Love my 2013 Prius Two so much I bought a Volt!

We are all not macho men, some of us don't hang.

 

I was trying to get someone to crack a smile! Sometimes these posts get a little depressing. But I am serious about my question though. A little of my background might help too. I am technically supposed to be a third gen GM employee. My whole family worked/works for them but after 6 months I said see ya! I know not only a lot about what goes on in the assembly plants but the machine shops and fab plants that make all the sheet metal for GM cars. Then my wife's family is up to their neck with connections with Toyota...My wife's uncle is personal friends with Toyota north america's president. Knowing what I know of the two always sent me running to the toyota product which is far from perfect but the lesser of two evils! But I always liked the Volt even though it doesn't even remotely resemble the awesomeness that it was supposed to be when first introduced as a prototype at a car show! I really am interested in "real" and "realistic" first hand experience from Volt owners.

 

It's ok, I have just been ridiculed so much on this thread, I'm a bit gun shy.
I like your observations.
I like the Prius 2 generation cars because they are bare bones, very utilitarian car, not for sure about Prius after that, seem they went more for comfort. Depends on ones needs.

 

Well.....while short and sweet I would say you pretty much summed it up! People will just buy what they want!

 

You are right, depends on someone's budget too.
I just think the Toyota cars go out of their way to provide low maintenance.
Just hope they don't sell out too much, and keep their past reputation.

 

This is true, but the Volt is inherently lower maintenance. I just had my 2nd oil change at 96,000 miles and I'm following the recommended service schedule. I'm still running with the original engine air filter because the mechanic looked at it and said it was still pretty clean. I've only used the gas engine for 40,000 miles so why change the platinum tipped spark plugs that normally are good for 100,000+ plus miles? There is no mandated brake fluid flush (Nissan LEAF says flush it every 2 years). Chevy says change the coolant when you get to 150,000 miles.

To sum it up, I've spent less than $100 on all maintenance and service on my Volt during the last 4 years and 102,000 miles not counting tire replacement at 57,000 miles.

Which specific examples are worrying you?

 

It doesn't appear to be as common as the forums would lead you to believe. I had an axle issue when mine was brand new. It was fixed under warranty and I've had no more problems in the 36k miles I've driven it. Pretty reliable so far. Not sure if it will match my Prii but so far so good.

Information on life cycle analysis can be found at Argonne National Laboratories. The GREET Model helps us understand life cycle dynamics in a scientific way as opposed to our gut instinct. Argonne GREET Model

 

I never throw any comments out there without supporting them with factual data in one way or another but it was well over a year or two ago when I was researching all of this. I believe all of your experiences to be true honestly because I don't have any of my own with a volt to contradict anything you guys have said! I might wait for the new volt to come out and may take a look at it! We own 3 Toyotas that we purchased new and the reasoning for doing so was because of the expectation that along with some maintenance a toyota will always start and get you home. Obviously I am exagerating with that statement to some degree but I am not too far off. While I would love to have a tesla....I can't afford one so I was on the hunt for the very next best thing and had such a hard time deciding between the volt and prius.

 

Your accounting of "auto liquid fuel" includes not just gas and diesel but also pretty much anything liquid that comes out of a refinery.

Gasoline and diesel account for 29-31 gallons out of 42 gallons of crude -- 19 gallons of gasoline and 10-12 gallons of Diesel. "Liquified refinery gasses", "residual fuel oil", and kerosene (jet fuel) presumably make up the additional 4-6 gallons that you are assuming.

Refining Crude Oil - Energy Explained, Your Guide To Understanding Energy - Energy Information Administration

That discrepancy nearly makes up the gap between electricity generators burning crude oil at 33% efficiency and the EV efficiency of the Volt trying to match the efficiency of using any and all refined liquid fuels at 50 mpg.

In any case, very few electric plants in the US burn petroleum -- basically hawaii and some peaker plants in New York. If anyone bothered to design new petroleum plants they could probably now do better than 33% by using combined cycle technology like that used in NG plants.

 

Here is one man's opinion of the Model S vs. Volt.
Tesla Model S Vs Chevy Volt: Owner Compares Electric Cars

 

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poor car
By wsusdorf on 10/14/14 17:14 PM (PDT)
Vehicle
2013 Chevrolet Volt 4dr Hatchback (gas/electric hybrid DD)

Review
the volt is a poor car. I have had one for 2 years and have had a radiator replaced a water pump. The radiator cost $1100.00. I took the dealer 3 days to get it back to me. It now needs a battery. The battery cost 300.00 and it has a leak in it so when it goes to the car wash it leaks on the passenger side. that will cost 400.00. In the past I have bought 9 chevrolets. THis is my last. Save yoursellf the grief and look at a Prius.
Read the full review

Comment5K miles 2 CEL's and 12 days in service bay
By hwy1volt on 05/23/14 16:16 PM (PDT)
Vehicle
2013 Chevrolet Volt 4dr Hatchback (gas/electric hybrid DD)

Review
Day one, test drove the vehicle all was good paid for said vehicle, 2 miles from dealership CEL comes on, I call OnStar they report a charging cooling system not operating properly. I take it back to the dealership immediately they can't get to it until the following day. They put me in a rental I then head home. Couple days later the car is ready for pick up and I was told it was an over use of brakes. 5K miles new CEL, I call OnStar they report a charging cooling system not operating properly, I take it to a different dealer. Nine days later they replace 5123 drive motor battery coolant cooler, as per DTC P5034.
Read the full review

