{"id":369,"date":"2012-04-02T07:45:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T14:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickdebruhl.com\/?p=369"},"modified":"2012-04-29T21:01:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-30T04:01:49","slug":"road-test-2012-chevy-volt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carcentrick.com\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"Road Test: 2012 Chevy Volt"},"content":{"rendered":"
Driving the Chevy Volt is going to require a significant change in my life.<\/div>\n

I\u2019m going to have to remember to plug it in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
2012 Chevrolet Volt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I know that sounds like a simple concept, but it requires a certain amount of discipline. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m confident I can do it. After all, I figured out how to plug-in my phone every night so that it doesn\u2019t die in the middle of the day. On the other hand, when my wife leaves town, the plants hover near death from lack of hydration.<\/p>\n

The point is that driving the Volt requires a little more effort than a regular car. The first few days I had the Volt, I dutifully plugged in the special charger each night. (Plugging it into a 110 outlet will charge the Volt in five hours, 220 will take about half that time.) But by the end of the week, it was just another task. Sure enough, one evening I dragged myself and a load of groceries into the house leaving the Volt waiting for juice. It never came. The next morning I walked out and instantly remembered what I hadn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n

\n
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Should say Volt + Gas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The good news with the Volt is that forgetting to plug it in is not a crisis. It just means you\u2019re not going to use the electrical system that you paid so much extra for. You see, the Volt has both batteries and a gas engine. But it has two big differences from other hybrids. The first is that instead of weaving back and forth between gas and electric power, it uses all the electricity stored in its batteries before switching over. Each morning (that I remembered to plug it in) the Volt\u2019s display told me I had enough charge for about 30-35 miles. Of course, electric cars are no different from gas in the \u201cyour mileage may vary\u201d department. Drive surface streets with braking and coasting, and you\u2019ll likely go the full distance (assuming you\u2019re not zapping the throttle from each stop). That\u2019s because the regenerative system creates electricity as you slow down. If you blast along the highway, you\u2019ll probably get a little less because there aren\u2019t as many chances to generate more.<\/p>\n

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Chevy Volt Power Display<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of course, running out is not a crisis. The car seamlessly shifts over to gas power. This is where the second big difference comes in. The gasoline engine in most hybrids drives the wheels. The Volt\u2019s gasoline engine is little more than a generator creating electricity for the motor. I hit the switchover point nearly every day, and never noticed a difference.\u00a0 The gas tank isn\u2019t just for emergencies. You can travel about 300 miles before you need to fill up with more antiquated petroleum-based fossil fuel.<\/p>\n

Now if you\u2019re one of those people who commute only a few miles a day, you may never switch over. Of course that creates a whole new problem: your gas may go bad. But wait, Chevy has a plan. You get a little warning telling you that it\u2019s time to sip a little 87 octane.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chevy Volt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I guess I should talk about the car.\u00a0The bottom line is that it does everything a car is supposed to do. It\u2019s not huge (after all it\u2019s a compact based on the Chevy Cruze). On the other hand, it wasn\u2019t cramped. My Prius-owning friends who went for a ride didn\u2019t feel that the back seat had as much leg-room as their car, although the contoured seats were very comfortable.\u00a0 The instrument console is unique because it doesn\u2019t have the usual buttons that click when you use them. You simply touch the hard plastic and it senses your finger has hit the spot. It\u2019s no different from the touch screen of a smart phone, but it does take a little getting used to.<\/p>\n

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It's all about the power<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Volt has enough power to get you where you\u2019re going without getting carried away. But then, that\u2019s what this car is all about. For people with an average commute, it will get you there and back every day with only the rare stop for gas when they want to visit grandma on the other side of town or take a weekend jaunt into the county. In fact, there\u2019s no way to really give an adequate MPG rating. Some people will only rarely use the gas in the tank, while other folks may dip into it every day.<\/p>\n

OK, let\u2019s talk about the downsides. The biggest thing the Volt has to overcome is its price. The base\u00a0sticker is nearly $40,000. My test model came in at $43,000 (with audio\/nav option and leather trim package). Most people will get a $7,500 tax credit from the feds. Still, $32,500 is a lot of money to spend for an economy car. This is where you have to sit down and do the math. You need to figure out how much money you spend on gas and how long it will take to recoup the extra you spent for the Volt. (Of course, if the price of gas keeps creeping up, the math will look better.) And if you work somewhere where you can plug it in between commutes, the deal gets even better.<\/p>\n

And then there are those pesky battery fires. A few Volts have had their battery packs flame up. Chevy is convinced that those fires were aberrations and that the Volt is perfectly safe. Still, there are some folks who are going to avoid the car just in case.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s one other minor concern. People who park their car in a garage every night will simply plug-in, close the door and call it a day. But for those who park outside, there\u2019s always going to be the concern that some thief in the night will steal the charging unit (which is a lot more expensive than an extension cord). Urban dwellers who park on a street are not only going to have a hard time finding a handy outlet, they\u2019ll also run the risk of stringing the cord across the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

The reality is that the Volt is not for everyone. But it\u2019s a perfect answer for some people. You just have to figure out if you\u2019re one of them.<\/p>\n

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