Electric front wheel drive with 1.5-liter inline-four range extender (149 combined horsepower, 294 lb/ft) 42 (EPA Rating, MPG) 106 (EPA Rating, MPGe) 5.6 / 5.6 / 5.6 (NRCan Rating, L/100km) 73.2 (observed mileage, MPG) Base Price: $38,995 US / $44,895 CAD As Tested: $40,830 / $47,320 CAD Prices include $875 destination charge in the United States and $1800 for freight, PDI, and A/C tax in Canada and, because of cross-border equipment differences, can’t be directly compared.
2019 Chevrolet Volt Premier
Fully electric cars keep popping up, from startups and legacy automakers alike. They are likely the future. But I’m not ready for them, and likely neither are you.
Until nationwide infrastructure and car charging technologies allow for both a 300-mile range (typically the range of a kid’s bladder) and a 10-to-15 minute full recharge time, the internal combustion engine will always find a home in my driveway. I need the flexibility to drive across several states without plugging in.
That’s where a plug-in hybrid, like this 2019 Chevrolet Volt, makes all the difference. While it can run for over 50 miles without using gasoline, the gas engine charges the batteries, allowing for range similar to that of a traditional car. It’s the real-world way to go green.
Check that price — yeah, it’s a bit strong for a four-seat* hatchback. This Volt is the Premier trim, mostly because automakers typically want journalists to sample the best of the best. I’d be doing you, the car-shopping public, a disservice were I not to mention that the Volt LT can be had for $34,395. You lose a few nice features, certainly — namely wireless cell phone charging, heated leather seats, the fast (7.2kW) charging system, and parking assist — but for the money, a more basic Volt is both attractive and competitive with other plug-in hybrids.
Once the gasoline engine fires up, the sound is a touch coarse; a dull roar — it’s mostly noticeable as the engine seems to maintain the same speed no matter the driving speed. It’s just a tiny bit annoying.
Driving the Volt is a surprising experience. The low center of gravity yields impressive handling, though the low rolling resistance tires do suck a bit of fun out of the drive. The electric motor provides instantaneous torque, allowing for quick launches and excellent acceleration when merging onto the interstate.
The regenerative braking provided by the electric motor — which helps to recharge the battery when slowing — can be modulated by a paddle behind the steering wheel. While you can’t completely stop the car without using the foot brake, gradual speed adjustments while in traffic can be made with a pull of the left fingers. An unusual experience, but something the driver easily adapts to.
It seems the Volt doesn’t appreciate being unplugged unless you have the keys with you and the car is unlocked. I walked outside, sans keys, to put the kid on the school bus. Unplugging the car as I walked by, about ten seconds later the alarm sounded as I went back inside. I’m guessing the neighbors, if they don’t already hate me, now do.
Interior space is a bit cramped, mostly in the rear seats, as the center seat (*the car is technically a five-seater) is mainly eliminated by the center hump and a pair of cupholders. It did help separate a pair of sisters engaged in a disagreeing over something trivial, however … but the loss of space was noticeable. Rear-seat legroom wasn’t impressive, either — the 12-year-old had her knees pressed into my back.
The front seats, conversely, are comfortable enough for all-day driving. Standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay were welcome when I tired of the selections on SiriusXM blasting through the Bose eight-speaker audio system.
For those who haven’t heard the news, the Chevrolet Volt ceases production soon, part of GM’s plan to rationalize in the face of increased competitive and regulatory pressures. The Volt arrived in my driveway two days after GM announced the impending closure of its Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
I feel for those in the several factories slated to close, but I struggle to lay all of the blame at General Motors. The corporation exists, as they say, to service the shareholders. Ultimately, the business needs to do whatever it takes to survive.
Shame, because this Volt is very nearly a brilliant car. It’s not perfect, but it does a good number of things very well. Regardless of whether poor marketing killed the Volt — how many regular car shoppers know what a plug-in hybrid is, really? — or whether blame rests on an overall move away from traditional cars, the writing was on the wall.
