Now a 2017 Volt Owner

The 2001 Prius finally displayed the Triangle of Death...but was still drivable. So as planned response, I sold it to Carmax that day. Got $500 for it...even with the Triangle clearly described, visible, and not minimized as minor. The 2001 was a great car for 15 years and worth every cent.

But now I have a big problem. My commitment to sustainability is now tested by Toyota's lack of commitment to having any EV or PHEV available at all. How disappointing. Since I buy cars for a long time (see above) I went with what I see as the best PHEV available....the 2017 Volt. I'm about to see if GM has made a reliable PHEV or not. Time will tell. In the meantime, I have been pleasantly surprised with the Volt engineering and build quality.

I'm still a Prius Driver. There is a 2010 in the garage as well and it is a great car. So is what I find interesting about both vehicles:

MAJOR POINTS:
1) Driving by the gas station for most of the month is why I bought a Prius. It is good at that. Driving by the gas station for most of the year is why I bought the Volt. I cannot do that unless the EV only range is over 55 miles. The Volt does that. It is really wonderful to look at displayed gas prices as I drive by and realize those are no longer my concern! (Note to Toyota. This "Oh what a feeling" of EV drive is a one way street. Once folks discover this advantage, they will not give it up. Please wake up from the FCV dead end.)
2) The Prius interior volume is excellent. The Volt is significantly smaller in the interior. Saying the Volt seats five is a marketing point, not really the case.
3) The Prius is proven to be excellent in reliability. The Volt has yet to show it is at the same level.

MINOR POINTS:
1) All my Prii (2001, 2007, 2010) had various annoying rattles at times. Nothing like that has shown up in the Volt so far.
2) I do not like the On-Star big brother capabilities installed on on Volts. In the owners manual, you read that some power utilities have the capability of using On-Star to cancel the charging of the Volt if the utilities need to. Huh? How does a Volt owner charging from their own solar panels avoid big brother aborting their charging as by-catch?

 

Oh yeah. Under $34k. I'll take the tax credit next year. What I have found out over the years is very simply, the less I visit the dealers, the better the deal I get. So here is how I know I got the best deal possible for the local area.

I sent an e-mail to all six Volt dealers in the extended area. It said the following:
1) I am buying the lowest price new Volt offered from the dealer giving the lowest price. Color and options are immaterial. Only lowest price wins.
2) It is a cash deal. The check can be a personal check or cashier check if desired.
3) There is no trade in.
4) You must provide the final number to be written on the check. That is what I will show up with.
5) Please request any information from me necessary to determine the final price.

A number of dealers responded requesting I come in so they could "talk" about a good deal. I responded in every case with the following response. "I am showing up at one, and only one dealer with a check. You make your decision for me to come to you by giving me the lowest final price."

A couple did contact me asking whether I was a veteran for the military discount (did not result in the lowest price). The winning dealer called to get my transferred license plate number to calculate tag fees.

There were six responses covering quite a range. I have no doubt I got a deal vastly better than if I had shown up without the check written. If I felt I could get a better deal by driving farther, I would have repeated the same process over an extended driving area. I did do a lot better than what Truecar was claiming.

 

White. A very desirable color in FL.

A couple of days ago I got the NEMA 14-50 outlet installed and the Clipper Creek 20 Amp charger. Four hours vs 12 hours is a big improvement.

No, I needed a PHEV, not a Volt. Toyota just flat has zero offerings now when the decision needed to be made. If a Prime had been available, it would have been a very serious contender. GM still has quite a lot of reliability reputation to make up to get to Toyota reliability reputations and that counts in my book. No matter how you spin it, Toyota made explicit decisions to temporarily abandon the PHEV market that forced my decision. The Prime is probably going to be a great vehicle...but I can only buy what is available.

 

The range was 35712 to 33816.

 

The 34k was the number on the check to the dealer including every charge. I have to get the tax credit on my own.

 

dup

 

Here is everything on the sales sheet:
Vehicle Price: $34,615
Dealer Savings: -$2,338
Rebate: -$1,385
Sales Tax: $2034.63
Tag: $183
Tire/Battery/MVWEA: $6.50
Dealer Service Fee: $699.95

Please note this is what was negotiated completely before I set foot in the dealer. It took about 10 years of car buying to realize the price only goes down to get you to the dealer and only goes up once you are inside the dealer. So the trick is locking in the dealer price BEFORE arriving.

PS. For those that do not know how dealers really work. The Blue book and other new car price sources give "dealer costs" for cars that make it sound like dealers are making very little profit. What you are not told is every so often dealers get "bonus" cars that cost the dealer nothing. So those "off the cost sheet" cars are sold for all profit. I found this out via overhearing a bank loan officer relating how the loans for purchasing cars from a car maker required the collateral (the cars bought) to be matched by identified bank collateral VINs. However, these VINS were one less than the number of car VINs delivered to the dealer in the purchased shipment. The bank loan was for X-1 cars purchased. Clever. Only the bank and dealer knows the actual cost flow numbers.

 

Dealer Service fee is usually what is called delivery charge.