So we have a new volt at work. I'm traveling so of course, i have to check it out.

First impression, car is cool, nice looking good shade of blue, chevy got the looks right.

One item of concern, it would seem to me that those chargers (just wall charger) could get stolen pretty easy. Cheapest price i can find online is like $300 bux. I would hope they have some kinda Chip in them to deter theft (possibly need to sync with car)? In any case, look for those to be stolen in a news report soon.

Next item, THE CAR HAS A NICE TRUNK/USABLE SPACE. I fit 2 servers, 3 computers and 4 monitors and a suitcase in the sucker, without much trouble. I usually have to take a small SUV, I could see this being good for hauling.

Interior, well we have the cloth seats..and frankly they suck. The fabric is very rough (if you wear nice pants, its going to tear up your wallet pocket). I think it looks cheap to, kinda like the stuff used in the mazda 2.

Backup camera is nice, however, i wish they did the whole line and angle thing (Projecting where your car is going to go). Just seems like the integration could be better.

10/1/2012 4:28:15 PM

Quote :

"300 DOLLAR BUX"

10/1/2012 4:31:47 PM

Next UP Electronics!

So far the electronics and all look cool, but I can't shake this feeling that they put the system together in 2007/8 or so. Everything seem kinda slow, and I just feel like the button placement is off.

I find i frequently have to switch between the touch screen and the touch buttons, they should have done a better job. In addition, the touch screen is a bitch to hit on the bottom edge.

Example, I can bring up the climate on the Video screen, but cant adjust the temperature from there, i have to use the touch buttons.

Steering wheel controls are nice, but I hate the source (up down button). Up and down you think would switch would go though and scan, esp if you held them. Instead it just hits up your favorites (currently set to XM stations I don't get, annoying when going on a long ride).

USB integration with my phone looked promising, I plugged it in and BAM look let me index your music and start playing. THREE hours later, its still indexing, I have 5gb of music on my phone. It just played the same album over and over again. Also, it skips constantly, not sure why.
I have a galaxy s3 btw, perhaps too new? I think this shitty performance may have something to do with the Microsoft Vista logo, dear god that scares me.

Another item that occurred, the stereo spontaneously "rebooted" while i was driving, the whole car kept driving but the middle panel area just restarted.

Overall, it seems to me like the interface is decent, but not great. It has an unfinished aftermarket feel that I don't get with the Ford Sync system. Interface reminds me of a early bad copy of the Xbox360 tile interface, except run on original xbox hardware.

I honestly feel like they designed the screen part, then decided to add all those horrible touch buttons under it. The touch buttons sometimes don't respond well either.

10/1/2012 4:37:33 PM

Next up driving.

Overall nice car, reminds me of a v6 sedan
Dislike the brakes, I know they are regenerative, but the switch over isn't elegant. after 2 days, im still unsure of exactly how fast they are going to stop me.

There are no places to plug this in in Richmond (near where i am)

Highway

Good passing power, I was pleasantly surprised, even after i ran outa battery. Seemed like equal pickup to a V6 engine (240-260 hp).

Ride quality was good and quiet, I couldn't hear the generator on the highway.

Got 37 miles or so on electric at 70 mph

After electric ran out i got 35.5 or so mpg at 70 mph

City

Nice car in the city
Generator makes noise in the city, that you can hear
Good pickup
Good turning radius

10/1/2012 4:42:25 PM

Comfort Update.

I had the seats in this car, they are god awful. They are too firm in the wrong places. A 3 hour drive has left my back in pain, I can't think of another car that has done this. They just seem wrong in some way, and they remind me of the pews in church.

I'm 6ft and about 200 pounds, so nothing crazy one way or the other, they are just uncomfortable.

I'm usually okay in long rides, never had this problem before in any of the other cars ive taken long trips in

Honda accord
Ford Escape
Ford focus
Ford Fusion
Pontiac GTO (still the best seats ever)
Pontiac Grand Am
Mazdaspeed 3.

They are just bad seats, or bad for me. At first I felt fine in them, but after 2 hours, nothing would make them comfortable. I mean no amount of adjusting. Plus no power seats on a 45k car WTF, sure your saving weight, but man these are BAD.

10/1/2012 4:46:03 PM

Quote :

"thank you Car and Driver"

10/1/2012 6:13:38 PM

I've seen a few Volts in person now. At least the Prius looked purposefully different when it came out. The Volt looks hideous and made of cheap materials. Why did they put that stupid black window cladding on there? It's amazing because GM still makes a few decent looking vehicles (like the Suburban, imo).

[Edited on October 1, 2012 at 6:38 PM. Reason : .]

