Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Serious question: Do you live somewhere that gets snow? I would consider it but I'm not sure how it would handle a Wisconsin winter

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

I thought these were electric.. what're you doing at a gas station?

So they sold 1000 cars in a month. Wow - their on their way to sell a whopping 12000 cars annually!

I'm sure that will cover it's development costs. Glad to see my tax dollars hard at work.

/Best of luck to Nissan and the LEAF
//UAW and the VOLT can DIAF

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Just be sure to sell it before the batteries wear out.

/Ideal cars for leasing, given the long term upkeep costs are astronomic

Damn it they need to make and sell a LOT more of these - I want to buy a used on in 2 or 3 years....

/not paying $40k for one tho...

Lost Thought 00: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Just be sure to sell it before the batteries wear out.

/Ideal cars for leasing, given the long term upkeep costs are astronomic

How much are the costs? Like what would you expect to pay every year and how would that add up compared to say a Prius and then a normal vehicle.

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

fatalvenom: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

Pretty much that.

Also, I couldn't see one of these lasting long in the north, where there's a long winter, or the south, where there's a long summer. How much does the heater or AC in one of those reduce the battery life? Are you going to sweat to death or freeze if you get stuck on the highway in traffic during a peak winter/summer season?

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Too expensive to switch "just because." When my Civic dies in 15 years maybe the technology will be better and price will be (relative to the time) more affordable.

beta_plus: So they sold 1000 cars in a month. Wow - their on their way to sell a whopping 12000 cars annually!

I'm sure that will cover it's development costs. Glad to see my tax dollars hard at work.

/Best of luck to Nissan and the LEAF
//UAW and the VOLT can DIAF

Hey how does that Leaf go beyond its electrical power range? At least the Volt can run on gasoline as backup. So they're two entirely different cars. I would have to buy a Leaf in addition to my current vehicle, whereas the Volt can satisfy both requirements. Don't compare two entirely different cars.

Rapmaster2000: How much are the costs? Like what would you expect to pay every year and how would that add up compared to say a Prius and then a normal vehicle.

roughly an amortized 1-2k per year on batteries per year for a pure electric (roughly 10k to replace the batteries, batteries last 5-10 years with normal charging systems, less if you use aggressive charging systems). Which against a normal vehicle you would compare against engine/transmission maintainence, not things like tires, AC, etc which would be common to all cars. Don't have the numbers in front of me, but I couldn't imagine sinking that much into engine maintainence. Hybrids like the Prius would be significantly less since they have fewer batteries and control their own charging.

weMr. Breeze: fatalvenom: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Also, I couldn't see one of these lasting long in the north, where there's a long winter, or the south, where there's a long summer. How much does the heater or AC in one of those reduce the battery life? Are you going to sweat to death or freeze if you get stuck on the highway in traffic during a peak winter/summer season?

Well, as long as you don't run out of gas AND electricity, those things will operate just fine.

Main problem I see with these are the range, and they're not very practical to have and as the sole car for a household. Fine for people with short commutes, not for people that live in sprawled areas like say, Atlanta, where your one-way commute exceeds the all-electric range, much less a round trip.

fatalvenom: Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

..and some of us like practicality. It's not at all about being smug. It's a car; a damned tool, not a wang extension. If these had a decent electric range.. say 150+ miles, I'd seriously consider one.

cameroncrazy1984: Mr. Breeze: fatalvenom: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

Pretty much that.

Also, I couldn't see one of these lasting long in the north, where there's a long winter, or the south, where there's a long summer. How much does the heater or AC in one of those reduce the battery life? Are you going to sweat to death or freeze if you get stuck on the highway in traffic during a peak winter/summer season?

...you know the Volt has a gas engine, right?

For backup when the battery runs out of charge yes. While Mr. Breeze might have made an unlikely scenario about being stranded, his concern over the longevity/range of the battery in the conditions above are still a concern from a cost of maintenance point of view.

beta_plus: So they sold 1000 cars in a month. Wow - their on their way to sell a whopping 12000 cars annually!

I'm sure that will cover it's development costs. Glad to see my tax dollars hard at work.

/Best of luck to Nissan and the LEAF
//UAW and the VOLT can DIAF

Nissan received a $1.4 billion, taxpayer subsidized loan for the Leaf.
Link (new window)

eagles95: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Serious question: Do you live somewhere that gets snow? I would consider it but I'm not sure how it would handle a Wisconsin winter

Michigan. I'll see how it fares. I'm expecting a 15% drop in battery efficiency during the cold months which shouldn't impact me too much. The extra weight of the batteries should help in gripping the road.

Lost Thought 00: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Just be sure to sell it before the batteries wear out.

/Ideal cars for leasing, given the long term upkeep costs are astronomic

The batteries are warrantied for 10 years/100,000 miles

The Bestest: Main problem I see with these are the range, and they're not very practical to have and as the sole car for a household. Fine for people with short commutes, not for people that live in sprawled areas like say, Atlanta, where your one-way commute exceeds the all-electric range, much less a round trip.

