Just bought my 2012 volt - Great buying experience

[srt]

Hi All,

I have been tracking Volt since it was conceived (Work in silicon valley and am a tech geek) and have gone through my set of roller coaster emotions ride . To name a few :
1. Wowed by initial anouncement
2. Bummed by GM bankruptcy / bail out
3. Bummed by pricing
4. Read some complex article about how its a serial / parallel / plug in hybrid - now don't even remember the details, but was somehow underwhelmed
5. Then saw it come out and was shocked by the initial asking leases in CA
6. Then the battery fires and over blown media hype (What kind of idiots wouldn't unplug the energy system after a planned crash ? and who would raise a stink about a fire that happened 2 weeks later?)
7. Then the clowns in right wing media bashing it (Can't fit a gun rack ??? What kind of jerk needs to take a gun rack - presumably with guns, to work? Unless you are a peace officer, of course )
Then there was this trade off about, do I really want a BMW 5 series or a Volt....



Any way I have been tracking to forum, to whet my apetite, (Thank you for Mr Garcia and Mr Rick from Sting ray for the invaluable entertainment :-))

Any way, I poked around to see what kind of deals were available.

Keys, was quoting a decent price , but only for a 2 year lease
One other bay area dealer gave me a crazy $400 , with 2200 drive off quote - Wont' name him, because the sales guys was very very nice , but their finance department was the bad cop.

Finally, I went to Dublin Chevy, and talked to Heath Ford (925) 413 0013. An awesome awesome experience. He is calm, knowledgeable, patient and quick to respond. I started my exchange with him exactly 24 hours ago, and now the Volt is charging in my garage.

Here are the fine points....

1. Got a good price for my 12 year old Passat - KBB 'Good' price. It had a few issues (rear door window not opening etc..) that he over looked
2. Stuck to the price he mentioned over the phone.
3. On the phone he told me that he had a red 2012 volt which I wanted. When I called in the morning, the first words out of his mouth, were, Sorry, that car got sold, and we have only these colors. I loved that he mentioned that to me 'Before I started from home' and not 'after I got to the dealership'.
4. Here are the final numbers - A fully loaded 2012 volt ( i think other than fancy wheels, it has all the buttons), I paid $3000 (from my trade in) and am paying 261 a month (including taxes) for the next 35 months. This is for a 10K mile lease.
5. Great, Great experience - Would highly recommend Heath in particular ( I am assuming Dublin chevy in general, but if you get stuck with a crappy sales guys, don't sue me)
6. The only hard sell was the finance guy trying to sell me $25 per month lease warranty - Don't know if it was good or bad, but I just declined .


Volt Driving impressions ....


1. I am in love . No really, Its late in the night and I really want to go sit in the car, and get acquainted with it - Wife won't let me.
2. My kids (9 yr old and 5 years old) who tagged along with me, are in heaven - Basically this car is more of a computer with a large battery , 4 seats and a steering wheel. They want to press all the buttons and figure out what happens - Worried, one of them will try to take it for a spin
3. Wife had initial reservations (Drives a van, wants a BMW 7 series, and Volt has neither the space of the mini van, not the face book bragging rights as the 7 series) Now that we have it at home, I gotta see, how long will I get to keep it.
4. Drives well , Seat height is good, Zippy enough
5. I am a short (and very confident, handsome and well off ) guy :-) , so lots and lots of space in the car. - Don't know how it will feel to be a 6'4 250 pounder in this car.
6. Had initial reservations about a 4 seater (Having always had a 5 seater and driving it solo 99% of the time) - Go figure. Now that I see that the real 2 seats look like beautiful bucket seats, I am happy.


What else ??? Thank You GM for having the courage to build this car. Thank you Auto workers. I am an Indian (as in from India), but to me this car represents the 'Can Do spirit of USA'.

Oh yeah, Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck don't know jack ****.


Please excuse the long mail and any typos.