10/1/2012 6:38:08 PM

I really wish this car had a self charge button. I.E. I know I'm not going to plug it in. I wish I could hit a Charge button and it would run the generator overnight at highest efficency to recharge the batts to 100%

10/2/2012 11:05:35 PM

Quote :

"Backup camera is nice, however, i wish they did the whole line and angle thing (Projecting where your car is going to go). Just seems like the integration could be better."

A car of that size doesn't even need a camera. Its bad enough that women couldn't park without the aid of these things...now they'll give up trying altogether.

10/3/2012 12:23:29 AM

I feel like the car was to be a high tech showcase, but it isnt.

10/3/2012 7:08:20 AM

1) The '12 model does have backup camera lines if you have the navigation option. I don't know why, but otherwise you don't have the lines.

2) I don't have any problem with the responsiveness of the center console. However, there are plenty of people that don't like the touch buttons. I am not one of them. I appreciate being able to clean my panel with a cloth, and not having to dig dirt out of a bunch of buttons and too many rotating dials.

3) If you aren't driving the car in Low, then you aren't driving it right. You should barely need to use your brakes in low. I think it has reduced my braking by about 75%. If I have to replace brake pads and rotors before 100k miles, I will be VERY surprised.

4) Richmond does appear to be one of the worst cities on the east coast to find a charging station. Contrast that to the RDU area where there are well over 50.

5) I am 6 feet and 165 pounds. I have been very comfortable in the seats, but seats are going to differ for each individual. There is no lumbar support on the Volt.

6) There is nothing efficient about charging the car off gas. It is a large waste of money. If you can't charge it via electricity, then you had best just use the gas.

10/3/2012 10:25:42 AM

Quote :

"One item of concern, it would seem to me that those chargers (just wall charger) could get stolen pretty easy. Cheapest price i can find online is like $300 bux."

I never thought about that. There's this Volt that is always plugged up at the marina at Lake Gaston. I might gank that thing the next time I see it there.

10/3/2012 10:35:05 AM

Damn.

It's too bad there isn't a thread for the Volt already.

10/3/2012 10:42:44 AM

I guess im still not 100% on the volt gas/eletric

From what I have read online, the Volt runs the gas, turns a generator and then powers the electric motors in Most cases... I have read a few different things about gas motor actually linking mechanically to the wheels (most say almost never).

As far of using the generator to charge the batteries.

My simplistic thinking

Lets say the engine/generator has a maximum efficiency of 35% at some set RPM

Lets say if the engine has to adjust RPMs based on speed/power requirements it only is 25% efficient on average

Batteries store energy at 90-95% efficiency

assuming your entire trip trip takes 100 KWh

Running the gas motor assuming 33 kwh a gallon

Running it in gas mode as its currently designed
100kwh/(33kwh * 25% efficiency)=12.12 gallons

Setting the generator to charge (and then walking away, this kinda assumes your trip is broken up a bit say 30 miles per day away from a charging station)

100KWh/(33*35% efficiency*95% storage efficiency)=9.62 gallons... A savings of 3 gallons.


I may be vastly overestimating the RPM/efficiency variation of gas motors/generator combos. What I know comes from research a while ago on diesel generator combos.

[Edited on October 3, 2012 at 9:09 PM. Reason : They really need to add a key spot to "Lock" in the charger (think like a laptop security unit)]

10/3/2012 9:08:49 PM

I could see someone charging the car with the gas engine in their garage and carbon monoxiding the place up.

10/3/2012 10:08:20 PM

haha death by volt!

10/3/2012 10:32:42 PM

Your efficiencies are off. You can actually test this to a small degree. Run the battery to zero. Then park the car and switch it to mountain mode. It will recharge the battery about 10-15 miles. You can compare that burn rate to your standard gas MPG.

10/3/2012 11:14:44 PM

if its parked then its also running other accessories. and is the mountain mode the most efficient rate?

Have you actually tried the above experiment?

10/4/2012 7:41:22 AM

Don't run accessories. Turn the AC and radio off. After that, there isnt much.

No, I have not tried yet. Yes, others have. People have 'added' electric range to their cars through the use of mountain mode to find it is not as efficient as just running in gas mode. Even in gas mode, the engine is going to turn off as you get excess energy through the cycles.

If you want to get really detailed with this, create an account on gm-volt. There are some GM engineers there (WOPonTour for example) that can give you a detailed break down. I could be way off base, but pretty confident I am not.

[Edited on October 4, 2012 at 11:28 AM. Reason : .]

10/4/2012 11:24:27 AM

fuck your coal fired pos electric fagmobile.

10/5/2012 6:52:27 AM