CR knocks Volt, praises Prius

While I drive over a 110 miles each day for work, I really doubt that all that many drive over 70 miles each way in a daily commute. If CR meant 35 miles each way, do not discount recharging at work.

 

My dad drove 70-80 miles r/t each day for work. He had to park in a huge parking lot, without the ability to plug in and re-charge (seems ironic, considering he worked at a nuclear power plant). Compared to what he would have probably been able to achieve in a Prius, I think he would have just barely hit the break even point. I believe that CR didn't take into account charging at the work place, because a lot of them don't offer that capability. At that price point, there's a lot of routine maintenance that can get done to a Prius before you pay up that difference in purchase price. Even if you went to the Prius 5, that's still roughly a 10k difference. This may be why they recommended the Prius over the Volt in these instances.

Jimbo, I agree that with the ability to plug in at work, the Volt would essentially be "gas" free. But, the issue is still for most people about dollars and cents. I don't know many people that would shell out that kind of $$ for a Volt.

 

that's why the next one is going to be improved and ten thousand dollars less.

 

The thing I found most interesting in the article is that assuming a cost of 11 cents per kWh, the cost per mile of operating the Volt is 5.7 cents on battery alone. This compares with the Prius cost of 6.8 cents per mile assuming $3.00 gas and 44 mpg. While gas has gone up since the article was written, a Prius operating on gas is very close to a Volt on battery alone. Of course, when the Volt starts operating on gas, the 30 mpg (premium) of the Volt compares very unfavorably with the Prius.

 

Interesting that there is already talk of an improved Volt at a lower cost when this one has barely launched.

 

All else being equal, that's actually true quite often.

I think this is getting talked about more for a couple reasons:

1 - It's from GM
2 - It's a brand new model
3 - The price is high for the vehicle currently
4 - The design aspects (internal workings) haven't been coupled together in this manner before.

I hate to say it, but all the hype initially with this vehicle seems to have over-hyped in the consumers eyes once the vehicle actually launched. I still think they could have done MUCH better with regards to the "generator" aspect, but I wasn't part of their R&D department and don't know what the other costs may have been associated with it.

 

That's what manufacturers like to say . . . .
The EV1 for example. . . could have, should have, would have been less expensive ... only like many an idea, it gets aborted just as it's being born. Here's to hoping GM won't make the Volt into another screw up.

 

They say you have to be in driving utopia to get EPA economy, hah. I can cop 50 MPGs today in a 3rd gen, blindfolded.

 

Volt is a compact car but Prius is a mid-size. The smaller car supposed to cost less to operate.

Volt should be compared to Prius c when it comes out in about a year.

 

GM’s Executive Director of EVs and Batteries said it is optimized as much as possible.

GM Will Not Increase Hybridization in Future Generation Voltec Vehicles

 

February sales certainly don't paint a hopeful picture: 281
.

 

PC writers and readers are a pretty informed group. Most every issue is "flushed out" in detail. I feel sorry for those un-informed buyers, that have been "sucked-in" by GM's .... BS, and are now coming to the reality that they own a very expensive vehicle that does not meet their expectations, or GM's advertising. I have said all along, if (and I am not) I were "hell-bent" on a Chevy, the Cruze make so much more sense.

 

I think 281 deliveries to dealerships.

I don't know how accurate Cars.com is, but they report Volt inventory on the increase. OTOH, no cars being offered online below MSRP. If that happens this year I doubt GM will continue the Volt program.

 

John is correct. The sales reported each month herein and in the media are the actual retail and fleet deliveries as reported by the dealers around the country. The dealers channel their sales deliveries to the Marketing Depts of GM, Toyota, Ford, etc. respectively then the various Marketing Depts reports 'sales' altogether on the same day.

The deliveries and sales from the factories to the dealers are NEVER reported anywhere in detail. That's confidential info.

 

Here's where I disagree with CR. They say:

The truth is, a Prius is not only better in the long run, it's also better in the short run.

 

Thanks for the correction. How would a refundable deposit be tallied ?

 

There is a mechanism that all the dealers of all the makers have instituted called the RDR ( Retail Delivery Report ). It's issued a day or two after the buyer has actually

• completed all the necessary financial and legal paperwork
• taken the vehicle 'across the curb' away from the lot
• transferred all funds due at signing

Each state has its own regulations and a few isolated deals might be 'unwound' after delivery has been made but essentially as of Midnight on a specific date each month the final deliveries have to be transmitted to the respective 'motherships'. The next day, today for example, the Marketing Depts of the various makers collect and summarize all the individual dealer reports then send the summaries to the media.

A refundable or even a non-refundable deposit on a future delivery is not a sale for these purposes until the vehicle arrives, is settled up financially, is registered and then is sent 'across the curb' in the possession of the new owner.

 

Ah, lots of bashing as expected.

Definitely plenty of average consumers here in this board.
quote: "This is going to be a tough sell to the average consumer."

Does anyone still remember when the Prius first came out, Toyota had to sell them at a loss ?

 

^ The Prius never costed over $40k

^ The Prius never had to compete with the Prius

^ The Prius was never funded by taxpayer dollars.

^ The Prius never made outlandish mileage claims

^ The Prius never earned Car of the Year before it even debuted.

The bashing is 100% warranted.