What are the improvements in the second generation Chevy Volt?

[Topher925]

I got a Chevy Volt for the entire day yesterday and had the opportunity to put the car through it paces. I have to say, I am very impressed. For once a car actually lived up to its hype. I love the way it rides, the handling, the acceleration, the NVH, it made me think I was in a Cadillac. The mileage was of course excellent as well and I got almost 50 miles of pure electric driving from a fully charged battery. The interior is very comfortable although I'm not to crazy about the iPod look of the center council.

The only gripe I have about the car is the HMI. GM really could have done a much better job with organization of the menus along with the buttons and their placement. Not having an off button for the audio or climate control systems was very annoying.

Overall, I really fell in love with the car. I've driven a lot of cars in the past but none of them made me want to hop right back in after driving to the grocery store. GM really did their homework on this one.

I'll be getting Nissan Leaf next week for a day. We'll see how it stacks up.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I got a Chevy Volt for the entire day yesterday and had the opportunity to put the car through it paces. I have to say, I am very impressed. For once a car actually lived up to its hype. I love the way it rides, the handling, the acceleration, the NVH, it made me think I was in a Cadillac. The mileage was of course excellent as well and I got almost 50 miles of pure electric driving from a fully charged battery. The interior is very comfortable although I'm not to crazy about the iPod look of the center council.

The only gripe I have about the car is the HMI. GM really could have done a much better job with organization of the menus along with the buttons and their placement. Not having an off button for the audio or climate control systems was very annoying.

Overall, I really fell in love with the car. I've driven a lot of cars in the past but none of them made me want to hop right back in after driving to the grocery store. GM really did their homework on this one.

I'll be getting Nissan Leaf next week for a day. We'll see how it stacks up.

Thanks for posting about this. I'm interested in knowing how this compares; esp when it comes to cost-equivalent autos. Do you plan to look at any diesels? I know the Honda Civic Diesel sold in Europe actually gets [or got] better mileage than the Honda hybrid.

What is the sticker price of the Volt?

 

[DaveC426913]

No idea what an NVH is, or an HMI, but apparently one smells like leather and the other might be a coffee maker.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

No idea what an NVH is, or an HMI, but apparently one smells like leather and the other might be a coffee maker.

Whatever, he is clearly amped over the Volt.

 

[Topher925]

I haven't driven any of the diesel hybrids, just gasoline ones. If you're looking for a hybrid car that's cost effective, look somewhere else. The Volt should be considered as a vehicle that's electric on the weekdays and gas powered on the weekends. Most other hybrids like the Prius or Insight will get better mileage if you travel more than 100+ or so miles a day.

Ticket price is around $40k before rebates. Somewhere around $33k after government rebates.

No idea what an NVH is, or an HMI, but apparently one smells like leather and the other might be a coffee maker.

NVH: Noise, Vibration, Harshness
Basically how smooth and quiet a car appears to be.

HMI: Human Machine Interface
What you can interact with on a vehicle, i.e. the LCD screen(s) on the dashboard and council.

 

[russ_watters]

I got a Chevy Volt for the entire day yesterday and had the opportunity to put the car through it paces. I have to say, I am very impressed.

I drove one for a few minutes at an event a few months ago and was pretty impressed as well.

 

[wolram]

Does anyone know what the battery life is?

 

[OmCheeto]

I haven't driven any of the diesel hybrids, just gasoline ones. If you're looking for a hybrid car that's cost effective, look somewhere else. The Volt should be considered as a vehicle that's electric on the weekdays and gas powered on the weekends. Most other hybrids like the Prius or Insight will get better mileage if you travel more than 100+ or so miles a day.

Ticket price is around $40k before rebates. Somewhere around $33k after government rebates.

NVH: Noise, Vibration, Harshness
Basically how smooth and quiet a car appears to be.

HMI: Human Machine Interface
What you can interact with on a vehicle, i.e. the LCD screen(s) on the dashboard and council.

Was just discussing the HMI of older electrics this morning

1921 Milburn Sangamo Charge Meter​

with my EV troopers after seeing the following image yesterday:

Circa 1920 Detroit Electric as seen in the rear view of a Tesla​

What is it they say about revolutions?

 

[Drakkith]

What is it they say about revolutions?

I heard they have a lot of angular momentum.

 

[mheslep]

Does anyone know what the battery life is?

Warranty is 8y/100kmi

GM has backed up those claims (sort of) by announcing a 8-year, 100,000 mile battery warranty

 

[Jack21222]

I'd love for my next car to be a Volt, but I'm poor. That might be the next new car I buy. If my Cobalt dies (it has 119,000 miles on it at the moment), I'll probably be stuck with used cars for the next 7 years or so, if I get into and stick with grad school. Can't really buy a 40k car on a 20k stipend.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I haven't driven any of the diesel hybrids,

Not a diesel hybrid, just a diesel. Given the increased efficiency of CI vs ICE coupled with the added BTU per gallon of fuel, regular diesels are on par with gasoline-powered hybrids in terms of mileage.

I'll get excited about the Volt when it makes economic sense without government incentives. I've seen enough novelty cars for one lifetime!

 

[Drakkith]

Why don't care manufacturers simply modify existing models to have an option for hybrid/electric? Too expensive? Not as popular?

 

[xxChrisxx]

Why don't car manufacturers simply modify existing models to have an option for hybrid/electric? Too expensive? Not as popular?

Too heavy and little packaging space left available in modern cars, as it's not just a case of sticking battery packs in the boot. Hybrids require a dual input transmisson.

It shouldn't be impossible though going forward, I suppose the manufacturers figure they can make more money this way or someone would have done the hybrid option.

 

[mheslep]

The Volt lists at http://www.chevrolet.com/volt/?seo=..._Volt&utm_content=Search&utm_term=chevy_volt" I'd expect the price to drop significantly.

 

[Topher925]

Too heavy and little packaging space left available in modern cars, as it's not just a case of sticking battery packs in the boot. Hybrids require a dual input transmisson.

It shouldn't be impossible though going forward, I suppose the manufacturers figure they can make more money this way or someone would have done the hybrid option.

Yeah, pretty much. There's very few existing ICE platforms that can be converted to BEV's or HEV's without a complete redesign of the body.

The Volt lists at $32.7K after the tax credit. Note that the sales tax applies to the price *before* the tax credit. As GM is only making 10,000 of them this year, if the Volt is your thing and currently too pricey, I'd suggest waiting for V2.0 with a smaller but higher capacity battery. I'd expect the price to drop significantly.

I've heard a lot of rumors that the new Volt is suppose to be quite a bit better than the original. Some people saying the best engineered vehicle ever conceived.