4 or 5 seats?

[greg woulf]

I'm 6'5" so I'm missing out on getting the first car and I'm disappointed, Joe in North Dakota will miss out because he's not in an area where the car will be sold, the father with 3 kids will miss out because it only has 4 seats.

We all want to be a part of the revolution, but the revolution is more important than we are. I'm not a green fanatic or anything, I just understand that there's steps that need to be taken before EV's are mainstream.

The first step is to get a car on the market that meets GM's goals. Those goals from the very start were, pure EV for 40 miles, 10+ years of good life in the battery, with no sacrifice in performance.

If GM sells the Volt at $35k, and it saves $1500 a year, and has no quality issues then it will be a success. Not for me because I'm too tall, not for people that live away from population centers and not for large families, but a success in the EV market.

Then GM can build on that success, and the platform and produce a car that has a 35 mile range with a higher profile, selling everywhere because service centers are set up, and with 5 seats or more. Maybe by the time that car is produced, in 2013 or so, the battery technology will pass the Volt by and we'll be pure EV for a longer range.

[pennor1]

Two seats would meet my needs 85% of the time. Three seats will do my needs 98% of the time. With four seats my needs are met 99.5% of the time. I don't want a Tahoe size vehicle. I want a car for local driving, something that will let me do 85% of my driving without going to the gas station. That will free my fuel budget to put $5/gal gasoline in my Corvette for Weekend fun or into my motorhome for a 2-week summer vacation.

I repeat, I DON'T want a huge sedan. I want a functional small car, just what GM is making.

And as a last comment that may show my prejudices... I'll walk or buy a horse before I'll buy a Toyota.

[efusco]

Two seats would meet my needs 85% of the time. Three seats will do my needs 98% of the time. With four seats my needs are met 99.5% of the time. I don't want a Tahoe size vehicle. I want a car for local driving, something that will let me do 85% of my driving without going to the gas station. That will free my fuel budget to put $5/gal gasoline in my Corvette for Weekend fun or into my motorhome for a 2-week summer vacation.

I repeat, I DON'T want a huge sedan. I want a functional small car, just what GM is making.

And as a last comment that may show my prejudices... I'll walk or buy a horse before I'll buy a Toyota.

I don't want a huge vehicle either...I want a Prius to Camry size vehicle.
And though I prefer Toyota I'm willing to buy the best available vehicle that meets my needs...i'd hoped that would be the Volt.
75% of the time 1 seat would meet my needs. 10% of the time 2 would do it. But 15% of the time I have to have all 5.

[zzyzzx]

I would prefer a 2 seater version.

[ampedup]

Excellent points, unfortunately. Toyota took forever to get out a plug in; guess GM isn't all that much worse, but wish Detroit could get its act together.

[cmr]

In my introduction thread I mentioned that I was still hoping the Volt would be a 5 seater as I have a family of 5 and 4 seats would, necessarily, be a deal breaker for me.

One respondent confidently stated that it will only be 4 seats because of the high profile of the battery (which I still don't know why they designed the way it is). Anyway, I was hoping someone could point me to some official comment from GM confirming that they do not intend the Volt will be a 5-seater as I have not heard anything official on that despite following the development closely.

If that's true I guess it's PHEV Prius here I come!

are you seriously trying to put a family of 5 in a compact car? really? my wife is from peru and you see that type of thing there but it's not easy to do and everybody is uncomfortable to say the least....... you are seriously in suburban territory if you are going for 5 and their belongings.

[JulieJoule]

Something to consider.... sell the Suburbans and get two Volts. Or.... order a Tesla Model X. We are on the list to get a Model X in about a year and a half, hopefully. Also contemplating ordering the second Volt before the 2013 comes out because we like tan seats. Just some ideas.

[MTN Ranger]

Don't expect to many responses from the old posts. This is a 4 year old thread.

[DrSnoCaps]

It is Resurrection season so I'll offer this to efusco:

5+Prius PHEV <> usability unless you never plan on going up a hill or your family are all models and < 125 lbs.

Find a Lexus 450h in your price range, you'll be much happier - at least until the family size reduces to 4 and a Volt fits

[dwl]

If I were married with 3 kids and wanted a Volt, I'd just have the kids draw straws. Short straw gets sent to boarding school. Problem solved.