Some Trip Information

[MikeNY]

Well I am not as good as some of the other CABbies. I do not keep a driving log. However, I do find the idea of extending the electric range as much as I can to be a challenge. One of the things that I am learning is that in Manhattan and close to home, keeping the efficiency up is quite a task. However, I am learning and seeing constant improvement.

The first day that I commuted to my office in mid-town from my home in New Rochelle it was 21.7 miles drive in and the screen showed about 12 miles of electric range remaining when I pulled into the parking garage. When I got back to the garage in the evening the Volt showed 8 miles of range remaining. I am not sure what happened to the 4 miles during the day but the garage attendants told me they were very impressed and loved the car. In any event, I got out on the road and the engine kicked on seamlessly pretty quickly when dealing with mid-town rush hour traffic and I continued my trip home.

Just about a week later (yesterday) I did the round trip commute all in electric mode and had 4 miles to spare when I put it on charge in the garage. Now most all my drives, of any length, result in 100% energy efficiency readings on the Volt's screen. All this was accomplished just by modifying my driving habits a little (smoother starts and stops) and adjusting the climate controls (in this weather I really do not even need the fan). Honestly, I now think I will be a much more efficient driver even in an ICE thanks to the Volt.

Yesterday when I picked up the car, one of the garage attendants was asking how much I paid for the Volt. He did not think that the $33,500 after the credit was very pricey for what he considered to be on par with a high end luxury car. Overall, most everyone I have shown the Volt have been very impressed by the features of the car and view it at a much higher level then they expect from any GM built vehicle. A number of them compared the Volt to a BMW or other German luxury cars (I have heard Audi as well). In almost every case, they were really shocked to learn it was a Chevy.

A little plus for the first adopters. I am up to about 8 people waving and giving me a thumbs up just for driving the Volt. I just hope that the Volt appreciates all the attention it is getting!

Hope that everyone else is enjoying the drive as much as I am.

[hodginator]

Sounds like you were able to increase mileage very quickly. Great info, please keep posting your experiences.