And, so what? The ICE kicks in at mile 30. You've still put 30 miles on the grid (which has excess power available at night). Mazel tov. Its MPG in totally-ICE mode is roughly in line with a Corolla. And, while not exciting, it generally has enough power to ride the bumper of the guy ahead of you in the daily grind.

And, even if you're commuting from Alpharetta to College Park (mumblemumblepoorbastardmumble), your grocery-getting, kids-to-ballet, dog-to-vet trips are still very likely in a 5-mile radius of your house.

Rapmaster2000: Lost Thought 00: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Just be sure to sell it before the batteries wear out.

/Ideal cars for leasing, given the long term upkeep costs are astronomic

How much are the costs? Like what would you expect to pay every year and how would that add up compared to say a Prius and then a normal vehicle.

I can compare my old Impala to my current volt :

Impala
Payment: $350/mo
Fuel: $350/mo
Insurance: $100/mo
TCO: $800/mo

Volt
Payment: $351/mo
Electricity: ~$40/mo
Insurance: $120/mo
TCO: $511/mo

Your numbers may vary, but you can see why I'm totally happy. Side benefit: No energy dollars overseas.

cameroncrazy1984: Genju: cameroncrazy1984: Mr. Breeze: fatalvenom: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

Pretty much that.

Also, I couldn't see one of these lasting long in the north, where there's a long winter, or the south, where there's a long summer. How much does the heater or AC in one of those reduce the battery life? Are you going to sweat to death or freeze if you get stuck on the highway in traffic during a peak winter/summer season?

...you know the Volt has a gas engine, right?

For backup when the battery runs out of charge yes. While Mr. Breeze might have made an unlikely scenario about being stranded, his concern over the longevity/range of the battery in the conditions above are still a concern from a cost of maintenance point of view.

You don't think GM has thought of that? (new window)

Well, that was mostly informative. They use gas power to keep a battery from losing power in cold weather.

GM has long stated they intend for the Volt to obtain up to 40 miles of electric range in most driving circumstances. Though Bob Lutz recently told reporters he only got 28 miles of winter range with his driving behavior, the Volt team insists longer cold-weather ranges would be possible.

I say mostly informative because there are too many circumstantial/anecdotal statements here to draw any conclusion.

/would still buy one over Leaf if I was in the market for a car and could afford it

fatalvenom: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because some of us actually like driving cars, not some glorified smug hippie cruiser.

Ha! I have to tell my buddies at the gun club this one. I'm about as far from a hippy as you can get.

Fast acceleration, room for 4, roomy trunk, sportscar-like handling, assembled in the US (Detroit no less), no overseas oil to operate, and every luxury you could want inside. Much more like an all-American vehicle if you ask me. I would NEVER buy a Prius or Leaf. You'd have to pry my Volt from my cold, dead hands.

beta_plus: So they sold 1000 cars in a month. Wow - their on their way to sell a whopping 12000 cars annually!

I'm sure that will cover it's development costs. Glad to see my tax dollars hard at work.

/Best of luck to Nissan and the LEAF
//UAW and the VOLT can DIAF

Why do you hate America?

Are you going to sweat to death or freeze if you get stuck on the highway in traffic during a peak winter/summer season?

No


Serious question: Do you live somewhere that gets snow? I would consider it but I'm not sure how it would handle a Wisconsin winter

about as well as any other midsized car, arguably better because its heavier

And, so what? The ICE kicks in at mile 30. You've still put 30 miles on the grid (which has excess power available at night). Mazel tov. Its MPG in totally-ICE mode is roughly in line with a Corolla. And, while not exciting, it generally has enough power to ride the bumper of the guy ahead of you in the daily grind.

And if you can charge at your destination, (metered electrified parking spots aren't the stuff of science fiction, they have them in alaska for block heaters), your point-to-point all-electric envelope grows..

Personally, through all my moves,I like to keep my commutes 15 miles or less each way at the most 20, there's 24 hours in a day, I don't like to waste them in a tin box...

I'd like one of these for my daily tooling around (drop wife off at train station, pick up groceries, go into work 1-2 days a week), and then switch to my AWD hybrid on the weekends to hit the blueridge mountains in VA.

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Well, lets see...
I generally drive between 130 to 200+ miles a day for my job.

I currently live in an apartment and I don't think running an extension cord from the 2nd floor out to the parking lot is going to work out too well.


By the way, it's a HYBRID, not an electric car or as the article calls it a "range-extended electric vehicle".

RIP voltwagen

AngryDragon: eagles95: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Serious question: Do you live somewhere that gets snow? I would consider it but I'm not sure how it would handle a Wisconsin winter

Michigan. I'll see how it fares. I'm expecting a 15% drop in battery efficiency during the cold months which shouldn't impact me too much. The extra weight of the batteries should help in gripping the road.

Not sure if the specs are compatable but I'm from northern wisconsin and owned a Prius and never had any issues with it during the winter.

I take public transportation because I am a cheap bastard, but if I needed a car I would want an electric one, but I am too cheap to buy a new car.

debug: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Well, lets see...
I generally drive between 130 to 200+ miles a day for my job.

I currently live in an apartment and I don't think running an extension cord from the 2nd floor out to the parking lot is going to work out too well.


