And I will drive our new commuter car - the Chevy Volt!
I've been a Volt enthusiast for some time. But paying $200+ for gas in my beloved Chevy Avalanche pushed me over the edge. So after 3 days and just about 100 miles... here are my thoughts:
The Good
There is much good. The Volt is a lot of fun to drive. You step on the gas... uhhh... oops, I meant the acceleration pedal... and the car takes off. Many would have thought an "electric car" to be anemic. The Volt is most certainly not. Similar to the Toyota Prius, the Volt provides real-time feedback to your driving. A spinning green ball (with three leaves on it) moves up and down depending on how hard you've pressed the acceleration pedal or how heavy your foot is on the brake. It's basically a video game to see how well you can keep the green ball in the middle. The main attraction for the Volt is, of course, not using gas (if you drive less than 35 miles per day). So if the idea of trying to drive more efficiently turns you off, you shouldn't be buying this car anyway.
But even before you begin driving, the first thing you notice is what is missing... the sound of the engine. In fact, any sound at all. The Volt is super-quiet.
The electronics package for the Volt is excellent -- starting with the two large full-color LCD screens. The screens act as a Head Up Display for all manner of interesting metrics. Combined with the sheer quiet of the electric motor, it is like piloting a flying saucer down the street. In fact, one of my first calls to my mother (from the included Bluetooth system) went like this... "Hello Mother, I'm calling you from the future..."
Not only do the screens provide a wealth of information -- including battery charge, tire pressure, time to next oil change (don't worry, it's a LONG time) and other interesting stuff, but my loaded Volt also includes Sirius-XM Satellite Radio, GPS with real-time weather & traffic reports, a DVD player, Bluetooth for phone calls, USB connection for playing music off phones or MP3 players and a 30GB hard drive.
Charging the Volt is super-easy -- and I have two interesting tidbits from my first day with the car. The Volt includes a 100-volt charger you can plug into any household outlet. We plugged into a notoriously touchy outlet in our lower level and ran the cord out to the car in the driveway. 20-30 minutes later, the Volt began beeping with annoyance. Not quite as loud as a car alarm, but definitely enough to get our attention. We'd tripped a breaker in the house and the Volt reported a very detailed error describing how power had been cut unexpectedly! Pretty cool.
Next, I moved the 110-volt charger to a more reliable outlet on the other side of the house and re-positioned the Volt appropriately in the driveway. Just in time for a thunderstorm. I was pretty freaked out about charging the car in my driveway overnight with recurring thunderstorms passing through. But the forums assured me this was alright. And sure enough, my Volt was happily fully charged in the morning.
The further integration of the Volt with OnStar (3 years included!) and mobile devices is very cool as well. iOS and Android apps may be downloaded and configured. Most metrics from the car are captured in the apps -- including battery charge and miles remaining, gas, tire pressure, etc. You can get an e-mail or text alert when the car needs to be charged, when it is completed charging and more. Finally you can even remote start or unlock the car from your phone! Very cool!
The Bad
The ground clearance is perilously low. I scraped the bottom of the car on the first speed bump I went over -- and the first time I pulled into my own driveway! I've almost immediately adjusted my driving style, however, and incidents have gone down.
Lack of Bluetooth audio is a bummer... but a USB cable really makes this only a minor annoyance.
The Ugly
Nothing at all. This car rocks and I'm having a great time. Stay tuned for my report on getting a 240-volt charger installed...
