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Jim Seida / msnbc.com
We took the Chevy Volt to the streets of San Francisco for a final road test.
"It's OK."
That's how I replied to a text from my brother-in-law, also a car enthusiast, who knew I was driving a Chevy Volt from Seattle to San Francisco.
That's the problem with the Volt: It's just OK. And for me, just OK isn't enough for a car that costs over $40,000.
Don't get me wrong. The Volt packs some interesting technology into its five-door hatchback frame, and it really has no direct competitors. Unlike the Toyota Prius, the Volt can be plugged in to charge the onboard batteries, then driven solely on battery power. Unlike the Nissan Leaf, the Volt has a gas-powered, onboard generator that produces electricity to power the car once the batteries are depleted.
The ideal customer for this car is someone who commutes to work about 20 miles each way or less (which can be done on battery power alone) but wants the freedom to drive America's interstate highways, as we have over the past two days.
The Volt has some terrific features, such as keyless entry and keyless ignition with the key fob. It's got power windows and a five-star safety rating. It's got a USB port and a 30GB hard drive for storing your music collection. It shifts effortlessly between battery and generator power. It's smooth, relatively quiet and easy to drive on the highway ... which is really the only place I've driven it. All in all, it's a competent, uneventful car that feels pretty average.
For me, though, the strikes against it are substantial. The Volt's two rows of bucket seats accommodate only four people. The Prius, the Leaf, even the Honda Fit and Mazda 2 seat five adults. Why in the world would they make a car that seats only four? Chevy engineers say it's to accommodate the T-shaped layout of the batteries. It doesn't really matter why. It should seat five, just like almost every other car its size.
Jim Seida / msnbc.com
There's lots of information in the Volt's two LCD displays, and lights reflect off the glossy center stack. Note the parking brake control, lower right on the center stack.
On the center stack, the bright blue "Power" button that you press to start the car is sexy — but if the battery in your key fob dies, guess what? There's no ignition slot that accepts a key. You can unlock the doors with the key on the fob, but you can't start the car with one.
When you do start the car, two LCD screens greet you with what looks and sounds more like a science-fiction movie trailer than a car starting. I understand that this gee-whiz might excite customers in the lot, but it gets tiring after the 15th showing.
Speaking of the center stack, it's one of the worst features of the car. It's a mess of flush-mounted, touch-sensitive studs that are labeled with nothing more than white text on a glossy-body-colored surface. Big and shiny is not good for surfaces that are in front of the driver. Two more oddities on the center stack: The door lock/unlock feature for the whole car is on the passenger side, as is the parking brake switch. This brake switch is actually the closest control to the passenger, and it can be activated by gently pulling on it with one finger. From the passenger seat, I pulled on the switch at about 30 miles per hour. Sure enough, the parking brake engaged, and the car slowed to a stop. I'd move the button to the driver's side.
The front cowl is so high that the tallest of drivers still can't see the front corners of the car, meaning some guesswork might be required for parking lot maneuvers.
The low-rolling-resistance Goodyears at the corners are the main source of noise entering the cabin at highway speeds, which isn't so bad, because if it was any quieter, the sound of the generator spinning up and down, seemingly with its own agenda, might get tiresome.
Generally speaking, the Volt is a competent car. It starts, it goes. Everyone who got behind the wheel commented on how smooth and quiet it was. There are no surprises in the turns, as the car settles into a predictable stance and body roll is not excessive. The brakes, which provide regenerative power to the batteries, are up to snuff, albeit with more nose dive than I would have predicted.
Aside from not being able to start it with a key, the four-person capacity and the curious layout of some of the controls, this car is pretty much what you'd expect from Chevrolet.
But for my $41,000 ... OK, $33,500 after federal tax credit ... I expect more.
Jim Seida is senior multimedia producer at msnbc.com — and he loves to drive cars. Check out the full series of blog items, Twitter tweets, pictures and videos from this week's "Electric Road Trip."
Leave a Comment:
just G.M. doing what they do best....being greedy
!FAIL! Concept DOA. $33-41k for a FOUR SEAT over-glorified "Cavalier"?!?!?! Hmmm, NO THANKS, I can buy TWO Honda Civics for that kind of money!!! And reading the other "Lows", it seems many "features" were an afterthought. This is why my family hasn't bought a GM Car in over 25 Years. Ford continues to be the only Detroit Co that really "Get's It". This will only be bought by Celebrities, and affluent hippies...
good balanced review. i see a substantial redesign for all these electric cars in their 3rd-4th year (refine layouts, more battery capacity, stronger motors, etc.). competition will help the price on these fall continually as technology progresses which is great for new buyers but that will hurt resale value a bit.
i'll never buy a new gasoline vehicle again. i was hoping for an all-electric option for the volt. maybe in a few years they'll come around.
