At first impressions, the Volt seems to have lived up to it's hype, and more. Standard features include 17" alloys, keyless ignition, telescoping wheel, Bluetooth, Onstar, touchscreen navigation system, voice controls, Bose 6-speaker stereo with CD/DVD player, auxiliary audio jack, iPod/USB interface and 30gb of digital music storage. Higher trims add amenities like leather upholstery, heated seats, and rear-view camera.
The Chevrolet Volt has been the subject of car rumors ever since the first concepts came out. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'd know a integral part of the excitement over the Volt is the fact that it is, quite literally, a plug-n-play. The Volt is the first hybrid of its kind to have factory standard ability to plug the car straight into a wall outlet to charge its lithium ion batteries. At full charge, those batteries are capable of delivering a range of 40 miles. Not shabby at all, no indeed.
All Volts are powered by a gas-electric motor hybrid. Two electric motors, one larger than the other, paired with a 1.4L engine. Unlike the Toyota Prius, the Chevrolet Volt relies mainly on it's 149 bhp electric motor to get itself around. The 1.4 gas engine only kicks in to power the car under certain conditions, namely at high speeds. At all other times, the gas engine is unactive, or charging the lithium-ion batteries. Thi is a highly complex system, requiring 3 separate planetary gear sets to achieve the graceful cooperation between all three components. But GM's recent failures already have some skeptics dismissing the Volt's creditability, few even claiming that the battery design will lead to low reliability, with possible fire-hazards.
But issues aside, the Volt seems like a solid, dependable car. That is, until you sit down the dealer to negotiate the buying price. The Chevy Volt has a staggering $41K MSRP. On the other hand, the Toyota Prius, Volt's biggest competitor, come in at close to half that price, a $23k starting price. But it doesn't end there. The home charging station is not included in the price, and brings to the table another $490. Expensive, sure, but thats not the problem. The REAL problem is installing the home charger in your garage. GM estimates it will cost an average of $1475 for installation work, a whole three times more than the charger itself, for a whopping total of $2k if you want to charge your Volt at home.
Is it worth it? Let's crunch some numbers. If you take the difference in MSRP between the Volt (including the charging station+installation) and Prius, you get $20k. Take that, and divide it @ a fair $4/gallon of gas, to get 5000 gallons of gas. Multiply it by a conservative 40 mpg (mind you the Prius is capable of well over 40), to get a total of 200k miles. End result: you'd have to drive a Toyota Prius 200k miles before you break even with cost of buying a Volt, and that's if you buy a Chevrolet Volt and never drive it.
My conclusion? Stick with the Prius. And then buy something nice for your girlfriend.
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