I drove a Volt today.

What are you smoking -- they don't look that similar. here is a photo of volt vs cruze. The volt looks more like any other fuel efficient hybrid, than it does a cruze.



Here is a volt vs some others..

 

I can take a gas powered Bus for a buck a day token. It would take 40,000 days to equal a Volt.

 

If he Volt is as good as you say than why is GM only selling a few thousand of them? If the Volt is so good why did GM idle a plant? If the Volt is so good why can't it sell more than a Prius? If the Volt is so good why is it not the #1 seller in California. If the Volt is so good why did the Green Automobile association award the Ford Focus the hybrid of the year and Automobile magazine give the Tesla the car of the year? I'm listening.

 

Yeah well my wife went to go to work last week and wondered why it was warm in the garage... She came home so fried the day before. Was sitting talking on the hands free after parking in the garage and forgot to turn off the car when she got out!
The gas was already low and now that morning it was blinking with battery drained to the purple lines!
Since it was still cycling. I drove it to the neighborhood gas station about half mile away and made it to get gas.

I could just see her backing out the garage one morning and ripping out the chord because she didn't unplug.
She's a genius in some respects and a blond in others.

Due to the extra cost, I just don't see 8 years of plugging and unplugging to recoup the cost worth the stress for her.

SCH-I535 ? 2

 

Because its a new model and new concept. Lots of people don't even know what it is (the advertising is weak, and its a novel concept.. and then there are people like you, and lots of right winngers, pushing misinformation.

Ask yourself why is the Volt outselling the Prius did at 22 months from its launch.. ?

The idled the plant so they could split to produce malibu's and more recently move production Impala production from Canada.. see http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120828/carnews/120829843

The Volt is starting its 3rd year.. Those awards are for the second round of cars, the others are decent cars, especially the Tesla.


The volt quite won a few awards (list through 2011):

Vehicle awards
· 2009 Green Car Vision Award by the Green Car Journal
· 2011 North American Car of the Year at the 2011 North American International Auto Show.
· Motor Trend 2011 Car of the Year
· Automobile Magazine 2011 Automobile of the Year
· MotorWeek 2011 Driver’s Choice Best of the Year
· Car and Driver 10 Best for 2011
· 2011 Edison Award
· Highest-rated compact for 2011 J.D. Powers and Associates APEAL Study
· 2012 Car of the Year in Denmark
· Consumer Reports rates Volt #1 in Owner Satisfaction
· Named “2011 Collectible Car of the Future” by Friends of the National Automotive History Collection (NAHC)
Environmental awards
· 2009 Environmental Grand Prize awarded at the 2009 Festival International Automobile
· 2011 World Green Car announced at the 2011 New York Auto Show
· 2011 Green Car of the Year awarded by Green Car Journal
· MotorWeek 2011 Best Eco-Friendly
· Chicago Auto Show Best Green Vehicle
Technology awards
· Ward’s AutoWorld 10 Best Engines for 2011
· SAE 2011 Best Engineered Vehicle
· Top Michigan Innovation in 2011
· Edmunds 2011 Green Car Breakthrough Award
· Popular Mechanics 2010 Breakthrough Technology
· Popular Mechanics Top 10 Vehicles Award for Technology
· Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award for OnStar MyLink for Volt
Mobile Application awards
· Popular Science Best of What’s New 2010
· Consumer Electronics Show’s “Top Products” Award for OnStar MyLink for Volt Mobile Application
Safety acknowledgements
· Top Safety Pick by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
· National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Five-star overall vehicle score
· Euro NCAP Five stars (out of five) in all categories
Value acknowledgments
· Best Electric Car awarded for 2012 resale value by Kelley Blue Book”
· Kiplinger demonstrated in five years time the Volt can earn back 91 percent of a $19,000 cost differential between it and a Cruze internal combustion powered cousin
Economy acknowledgements
· 2011 Volt names most fuel-efficient compact car by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
· 2012 Volt again named by EPA most fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicle

 

I have to be honest I have to charge my phone everyday and it is annoying as heck. If I had to charge my phone very 10 days and it cost more in electricity I would do it. To me time is money and I hate the hassle. My Prius I put gas in it once every 10-12 days about 3 times a month and my gas costs about $80-$90 a month. If you came to me and said I can cut your gas bill in half but you need to plug your car in every day and sometimes twice a Day I would no be a buyer. My time is worth more than that hassle.

 

Ever the Hybrid has been around for 12 years. GM has been around a long time. You're telling me the Volt is losing money and not many people buy it because it is only 3 years old. You can do better than that.

 

That sounds Ike a PR spin. You know why GM idled a plant. No one buys the car.

 

Nice award list, but the Prius is selling about 50 to 1.

 

That is your choice.. Plugging/unplugging in takes me all of 5-10s seconds a day and I almost never have to worry about needing gas especiallyi if running late for a meeting. I visit a gas station 3 times a year. My time is worth more than than hassels.

@ windstrings if its plugged in you cannot drive it, so no risk.

 

Come on kid every time I drive I cannot help but see a Prius on the road in California. I see about 1 Volt a week, I think it's the same guy every time

 

Well that seems to be a common complaint among Volt drivers the long charge time. GM official response is invest $2,000 dollars for an upgraded charger in your garage. Sounds like a sham.

 

Kid your OK but the Volt is aMoney loser. They just got it wrong. Consumers are fickle. There is an old saying, give the people what they want and hey will beat a trail to your door step. GM just never figured that out.

 

New products ideas can take a while to get acceptance.

Prius liftback sales year to date are about 160K units though october. Volt sales are about 19K though october.. so its not even 10:1.


And it only took the Prius a bit over a decade to have 2% market share, less than the Cruze is selling after only launching in the US in 2010.

Wonder why the Volt is outselling the Plug in Prius by about 2-1. Part may be that the PiP only launched this year.. some of it

Funny I have no complaints about the charge time and never suggested I did.. you are getting desperate enough to invent things. I guess you cannot be bothered to actually read what people write. No wonder you don't understand the Volt...

I plug in when I get home an dely the charging until after 10:30 so its "off peak" and its charge before I leave for work. I like to get a reasonable night's sleep and its fine to charge while I sleep.

The only people that need L2 are those that drive more than 40 a day and want to grab a quick charge when they get back from work for errands. I don't need the extra charge.

Well so was the Prius for years.. did not make money for Toyota until nearly a decade after they launched it in japan. A new and better product can take a while to get acceptance. Just like it took for the prius.

 

Kid the Prius is not your problem. It is not even your competition. The new Honda accord PHEV and the Tesla will be your demise. The Prius s an Econo Box and it caters to the lower middle class and technology types. The Volt will lie with the luxury buyer to the Tesla and the people with money that left GM decades ago because there parents and themselves were handed the shaft on GM poor quality have a long memory and Honda pays well in these quality is important and I just don't trust GM millions out there. GM once had 70 % market share. They lost hat decades ago.

 

The Prius sells well because you can read he blog 150,000 miles and minor problems. GM cannot deliver quality. You Volt will never last a decade.

 

Wait until the Germans give up on Diesel is the future

 

Acura and Lexus av hybrids and you can expect PHEV from them soon. If Honda released t he LA Auto Show a PHEV Accord next year I will be on a Acura TLX EV-30

 

Best of luck and for the sake of the USA I hope the Volt does well but if history is any indication of the future the Volt will go down the tubes as did the Citation, Vega, Nova and countless other disasters GM date raped our wallets with.

 

Add the most most important question:
Where does the money, to fuel the Cruze with gasoline go, and where does the money to fuel Volt/Ampera with electricity go?