After 3 failed attempts (one sold out from under me and two botched deals with Carvana) I finally picked up my first Volt this past Saturday.
I purchased from a local Houston (Katy) dealer. It is a 2015 Premium with what I think amounts to all the available options.
Like every car, there is the good and the not so good.
It is red (good).
It has the black leather (good).
It has 5,000 miles (good).
It was a demo (not so good).
Most of the miles are in CS mode as the lifetime average is 44.5mpg (probably not so good...but fortunately the miles are still very low).
I am the original title holder, so get the Tax Deduction (very good).
I read the story "A Tale of Two Volts", so I was prepared for the battery/guess-o-meter to be a little confused/wacko...and I think it was.
My salesman is a Volt owner, so in addition to having the oil/filter changed prior to delivery (OLM was at 14% as the car was at the dealership 23 months), he made sure the battery was fully charged overnight.
When I picked the car up, the DIC said 27 mile of battery available. I drove home 18 miles with just the fan on low and the DIC said 22 miles available (?). My son took it out for a spin and brought it back at 15 miles available.
I put the car on the OEM 115V charger and let it go until the car indicated the charge was complete. This took about 9 hours. DIC said 31 miles.
I had to go out of town the next day (Sunday), but when I got home around 6pm I plugged it back in and it charged another hour or so and now read 32 miles. I guess we call that burping?
This morning I drove the car to work. I left at 0545, so of course had the lights on. No HVAC...just the windows cracked a half inch. I was driving carefully, and traffic was light for a Houston work-day, given the early hour and the fact that some folks were off for President's Day.
I drove the 12 miles to work (from far NW Houston to I-10/Kirkwood) via Hwy 6, Clay Road, Eldridge Road, I-10 Feeder (for those familiar with the route). Energy usage was 2.2 kWh! DIC still read 32 miles (and that's why we call it a guess-o-meter!).
I decided to drive a long route home, to get the battery nearly depleted. I ended up putting a total of 49.7 miles on the battery, and used 10.2 kWh. The DIC indicated 5 miles of battery remaining.
It was raining most of the drive home, but I had Rain-X on the windshield and only hit the wipers a couple times.
My route home included about 10 miles of I-10 at 55 to 62mph, and then mostly back roads north from Old Katy to Clay, east to Barker Cypress, north to 290 then to Huffmeister.
I am a bit shocked that I got that sort of performance from the battery after it had lived for two years mostly at a very low SOC...but that shows you what I know!
I plugged the car in as soon as I got home (about 5pm) and the car said charge would be complete at 0645! Holy cow...13.75 hours to replenish 10.2 kWh? Maybe that L2 charger is in my future....
Anyway, I have really enjoyed the first 70 miles in my "new" car. I remember when the Volt was first being talked about. I chuckled to myself...Chevrolet/GM can barely get a simple car right - what chance do they have with something this complex?
Perhaps Chevy/GM get the last laugh? After mostly driving VW, Volvo, Lexus and Toyota for the past 30 years, my daily is now a Chevy.
Oh, and when my 24 year old finished his little drive in my Volt, he turned to look at his R-Design C30, then back at the Volt. Then he said "I could own one of these Volts"!
I purchased from a local Houston (Katy) dealer. It is a 2015 Premium with what I think amounts to all the available options.
Like every car, there is the good and the not so good.
It is red (good).
It has the black leather (good).
It has 5,000 miles (good).
It was a demo (not so good).
Most of the miles are in CS mode as the lifetime average is 44.5mpg (probably not so good...but fortunately the miles are still very low).
I am the original title holder, so get the Tax Deduction (very good).
I read the story "A Tale of Two Volts", so I was prepared for the battery/guess-o-meter to be a little confused/wacko...and I think it was.
My salesman is a Volt owner, so in addition to having the oil/filter changed prior to delivery (OLM was at 14% as the car was at the dealership 23 months), he made sure the battery was fully charged overnight.
When I picked the car up, the DIC said 27 mile of battery available. I drove home 18 miles with just the fan on low and the DIC said 22 miles available (?). My son took it out for a spin and brought it back at 15 miles available.
I put the car on the OEM 115V charger and let it go until the car indicated the charge was complete. This took about 9 hours. DIC said 31 miles.
I had to go out of town the next day (Sunday), but when I got home around 6pm I plugged it back in and it charged another hour or so and now read 32 miles. I guess we call that burping?
This morning I drove the car to work. I left at 0545, so of course had the lights on. No HVAC...just the windows cracked a half inch. I was driving carefully, and traffic was light for a Houston work-day, given the early hour and the fact that some folks were off for President's Day.
I drove the 12 miles to work (from far NW Houston to I-10/Kirkwood) via Hwy 6, Clay Road, Eldridge Road, I-10 Feeder (for those familiar with the route). Energy usage was 2.2 kWh! DIC still read 32 miles (and that's why we call it a guess-o-meter!).
I decided to drive a long route home, to get the battery nearly depleted. I ended up putting a total of 49.7 miles on the battery, and used 10.2 kWh. The DIC indicated 5 miles of battery remaining.
It was raining most of the drive home, but I had Rain-X on the windshield and only hit the wipers a couple times.
My route home included about 10 miles of I-10 at 55 to 62mph, and then mostly back roads north from Old Katy to Clay, east to Barker Cypress, north to 290 then to Huffmeister.
I am a bit shocked that I got that sort of performance from the battery after it had lived for two years mostly at a very low SOC...but that shows you what I know!
I plugged the car in as soon as I got home (about 5pm) and the car said charge would be complete at 0645! Holy cow...13.75 hours to replenish 10.2 kWh? Maybe that L2 charger is in my future....
Anyway, I have really enjoyed the first 70 miles in my "new" car. I remember when the Volt was first being talked about. I chuckled to myself...Chevrolet/GM can barely get a simple car right - what chance do they have with something this complex?
Perhaps Chevy/GM get the last laugh? After mostly driving VW, Volvo, Lexus and Toyota for the past 30 years, my daily is now a Chevy.
Oh, and when my 24 year old finished his little drive in my Volt, he turned to look at his R-Design C30, then back at the Volt. Then he said "I could own one of these Volts"!
