Klayfish wrote: But with a 100 mile round trip, if I could only go about 35-40 miles on battery and the rest on gas, it didn't add up. So far, the Prius has netted me 46mpg.
The Volt at that point would have been about 100 mpg (half the trip on gas, half on electricity) overall.
Chris, The way I figured it, I would have gotten about 40 miles of electric power from the Volt. That's because my morning commute is 80% comprised of open highway driving, where I'm cruising at 70-75mph. The other 20% is suburban road driving, at 40-50mph. But that highway run would drain the battery. So I figured it at closer to 40/60 electric to gas ratio. From what I hear, the Volt gets about 35-40mpg on its' ICE. Using those figures, the extra cost of the Volt didn't quite add up. But like I said, I really liked the car, and am having a 220V line installed in our new construction house in anticipation of getting another plug in once ranges increase a little more.
fasted58 wrote: Anybody driving Volt in winter? How's start up w/ defrost? Handle snow if I got caught out in it? Any concern w/ salt on electrics? SW Pa. here, I have a 4X4 for heavier accumulation. Volt could work for my 15 mile commute, maybe 40 miles end of the day.
I leased an '11. Turned it in a few months ago. I didn't get another because it was too small for regular family duty but other than that, it was an excellent car and I miss it.
Anyway, it was extremely good in the snow in central NJ despite 580 treadwear all-season tires. You can be very precise in modulating power output, which seems to help considerably.
Salt was a non-issue.
slopecarver wrote: you should get a license plate frame that says "my other car is a viper"
I had My Other Car is a Ferrari (my friends gave it to me) for a time. Is it dorkier to have such a plate when you DO own a Ferrari or when you DON'T? :)
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mfennell said: I leased an '11. Turned it in a few months ago. I didn't get another because it was too small for regular family duty but other than that, it was an excellent car and I miss it.
Can you expand on this? Too small how? What size family? Daily shlepping or vacation to Wally World? Car seats? Front or rear facing?
Klayfish wrote: Chris, The way I figured it, I would have gotten about 40 miles of electric power from the Volt. That's because my morning commute is 80% comprised of open highway driving, where I'm cruising at 70-75mph.
At that use, you put it in "hold"mode and get 50 mpg.
The other 20% is suburban road driving, at 40-50mph. But that highway run would drain the battery. So I figured it at closer to 40/60 electric to gas ratio.
For the suburban road driving, you use electric. You'd probably get closer to 80 combined MPG on your commute doing this. Use the gas generator where it's most efficient (Highway at 70+mph) and use teh pure electric when IT'S most efficient.
Let me put it to you this way, I drove from Baltimore to Maine and back and got 50+ mpg, as I only used gasoline on the highway and used electric whenever I was in traffic or in town.
Chris, are you saying there is manual control to the power sources, ice or battery?
foxtrapper wrote: Chris, are you saying there is manual control to the power sources, ice or battery?
The first year or two that they made the Volt, they gave you three drive modes: Normal, Sport, and Mountain. Normal and Sport will use the battery until it dies, then kick on the engine while you're moving. Mountain mode tries to maintain a charge of four bars on the battery in order to provide power for climbing mountains (it also reduces the total output of the vehicle).
Later years had a mode that would allow gas engine operation as if the battery were dead while you are driving on the highway (is that called "Hold"?). Switch to Normal or Sport modes after you get off the highway with a nice full battery, and the car can get you to your destination without switching on the gas engine at its least efficient time (stop-and-go traffic). In practice, this can improve gas mileage. If you have to use your engine, use it at its peak efficiency. I can't speak to the effectiveness of "Hold" mode because I have a 2011 Volt and thus do not have that drive mode. But I can attest to the fact that I regularly see an average economy of 42 MPG without charging the battery at all. If I used battery power at both ends of a long drive with gas usage in between, I bet the mileage would jump right up to 50 MPG.
If you hadn't put gas in a regular car "since Thanksgiving," and it's now July, is there any special feature(s) on these hybrids to prevent fuel going off in the tank?
travellering wrote: If you hadn't put gas in a regular car "since Thanksgiving," and it's now July, is there any special feature(s) on these hybrids to prevent fuel going off in the tank?
