Chevy Volt question, I know we have a few owners here

Just for E36 M3s and giggles, question for you current and former Volt owners. I'm a former Leaf owner, and as much as I like sports cars, I loved my Leaf. It was awesome. In fact, when we moved down here to Georgia, we had our new house built with a 220 line in the garage specifically so we could get another electric car.

Now that we've been here for a while, and my job situation is now very stable, we have a clearer picture of what life is going to be like. Alas, with my commute being 55 miles each way, the Leaf is out. As is any pure electric car that we can actually afford. I've owned a Prius and respected it for what it was, but hated the driving experience. The handling was horrid. Volt prices have really come down, where you can pick one up on the cheap. For the stuff my wife does and what I do on the weekends, we could probably get by on mostly electric range (I think they can get like 40 miles on a charge, right?). But I was curious about how it would handle my commute. My commute is as follows: In the morning, it's about 8 or 9 miles of suburban back road driving to get to the highway. That's followed with 45 miles of 80mph highway cruising...with maybe one or two spots where I slow to 60mph. My office is 1 mile off the highway. Coming home it's 15 miles of that same highway cruise. Then I hit gridlock. I spend the next 30 miles of "highway" driving going between 0 and 30mph in heavy traffic. Then it clears up for 5 miles before I get off the highway and drive the 8 or 9 miles of suburban roads back to my house. How efficient would the Volt be at doing a drive like this? What kind of range and mpg would I be able to expect?

Not sure we'd do it anyway, as we already have enough cars, but it almost seems like the Volt could nearly pay for itself in fuel savings.

Watching with interest

We have had our Volt now for about 20k miles and we absolutely love it. Your commute is very similar to what my wife had in NC prior to our move back to MI. She would burn about .2 gallons of gas per day in her 70 mile round trip commute.

We have been really happy with our Volt, it looks good, has loads of low-end torque and being a hatch actually very practical (we fit a 65" TV in the back!)

Now that we are in MI, my wife works from home and only drives a couple miles per day to drop the kid off at daycare etc. We haven't had to put gas in it for several months now

The Volt would actually be great for your driving situation, in the morning you'd be all electric. At some point in your 80 mile commute you would use up the battery, however you're actually only using about 80% as the car switches to gas with about 20% battery life left (it indicates zero on the batt gauge). This is actually nice, for that part of your commute where you're trudging along at 0-30mph even when the battery is "empty" the gas motor will never turn on, the car retains enough power for stop and go traffic.

My wife was fueling her Kia Soul up every 3-4 days with her commute in NC, when we got the Volt that switched to 2 times per month.

DO IT

The day we bought it

Assuming non-extreme temps...i.e. between 40 and 90 degrees, how far can it really go on a charge? (I know I asked this question on a thread some time ago, but my search-foo is failing me) If I'm commuting 55 miles, with 45 of it being highway, how far can it make it before it switches the ICE on? When the ICE is running, what mpg do you see?

Based on my ownership of a 2012, depending on highway speeds and elevation changes, I think you'd run out of electricity somewhere between three quarters of the way to work, and arriving at work. The rest of the trip would be at somewhere around 40MPG.

If you have a 2013 or later, you can use hold mode, and that might be the best solution. On the trip out, get on the highway and engage hold mode. You'll burn gas on the relatively open highway out to your destination. Switch back to normal when you leave the highway. Leaving the office, put the car in normal mode. That saves your battery for the gridlock, where it will perform the best. Adjust your hold mode use until you arrive home with a dead battery.

I think a Volt would be a great choice. At 80MPH, you're not going to make it with even the newest LEAF's enlarged battery. The BMW i3 REX could do the drive, but you'd be at the gas station every other day. The rest of the PHEVs seem to have smaller batteries.

And, since this is GRM, know that the 2011 Volt has no traction control/stability control defeat. That's a 2012-on feature. Also, the Cadillac ELR, if you can find, afford, and live with one, is a Volt drivetrain under a car with significantly revised suspension and increased drivetrain performance.

The Volt is the one and only current GM product that I would even be remotely interested in buying. I like C7's, but not interested in paying for one.

What are they going for on the used market? Are they under $10k like the leaf?

The ELR is gorgeous :)

Would this be a first gen Volt, or the new 2nd gen? The 2nd gen seems to have improved pretty much everything with longer battery-only range, more fuel efficient ICE that no longer requires Premium grade fuel, more total range, improved interior, etc.

If you liked the Prius, but hated the handling then the Lexus CT200h is worth looking at. You would expect 45 to 50 mpg in your commute, possibly more depending on your driving style. It has a high level of refinement in the interior, good stereo and nice seats, plus it will hold five people.

The other option (and I own one of these as well) what about an older pre-scandal VW TDI? I've owned two, a Mk4 and Mk6 and the 2005 with a 5spd and a tune was a hoot to drive and got 55mpg

The 2011-2012 Volts with under 60,000ish miles start around $12k, with the '13 being about $1500 more. I'd probably spring for the '13 just because of the upgrades...especially if the '11-'12 requires premium unleaded and the '13 doesn't. My commute is relatively flat. There are some gentle hills, but nothing severe. Only in my actual neighborhood does it get severe, and that's only 1 mile of driving in or out.

The ELR is gorgeous, but way out of my price range. Like I said, this is just kicking an idea around because both my wife and I want another EV type car, as we were so happy with the Leaf. CT200h is nice looking, but it's just a Prius in makeup, I don't think it would really handle any different.

