Hell has frozen over: Consumer Reports tags Volt as Recommended

[MTN Ranger]

Title says it all.

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/10/04...s-recommended/

[DonC]

I'd say it was the drugs -- only that can explain why anyone would think a Prius is a better car than a Volt -- but they're too expensive without a generic.

[fishhawk]

Amazing since there were not that many produced. Must have gotten a better response percentage coupled with good experiences, because it seems like there have been many other cars with much higher volumes that take longer to be recommended.

I have to say my wife's Acadia and my Volt have been really trouble-free. GM must be doing better making cars people like, with good reliability.

[Codyozz]

Mtn Ranger. Your title made me laugh! I just saw the article on my "enewspaper" I publish... then clicked over here to Gm-Volt website and found that you had beat me to it.. Admittedly I was working until now so I hadn't looked but now I have.
By the way, IF ANY OF YOU ALL ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING MY DAILY NEWSPAPER ON HYBRIDS AND EV'S FEEL FREE TO SUBSCRIBE.
I am working on the sourcing for it, Twitter can be good, sometimes not, but I find it incredibly easy to read and interesting more days than not. Take a look if you guys are interested. Let me know if I should put a link on the front page of this website.
http://paper.li/codyozz/hybrid-electric-vehicle
Also, any feedback would be great! :-)

[Roadburner440]

I'd say it was the drugs -- only that can explain why anyone would think a Prius is a better car than a Volt -- but they're too expensive without a generic.

Prius is better than the Volt for long distance drives as far as gas mileage is concerned. The Volt is certaintly a better overall car, and comes with a lot better standard features. Not to mention it is a blast to drive (makes our Prius feel like such a slouch). Looking at pure MPG's though if I go farther than about 100 miles in the day without recharging the mileage dips below what I can do in the Toyota. I think the CR review was pretty garbage though... About the only thing I can agree with is the issue with the front pillars blocking your view.. To me that is the only drawback I have seen so far with the car.

[Steverino]

I cancelled my Consumer Reports subscription of many years the day I read one of their head honchos bloviating about the Volt and bashing it based on ignorance and misinformation. I figured if they got that stuff wrong, what else are they getting wrong? Same with Fux Newz. Ignoramuses with an "anti" agenda. If they get the Volt that wrong, they are getting other stuff wrong as well.

[AllenL]

I guess after GM updated the Volt to not freeze their asses off, they now changed to "Recommend".

[DonC]

I cancelled my Consumer Reports subscription of many years the day I read one of their head honchos bloviating about the Volt and bashing it based on ignorance and misinformation. I figured if they got that stuff wrong, what else are they getting wrong?

More seriously and more definitively with respect to what CR actually measures, when Toyota had all the safety related defects insurance companies saw a spike in serious injuries and deaths related to Toyota vehicles, so much so that they contacted the Consumer Products Safety Council. Obviously there was something real and measurable there. And what did CR notice? Notta. Zip. Zilch. To your point, if they can't capture important and significant data like this then how good can their data possibly be?

As for their EV reviews, these guys are clowns. They say the Leaf's Achilles heel is that it had limited range. Interesting. That's like marking down a Prius because it can't tow your boat to the summer cabin. But wait CR would say: "People don't expect a Prius to be able to tow and boat. If they need that they'd buy a Tahoe." And of course the answer to this is something like "NS Sherlock, and people don't buy a Leaf if they need to take it on long trips". CR lives in a little world where like minded people talk to like minded people and collectively they don't have a clue how stupid they can be. They claim to be objective, but objectively applying irrational criteria yields results more absurd than what you'd see if you misapplied rational criteria.

[dgruber]

I actually thought the video was a pretty reasonable review. The reviewer acknowledged what works well and pointed out the compromises. The things he criticized were no different than things routinely called out in these forums. I didn't perceive any particular "ax to grind" by the reviewer.

Just as we criticize those who bash the Volt inappropriately, I don't think we should bash those who make the same occasionally negative observations that we do. The current generation Volt isn't for everyone even if it's perfect for us.