Yes. There are some tank environmental controls, such that you have to wait about five seconds for the prefuel process to run when you pop the tank door, a process that leaves the tank sitting for thirty minutes before returning to regular storage mode. There is also maintenance mode, which will run the engine to burn off some gas. The car will prompt you when it's time. My usage patterns mean I've never experienced this, so I can't tell you much about the experience.
foxtrapper wrote: Chris, are you saying there is manual control to the power sources, ice or battery?
on the '13-14 models, they added "hold" mode, which is the manual control over when the generator is used to maintain battery range. By switching to hold, the generator is used to maintain battery charge at whatever point it was when you switched it, so you can extend the use of battery power on a longer trip and only use pure battery power when you want it. In hold mode, the generator will still shut off often and run on battery power if it's generated enough to be above the charge point you held it at, or if you are coasting, or if you are in traffic. if you have a fairly decent charge, this can still result in high fuel mileage. The '11-12 versions would run the generator much more often when in traffic and at low speeds when the battery was depleted, so they got worse fuel mileage in traffic than the 13-14 versions running in hold mode. Though I really still try to run in battery mode in traffic if possible.
In reply to Chris_V:
In your opinion is it worth paying an extra grand to get a 13 for this feature?
Ojala wrote: In reply to Chris_V: In your opinion is it worth paying an extra grand to get a 13 for this feature?
Depends on your driving habits. If you regualarly see longer highway use, then definitely it's worth it. If you do mostly city stuff and under 40 miles a day, then not so much. I aslo like the body color hatch and roof of the '13-14 versions, and the Pebble beige leather and suede interior, though the '14 versions did away with the pretty blue that my car is.
So, I have a question for Volt purchasers regarding the federal tax credit. If you already pay enough in taxes deducted from your paycheck to get a refund can you take the tax credit? Meaning if my current deductions are enough to get a refund (say $1k refund) and I buy a Volt in December will my refund increase by the $7.5k tax credit so that I get $8.5k back? Or do I need to wait until next year, revise my deductions so that I have to pay at least $7.5k to get any tax benefit?
You'll get 8.5k.
"My other car is 100% Carbon Footprint"
OK, I've also been thinking about a Volt. Only issue is I work about 25 miles one-way from work. If they would let me charge there during the day, it might work. How long does it take to charge up?
I keep looking at these and it alarms me that I like them so much... 
The bottom line on the Volt is that you are getting more technology than you are paying for. That's pretty cool.
racerdave600 wrote: OK, I've also been thinking about a Volt. Only issue is I work about 25 miles one-way from work. If they would let me charge there during the day, it might work. How long does it take to charge up? I keep looking at these and it alarms me that I like them so much...
It takes about 8 hours to charge at 110 volts and 12 amps.
racerdave600 wrote: OK, I've also been thinking about a Volt. Only issue is I work about 25 miles one-way from work. If they would let me charge there during the day, it might work. How long does it take to charge up? I keep looking at these and it alarms me that I like them so much...
My calculations, using a '13 Volt and a 40 mile one way, 90% highway commute was that I would be using about 1 gallon a day if I didn't charge at work, and about 1 gallon a week if I did vs. the 2.5ish that I'm using with the Miata. EDIT: Mitsubishi is headquartered in the town [next to the town] where I work, so we have a lot of free charging stations.
When you compare it to other 30-40k cars, it doesn't hold up for me--I'm comparing it against cars that are not a fair comparison. But for me the buy in would have been about 21k. That is a damn good car for that money.
I ultimately decided that between the payment and the issue with living in a rental with shoddy electric, I'd be much happier with a used BMW at half the cost, or a Corvette at half the cost... But I'm not the typical Volt shopper and those are not fair comparisons. I really liked the car, it is really cool to me, and not boring to drive. I don't know that I'd say it is fun to drive, but a great car. Good chance it ends up being the fiance's next vehicle.
We are buying my wife a 2012 tomorrow morning, can't wait! 
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