Suggestion to General Motors: drop a derivation of this drivetrain in an Equinox, price it under forty grand, and maybe keep some plants open. As is, the Chevrolet Volt is quite close to being the ideal electrified car for most buyers.
[Images: © 2019 Chris Tonn]
The Volt, Bolt and Model 3 all suffer from Crampy Sh*tbox Syndrome.
No matter how wondrous the EV tech may be, battery weight necessitates a suppository form factor for range-extending aerodynamics.
I agree. They’re too small for the money. You’re better off buying TWO Cruze sedans for the same money as ONE Volt.
Or, buy ONE Cruze and use the money you saved not buying two, to buy gas for many, many miles.
Yep, too small and too expensive. EVs aren’t yet serious players across class boundaries.
The only reason to even buy a small car is if you like the Twisties and if you are doing it in a Cruze, you are doing it wrong.
And I’m no Tesla fan, but a model 3 isn’t that far out of line with other cars in it’s price class at the low end.
And every car looks like a suppository…or did I miss all those 68 Continental wannabes on sale.
Don’t worry though, I’ll stay off you two clowns grass.
Smooth streamlined vehicular forms always catch my eye, and they do make sense. Vehicles are like aircraft in that they to have to deal with wind resistance. I did a rough estimate years ago for a road trip I did from Colorado to North Carolina and back and came up with the 87 Mercury Sable I was in pushed aside many thousands (30,000 if I recall) tons of air. To my mind it is ridiculous to burn extra fuel just to have a vehicle that resembles a rectilinear building rather than a sleek boat.
How about ease of parking, lower tire and other mechanical wear, and less resource consumption as a benefit in its own right? Should everybody buy a giant McMansion if they can afford it?
I agree that aerodynamics usually look questionable in the eyes of a traditionalist. However, 1. “tradition” is a common watchword for something in need of review, 2. form should follow function, so 3. learn to love it.
Low drag is a rare free lunch, at least once you’ve paid for the recipe. What other feature gives you less noise, more speed, less consumption, and for no electronics, no moving parts, no weak (plastic) or exotic (titanium) materials, and no major weight gain?
[duplicate post]
that’s exactly what I did in 2014, couldn’t justify the high cost of a Volt even though I loved driving one so leased a Cruze for way less!
Was in the back seat of a Bolt – it was comfy and airy. No problem. Model 3 – really?
Rear seat leg room in a Bolt is huge. The Bolt is very comfortable except I wish the front seats were just a bit wider!
The Volt has been on my radar for a while now, but our current cars have been running just fine, so there’s been no imperative to replace them.
I’ve long thought that Volt 2.0 should have been an Equinox with a Voltec powertrain, I’d be surprised if this didn’t take place soon. Firstly, they have a lot of money tied up in that powertrain, secondly, there are still people who have range anxiety and who’s only paradigm for driving an automobile involved gasoline in some way.
I’m very interested to see some of these 342 new electric or hybrid cars that GM is about to send out into the wild. I’m hoping there’s a Voltec Equinox-style vehicle that is one of them.
I love the Equinox and until an EV offers Equinox-like interior room and seat height at an Equinox price I shan’t take them seriously.
or even a Trax/Encore would be ok with me!
Same here but I mourn the earlier Encore’s waterfall grille.
A Volt would work for my wife perfectly. Her commute would leave her gas free (beyond the burning off of the gas in the Volt system to keep it from breaking down and ruining the engine) in day-to-day driving and give her a premium parking spot at work, where she would get her charge for the day. For the rare times she drives out of range no “anxiety.”
However we found Mk1 too cramped, and she didn’t like the haptic touch buttons at all. Mk2 wasn’t offered in a SUV/CUV form factor so the end. I replied in another post the biggest mistake made with Volt Mk2 was not offering it in a 5-door SUV/CUV configuration.
Seems like literally everybody—EV fans and EV skeptics—agrees that the car GM needs to build is a Volt Equinox. Yet GM refused to build it and, after briefly hinting they would, now say they won’t.