By the way, it's a HYBRID, not an electric car or as the article calls it a "range-extended electric vehicle".

On a related note, i'm glad to see Hatchbacks and wagons making a comeback. Both offer a lot of utility that we really lacked for a long time.

I like cars, keep up on car news, watch car shows, read Jalopnik, and have never heard of the Chevy Sonic.

debug: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Well, lets see...
I generally drive between 130 to 200+ miles a day for my job.

I currently live in an apartment and I don't think running an extension cord from the 2nd floor out to the parking lot is going to work out too well.


By the way, it's a HYBRID, not an electric car or as the article calls it a "range-extended electric vehicle".


Umm... riiight... So if I take a Nissan Leaf and put a gas generator in the back from home depot I have converted it into a Hybrid?

Boxcutta: I like cars, keep up on car news, watch car shows, read Jalopnik, and have never heard of the Chevy Sonic.

I work for a rental car company. I too, keep up with car news, etc. We have 1 Sonic out of 2300+ cars. When I first saw it, I had no idea what it was. After work, I looked it up. It is Chevy's new small car that is meant to replace the Aveo. It is actually a pretty neat little car, and way better than the old Aveo.

/A scooter would be better than an Aveo
//People who make negative comments about the Volt with understanding what it is makes my head hurt

As an owner of a Ford Ranger, I say 'good riddance.'

It may have been a great truck after the last major redesign in the early 90's, and it was a good truck after the last minor redesign (~1997, when they added IFS). But frankly, since then, they've only done minor sheet metal changes, and played with some minor powertrain changes. I don't care what vehicle it is, going largely 15 years without any major improvements, you've got a crappy car/truck.

The market has embraced 4-door trucks, and the affordable Ranger was left behind in that market, as they tried to push a retarded, expensive Explorer with a bed: the Explorer Sport-Trac, as the rest of the world got a 4-door Ranger and options of gas sipping and powerful inline diesel engines. Link (new window)


For shame Ford, for shame.

/loves my 4-door Toyota Tacoma.

Awe crap, wrong thread. Doh.

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Because they're $40k+?

AngryDragon: Rapmaster2000: Lost Thought 00: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

Just be sure to sell it before the batteries wear out.

/Ideal cars for leasing, given the long term upkeep costs are astronomic

How much are the costs? Like what would you expect to pay every year and how would that add up compared to say a Prius and then a normal vehicle.

I can compare my old Impala to my current volt :

Impala
Payment: $350/mo
Fuel: $350/mo
Insurance: $100/mo
TCO: $800/mo

Volt
Payment: $351/mo
Electricity: ~$40/mo
Insurance: $120/mo
TCO: $511/mo

Your numbers may vary, but you can see why I'm totally happy. Side benefit: No energy dollars overseas.

You pay $351 a month for a $40,000 car? How? I wouldn't mind one as a short vehicle but at the current price I just can't justify it.

AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

You left out a cost figure there.

hosalabad: AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else.

You left out a cost figure there.


Oops i see you posted it farther down, or up if I had looked, thanks!

MrSteve007: Awe crap, wrong thread. Doh.

At least it was somewhat relevant. I mean, you had car thread correct.

The Bestest 2011-11-02 10:24:08 AM AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else. I thought these were electric.. what're you doing at a gas station?
================================================================

Leaf's are all electric. Volts are not.

Volts are pieces of shiat that get like 40 miles (in perfect conditions. Add any sort of weather to it and it drops to next to nothing) and then switch to the gas.

And keep in mind that it doesn't use a gas engine. It uses a gas GENERATOR to generate electricity that allows the electric engine to keep going.

Course, I'd rather have that than a Leaf. Which, if it runs out, becomes a 2000lbs middle-of-the-road paperweight.

/When an electric car can get 300 miles per charge, call me.
//Otherwise, I'm staying gas.

jake3988: The Bestest 2011-11-02 10:24:08 AM AngryDragon: Love my Volt. 4500 miles, 10 gallons of gas. I'll never buy another ICE only vehicle again. Can't figure out why anyone would buy anything else. I thought these were electric.. what're you doing at a gas station?
================================================================

Leaf's are all electric. Volts are not.

Volts are pieces of shiat that get like 40 miles (in perfect conditions. Add any sort of weather to it and it drops to next to nothing) and then switch to the gas.

And keep in mind that it doesn't use a gas engine. It uses a gas GENERATOR to generate electricity that allows the electric engine to keep going.

Course, I'd rather have that than a Leaf. Which, if it runs out, becomes a 2000lbs middle-of-the-road paperweight.

/When an electric car can get 300 miles per charge, call me.
//Otherwise, I'm staying gas.

They say the Tesla Roadster gets 244 miles?

jake3988: And keep in mind that it doesn't use a gas engine. It uses a gas GENERATOR to generate electricity that allows the electric engine to keep going.

It is my understanding that it was originally supposed to work that way. But I thought the final product is more of a plug-in hybrid? ie.. the gas engine can directly power the wheels. I think it has 3 modes: all-electric, gas-generated electric, and hybrid (where the gas engine helps mechanically)