Car and Driver Volt/Prime

They only got 52 mpg from a Prime!!?? I wonder how they managed that. I'm getting 93 combined from my "old fashioned" PiP and something like 55-60 in HV mode.

 

Maybe they were towing a boat -- without the trailer. LOL!

 

By the way, Neohippy, I see you're right down the road from me. I'm in NPR. Did you get your PiP from Todd at Tampa Hybrids?

 

How did they measure?
It does seem odd, but driven the right distance without charging, it could be possible.
However, that would be a very specific scenario and unlikely to be repeated.

 

I carpool one or two days a week with a buddy who has a 2016 Volt, so I have logged in a bit of time as a passenger. I prefer the Prime because it feels tighter to me. Even though the difference in size is only a couple of inches, we both agree that the Volt feels wider than the Prime. He likes that better, but I always felt it was too wide for me. The Volt does appear to have better pick up, and the greater hp can be felt on the highway. but the Prime to me as a more responsive feel to it. I am, by nature, not a speed demon on the roads, so this does not matter so much to me. The fifth seat is a total joke in the Volt. Just because you put in a seatbelt doesn't mean anyone could actually use it. The Prime definitely takes a leap in design to not tie itself down to a traditional auto experience, which I like. The Volt, not so much. We have a daily commute of about 70 miles, roundtrip, so the Volt does do better mpg wise. He has experienced a couple of service recalls since he got the car last February, and, has some challenges getting the car serviced since there is only one Volt trained technician at his dealership, so he has to schedule servicing on the days the guy is working. I haven't had the car long enough to know if that will be true with the Prime, but my dealer is pretty big, so I doubt that will be the case. The Volt, even after the increased tax credit, comes in a couple of k more than my Prime Premium. in the end, though, I think it depends a lot on personal taste, driving habits, and budget. For me, the Prime is the clear winner.

 

Ever got to test drive his Volt? What the driver feels can be different than the passenger.

Don't disagree about the fifth seat; 4+1 is a more honest description, but the gen1 caught flak for only having 4 seats. The seat on the gen2 is a compromise intended to negate a veto on a sale by those who want to be able to sit their child in the middle for safety reasons.

 

Maybe car availability had something to do with it.

 

the market will decide. it's going to be awhile before there are enough primes out there for ales comparisons. probably 2018 will be the year.
in the meantime, very few car and driver readers buy hybrids of any type. but gm might get a few sales from the article.

 

I test drive a Volt last year. It lot faster than the Gen 4 for sure. I really like Toyota a lot better. I got my Gen 4 last year anyway. Gm is not on my list.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Link?

Can't find the article, but it might not be available yet.
I'm going to have to drive the Prime myself before I can do anything other than a paper comparison but it will take a year for all of the drooling early adopters to buy theirs so that the price will level out and test drives are available in my time zone.

Car and Driver is going to offer a different opinion on Prime versus Volt than a magazine like GreenCars.
It's a Ford/Chevy thing.

Having both models in my sights for a possible replacement vehicle, I'm leaning Volt myself but I'm not going to take the plunge until (a) I need a new car and (b) more data are available.
I know that RIGHT NOW I can get OTD pricing for a V2 in the low 30s and the federal kickbacks are higher......bringing these 2 cars a lot closer to the same buy-in price than the MSRP numbers suggest that they should be.
I also know that on paper the Volt will be a helluva lot more fun to drive than the Prime, and Pip data versus V1 data show that both cars are very reliable.

I'm guessing that since the Prime is so aggressively priced that once the street prices for each level out then the Prime will have an eco edge and the Volt will attract more buyers who can take advantage of the bigger battery.

We'll see. I know that C&D just gave the Prime a pretty glowing review (for a performance car mag!)
I also know that they regularly get hate mail from GM owners who think that C&D always favors foreign makes.........so they might actually be calling balls and strikes over the plate fairly accurately.......for THEM.

It's hard to quantify "fun to drive" or....."it looks better than....:


Here's their Prime review.
2017 Toyota Prius Prime First Drive – Review – Car and Driver

 

Anyone who decides to buy a plug-in hybrid car is a loyal customer to that brand. A chevy driver will always be a chevy driver.

 

Tortoise And The Hare

 

I used to worked for them . I was never happy how they help the customer. It was more about their wallet than the customer problem.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

EPA mileage: Volt- 106 mpge, 42 mpg; Prime- 133 mpge, 54 mpg.

 

you're probably right, i don't belong to any political parties, clubs or organizations, my parents didn't hand down any preconceived notions to me, and i've owned cars from just about every different car manufacturer.
i'm likely the oddball.

 

Quite an odd statement?
Quite a few people I know of have switched from a Volt to another brand. I myself switched from a Toyota, to a Chevy, to a Tesla.

Brand loyalty certainly exists. However it is not absolute.

 

My prime has ~800 miles and I still have 95% gas left at 199.99mpg. This is based on my daily bumper to bumper commute at Bay Area.

Maybe my mpg will drop after getting my hov sticker and driving at a faster speed.

I think both cars are great. I basically go with the one in better look ,pricing and the reputation ... which mean Prime.


iPhone ?