Review our review of the 2012 Chevy Volt?

[Kup]

It's a fair review but I think that the overall impression that you leave is that it is a niche car. I would push back on that observation and would suggest that two main issues are apparently leading you to that conclusion; namely, price and fuel consumption.

Let's start with fuel consumption. I know C&G went by your own personal experience (which is completely understandable) but there is a lot of real world data out there about real world Volt owners. As a couple of people mentioned you can go to voltstats.net to see what real drivers are doing. What you see is that the average of the self-reporting fleet is a little under 130 MPG. But if you take a good look at the data you will see that if you throw out the top 10 percent and the bottom 10 percent and look at the bulk of the drivers in the middle the average MPG goes up quite a bit.

Now to personalize it a little, I have a 50 mile round trip commute and I'm averaging about 336 MPG. Crunching the numbers that means that I'm saving about $2,000 a year over the operating costs of my last car (a 30 MPG car). While I plan to own the Volt far longer than 5 years, if you make an assumption that gas prices and electricity prices stay the same, over the course of 5 years I'm saving $10,000 in operating costs over your standard car that gets 30 MPG. My net price for the Volt was $35k and so I'm essentially getting a high quality, fun to drive car that would cost me the same over 5 years as if I bought a car that cost $25k.

Another way to look at it is that the average driver goes somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year. That is the equivalent of 32 to 41 miles per day. Knowing this GM designed the Volt with an EV range of 25 to 50 miles per charge so that most drivers can go most days without using a drop of gas and thus saving themselves tons of money.

Once you understand the interplay between fuel consumption and the price, you come to understand that the Volt isn't really a niche car, it is a high value car that is just plain fun to drive. Of course, most people don't understand that as well as Volt owners do. But you are in a position to better understand this dynamic and explain it to your readers.

[saghost]

I would expect that the Japanese companies and the Koreans as well are watching GM and the Volt very closely and gleaning as much information as they can.

Don't forget european companies - like BMW, who was so impressed with the Volt that they hired Frank Weber (former Volt chief engineer/line manager) away from GM to run their electric car program...

[Dan & Nan]

I think the "too high priced" comes from direct comparisons to other vehicles in the price range. Take away the Voltec power train and GM's own Buick Verano and Regal are nicer cars
<I had to snip it there because I completely disagree and can't even re-post the rest >

But, that's the point. What you're suggesting taking the most incredible part of the car away and then making the comparison. It's like taking the 430hp V8 out of the Corvette then saying that it's now not as nice and that you'd buy something else. A steak from Morton's Steakhouse could be a lot cheaper if we'd just use lesser beef but ...

The Voltec system is expensive, no doubt about it. But, it makes the car, it makes the ride and it's worth every single penny.

[oldsmoboi]

But, that's the point. What you're suggesting taking the most incredible part of the car away and then making the comparison. It's like taking the 430hp V8 out of the Corvette then saying that it's now not as nice and that you'd buy something else. A steak from Morton's Steakhouse could be a lot cheaper if we'd just use lesser beef but ...

The Voltec system is expensive, no doubt about it. But, it makes the car, it makes the ride and it's worth every single penny.

To many people, they want the luxury or handling that comes with a $40k price tag and the ability to save money on gas is secondary. That is the market that the Volt needs to be able to win over.

I really wish I could get a Volt tester for more than 4 days, but as I said, Chevy is stingy with test Volts and it makes it hard to get a full grasp on the capabilities of the car. The picture doesn't become clear, I'm sure, till at least a couple weeks of driving.

[saghost]

To many people, they want the luxury or handling that comes with a $40k price tag and the ability to save money on gas is secondary. That is the market that the Volt needs to be able to win over.

I don't disagree, but the Volt has those in it's own form. Luxury cars are about smooth seamless silent power, right? The Volt does that better than any car this side of $100k (except maybe the Model S, which is $10-40k more.) Handling is a bunch of things, but the Volt is both flat and stable, while having instant access to all of the power it has and predictable direct pedal response. It'll never outrun an M3 that's planning on it, but unless you leave the engine screaming at >4k all the time, it's faster in traffic, because it responds instantly. And if the driver of a sports car isn't planning on it, and doesn't do a high speed throttle drop off the line, he'll likely be embarrassed for a while (depending on the car, might catch the Volt in the 40-50 mph range.)

I think the Volt offers fair value for the money and is directly comparable with other cars in the 35-45k range without worrying about payback from lower running costs (Audi A3, Acura TSX.)

[Dan & Nan]

I don't disagree, but the Volt has those in it's own form. Luxury cars are about smooth seamless silent power, right? The Volt does that better than any car this side of $100k (except maybe the Model S, which is $10-40k more.) Handling is a bunch of things, but the Volt is both flat and stable, while having instant access to all of the power it has and predictable direct pedal response. It'll never outrun an M3 that's planning on it, but unless you leave the engine screaming at >4k all the time, it's faster in traffic, because it responds instantly. And if the driver of a sports car isn't planning on it, and doesn't do a high speed throttle drop off the line, he'll likely be embarrassed for a while (depending on the car, might catch the Volt in the 40-50 mph range.)

I think the Volt offers fair value for the money and is directly comparable with other cars in the 35-45k range without worrying about payback from lower running costs (Audi A3, Acura TSX.)

Exactly. EV just makes a car smooooth. Even the Leaf, which IMHO is more of a econobox has a smooooth drive system. EV driving with a single speed transmission and LINEAR torque is so much nicer than a 7 speed auto or a CVT auto.

[feinstei]

I have over 20,000 miles on my 2012 Volt (back and forth from Fort Wayne, IN to South Bend, IN ( ~ 160 miles per day on weekdays) and I can attest that the car is just as efficient and just as reliable as it was on the day I took it home in November, 2011). Of course, I am a heavy user of the internal combustion engine, but for the first 37 to 45 miles of my daily trip, I'm on pure electicity. Remember also that once the battery-only mileage is used up, the Volt becomes a very efficient hybrid so my trip along rural roads at 55 MPH is much more economical than one would think. I use about 1.65 gallons of gas per daily trip (about 2 gallons per trip in this hot weather due to my liberal use of the air conditioning).

I have not regretted my move from a 2009 Chevy Impala to the 2012 Volt one bit (although I do miss the trunk and the bench seats of the Impala).