EDIT: Does the Volt really require premium unleaded??

Klayfish wrote: The 2011-2012 Volts with under 60,000ish miles start around $12k, with the '13 being about $1500 more. I'd probably spring for the '13 just because of the upgrades...especially if the '11-'12 requires premium unleaded and the '13 doesn't. EDIT: Does the Volt really require premium unleaded??

I should've been more clear in my previous post. The ICE in the 2016 and newer Volts runs on regular unleaded. Before that, GM says: https://www.cars.com/articles/2010/08/does-the-chevy-volt-require-premium-fuel-yes-and-no/

In typical 25-50mph suburban driving, an '11/'12 Volt will easily hit mid 40s EV range but probably only go 30 miles @ 80mph at best. I found that mine would go EPA range (35 for an '11/'12) @ 70mph with no HVAC. Honestly, your 110 mile RT is just not ideal. The "hold mode" others suggested would help but you'll still be burning gas for ~70 miles/day and it wasn't in the '11/'12. I found that the over/under for 40mpg was around 73mph so you'd probably average high 30s using gas. The gas tank is < 10 gallons so you'd be plugging in every night AND still stopping for gas mid-week.

They are really nice to drive though, especially compared to a Prius.

You can use regular but it hurts fuel efficiency. I recall that the lead engineer (Pam Fletcher) claimed that the cost per mile was actually less with premium fuel.

Klayfish wrote: CT200h is nice looking, but it's just a Prius in makeup, I don't think it would really handle any different.

The handling of my CT F Sport is very comparable to my MINI. There are major differences from the Prius; springs, struts, sway bars, tires, wheels, structural rigidity (including hundreds of welds and adhesives), there is also a vibration damping system using a lateral shock absorber. They share the drive train, but the chassis is quite different. Try a test drive.

Any way you could convince your company to put in an EV charge station? I know they get a tax break for doing it, and you get to fill the car up at work win/win. If the Mazda3 we have wasn't so reliable I'd be looking to trade it for a 2013 Volt for sure.

The difference in interior niceness between a loaded CT200h and a Volt is massive. I almost bought a Volt about a year ago, but the only reason i didn't already own a CT200h at that point is because of the value they're holding. So about 6 months ago i bought a different lexus hybrid that depreciated by about 75% in its 6 years of existence instead. I still like Volts, but the total driving miles in my household now has gone down to the point that i'd rather have a 340hp 'decent mpg' car for my wife and drive my numerous old (mostly turbo) project cars the 7 miles to work, than for either of us to have big-mpg 100-200hp cars.

Aspen wrote:

Klayfish wrote: CT200h is nice looking, but it's just a Prius in makeup, I don't think it would really handle any different.

The handling of my CT F Sport is very comparable to my MINI. There are major differences from the Prius; springs, struts, sway bars, tires, wheels, structural rigidity (including hundreds of welds and adhesives), there is also a vibration damping system using a lateral shock absorber. They share the drive train, but the chassis is quite different. Try a test drive.

The CT200h also has double wishbone rear suspension instead of the Prius beam axle. I have really been watching them closely as prices are coming down to the sub-$20k range around here, and they seem like a MUCH nicer ride than the Prius by all accounts.

How long do you plan on staying with this company? Can you move closer?

I am told that the reason for premium fuel is that it does not degrade as quickly as the regular stuff. I know two guys with 30 mile each way commutes that are averaging over 1000 MPG. The "generators" are only running long enough to lubricate. The Volt is a very high quality commuter car. I would buy one in a second. Especially now that prices are so low.

I bought a 2013 Volt almost a year ago. 3 days a week, my commute is 42 miles, round trip. I can charge at work on a level 2, so I'm fully electric those days.

The other 2 days my drive is about 125 miles round trip. I can charge at that location too. So on those days about 60% is electric.

One work colleague has a similar 2013 Volt. We both have all the options, but his is a different color and he has leather while I have suede.

Another colleague just bought a brand new, almost fully equipped 2017 Volt. Functionally, it is better on every metric. Aesthetically, I think the exterior is better. I'm not a fan of the new interior. It does not feel as premium. The 2nd gen feels more Chevy, while the 1st gen feels more Cadillac.

Speaking of Cadillac, there are deals to be had on ELRs if that format works for you. Locally, a dealer was offering a new one for $44k.

hmm

I looked at buying a Volt just yesterday but I can't make the numbers make sense.

Say $12k for a Volt, 45 mile commute round trip, driving a 2002 F250 diesel that gets 15 MPG on $2.50/gallon diesel.

It would take me almost 6 years to pay down the Volt to be equal to my already paid for F250, assuming all I had to do was lay down the lumber to buy it and no other maintenance.

Am I missing something?

People would think I'm nuts if I traded in a E92 or S197 on a Volt.

Ima go look.

In reply to 93gsxturbo:

I think there are a few things here. 1) it costs you about $2000 a year in fuel for your F250. That number goes up of course if the price of fuel increases. The price of electricity is unlikely to increase much.

2) your F250 and a Volt are massively different vehicles to drive, so if driving a very nice near-luxury sedan is what you're looking for, there's no cheaper option than the Volt.

3) what's the difference in price between the two cars when sold? They may be depreciating assets, but they're assets.

Back when I leased the Leaf, I ran all the numbers. It was a bit cheaper to lease the Leaf than continue to drive a used Mazda5 over the same time period.