Is the new Chevy Volt worth it?
- Csongor Czezar
- Mar 7, 2017
- 3 min read
I just had the chance to drive the new 2017 Chevy Volt for over a week, and here I share my experience. The information is honest, first hand, personal, not biased, not influenced by anyone.
The look of the car is good, carrying the current Chevrolet DNA, however it doesn't stand out of the crowd. The most popular colors are the blue and the white, both coming with black accent around the edges, especially in the back.
The interior is nicely finished, elegant, with soft and hard material mixed. The multimedia display is handsome, the seats are comfortable leather ones, the steering wheel feels good in your hand, and there are hard buttons, not some shiny, touch sensitive things coming from GM lately ( see Cadillac). Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is present, which helps a lot, and there are a bunch of storage places. The wireless phone charging is still doesn't work, the phone companies just not at that level yet.
There are squeaking noises though... It comes from the brake! The break! That was scary. The one thing it has to work properly, the most important , and it squeaks. Fortunately you can get used to it, after you realize it is only the plastic cover around it, and not some functionality problem.
The big trunk lid with a large glass is making noise too, on bumpy road.
Lets talk about the interesting part about this car which makes the Volt outstanding. The powertrain.
It is a Plug In Hybrid. This means it normally drives like a hybrid, but it also can drive on electricity alone.
It has a battery good for 50 miles all electric driving, in my testing only 47 miles, which is really close to factory claim. When it has run out of juice, the gas engine kicks in, which gives you another 300 miles range. Funny the Volt requires Premium fuel...
You could say now that it is just like a Toyota Prius, and you would be right, except, it drives much better than that. The acceleration is at least 3 second better, on 0-60miles. Also it handles very well.
Charging on the other hand is a pain in the ...Well you know where. With the provided charger in the regular 110 volt average American household system, charging the battery takes 16 looooong hours.
If you happen to know your electrical grid and you trust it can handle it, then there is a setting of changing the charging from 8 Amp to 12 Amp, which reduces the time to 10 hours.
In my opinion it is till too long.
Then again you can buy a fast charging kit, to do the job in 4 hours. Now we are talking.
All in all it was a nice experience driving the Volt. It makes a good commute car, and for people who doesn't need to drive more than 50 miles a day, it could just cost the pure electricity alone to feed the car, which at the current national average is 12 cents per kWh.
Make sure to charge the car at home, because good luck finding a fitting plug at the different charging stations out there at the malls, hotels, casinos, etc... Obviously there never been an understanding of the different car companies to use only ONE kind of plug, so some of them doesnt fit the Volt.
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