Anyone have/ had a Chevrolet Volt?

I am planning to replace my DD with a new/newer car that is more fuel efficient than my trusty Grand Prix, the Chevrolet Volt seems to fit my needs quite well. So the question is new or used?

Anyone have an older Volt? How are the batteries holding up along with the rest of the car?

Any reason I should not buy a new Volt other than the deprecation cliff?

I drive 50 miles one way with a charging station at work and no way in HELL am drive a berkeleying Prius. I hate those things.

Paul B

I had a 2012 for a 2 year lease.

I liked how it drove quite a bit. My record for electric only in this car is 53 miles. Highway is quite a bit less. 2013 got a facelift and a little more range. The new one did too.

I'd say go for it. It was great.

My one bit of advice is to look hard at leasing, even if you normally​ don't. The multi thousand dollar new car incentives go to the leasing company and reduce your lease rates. That means my $44k volt leased for $260/mo. That was base Jetta advertised lease rates at the time.

Leasing isn't for everyone, but the game is different for a new volt.

I haven't gotten to drive it, but my boss had a gen 1 first year Volt. It's been a great car that has since been passed to his daughter in college. As far as I know, it hasn't given them a lick of trouble (we normally talk cars). He started with a Prius and went to a Tesla, but said in a lot of ways the Volt felt "better put together" and was "way better to drive than the Prius." He had 5 mile commute, and said that he only used one tank of gas a year on it (the engine will cycle through the old gas eventually, so you'll start using it after 6 months or something to keep it from going stale).

Word on the street is that it handles pretty acceptably and accelerates nicely, both things that a Prius doesn't do :)

One of the GRM staff had/has a Volt. I'm sure he'll pipe in eventually.

Mike, I don't know if a lease would work for me as I might run out of miles before time, I will look into it.

Paul

A friend who's a serious car guy (also owns a Porsche and a NSX) had one and liked it a lot. Said that it was the best-built GM product he'd encountered. It's a shame that GM had so much (largely self-inflicted) adverse publicity when releasing the thing, because it really is a fine car.

+1 on hearing good things on the Volt. My brother went with a Hybrid Sonata instead but strongly considered a Volt after test driving and researching. I remember hearing that the Nissan Leaf also had some really attractive lease rates. I'm by no means a lease guy but the numbers were so cheap it was worth considering.

Buddy of mine bought a used 2013 I think a couple years ago and really likes it. I got to drive a 2015 for a week and it does indeed accelerate and handle far better than any Prius.

Are they AWD or are the rear motors just used for generation under braking?

Paging JG to the red courtesy phone.

I believe the 1st generation Volts required Premium gasoline for the ICE, which can add a decent amount of cost if you're driving tons of miles in it.

The current Volt puts up better numbers across the board. Longer all electric range, more powerful/fuel efficient ICE, runs on regular unleaded, etc.

I have had my 2014 for 2.5 years. Have about 52k miles on it now, and it is a great car. My commute is 30 miles each way. Last summer they installed a charging station at my work, and now I don't use gas for any of my daily driving. I buy 9 gallons of gas every 3 months or so now. Like above, the best I have gotten is around 53 miles, and that was even mostly highway (60 MPH or less seems to be the sweet spot though). I had snow tires on for the winter and they do give you a hit in mileage, but the car is great in snow (as long as it isn't too deep, the Volt sits pretty low).

We used to use the car for weekend trips and vacations, and would get 40-44mpg when running on gas. Had twins 18 months ago so the Volt is used purely for local trips, and as a DD (they are small but they have a lot of stuff).

Maintenance is next to nothing. Tires are lasting a long time, brakes look brand new (thanks to regen). The only thing I do is rotate the tires every 7500 miles and do the fluid checks that are in the manual. Oil changes will most likely be based on time rather than mileage. The car tells you to change it after 24 months (IIRC) even if you don't get low on the oil life monitor.

I only had one issue with my car, which ironically was on the gas engine. It needed a new throttle body, which was covered under warranty. The engine only had about 17k miles at that point (42k on the car). It is a great car, and many others have more miles than I do with no change in electric range. GM was very conservative with the battery management, which is good for owners, and especially good for people buying used cars.

You can find good low mileage examples in the low teens now. I would stick with 2013 and newer though. They have a little bit more range (rated at 38 miles vs 35), the hold feature, which lets you save your battery power for when it is most efficient (i.e. You have a 70 mile trip, the last 40 miles is surface streets, beginning is highway, you can save the electric for the end instead of using it all in the first 30 miles on the highway), and I think MyLink was standard starting sometime in 2013. Some people may not like it, but it works great for me.

camaroz1985 wrote: I only had one issue with my car, which ironically was on the gas engine.

Nothing ironic about it, that's the most complicated and fragile part of a hybrid car.

I just looked at a '14 tonight.

camamroz1985 pretty much nailed it, so I'll second that. I loved mine. When my lease was up, the '16s weren't out yet, and the dealership was surprisingly unwilling to either extend my lease at the current terms until they were, or offer me what I considered to be a fair buyout. I needed a new van, anyway.

I'll more than likely have another plug-in hybrid again, though, and if I were shopping today I'd start with Volts. I used under 200 gallons of gas in three years in mine, and that included some legit road trips with heavy ICE use.

I'd also recommend installing a 240V charger. You'll find the it much more useful to reduce turnaround time for battery use.

Thanks For all the input about the Volt, gives me peace of mind about buying or leasing one.

Thank you all knowing hive

Paul B

Which year did they change the back seat to hold three people? I know it's not a great three person back seat but the early cars only say two back there and that's a deal breaker for me. I'm spending an absurd amount on gas right now and I don't want to.

My parking lot at work have lots of Teslas and Volts. The volt owners seem extremely happy and never shut up about havng a volt. I want one.

mazdeuce wrote: Which year did they change the back seat to hold three people? I know it's not a great three person back seat but the early cars only say two back there and that's a deal breaker for me. I'm spending an absurd amount on gas right now and I don't want to.

2016 is when they added the middle "seat".

I have a 2013. I leased it then bought it when the finance co gave me a sweet deal. I like it well enough but would have bought a cheaper car like the Mazda 3 or 6 if I didn't need the HOV access that driving a 2013+ Volt got me in Cali.

I have 50k on mine and it's been great. I've read of a few guys breaking 200k miles already.

I'll probably wind up getting a Bolt or Model 3 in the coming year or two.