The only AWD PHEV CUV/SUV at an attainable price right now is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and despite being ambitiously priced, based on the oldest CUV in its class, and equipped with a powertrain that has neither long electric range nor good gas MPG, Mitsubishi is selling them as fast as they can build them—and I nearly bought one.
Wafting silently through town on a wave of instant, pollution-free torque is awesome. Going as far as you want on the highway without ever worrying about finding and waiting for charging is also awesome. Combining both characteristics into one car: awesome.
The off-center blackout for the front camera array would drive me absolutely bonkers!
I guess its it’s own aesthetic— but the mild asymmetry that typifies today’s car design hurts my brain more than it forces me to admire any styling objectives the desiner may have had for the car.
Question for the cognoscenti in this blog:
Do you think that GM has recouped all the R&D spent on this vehicle? From the teardowns I’ve seen, the engineering effort has been both impressive and massive.
It would be really sad if all this acquired know-how goes to the drain.
But again, this is GM.
There’s been speculation about whether this tech would show up in a CUV that people would actually want to buy.
GM does usually plow know how back into other vehicles but sometimes in the way you’d least expect. Supposedly building the X-body into the A-body taught GM lots of things they latter used on the 1st gen H-body…
The engineering effort will not be wasted, because all the acquired know-how will be given away for free to the Chinese.
Awww, hell, the Chinese stole the engineering data more than a decade ago.
If the Chinese can steal the highly-classified F-22 engineering data, they surely can steal the down-to-earth mundane Volt data.
“It is the same tech that a diesel-electric locomotive that has been around forever uses.”
Its my understanding locomotive hybrid tech is quite different from car hybrid tech.
There is no mechanical connection between the diesel and wheels, only electric.
No batteries either, all the braking energy is dumped as heat via large resistors on the roof of the locomotive.
What is there to steal exactly? It is the same tech that a diesel-electric locomotive that has been around forever uses.
GM use to build diesel electric trains, known as EMD – Electro Motive Division! :-)
The Chinese are heavily invested in full electric.
ouch. probably accurate.
I agree schmitt. I now know three people who own them and love them. They have been extremely efficient and dead reliable. A CUV/SUV body might have been much more successful.
Some lessons went to Bolt, the drivetrain is being offered in some other GM products in slightly different flavors. The impact will reach into other markets outside of North America (*cough* China *cough*) so it’s hard to put a number of R&D recovery.
Did the Volt on its own recover the R&D. No.
Did/will direct and indirect technology application in other products, along with some directly applicable engineering for batteries, charging, and management applied to continue to reap ROI? Definitely.
@hypnotoad: I remember reading back when the latest ‘Bu hybrid came out that they used similar windings and etc., to make the electric motors smaller and lighter, and some other stuff to do with power management. However, that was three years ago and I don’t recall a lot about it now.
But, I think they have a lot invested in the technology that would span hybrids, EREVs and BEVs, so I’m sure we’ll see more of that appear in future vehicles.
My guess is no, I recall reading the first generation was something like 93K a unit when it first debuted.
You’d have to really hate someone to say “hop in the back”.
A friend of mine is a “car guy” and now on his second Volt (one from each generation). He says he’ll never go back to having a gas powered car. Actually, his first gen Volt seemed much higher quality (and it was the first year). The newer one has been plagued by quality problems and glitches. A shame.
Also, hasn’t it suffered from the same problem as the Cruze? That is, they’ve cheapened the materials and the design?
I have a first gen, and it rides like a luxury car compared to the new one. There was something like a 3-400 pound weight savings between generations.
Not a snigle hiccup in 65k miles. (Knocks on wood) It has been the most reliable car I’ve ever owned, and it requires almost no maintenance beyond a yearly oil change. The regen brakes and electric motor mean that the gas engine and brakes don’t get utilized very often. OEM tires lasted 50k miles.
Gen 1 + better tires has made it a car I would struggle to get rid of. 260 lb/ft of torque instantly means the car is an ideal urban companion in traffic.
