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“It may be electric, but new Chevrolet Volt doesn’t scrimp on features”
Headline of the Charleston, SC, Post and Courier’s review of the Chevy Volt. Written by Dr. George G. Spaulding, “a retired General Motors executive and distinguished executive-in-residence emeritus at the School of Business at the College of Charleston.”
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The newspaper car reviews around here all live in a ‘Special Advertising Section’ and are unfailingly glowing.
As a GM cynic, I took a deep breath and tried to read the piece with an open mind and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I expected a thinly-disguised advertisement piece and instead I found what I thought was a pretty well-written review.
The most subjective comments are quotes that the author properly attributed (most of them to “Chevrolet” and a few to anonymous “auto writers”… fair enough). The stuff about recharging uses dry language and qualified remarks- “about four hours… about ten hours,” “the power grid [recharges] for less cost” rather that the flowery, exciting language in most auto rags. Granted, we’ve gone back and forth on TTAC about $/gal vs $/kWh, maintenance costs, etc., but the article implies that this argument is Chevy’s idea moreso than some expert opinion from the author. And yeah, the author disclosure/disclaimer at the end of the article is a good thing.
Last thought- heated seats should use a lot less juice than forced hot air in the cabin (ie. “normal” car heater) which makes them a pretty smart design decision for an electric car. Then again, the marketing people and not the engineers might have pushed for this one…
Yes, we get it. Luddites abound at TTAC.
What other reason would there be for mocking this quote.
Here’s an idea; How about something original of your own? Anything…a review, an anecdote, a comparison.
Yeah, maybe I am done here.
It isn’t just TTAC.
There’s a certain nostalgia on North American auto sites in general for solid steel dashboards, leaded gas, and single channel brakes with drums on all four wheels.
I think you misunderstood the intent of the quote. I thought about this though; while these electric or hybrid-electric vehicles are cool, they don’t pay back in pure rational cost. I don’t usually think practically about cars, but when it comes to my commuter car I can be practical. The cost of ownership of any of these vehicles (Volt, Prius, etc) is still too high compared to buying a lower priced, IC only, high-mileage car, or an older used car. I’ll use myself as an example.
I have a used 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I paid $4500 for 2.5 yrs ago. It gets an average of 17mpg. Driving around 20000 miles a year and with $3 gas, that comes to around $3500/year in gas. Using GM’s formula for my daily driving, I’d get 65mpg with a Volt, which would save me about $2500 a year on gas. Cool.
Now, a Volt costs around $33000 after government rebate, so with 10% down, say $30000. Using my credit union car loan rate (3.5%), that’s $545 a month for a 60 month loan, or about $6500 a year. My Jeep was paid for in cash, but eats about $1300 a year in repairs, so I am in the hole for $5200 a year in car payments by owning the Volt over the Jeep. So adding the $2500 in gas savings, I am $2700 a year in the hole for the first five years that I am paying the car off, or $13,500. If I continue to save $2500 a year on gas after that point, I break even in a little over 5 years. So, I need to own the Volt for over 10 years to break even. For the length I keep my cars it is almost doable.
If I bought an lower-line Chevy Cruze that averaged 30mpg at $19000, financed $17000 for 4 years at $380 a month, I’d save $1500/year in gas vs the Jeep, be $1800 a year in the hole for 4 years, and break even in just under 9 years.
However, I didn’t add in the additional cost of owning a new car for insurance, excise tax (which we pay every year in my state). A new Volt will cost about $720 for the first year of excise tax, a new Cruze about $350, and my Jeep costs about $100.
Bottom line to me is that for my driving is to buy used and run ’em into the ground. If I really wanted to buy new, I’m better off buying the cheaper IC-only car.
@caljn: Here’s a reason – A former GM executive calls the Volt “electric”, when really, it isn’t. Remove the gas tank, and then it’s electric.
You have a Jeep Cherokee as a commuter car and you want to talk about practical as it is not exactly a cheap car to operate.
@ UnclePete
6 pars and all that calculator work to completely miss the point of the first-gen Volt?
Also, people don’t cross-shop a $4500 used car against a $37k Volt (or $25k Camry Hybrid) so your maths is disingenuous at best.
Hint: “Electric” doesn’t contradict “features.”
I almost hate to do this, but to be more explicit, I think Bertel is pointing out that the person who wrote the article in the Charleston Post and Courier seems to presume that “electric” is contrary to “features.” It’s as if they’re assuming that an electric car must have to “scrimp on features,” and they’re trying to show that the Volt is an exception to the rule (which I assume is an questionable presumption, but I haven’t actually looked at the features of other electric vehicles to say one way or the other). TTAC is not being ‘Luddite’ in pointing this out.
I see gimmickry. Someone else will see features.
It’s a dual mode vehicle with a short EV range, after which point the ICE kicks in to recharge the batteries. For me it’s a “meh”. For someone else it will be vanity purchase that screams that they are thinking green or that they dislike oil companies.
When some people think of electric cars they think of 1970s era Ed Beagley Jr era electric car, which is to say a glorified electric golf cart, stripped of all weight in order to be practical with the limitations of lead acid batteries and whatnot.
This is the impression the headline is designed to dissuade.
Jellodyne,
Good, somebody else got the intention. As soon as I read it, my first through was “He’s saying that the Volt isn’t a Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar, it’s a real car”. Yeah, he’s probably being a bit unfair to the Leaf, though. Last I looked that was a real car, too, not a fancy golf cart.
People who write articles don’t always write the title of them.
Oldandslow, The ICE isn’t allowed to charge the batteries except in rare instances, the EPA won’t let it and still qualify for the emissions tier and CAFE bonus GM gets from it.
I don’t think you could have found a more unattractive photo of a Volt if you tried. Thanks to the low angle, white paint and abundance of black plastic, you can see practically every single disjointed cutline and panel fit.
In other words, fine and accurate photojournalism!
is a bit too early to say how’s the Leaf’s going to logically work out the charging. Or is time to get into tow truck biz. Or hand them a jerry can if u see a Leaf died on the road side. The owner may just take up your grateful offer , pour gas on it and lit her. He’ll probably get more from the ins co.
The volt is sooooo GM.
You’d think with all that government $$, they be able to hire their second engineer.
Yesterday was my first encounter with a Volt on the road, he was behind me on the Henry Hudson Pkwy, all I could see is something that look like an impatient Acura driver (that’s what it looked like), only when I moved to the right to let him pass me, I saw it’s a Volt ! WOW, first time for me!
Please, it’s not even close to something I would ever buy, for this they want 37k ?
And it seems like they started from the front and by the time they passed the B pillar, they run out of ideas of how to finish it, to me it looks like half baked.
Uh, the Volt isn’t an electric car. Unless you never put any gas in it.
And for him to express surprise that the Volt is feature-filled is like marvelling that a drive in Honda’s hydrogen-powered Clarity didn’t result in explosion.
So after all the hype they’re finally on the roads. Over the next year or so the truth will come out, good or bad. I’m looking forward to the 2012 New Car edition of Lemon Aid.
GM have a huge disadvantage to overcome with their intended purchasers, especially if Toyota have a plug-in Prius and/or the Leaf is a reality;
The intended market (well educated, high income, environmentally aware) absolutely despise GM and their truckification of everything.