Srt

[Voltastic]

Congratulations

Now that we have it at home, I gotta see, how long will I get to keep it.

Hahaha, classic

[DonC]

Congrats on your car and welcome to the forum. Thanks for the long and entertaining post. It was a great read.

A couple of comments. One is that IF you press the POWER button TWICE when the car is running the car will turn off. Just thought you might want to know what happened when your kids go exploring. LOL (It's actually a safety feature but some have hit it twice when trying to put the car in "Sport Mode"). Two, speaking of "Sport Mode", "Sport" and "L" gives a more spirited driving experience Sport just remaps the accelerator pedal, so nothing really changes, but it feels like it does. And "L" ups the regenerative braking, making the car behave more like a manual transmission ICE.

Again, welcome to the forum and thanks for the great post.

[dax777]

Congrats on your new Volt and welcome to the forum, remember to join "voltstats.net"...miles of EV smiles to you and your family

[srt]

The detailing car wash at the dealership was broken, so I when I got my new volt, instead of waiting in the long queue to get my car hand washed, I chose to drove it home (I was with kids and they were getting tired).

Any way, on my first day with the car, I have to take it to the gas station , to use their car wash . That will be fun...

[srt]

Thanks DonC for the Tip

[Fulgerite]

Congratulations on your new Volt! Welcome to the Forum.

So how will you be charging your Volt? Do you plan to get an L2 EVSE installed?

If you are planning to use the 120 volt EVSE that came with your Volt you should check out a few things about the electrical outlet that you intend to use.

1. You should make sure that there are no other appliances sharing the same circuit. (Like that extra fridge in your garage?)

2. The outlet needs to be in top condition to feed 12 amps for 8 hours a day. Typically the 79 cent home depot wall plugs are not up to the task. You should probably replace the outlet with a high quality commercial grade outlet.

3. Make sure the outlet is not connected using the lazy "stab" connections. These stab connections always FAIL under high loads. Make sure the wires are tightly connected using the binding screws.

If you just check those three things... You will save yourself a lot of headaches.

Also...

Did you know that you may be qualify for a FREE L2 charger? You might want to contact SPX and see if they can get you a free ChargePoint or Blink EVSE installed for free.

See: https://homecharging.spx.com/volt/Home.aspx?l=1

[srt]

Thank you for the tips.

We are planning to move to a new house soon, and my wife is insisting that I get a 240 V charger . She was initially against me buying the car, but now seeing the benefits of not ever buying gas (and not supporting dictatorial oil regimes, and spewing pollution in our backyard), she is pushing me to get the 240 V installed ASAP.

Amazing how easily Volt can convert people who take a balanced look at the issues and actually touch / feel / drive the car.

On a side note, I was talking to the dealer and he mentioned that this month, they are selling double the number of volts they sold last month and it's the 3rd highest selling item in their model inventory.

Thanks,

Srt

[solar_dave]

Thank you for the tips.

We are planning to move to a new house soon, and my wife is insisting that I get a 240 V charger . She was initially against me buying the car, but now seeing the benefits of not ever buying gas (and not supporting dictatorial oil regimes, and spewing pollution in our backyard), she is pushing me to get the 240 V installed ASAP.

Amazing how easily Volt can convert people who take a balanced look at the issues and actually touch / feel / drive the car.

On a side note, I was talking to the dealer and he mentioned that this month, they are selling double the number of volts they sold last month and it's the 3rd highest selling item in their model inventory.

Thanks,

Srt

Next step is you loose the car to her! Mark my words. I got my wife one and she wouldn't let me drive it ever, so I went and got my own Red beauty.

[strangeengine]

On a side note, I was talking to the dealer and he mentioned that this month, they are selling double the number of volts they sold last month and it's the 3rd highest selling item in their model inventory.

Given how many new Volts I see without plates each morning on my commute (Los Gatos -> Palo Alto), I believe it!

- Mark