In Defense of the Chevy Volt

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I have been driving my 2012 Volt for 3 weeks, and have used only 6 bucks worth of electricity, and one tank of gas to make a longer trip. It is by far the most exciting vehicle to drive ever. It is beautiful to look at in the red tintcoat, and I'm excited that I don't have to buy much gas anymore and get at least 40 miles, sometimes 50 miles per $1.00 worth of electricity (with regenerative braking and coasting). I used to drive a gas hog, and decided that I would rather spend the money on a nice car, putting less $$$ into the oil company's pockets. The tax credit is nice and so is ZERO EMISSIONS around town, being kind to mother earth.

Jeffrey of WA 12:49PM May 09, 2012

@Heather:
When someone says something like "Mr. Obama's Volt," it's usually a giveaway that they're a right-winger who's never actually driven the car. My mistake.
That said, it's a bummer you got a bad Volt -- which is quite unusual since the Volt got the highest customer satisfaction rating (93%) in Consumer Reports, even beating Porsche.
Enjoy your Prius, but our Volt has been great, and we love driving it. No problems. Ever.

Zapf of CA 11:41AM May 09, 2012

The author says, "....Conservative pundit Glenn Beck called it "crappy." Rush Limbaugh huffed about GM "trying to kill its customers".
...and then he says, "What a bunch of dummies. Don't they know the Volt is crappy"?
Somehow, I believe the latter as I read where GM has stalled production of the Volt because they haven't been selling well.
I reckon y'all can keep the "crappy" thing!

Terry Holland of CA 10:49AM May 09, 2012

I drive a Volt.
The breakeven period for my Volt is ZERO years, ZERO months. My commute is 60 miles per day.
My higher lease payment is offset with fuel savings (even including electricity).
Same costs. More to payment. Less to Exxon.

@bobbleheadguru of MI 9:09AM May 09, 2012

Good article. I'm always surprised at all the babies oh whine about not having a place to charge the Volt...well you know what...news flash...maybe the car isn't for you! It doesn't purport to be the car for EVERYONE. It says nothing about the quality of the car. If you can't charge it overnight, then DUH...get something else...and stop crying. The Volt is a great car...and I'm expecting mine any day now, and have a spot picked out in my garage for it. I used to drive a BMW 335i, and I was impressed with how solid the Volt felt when I test drove it. It's just a more efficient way to drive...whether our power grid is powered by coal, oil, solar, wind, nuclear...this car doesn't care...so if we ever get our act together with powering our grid with more responsible forms of energy, our cars will be ready. Plus, even if you are the biggest skeptic, can you not just agree that we don't want to support oil suppliers Hugo Chavez and nut-case middle eastern countries? I mean, even if the Volt is powered ONLY by American Coal...which it isn't...isn't that still a plus?

Dan of VT 8:54AM May 09, 2012

I am a Volt owner. I got 52 miles on electric last night. The car is amazing. I bet if I didn't have to do any sudden braking and if I didn't have any slight mishaps ... I would hit 60 miles on electric! The car now has 3000 miles, and I've only used 15 gallons of gas. I love avoiding the gas station :).

chevyvoltmd of MD 8:18AM May 09, 2012

The proponents of electric cars keep telling us "Oh, you just recharge the car overnight in your garage."
Evidently they completely forgot about the millions of American motorists like myself who don't have garages in their homes.
For most of my life, I've lived in apartment buildings or high-rise condominium buildings in which I park my car in the building's parking lot or in the street. How am I supposed to recharge an electric car overnight, with a 500 foot long extension cord? And if I travel for business or pleasure, what do I do if the motel or hotel I'm staying at does not have charging stations?
Electric cars are not practical until a staggeringly expensive investment in charging infrastructure is made. Currently we have over 100,000 gas stations in America. And that is for gasoline-powered cars with cruising ranges of hundreds of miles. With an electric car that can't even go 100 miles without recharging, you would need many more charging stations--perhaps over a million--all over America to make electric cars practical.

sinz54 of MA 7:11AM May 09, 2012

Its still a crappy piece of out-dated engineering hopped up with modern computer technology. The price isn't coming down anytime soon, so the sales aren't going to increase...Eventually GM will have to shut down production.
We may see a $100,000 Cadillac with the powertrain and a much larger battery pack...that was the smart way to go,...now it will be ho hum and in the same ballpark as the Karma and other iterations from small companies.

owlafaye of WA 1:51AM May 09, 2012

Zapf of CA,
Making stuff up?
Check with Lithia Chevrolet in Redding. Perhaps they still have it and you can purchase it, then you can have two tubs of s---!
PS: How do you think I learned about electrically variable transmissions?
Good luck!

Heather Meyer of CA 1:48AM May 09, 2012

@Heather: The Volt was developed during the Bush administration, with the prototype publicly displayed before the 2008 election. It's not "Mr. Obama's Volt."
We've had our Volt for six months now, and everything's fine. I checked for a Chevy 'customer satisfaction guarantee,' but that ended in 2010, well before the Volt was available.
You're not making stuff up, are you?

Zapf of CA 1:37AM May 09, 2012