I drove a Volt today.

Right, I saw the X, didn't know about the other... Maybe the price of the S will drop too.
By then, the Volt could be more interesting.... They are close.... Just not a good compare since they drop to 38mpg after battery is dead, I would rather have a Toyota, pay less, and have a solid 48-50mpg regardless without plugin and even better with plugin for the same price as the volt.

The volt only shines imo for regular short commutes.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
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I'm holding off on a decision. The guys at Woodland Chevrolet are more than willing to work with me and have been super helpful but the trade in value for my car just isn't what I hoped. I could private sale it to make up the difference but I'm getting cold feet after reading more deeply into the complaints on the GM-Volt forum. Most are minor but they are numerous and so diverse that I fear the unknown. I have never had so much as a fluid leak in the 190,000 miles I've driven my Prii (2005 and 2012). I hate the rattles, wind noise and general cheapness of the car but ill be damned if it's not reliable!

Regardless of the decision I make I want to thank John for taking the time to call me and provide advice. You are ok in my book.

 

I don't think the pricing of the Model S will drop, it's going up in January.

The average for PiPs on Fuelly is 77.4mpg (88 vehicles)
The average for Volts on VoltStats is 139.4mpg (1000+ vehicles)

I quess if your opinion is that 120+ miles is a short commute.

 

It's good to slow things down if you are having second thoughts, especially if you are at the dealership. There is no need to make instant decisions.

You might ask about borrowing a demo car for a day. In some cities you can rent Volts from Enterprise Rent-a-Car, I think, but not Sacramento. Do you know anyone in the area who has a Volt?

I'm curious....what issues are you concerned about?

 

I don't know anyone near me who has one although I am sure there are a bunch from the other forum.

I'm reading about fluid leaks, vibrations, service engine lights that require towing, burning plastic smell, strut replacements, center stack failure, wheel bearings, steering tracking issue, etc.. If you go through the first 5 pages in the "Mechanical" section you'll find a bunch of issues. There are more in the other sections. I'm not picking on the Volt at all. If you were new to PriusChat and read our maintenance sections you'd probably freak out too.

 

For what it's worth, I know a few people who have Volts (friends and folks at work). I could poll them to see if any if them have had issues. Actually, I think I'll do that regardless and for LEAF and PiP as well. I'll post the results of my non-scientific poll here in a couple of days.

 

That would be great. Hopefully you don't catch too much hell from the fan boys on each site.

 

I was thinking of asking people I know personally so I can ask them for details about any problems. I wasn't planning to create polls at mynissanleaf or GM-volt.

 

On internet forums, there are always mostly present the ones, that have troubles with their car, not the ones, that are trouble free. That doesn't mean, it's the majority.

Check this report:
Chevy Volt again tops Consumer Reports Owner-Satisfaction Survey

That should convince you about the customer satisfaction.

P.S.: I'm an Ampera owner.

 

Humm.. That's just sounds like normal American engineering....I guess Toyota doesn't share "all" their secrets, or could it just be shoddy quality control?

Not trying to flame, but im with you. I have two with 190.00+ miles prius's and one had very a slight leak that was fixed for 60 bucks.. Nothing otherwise.

I admire chevy for getting into the market but they should realize they are newcomers that don't know it all yet and are not "equal" with Toyota in this market so the price should not be equal.

Their price needs to drop. The government goodies were a big temptation to jump in and that's fine. But the public is getting none of that incentive.....
I thought the 7500.00 was for the consumer, but the price reflects they are absorbing it all?

But time will tell... People may jump in now and but because of blind faith, but they better make good "all" their issues or their name will be mud for a long time in this market.

There is something to be said for stupid little problems... When your busy with life working etc.... Little problems are big when you have to leave your car while someone messes with your car.
It's hard to find good mechanics you can trust.... Not all dealers are honest.

But If your car never breaks... That's a non issue! Your not vulnerable!

There are extensive threads here were people discuss no need for extended warranty on the prius.

A car with such sophisticated technology you would think that's suicide.!

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
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Well I hope you guys discover the volt is worth the purchase.
I can see how non Prius owners could be very excited about it, however previous prius owners are accustomed to a certain standard, a bit more spoiled if you will, so I'm not sure the Volt can stand up to the scrutiny.

I've said my peace about it, I'll try not to comment since further since I don't actually own a volt and leave it for those that do.

I find the comments from previous Prius owners more valuable to me personally.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

I watch the GM-Volt threads looking for early signs of design and build problems but haven't seen anything that concerns me yet. Lots of threads about losing EV range in the winter along with armchair engineers and a few bad dealer service experiences.

My main concern is that the problems are few but they take a while to diagnose since they are relatively unique. You can take a Volt with a problem to a dealer and while they may have sold a hundred Volts, they haven't had one in for service, not even an oil change. What GM has done is created a cadre of traveling techs to fly in when needed but I think service managers are slow to call them in. The dealers have all had someone trained on servicing the Volt but it may be a bit like the Maytag service man commercial.

I think Toyota did the same when they initially rolled out the Prius.

I think GMs biggest challenge is getting the dealer network to sell the Volt. A dealer makes more margin off selling a Cruze or a Silverado, and then they make some more money doing regular services like oil changes and required warranty maintenance services on those vehicles. They may only see a Volt come in every two years. Too bad the Saturn brand didn't survive, it might have been a better way to sell the Volt.

 

True, service after purchase is what has kept the computer industry afloat for years... Cars too...

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
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