Chevy Volt

Drove one of these yesterday and I was very impressed. Now I'm thinking of getting one and splitting the cost with my girlfriend, trading in her car, I will commute with it during the week and she will commute with it on the weekend. Both of our commutes are 40 miles so we should be able to use little or no gas on our commutes. We would also be eligible for 13,500$ in rebates! Knocking the price down to something like 27k... Oh yeah I also spent 500$ last month for gas in my Cadillac, lol.


So many gizmos in this thing its out of control.

I think the Volt is cool but you should really scrutinise the type of driving and your requirements out of a car before you pull the trigger. I have seen a few real-world tests on the Volt that show typical driving doesn't always result in great economy.

This is an interesting article, too: http://gm-volt.com/2010/10/10/popul...ty-and-36-mpg-highway-in-extended-range-mode/

I would ask for an extended test drive and see if you can do a bunch of runs along the routes you normally take. See if it will actually give you the range and economy you want in your situation.

$27,000 is a huge pill to swallow when you consider the cost of a used Prius or even a year-old Kia Optima/Hyundai Sonata hybrid which uses lithium ion batteries and can run full electric mode up to 55 mph in the right conditions. I have test driven the Sonata and found it actually quite nice to drive and very well equipped. If your typical routes end up only getting you 20 miles of electric motoring and the rest of the distance requires the generator to run, you may not be saving a lot of money; that doesn't even factor in the additional purchase cost of the Volt.

I'd vote for a Prius too, or at least to test drive one.

Everybody in my family owns a Prius, they are very nice cars, but the electric only range for the plug-in is 15 miles? I live 20 miles from work and we are in the process of installing charging stations there, my girlfriend lives 20 miles from work and both of our schools have charging stations, all mostly city driving. I believe we would rarely need to put gas in it under normal circumstances. I'm almost tempted to do a Leaf...

The charging stations would be an excellent incentive and if you truly do only need to go 20 miles each way it seems like a great option. However, have you considered how long it will take to make up the $20,000 difference would pay for a Volt vs. a used Prius or even something more exciting and more practical like a Honda Fit (which can average 40MPG real-world).

Let's say for simplicity's sake you drive 40 miles a day, 5 days a week and your Honda Fit gets 40 miles to the gallon. At $1.50 a gallon, it would take about 50,000 miles of driving to make up the difference.

I'm not going to be saving any money, if I traded my V for the volt I would but mostly just to stick it to oil companies and people who want electric cars to fail. Also to put my money back into the American economy propelled by an American made fuel.

Those are noble reasons but why not just keep the money for yourself instead? That is a lot of cash to throw away.

If you really want to stick it to the man, ride a bicycle. 20 miles is not that far to ride and it benefits your health and happiness too

Or get a $500 e-scooter

Isn't the Prius made in an American factory? I know a lot of Hondas and Toyotas are.

I'm not sure where the Prius assembly is located, but almost the entire Toyota line- Camry, Avalon, Venza, Tundra, Tacoma, Sequoia, Highlander, Sienna, and a few others are all made in America. I've said it before but the foreign vs. domestic economy argument isn't valid anymore; maybe in the 70s it was.

With that said I don't really know much about hybrids. I've driven them here and there, and as of now for my money I'd just stick with an economy gas car. But if the Volt really is "all that", I say go for it.

Ooohhh which cars are more fun to drive than which? Just stating the brands can make it kind of subjective... personally I'd take a 1UZFE with a 100 shot over a GSR with a 75 shot, but a B18C1 with a little bit of boost would probably take precedence over the 1UZFE + 100shot. Either way, they both make fun to drive cars. Honda econoboxes are much more fun to drive than Toyota econoboxes though, I'll give you that.

I've been keeping my eye open for a GS400, I like the 2JZGE in the GS300s and they have much more aftermarket, but the V8 growl and the minimal modifications I'd do to it would make me want that over the 300, even though the 2JZ has a shitload more aftermarket support. Ever since a GS400 came into my work and I found out how easy they maneuver for such a big car, I've wanted one. I could keep that fucker sideways through an intersection and pull out with no effort, I think my grandma could slide that fucker around no problem, that's how easy they are to drive. And I'm rambling again... lots of Toyota guys I talk to think I'm crazy for preferring the 1UZ over the 2JZ, which is understandable. The 2JZ is a pretty basic motor, while the 1UZ is more of a "luxury" motor, unnecessary parts (such as a "fan bracket", did that repair on an LS400 once), parts cost more, etc. But that Lexus V8... ugh.

Sexiness:

those things drink like an fish though.. the 2jz is really nice after marketwise cause the whole supra/sc/is scene i never liked that generation of the lexus for some reason the pedal feel felt like a corolla.. although lexus seems to have stepped up their luxury game up ALOT ever since the is250