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Road trip in the Volt

7K views 23 replies 18 participants last post by  justindal 
#1 · (Edited)
We are about to take a road trip from Dallas to Alpine, Texas. It will be a round trip of about 1200 miles of driving over four days. I'm glad that I own an EREV and not a BEV just for times like this.

So is it wrong that I'm so conflicted about this trip? So much so that I have seriously considered taking the partner in crime's 12 year old Accord with 175K? My lifetime mileage has finally recovered to 216mpg after a trip from Dallas to Little Rock, AR for Thanksgiving. It has taken months to get it back up over 200. It's going to be way, way lower after this.

I've owned the Volt since September of '11 and two weeks ago I finally experienced engine maintenance mode for the first time. I was so excited! It seemed like every time I got close to going a month without using gas, some errand or chore would send me beyond my AER. Seeing that EMM screen is like leveling up in World or Warcraft. I almost jumped out of my seat. Alas, no one else shared my excitement. But so much of this car is like playing a video game. It's addicting to try and make your numbers on voltstats better.

I try to remember what Pete Foss said in a post on this site. If you never use the gas engine you might as well buy a BEV. Otherwise you're just carrying around a big heavy anchor under the hood.

So long good numbers. We'll meet again someday... :p:p:p
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Take the Volt.

You're lying to yourself and others if you take your 2nd vehicle just to keep your mileage stats high. How much bragging can you really do knowing the stats are not a true reflection of your driving?

If you are going to take your 2nd vehicle every time on long trips, you might as well have bought a Nissan Leaf....

Besides, you will use less gas in the Volt, which is the "real" reason for buying it....
 
#4 ·
Same thing happened to me, three weeks after buying our Volt we took a 900 mile road trip with limited ability to plug in. I'm now back up to 146 MPG.

I wanted to take the wifes 09 SRX to save my stats, but the wife pointed out we bought the Volt to save on gas, so we took it and on the ICE we managed 38 MPG, the SRX would have been around 22 MPG.

The Volt will cause normal folks to suddenly get a raging case of OCD over the use of dino fuel.
 
#5 ·
Take the Volt, you'll be glad you did. Just finished a 1300 mile trip and it cured my range obsession. To be honest I can't even tell you where I am now lifetime, but I think it's around 85MPG.

In fact, I'm starting to get sorry that I leased the Volt since we want to drive it everywhere. I am already over my mileage by around 750 miles!
 
#6 ·
Day I bought mine, I drove it home (2 days) - 1023 miles with just a bit of MM games to recharge while driving. Lifetime is right about 56mpg now, but going up daily.
 
#7 ·
I've had my Volt since Dec. 2010 and experienced my first engine maintenance mode about three weeks ago myself. My jaw literally dropped when I saw the notice as I never thought I'd see the day. Of course, two days later I took the car to the other side of LA and burned several gallons of gas. I'll probably never see EMM again, but it was a fun experience.

Enjoy your road trip in the Volt! As you already know, it's a great travel car.
 
#11 ·
I bought my Volt in Texas, drove to Calif, and then back home to Ohio. My lifetime MPG is in the mid 50's. Usually when I talk to someone about the Volt, MPG will come into the discussion. I tell them my MPG is in the mid 50's, and they say about how good that is, and I tell them that the mileage is horrible. I tell them about "voltstats" and out of 1300 people, I'm at the bottom of the list.
 
#14 ·
When mileage comes up in the discussion (pretty often,) I tell people how I take too many roadtrips first - and that therefore my mileage is only in the mid 80s. Pause for a few seconds for a spit take (or other less dramatic shock/sinking in,) then follow up with the Voltstats median numbers... It makes for an interesting conversation. :)
 
#12 ·
Two weeks ago I took my Volt on a 1,200 mile round-trip vacation. Because the Volt has higher MPG in ICE than my other car, it was a no-brainer -- I took the Volt. Add in the navigation and XM features "missing" from my other car and there wasn't really a fair decision? Although my lifetime MPG dropped from 80 MPG to 70 MPG becasuse of the trip, I don't mind taking the "hit" on MPG and would do it again in a heartbeat. I loved driving the Volt on the long trip.


Like ronk, I am near the bottom of the stats on voltstats (a little higher than ronk, though). I love showing people my lifetime MPGs on my cell phone, then take them to a computer and bring up voltstats. It's pretty incredible that at 70 MPG my stats are "horrible".

Even if someone were to make the argument that "only the best MPG drivers are on voltstats, the others don't register" (No, I have not ran into this person, I'm just trying to be proactive) just look at the BOTTOM 10% (ignoring a whopping 90% of the owners! way more than enough to compensate for any kind of "just the highest MPG drivers are registered" aregument). The Volt MPG stats are STILL sky-high compared to ICE cars !
 
#17 ·
I'll be taking my Volt on it's first road trip tomorrow! I'll be a little over 1,000 miles by the time I get home. It will be interesting to see how it does. I just hooked up my daughters Ipod tonight so I'm still discovering the benefits of the Volt after 10 months of ownership lol.
 
#22 ·
We have been using our volt to compute back and forth to work sense November 2011. 6,500 miles on 3.7 gallons of gas. We are planning a trip from here in Hot Springs, AR up to Minnesota then to Chicago, then back home. First long trip we will be taking in the volt. I am thinking about taking a picture of my dash before the trip for memory sake,but I am so looking forward to the trip in my baby. We are thinking about a bev for our commute and the volt for extended trips and for fun drives. I never thought I would really love a car, but I truly love my volt and I would not even think about leaving it at home.
 
#24 · (Edited)
We've been to the McDonald Observatory twice. One time we were able to get on the Otto Struve 82 inch telescope. The first time we tried it, it was cloudy. It was an amazing experience. And one we would love to do again someday.

My partner is an amateur astronomer so we always have to visit the McDonald Observatory. Unfortunately it will be a full moon when we are there next week, so we won't have the opportunity to do much star gazing this time.
 
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