WOULD YOU BUY ANOTHER VOLT?

The current buffer-time we're in certainly is interesting.

As leases & credits expire, the pressure will be on to address those all too real questions.

 

From what I hear the Volt is a pretty darned good car, just way too expensive even with the incentives.

The big question is what GM will be able to do to drive cost down for the second generation.

 

It's that ugly sportcars scenario, but now with a new type of vehicle.

How do you make major changes (in this case cost-reduction) without tarnishing what people praised it for?

 

Lots of multi-Volt households on gm-volt.com. There is a running semi-comment that you don't want to let you wife drive it too much... because they will take it away and then you'll have to buy a second one.

I already have one.. and I keep cars for 12-15 years, so I'm not buying another soon. When my wife's car is up for replacement (6-7 years, as we alternate), a Voltec is likely, if they have a AWD version. But I am sure the next car we buy will have at least 30miles of EV range.

They don't have to make major changes for V2 to drop the price a bit just reduce production costs. The number one added cost is the battery, much of which is about manufacturing and volume. If they want to drop the price a more they can have more levels of trim, just like a Prius has a ecno-trim and Advanced models.

 

Ditto my wife's traverse was 40k and no one ever questions that. So I would surely by another volt. Along with the good Dr I'm hoping for a voltlike SUV

 

If it had HOV access I'd definitely buy another. When I got my Prius in 2005 the only reason was for the HOV stickers. It turned out to be a very reliable, economical roomy car, but one that I never really grew to enjoy driving. It's very much like driving an appliance. That's why with the new HOV rules I chose the Volt over the slightly cheaper plug in Prius. The Volt has the drawback of significantly smaller rear seating, but is IMO much much more enjoyable to drive. Only filling up with gas once so far, at 1980 miles, is also a nice benefit.

-Jeff

 

Right now I certainly would, but to be fair for the first few years into owning my prius I swore my next car would be another prius. When the time comes I'll look at the options available and see what fits me best. An affordable Tesla model S would be the ticket, but I don't see the equivalent of that happening before my lease runs out. A plug-in prius V with about 30-40 miles of range would be good too.

 

no they wont, but they wont have to. what we fail to realize is that "other" car prices are going up to meet the Volt. the average new car price paid for April was over $30,000 so with tax credits which will be available for probably another 4-5 years, the Volt simply is not that much more expensive.

the other thing we need to keep in mind is "52.5" and 2020. this is where each auto manufacturer needs to be to keep doing business here in the US of A. those #'s will not come cheaply AND the auto manufacturer will not be the ones paying for the cost to boost that mileage.

i am supposing that two guesses on who will be paying that increased cost is probably one guess more than is needed?

 

Given your scenario and considering the present tense (who knows what will be available in the future), yes, I would buy another Volt in a heart beat.

Why? Well since you asked...
My wife's commute is 33-37 miles round trip.
Running errands is typically within 20- 40 miles.
We have all the room in the Volt that we have ever needed.
We dread using gasoline.
We take trips longer than 70 miles 10-15 times a year so a Leaf wouldn't work as our second car (especially in the winter).

In 7200 miles we have a 120mpg, and have used about 1650kwh and 60 gallons of gas.

That being said, if you take it out of present tense, what car we would get would depend highly on what was available and what our driving needs/habits were at the time.

 

Absolutely would buy the Volt again. It really is a pleasure to drive and has quite reasonable performance. Just today a BMW driver at a stoplight to ask me about the car and how I liked it. He has been following it and really thinks it is a great method to implement the next generation of cars. I bet Prius drivers never talk to BMW owners at stoplights like that <grin>.

In my last 2000+ miles have used 1 gallon of gas. With my hourly rate plan charging after midnight my electrical cost are less now then before I got the Volt. I drive monthly for "free". Would have used over 1000 gallons of gas in my previous daily driver in the past 15 months.

 

another "somewhat" related topic is replacement cost of batteries in EVs. at my current rate of degradation, i will be dead before my Leaf's range becomes useless but i am lucky to live in just the right climate for battery longevity. i "want" to think my 3½ years of driving my Zenn before my Leaf helped but i have a hard time convincing even myself of that!

any product's price will be driven by market forces as will those batteries will be in 5-10 years when replacement options start popping up. there was a study done where Leaf replacement packs could be as low as $4-6,000 by 2020 and i can agree with that IF gas is $4. but if gas is $6-7 a gallon, expect battery packs to be keeping pace. sure they will pencil out to be a great deal but they will still follow the market. Fact of the matter; it have NEVER made a difference how much a product cost to make after its been established. Price is dependent upon what we will pay for it.

as far as tax subsidies go? EVs are only getting the same benefit as Hybrids did. so i get $7500 on my $35,000 purchase which is not a whole lot different than getting what?? $2500 (maybe it was $3500??) on my $24,000 2006 Prius right?

 

yes,