The reliability of the Gen 1 has been legendary. Having bought a Gen 2, I hope it measures up. :-)
The Gen 1 does ride better: it has an isolated front subframe and more road-huggin’ weight. The Gen 2 has a more sporty feel in everything from acceleration to styling to ride quality—but they forgot the final piece of a “sportiness” transformation, a quicker steering ratio—so the stiffer ride ends up feeling a bit annoying and out of place.
Nobody wants to spend $40k for a Cruze that needs to be plugged in. The Volt is a noble effort on GM’s part; there’s just no demand for it.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner. An LTZ Cruze sitting next to the Volt was the biggest competitor. Sales strategy (story here on TTAC) was buyer came in for Volt, Volt was too rich for blood, show them a Cruze Eco (when that model existed) and make the sale. Done.
The drivetrain and technology live on. I think the biggest mistake GM made is when Volt Mk2 came out it wasn’t based on a CUV or even a 5-door hatch style.
Buyers want utes and we’ve seen over and over again, even in the miserable subcompact class, lift it, give it five doors, offer AWD, profit.
Now that the tax credit is going away, price-wise you could probably get a Malibu Premiere cheaper (once the dickering was done.)
But if fuel economy was your bag, yes there are better cheaper choices.
FWIW, it IS a five door hatch. It still has the 1978 Monza Spyder profile, however.
not a bad car but you gotta love it to spend this much for it and the fact is not many folks love it, yu could buy a golf S for about 22k or less and that would leave a ton of coin for fuel.
“a 10-to-15 minute full recharge time”
10-15 minutes is an unreasonably long time for something as basic as fully charging a BEV. The charging process shouldn’t take more than a maximum of five minutes.
You didn’t pay attention in physics class.
You know what,I agree. And I should also be able to refuel my car in my garage in 5 minutes.
For every 1 Volt I see in the wild I see about 10 Fusion Energi. Granted both are being killed off, both are too expensive and both were introduced to fill a market that hardly anyone asked for. That being said I think Ford did things a bit more logically by putting their plug-in-hybrid in a familiar package. At the cost of very marginal efficiency you get a legitimate sedan that can carry 4 adults off to the land of unicorn farts. The Volt tries hard to be a green halo and really only wins a few fanbois.
And lets stop comparing this to the Cruze or other GM tent products. The real competitor is the Prius family. How did Chevy do against that competition??? Pathetic failure. Case closed.
Wut?
The Volt crushed the Prius Prime, which sales were/are close to non-existent.
The Prius, which beyond Prime is not a plug-in is not the competition. The Leaf is closer to the competition.
Oh, and how are Prius sales? 2018 was the worst year since 2004, sales are about 40% of peak Prius, and Toyota is clearly maneuvering to sunset the Prius in North America with the drivetrains moving into a wide array of vehicles.
Oh, oh, the Prius Prime enjoys a price point that is about $10K cheaper than a Volt by virtue of a much smaller battery and a much shorter battery only range – hence why it didn’t qualify for the maximum federal government tax credit.
The biggest competitor to the Prius Prime? The Prius sitting right next to it on the showroom floor.
Oh, oh, and oh, repeat hybrid customer sales? Only about 32% – about 2/3 of hybrid buyers are one and done.
“The Volt crushed the Prius Prime, which sales were/are close to non-existent.”
Where are you getting that information from? Toyota sold 27,500 of the Prius Prime in 2018. That is better than the Volt in 2018 and is actually better than any single year the Volt has ever had.
corporatenews.pressroom.toyota.com/releases/december+2018+sales+chart.htm
insideevs.com/december-2018-u-s-plug-in-ev-sales-report-card/
goodcarbadcar.net/2011/01/chevrolet-volt-sales-figures/
This is the contemporary USA. Facts don’t matter anymore. Personally, around Denver anyway, I have spotted far more Prius Primes than Volts. However my observations are anecdotal, not numerical facts.
…Suggestion to General Motors: drop a derivation of this drivetrain in an Equinox, price it under forty grand…
*cough* *cough* Malibu Hybrid *cough* *cough*
I really hope the Volt technology makes its way into other GM vehicles. The time I spent in a Volt was great, they really are a superb car for short or long distance travel, as long as you are in the front seats. Yes the back seat is horrific, the current Volt is a commuter car not a family car. We really considered buying one but went with the Lacrosse instead because the back seat room in the Buick is exceptional and I have 6 foot tall teenage boys. Having them ride in a Volt would be mean.
