't mind having one if could afford it. I hope the Volt does well and they keep developing it.

 

Speaking of battery skepticism, is it true the PHV Prius will have a lead acid 12 volt battery, and a NiMh traction battery, and a Li-ion EV battery? I'm a prius driver and volt fan, but it seems to me the average consumer might be a little put-off by all that, at least certainly find it more complicated or intimidating than an easier to understand single large battery pack.

 

Chevy cars that start with a "V" being tracked on fuelly.com

V1500 Suburban (1)
Vega (1)
Venture (16)

Number of Prius' being tracked:
Prius (544)

Until I see real people tracking their mileage, it's just the equivalent of software vaporware.

I didn't think a Ford hybrid existed until recently when I actually saw a Mercury hybrid.

 

I'd seen and driven a FEH long ago. FEHs are a bit rare to see on the road but there are plenty in use as taxis in NYC.

I noticed that the fleet of employees shuttles at where I used to work now includes now FFHs (they don't even have plates yet). Currently, most of the shuttles are 2nd gen Priuses.

 

Not true. Just a small lead acid and a Lithium pack.