Should I buy a new 2018 Volt ?

I am halfway-seriously considering a new 2018 Volt. The plug-in range is fine for me , and I would probably use the engine once a week for a 15-20 mile trip. Pros ? Cons ?

 

We have a Gen 2 2016 Volt with 61,000 miles and over 20,000 miles on the gas engine. MPG on gas recently has been over 55 mpg, calculated, with a
completed depleted battery. Electric range has been recently over 60 miles on a charge as well. Our other car is a 2010 Prius and last fillup with that was 48 mpg. So this gives you an idea how fuel efficient the Volt is....

I would not hesitate to buy a 2018 new Volt you can still get a partial Fed Tax Credit and some places have them at $25,000 or even less which would bring the price down to 20 K or maybe even lower with tax credits and incentives.

 

Have you compared the cost of electrical energy to get a Volt through your winters to the cost of fueling your present Prius? I'll guess the saving would be small, if any.

 

Thanks guys. Andrew , that makes a lot of sense , but sometimes I just WANT a new car. I'm planning to retire in Jan 2021
and I might buy a car then. The Prius will have about 135K miles then , which is not a lot , but daughter #2 is hoping I will
give it to her. I'll hold off until then. It's not "fun" driving the Prius , but it is a very efficient commuting weapon.

 

Here in northwestern Oregon on the coast of the Pacific Ocean our electricity rate per KWH is .115. This is with all cost, taxes, sur-charges, etc.
calculated by dividing KWH used by the entire bill. The least expensive place for gas, 87 octane in the general area is Costco at $3.399 / gal.

Yesterday with our 2016 Volt I went fishing and round trip via Highway 101 was 132.7 miles, electric used 14.2 KWH for 69.3 miles and 63.4 miles on gas with .96 gal's used, yes well over 60 mpg just on reg. 87 octane Costco gas.

Total for trip, $5.15, now how many cars can do that?

 

Your experience makes me lean toward getting a Volt. However , another CleanMPG'er had a 1st gen Volt ,
and had LOTS of problems , that Chevrolet couldn't even fix. I'd like to think that they have
the bugs worked out by now.

 

My wife and I had a new 2014 Volt (Gen1) we put on over 40,000 miles and traded it for our current 2016 Volt. The Gen 1 we owned
had a few issues covered under warranty, not power train related, I recall the radio had to be replaced was one and some were recalls if I remember
correctly. The Gen 2 for fuel economy and electric range was a giant leap for sure over the Gen 1. We will never know what the Gen 3 Volt would have been, as the 2019 Volt was the final year for GM. If you can get a 2018 Volt for $20K or less with Tax credit etc, I would not hesitate. Also you get more technology per dollar than any car made in the world in my opinion.

Also the Volt is a 100% pure electric car with a gas engine that goes along for the ride most of the time. Most so called plug ins are not 100% electric you floor the gas pedal and even with a full charge the gas engine kicks in the supply additional power, the Volt will never do that unless you have a completely depleted battery. Even if you have 5% of battery left the electric is 100% until the battery is depleted and the gas engine fires up still getting you great mpg's.

At 68 years of age I have owned high mpg cars most of my life starting in the 1960's with a Ford Falcon straight 6 cylinder with a 3 speed manual on the steering column. Then a Corvair, 4 VW Diesels, Civic VX, yes the rare model for the most mpg's, and of course our Volt.

Our 2016 Volt cost per mile, which includes electric and gas, is the most economical car I have ever owned.

 

Floor the gas pedal ? That does not apply to me, lol.
I had a Dodge pickup in the 70s with three on the tree. Without a doubt the worst FSP I ever owned , but I was a young cowboy at the time.
It was a knee-jerk reaction after owning my 75 Fiat 128SL , which was probably the most unreliable car I ever bought new.
I also owned a Corvair. A 66 dual-carb coupe. It was red and FAST. The Volt is looking pretty good at the moment.

 

Does an electric vehicle have a "gas pedal"?

 

Whatever you decide, be sure to figure a realistic resale value in your calculations. There are lots of apartment dwellers and other garageless denizens that buy used cars that won't be interested in any plug-in vehicle. There are a lot of people that won't want the battery liability that do have a garage. I tried to make the numbers work for a hybrid Ioniq and I couldn't get there. Not even close.

 

it's not so much about the numbers for me. I do consider those things , but I usually drive a car until it's mostly used up.
Well , that's not true anymore. I gave my Civic to my younger daughter when it was just a baby ( 94K miles ) and she's driving it today.
She now has her eye on the Prius. The next car I buy may be my last. That's why I'm carefully considering a car that I
WANT (manual trans ) ,that I may not be able to shift if my knees go away , or a high-tech ( expensive to fix ) car like a Volt or Prius.
Lots of pros and cons to consider.

 

Old habit !

 

When I bought the Prius on 2015 , I didn't NEED a new car. However , Heather really needed one.
She doesn't need a car too bad at the moment ( the 08 Civic is still very good ) but she does want
the Prius. And I want something else.
I set a bad precedent when I started buying the girls' cars. Now they(she) expects it. Good thing that her sister
is in England AND has a husband to help her with cars. She drives a Ford Ka and likes it.

 

I had similar thoughts... New Englander (MA/ME) pronunciations of words with letters "ar"...

 

Pros - the volt was awesome, I loved it.

Cons - don't have any random electrical and/or programming issues. Chevrolet will tell you to go pound sand. My issues started 6 miles and less than 10 minutes from buying new. Dealers and headquarters blew me off, told me I was making up the issues (even with videos posted on YouTube). Last 6 weeks I owned it, it was at Milford factory getting 'fixed' 5 weeks. I will never know if it did get fixed. GM made it clear I was out of warranty (even though problems started within minutes of buying) and I was on my own for any further issues. It came back to me from Milford and I dropped everything and drove it straight to the dealership and got rid of it.

I sooooo wanted it to work. 3 years, 50,000 miles and 21 times for warranty/electric/programming issues - not including routine maintenance.

Screw you GM electric cars, and Mark Chevrolet Wayne Michigan.


Just for comparison, it's not me and it was the car - bought the 2007 Silverado new. 1 warranty issue in the first 100,000 miles - loose windshield trim rattling with a head wind at 70mph. 1, 1 issue in 100,000 miles.

Got rid of the volt and bought my 2015 Sierra. 1 warranty issue - loose seat cover, 1 recall for electric power steering issue I wasn't experiencing and I replaced a front wheel bearing hub around 95,000 miles because the abs sensor went bad. At 106,000 miles now

 

If I was seriously considering a Volt, then I would seriously look at the maintenance end of the user forums of the most direct competitor (i.e gm-volt.com vs clarity forum.com).
efficiency -- imo the fuel/electricity consumption difference between the two would be negligible
purchase price -- I suspect it's kind of a "pay me now"(Honda) vs "pay me later"(GM) type thing -- been that way for quite a few decades now
/disclaimer -- I do not own, nor have I ever driven a Volt or a Clarity PHEV.

//Edwin, If I were you (which I'm not) I think I might cross shop (and test drive) a 2019 Prius Eco .. and a 2019 Honda insight. -- just to see how they might feel/fit with a 2021 'goal' date == sounds like you've got some time to figure it out.

 

I do have some time. I also want to drive some other PHEVS , like Ioniq and Prius Prime. The Hyundai lifetime battery warranty
is attractive ( until you read the fine print , which I haven't).Any Prius would be a no-brainer. I do want a liftback or hatchback ;
I've gotten pretty spoiled by the Prius. It would be tough to "throw" a mountain bike in the trunk of an Insight ( or even a Civic hatch).
The Ioniq and Prime are liftbacks.