The biggest determinant for success going forward will be the price point. If you could buy the Volt powertrain for slightly more than the ICE only than sure. If it is a multiple thousand $$ difference, at todays fuel prices it is a nonstarter.
It probably wouldn’t have helped increase sales, but if it looked more distinctive (like the first Volt) and less like a Cruze? Also, that crease in the doors makes the car look like it was the victim of a vicious shopping cart attack.
This was my thought, too. There’s a status factor with hybrids and electric cars. A lot of people that buy them want to announce to the world that they’re saving the planet or whatever. The Prius is a hideously ugly vehicle, but everyone instantly knows what it is, so that’s a positive to these buyers.
What a surprise that GM didn’t figure that out and remade the Volt into something indistinguishable from the Cruze.
Come to think of it, maybe GM should dump all the Volt technology into the ugly-as-sin new Silverado and lemonade out of lemons.
I have a Volt as a daily driver, with an 80+ mile round trip commute. In a shade over 2 years I’ve put 75k miles on it. It really really drives nice, off the line its amazing, I get good efficiency, and if I can plug in at work I have no fuel use on my commute but at the same time, I don’t care about range because of the gas engine. And its a hatch so even though it is a compact car I can hall a decent amount of stuff in it.
Basically, even though the Volt is a plug-in hybrid, it drives like any other pure electric: instant torque, no lag.
However, the vehicle they need to drop this drivetrain into is the Colorado. Take the Colorado, put the volt drivetrain up front, the Bolt drivetrain in the rear, and take what used to be the transmission tunnel and stick it full of batteries in a T (same basic layout as the Volt). You would have an absolutely fabulous pickup, with great efficiency and great driveability.
Every Equinox I see appears to be owned by some sad sap who’s given up on life. I wouldn’t take one for free, even if it was electric. We owned a Prius for a year, it was a tin can. And now they made them hideous looking as a bonus. Now on our 2nd Volt, they are rock solid reliable, and drive as well as the Acura TL I used to have. The battery being placed low really helps with handling and stability. Our lifetime average is just under 200 MPG- what’s not to like? Interior space is “OK”, but if I need massive room I drive the minivan or the fullsize SUV or the big Lexus sedan. For what it’s intended for, the Volt is exemplary. You don’t buy it intending to use it as a limo or a moving van.
When it comes time to replace the Fit, I’m considering a low mileage Cadillac ELR.
I also have a Fit that I’d swap for an ELR … if the Fit ever betrayed signs of wear or tear.
The thing that concerns me most about an ELR is the fact that you won’t be able to find parts — either new or salvage — for it. I already struggle finding parts for my ’67 Eldorado. I don’t need more chase-the-Caddy-parts action!
Interesting idea, let’s go to the tape:
MY14 Cadillac ELR
12/19/18 $14,750 93,626 4.0 4H/A Red Regular West Coast California
11/7/18 $16,000 *57,544 2.7 4H/A Red Regular West Coast California
11/7/18 $19,500 62,308 3.6 4H/A Black Regular West Coast California
12/26/18 $18,400 69,523 – -4H/A Black Regular Southwest Dallas
11/23/18 $24,500 15,835 4.2 4H/A Red Regular Northeast Pennsylvania
11/9/18 $18,600 44,580 2.7 4H/A Off-Whit Lease Northeast Pennsylvania
11/29/18 $24,300 33,757 4.6 4H/A Gray Regular Midwest Cincinnati
So your range is 14,7-24,3 and conditions from clean to average. If you can score one with lower miles it might be a good buy, personally I wouldn’t want to be in one with higher miles due to future parts and maint concerns, but to 100K it should be fine. Volts from the same period are up to 109K but only bid for 7-8K so there is an ELR premium to say the least.