I agree that $41k ($33,500 after tax credit) is high. But the lease price ($350/month) is very reasonable--especially after you subtract the fuel savings! I wouldn't ignore the car because of the price.
I don't think it's fair to compare it to a Cruze (and especially not a Cavalier). Ride, noise and equipment levels are much better. And looks, I think, although ymmv. Even if it didn't have the electric components it would be worth more.
While I personally would prefer a Leaf (cheaper, simpler, more electric-only range) I think the unique attraction to the Volt is that most owners will be able to convert most of their miles from petroleum to electricity...without ANY change in driving behavior! It drives exactly like a regular gas car. A lot of people, right or wrong, are still afraid of going all-electric, and we need everything we can to get off petroleum. I'm really glad the Volt is on the market.
Note: The price, no matter what the tax credit is, is still $41K. If the tax credit is going to lower your monthly bills in some form/fashion, THEN the price is lower. Since practically no one is going to file taxes/wait for refund/get $7,500 check from IRS/pay down (any) remaining balance, this is a $41K car.
You are correct that the price is $41k; but in no case are you out $41k, so I'm not sure I understand the distinction. How about: it's a $41k car...that somebody pays you $7,500 to buy. The tax credit does help you lower your bills, because you can apply the credit to pay the bills. You don't have to pay down the balance as soon as you get the money.
If you buy with cash, you have to wait a bit to get the $7,500; but given that you had the cash, you can apparently manage that.
If you buy on credit, your payments are indeed at the $41k level; but you get fuel savings right away to help offset that; and you get $7,500 to help make the rest of the payments before you've made the majority of them (how soon depends on when you buy in the tax year, but it will always be less than halfway through the loan). What you pay overall is equivalent to a $33.5k loan.
If you lease, GM gets the credit, and passes it on in the lower lease rates, so the lease rate is comparable to a cheaper car. (Plus you also have lower fuel rates to help make the payments in this case too).
You state: "The ideal customer for this car is someone who commutes to work about 20 miles each way or less (which can be done on battery power alone) but wants the freedom to drive America's interstate highways, as we have over the past two days."
Actually, the ideal customer for this car, and other EVs, is considerably more diverse than that narrow descriptor.
The ideal customer is someone who doesn't want to pollute other people's air.
The ideal customer is someone who doesn't want to send 60% of their transportation energy money out of the country, or 90% of that money out of their community.
The ideal customer is someone who doesn't want the guilt of using a fuel source that we have to fight wars over.
This is a great car that represents the beginning of the end of internal combustion and all the evil that technology has brought us.
Why not create clean transportation energy from local resources? Yes we have had oil for a long time but not so much in the US anymore. Electric cars are the perfect multi-fuel vehicle. An EV can run on hydroelectricity from spinning power plants at dams, nukes, natural gas, coal and of course never ending source of wind and solar. Take your pick.
Just to be clear, I am not against EVs at all. I just find these "hybrid" genre Cars to be silly, and this Volt is no "Advancement" from that. Uber-Kudos to Nissan, for coming out with an affordable pure EV; I would take odds that they will be the eventual Front-Runner, eventually possibly overtaking the downright goofy Prius. I have been a fan of, and owned several of, Nissan/Datsun for well over 25 Years - my Loyalty is justified once again.
You know you can also lock/unlock and start the vehicle with either the smartphone app or by calling up OnStar, right? Also, I'm pretty sure you'd get 2 keys, that is pretty standard. So how is this any different than if you forgot your keys?
I think I'll stick with my Honda Insight. It seats 5 and I've gotten as high as 56.9 MPG over a 600-mile single day drive.
Alan and Jim,
Thanks for your thoughts and comments on the Volt as you roll along on the tour. Seems that you are receiving a lot of comments from the typical morning quarterbacks that can only find fault. Easy to find fault with the Volt as it is the first of the evolutionary vehicles that will have to be developed and sold to American consumers in order to break our addiction to oil. More of my thoughts here: http://greenlivingpdx.blogspot.com/
Kudos to Chevy and GM for bring forth the first of a new class of EV. One that fits the driving needs of most Americans while avoiding "range anxiety".
Come on folks let's work with them in a positive way.