CommentStand By your car GM
By ronmaf on 03/09/14 12:09 PM (PDT)
Vehicle
2013 Chevrolet Volt 4dr Hatchback (gas/electric hybrid DD)

Review
I cannot believe I have had so many issues with my Volts. I bought two Volts in 2012, and both of them were bought back by GM due to major issues (One would die with no power at all, and another had a Regen Drivetrain Bearing failures) . One of the two I accepted a 2013 Volt thinking they worked out the Bugs...they did not! I could not recommend any GM product after the way that they have treated me. The director for Chevy after sales told me they would not fix my car. I have been in and out of the dealer way too much for a then $45k car! Buyer beware, read the Volt forums and look up Bearing issues in the drivetrain. You will be happy you did before pulling the trigger on this crap!

Found the above on Google when I looked the Chevy Volt. This was from Edmunds car review, I think for the year 2013. I could not do a proper link with my iPad. But there are tons of customers reviewing the car. A lot sound like honest people who have bought a bad car. Yes it is the internet, but doubt all these post are bogus.
You read some happy people with the volt here on Priuschat, but if you search a bit on the net, you get more of a better picture of what the volt is about, good and bad. It would be interesting if someone could pull up service records on the volt from various dealerships across the country.

 

Tesla Model S Takes the Top Spot in Consumer Reports Car Owner-Satisfaction Ratings: Consumer Reports http://pressroom.consumerreports.org/pressroom/

"...In past years, CR’s survey showed that“green” fuel-efficient cars, including electrics, hybrids, and fuel-sipping diesels, have also done well as a class in owner satisfaction, even though they aren’t known for outstanding comfort or engaging performance. Especially notable is the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, which finished first in 2011 and 2012 surveys. It slipped to third this time, but its score of 91 was only one point lower than last year’s. Volt owners continue to love the car about as much now as three years ago, suggesting that the Volt has some staying power beyond its novelty."

I'd argue that this is more significant than cherry-picking Edmunds.com

 

My experience with the Volt is similar to Jeff's. Although I only leased it for a year and a half, I know the family that took over the lease and they have had a great experience with it over the next year and a half.

In any forum you will hear more from complainers than people who are happy.
The best indicators to me would be group statistics such as reliability and satisfaction numbers of owners.
The Volt scores very well on these.

I do have to say, in my own opinion (I've owned both), I would rate the reliability of the Prius a bit higher than the Volt, dealership experience for the Prius better, for satisfaction for me though, the Volt wins.

 

I've only owned the Volt for 15 months. It had one problem that was prevalent with the 2013's (a faulty heater coolant module) but my local dealer was proactive and professional in resolving it. Of course having a dealer 3 miles away from the GM Tech Center may have helped.

My Toyota dealer on the other hand released my car from its second Toyota Care oil change without a filter element in the housing (the subject of a separate thread).

 

Cherry picking random data? Really? LOL

 

We know there is more to the true Volt
I bet some real truly disappointed Volt owner will give more of some of the BAD ones

 

There are disappointed owners of Volts, Prii, even Model S cars.
Just because some exist doesn't mean the car is, or isn't well made.
In some cases it is a dealer issue, in others a fluke, and yes, it can also be a symptom of a systematic issue.

Those bigger issues will show themselves in statistics, and satisfaction surveys and such.

 

I have to say I am proud of all of you! Not only were all the recent posts excellent (I really appreciated the info!) BUT...there wasn't any name calling! Kudos

 

The bearing issue happened to a small number of cars and is apparently caused by an occassional manufacturing defect with the transmission motor assembly. I haven't heard of any cases in recent cars so I think they may have finally figured out the root cause. It sounds bad when it fails but does not cause any actual damage and is easily fixed without removing the transmission from the car.

There have been a couple of cases with self-test parameters being too picky and then throwing a check engine light. Once case can happen in rainstorms if a trace amount of moisture is wicked into an electric cable connection which can cause a detectable but unimportant change to its performance. They have since loosened the self-test parameter. A second case involves a battery coolant level sensor that was too paranoid about slight drops in the coolant level and caused a "service high voltage system" error to be thrown. They subsequently increased the recommended coolant fill level slightly.

Some early 2013 cars had problems related to a new electric heater module supplier. Some early modules failed and I think there was also a heater control computer firmware bug introduced that was fixed by a subsequent software update.

Overall, CR and JD Power surveys show the Volt with good or above average reliability.

 

I've had my 2014 Volt since March, I now have 10,000 mi on it.
It's never gone back to the dealership, nor has there been any mechanical problems nor recalls.

Here's the total of what I've done to the Volt since I bought it:
- I had to adjust the back hatch bumpers by turning them both 1/2 turn anti-clockwise to fix a back hatch rattle. Took less than 30 seconds, no tools required.
- A 5"x6" piece of self adhesive sound deadening material came loose from the underside of the roof and was laying near the back between the headliner and the roof. I could hear it slide forward and back on full stops and acceleration.
I removed the headliner molding strip pulled the edge of the headliner down and was able to pull it out from there. The fix took about 10min, no tools required. I'm pretty sure that piece of sound deadening material came loose because the previous day I was driving at 70mph+ with all four windows 100% rolled down and the buffeting (which both Gen III Pri I owned also exhibited) shook the headliner quite violently. GM has a free fix for "wind buffeting" for Volt owners if they complain BTW.