I’m reading some of these comments about the Volt and I just have to laugh. We have 2018 Volt and we really like it. We live in rural area without any fast-charging infrastructure. The Volt’s 50 mile range is enough for us to go to one of three small cities and back on electric which is as far as is needed 90% of the time. If occasionally, we need to travel farther, no problem. When we wanted to take a 600 vacation trip, again, no problem. When we arrived at our destination, we charged overnight and took several day trips using electric only.
At 4 miles per KwH, it works out to less than 3 cents per mile by charging overnight on off peak rates. That’s compared to 9 cents per mile for gasoline for our previous car, a VW Jetta. At the current 49 mpg for gasoline only, the Volt costs us a little over 5 cents per mile for gasoline.
And then there’s the price. We bought the lower priced model. List price, $34,000, the combination of state energy grant and GM discount brought that down to $27,000. With the Federal tax credit, the out of pocket was $22,000.
As a starter electric car in rural area the Volt is perfect.
I’m disappointed that you don’t mention what kind of range you got out of the battery or what MPG you observed with the gas engine once the battery was fully depleted. If it’s like my 2013 Gen 1 Volt you have to calculate that manually as it includes the EV miles on when it calculates MPG which is a BS number. Luckily it displays how much gas I’ve used and the number of non-electric miles between full charges so it’s easy to do.
Last summer I easily got 45 miles of EV range out of my Volt running the AC and get 42-44 MPG out of it on gas only. The 2013 was the first year the Volt offered the hold function which helps efficiency. If I know I’ll exhaust the battery during the day I’ll run it in hold while on the highway and save the battery for around the town stop and & driving. The trick is to always run out of battery just before I pull into my driveway at the end of the day.
The Volt is out and Bolt is in for one simple reason – simplicity. The Bolt ditches the gas engine, gas tank, gas pump, exhaust system, emissions system, and all the other complexity of gas engines which requires maintenance and repairs. The vast majority of commutes can be handled by the Bolt and if you want to travel far, then most families have a second car.
The big advantage of the Volt is hassle-free road trips — but to make this a selling point, the car has to be of a size and shape suited to family road trips, which the Volt is not. It’s a commuter, and very few commutes exceed the range of a Bolt EV, so I suppose the Volt’s demise was somewhat inevitable.
I was cross shopping the Bolt and Volt. I preferred the Bolt in theory (pure EV!) but the Volt was better looking inside and out, cost a little less, and had much more comfortable seats — and I could still do the majority of my driving on electricity alone. So I went with the Volt.
This would be a great car for me to commute to work in, but since we use our sedan for road trips with a family of four I fear we would not all like that road trip. A minivan is coming soon for that duty to replace the Rogue but the sedan still only has 62k miles so we aren’t ready to trade that off just yet.
3-4 years from now I would have been looking at one.
The Volt has been one of GM’s greatest products for years. This is not the first time GM does something well and shoots itself. I feel the 2nd Gen Volt looked too indistinguishable from the Cruze, making it appear to the layperson to be an expensive economy car. Looks & image matter. The first generation Volt looked different, the Prius always looks different from a Corolla. If you’re paying a $10k+ premium for the PHEV or electric technology you want visual difference from a $20k rental car. They should shoehorn this powertrain into a CUV or truck but please dear god not the Trax, make sure it stands out or it will die.
Agree with your comments that the 2nd Gen Volt was too indistinguishable from the Cruze. Looks and image, or as I call it “curb appeal”….. do matter.
Too bad because GM did a great job making substantial improvements to the 2nd Gen Voltec. It’s noticeably better & more efficient than what’s under the hood of my 2013.
Great car…….shitty company!!
At GM there is evidence of a reverse form of automotive Darwinism. I call it the survival of the least fit. In this illogical universe substandard vehicles like the Escalade and Trax survive and great cars like the Volt and ATS parish.
Soy wire insulation and subsequent costly, rodent damage has become such a huge problem for car owners in this country; that every new car review should tell potential buyers if a specific new car model is still using this in my opinion.
I will not buy any car using soy wire insulation and I tell anyone who will listen the same thing
WRZ
Delaware County, PA
.