Trade Prius for Chevrolet Volt

the Volt trunk volume is 10.6 ft3 with the seats up, 15 folded
The Liftback cargo volume is 21.6 with the seats up, 39.6 cubic feet folded
The v has 34.3 cu. ft. of cargo space with the seats up, 67.3 cubic feet folded (four times as much)

So the Prius either has twice or three times the cargo space with the seats up, depending on if you meant to post in the v Forum. (I can't imagine why you would buy a v if you were not interested in cargo space)

(this is no longer in the Prius v forum, so my fixation on cargo space is now just a personal issue)

 

On the surface it looks like it would be sensible to do the trade. For a lot of car buyers, part of the buying process is an emotional justification. But if you consider the finances and how you use the vehicle on a daily basis, you might think differently about it. Is your Prius paid for? Would you be able to pay for the Volt? Beyond financing, how much would you save on your commute - assuming you would save the 1 gallon of gas on your daily commute. About $3.25 - $3.50 per day or roughly $73/mo or $875/yr (assumes 5x/week x 50 weeks/yr). On longer trips where you exhaust your battery supply, mileage will be less in the Volt. Put pencil to paper, combine the results to the emotional appeal of a new car and see how you feel then. FWIW - in the past I've tended to let my emotions rule the day!

 

Whether you feel the need to justify the swap really does not matter as long as you are happy with what you want, regardless the reason.

 

I won't tell you which one to get, but if you switch I will expect you to stop back in and report on it, OK?

 

I'd look at it this way, at work we got rid of all our Chev vehicles, their unreliable and too expensive to maintain. Sure their fine at first but after a year or so they start having too many issues. Therefore I would be very reluctant to buy any Chev products. IMHO

 

i would consider a volt if i were not concerned about the smaller size and lower post ev mpg's. driving more electric would be great, but not at the expense of giving up the liftback qualities. still the most versatile car on the road after 12 years, imo. all the best!

 

What years were said Chevy vehicles? The Volt has been out for 3 years and seems to be doing great so far.

I thought about getting a Volt. I would be able to do my full commute and then some on electric. Unfortunately, a new one would never pay for itself compared to what I paid for my Prius, and all the lower priced used ones are on the coasts 1000+ miles away.

It all comes down to what you value most, overall cost of ownership, reducing gas usage, comfort, cargo room, EV commute, etc. See if you can do an extended test drive or rent one to try it out on your commute. Give yourself a week or two to think it over and see how you feel about it.

 

If you can afford it without sacrificing other essentials then I would go for the volt. I was about $10k shy of being able to consider a volt when I bought my used 2010 prius. There is a public charge station in front of my work. The two volt owners that come there regularly are still happy after over a year of ownership.

 

Here is a link to tech guy in Maine who has had Honda and Ford Hybrids and then bought a Volt. Some pretty interesting stuff; he normally charges the Volt from a solar array and keeps very detailed records. Tidbits include things like the recommended gas purchase is 3 gallons of premium; a chart that shows dollars saved over a gas car; the requirement to use power to keep the battery warm in the winter; remote control of the car, etc.

My wife's job has a free charger in the parking lot, however the current economics versus keeping a paid for Prius does not seem worth it today. I am hoping Lithium battery prices go down enough so that more range is possible in a car this size. Then we may make the move, hopefully to a newer Toyota if then available. There is some talk that the 2015 Prii will have higher tech.

ART TEC - Guy Marsden's Chevy Volt
(The linked page is quite long; there are a couple of inserted ads that may make you think you at the bottom; keep going to at least the Remote Control paragraph)
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My impression Volt is a quality nice car. However, for us not an option due to all the grandkids hauling we do we need the family car nature of a Prius.

 

I went back and forth on deciding between a PiP and a Volt, but after sitting down and figuring out which would fit me the best, I went with the PiP. With the Volt, my commute would fall under the EV range, but I have too many trips beyond the range. All my local running around fits within the PiP EV range.

 

I know we often scoff at Consumer Reports (and quite rightly sometimes), but their reliability reports are tabulated from surveys of owners of over 1.2 million cars and are based on actual repairs needed, so they're at least a reasonable guide.

The most recent survey was published in April 2013 and covered the 2011 and 2012 model years for the Volt. On the five-point scale that CR uses, the Volt was rated 4 (Better than average) or 5 (Much better than average) in every category except 2012 Electrical, which was rated 3 (Average). And for 2012, the only other markdown was Body Integrity, rated 4. The overall rating was 4 (Better than average).

This is not quite as good as the Prius liftback, which had the best rating in almost every category for 2010/11/12 - for 2012 the only item marked down even one notch was Audio System, which I think no-one here would disagree with. The overall rating for Prius was 5 (Much better than average).

 

Yes GM builds better trucks then Ford, so go figure why the Ford F series truck is the best selling vehicle in the USA??

 

Search also for comments in other threads by long-time member F8L. He went from a GenII Prius to a GenIII, then a PiP, then a Volt, so he has first-hand commentary on all of them.

I see his path inevitably leading to a Tesla, but he has been with the Volt long enough to have meaningful input.

 

I've subscribed for about that long also and have received a few surveys. I don't know how they decide who gets them; this is on their website:

"We conduct many surveys by selecting a random sample from the approximately 7 million readers who subscribe to Consumer Reports and/or to ConsumerReports.org, who are some of the most consumer-savvy people in the nation. Our biggest effort, the Annual Questionnaire, is sent to eligible subscribers each spring."

How We Survey - Consumer Reports