The most obvious difference from the gen1 to the gen2
Is the gen2 has a more radical streamlined rear hatch causing around an inch or so headroom loss for the passengers in the back seat area.

 

The most obvious difference from the gen1 to the gen2
Is the gen2 has a more radical streamlined rear hatch causing around an inch or so headroom loss for the passengers in the back seat area.

Er, it's actually 0.2 inches (less than a quarter inch).

 

Like many compact cars, the shoulder room is the issue. The Volt is similar to other cars in it's class at 53" measured. This is not enough for 3 small adults unless they are very skinny. It is perfect for 2 adults of average size, or two small adults and a child.

 

I can count the number of times on one hand when I "needed" that fifth seat.
(and times when I actually needed it, i.e. no other car to take, is zero)

 

Congrats on the twins! Lucky you ☺

Sent from my LGLS991 using Tapatalk

 

With twins, 5 seats wouldn't have covered your family either, anyway, so they've made that issue moot for you!

Congrats.

 

I have 3 kids and would never trade the minivan for a Volt. The MDX is basically a Honda Odyssey.

My 10 YO complains on how little leg room he has in the back of my Volt.

Anyway, congrats on the twins, but I think you might need to find another minivan.

Eric

 

I have never needed a 5th seat. Sometimes I need 6, so, take the RAM. Any more than that and we take two or more cars.

99% of the time two seats are enough. 98% of the time one seat is enough.

In 3 years of Volt/ELR, I've used all 4 seats exactly once. My back seats are new.

 

From personal experience I can note that for 2012 you can fit 2 adults + 2 kids or 1 adult + 3 kids. If you have 2 adults + 3 kids -> take the other car

Theoretically you can fit 4 adults, but in reality you have to chop off 20cm from each.

BTW: Grand Voyager (Town & Country) didn't have any issues fitting 1 adult + 3 kids + 220cm christmas tree, and it did have plenty of room left to walz around the tree. Would recomment that for your family size. Get one with DVD display on each row.

 

I use three seats a few times a year, but haven't used four yet.

 

I will admit that when we had 2 infants in the house, we used a MiniVan. It's just so much easier to handle car seats and entertainment. The MiniVan had a DVD screen for kidlets and kept them occupied better, and you don't get the back of your seat kicked constantly if you are tall.

If we had to do it again, (3 was our limit), we would use either a MiniVan, SUV, or CrewCab pickup.

But it's still wrong to think a hypermiler compact is the best fit for a growing family. Sometimes, you will want to seat 6+ (parents in town, bring kids, want to take 1 car). Even with a single carseat, cramming gramps and grandma in with the baby is a bit rude if you have other options. Or if you want to take turns carpooling kids to school with a neighbor.

A family of 5 can be done with a Volt, but it's more hassle, and it can't be 5 full sized adults.

Sidebar - We used a 2000 Camaro for 2 infants and 2 adults. It can be done. Folk complain about the rear seating of Volt have never sat in the back of a Camaro or other high performance coupe. You must use some kind of lubricant (alcohol works) to cram 2 adults in the back of Camaro.

 

...But it's still wrong to think a hypermiler compact is the best fit for a growing family. Sometimes, you will want to seat 6+ (parents in town, bring kids, want to take 1 car). Even with a single carseat, cramming gramps and grandma in with the baby is a bit rude if you have other options. Or if you want to take turns carpooling kids to school with a neighbor....

+1. This is the folly of CAFE - it has forced decent sized family sedans, that a lot of us grew up with, out of the market. So those with more than 1-2 kids generally gravitate to the much-derided minivans and SUVs - where third row seating is available.

With three kids (two are twins) I just went for a full boat Suburban to haul the whole menagerie, plus all their friends/"stuff"/etc, around. It has been an incredibly useful vehicle. We later bought a Buick Rendezvous, also with third row seats, for easier around town use. (I cross shopped the MDX and the ML320. But at the time the third row seats in both of those were jokes.) Now that the kids are in college/grad school, the Suburban will be hitting craigslist soon.

 

This isn't an either or proposition, buy the vehicle that meets your needs. That means sometimes the Volt isn't the best choice.

 

In 9 weeks of driving our 2016 Volt, I have used the 5th seat only 2 times, both with kids 11 years old and younger. May be a squeeze to sit in the 5th seat, but most of the time the driving distance is short, usually from school/other event to home. I am glad to have the 5th seat for short distance trips, but then again I don't sit there.

 

IMHO five seat sedans have been grossly overrated by online posters critical of the four seater. I have two kids and find that the utility of the fifth seat in the middle of a bench is limited or non-existent. If I ever have the need for more seats, then I would without a doubt step up to a 7-seater like a Flex or a minivan.

 

We have a 15 year old, a 16 year old who just got her license and a 2 year old. . We just found out we're having twins.

5 Kids! Might want to look into something in the BlueBird Line up.

https://www.blue-bird.com/blue-bird/Home.aspx

 

When it becomes necessary, take both Volts.

 

From my driving experiences, I have probably only needed a 5th seat in maybe 2-3% of my trips. However, for that 2-3%, I REALLY NEED that 5th seat. It's either take another car along, or rent a bigger car, both of which are not very convenient or cost effective. That's why I ended up getting a C-Max instead of a 2nd Volt. But the '16 (technically) takes care of the 5th seat, so that's good.

 

This is the same argument as 'how many EV miles does a car need?'. Well, sort of. It'll never be enough for some situation, whatever you buy. Answer is pretty simple, for all such questions - get more than one car! This addresses the multiple occupants situation even better, just take more cars if there are more people!!

 

I have my two kids carseats in the back of my volt 100% of the time.

Better get your Model X on order Logan!

 

We are a family of 4. Our other vehicle is a minivan, so that covers us for carpooling, bringing extended family along, camping, towing, etc. The Volt is the second car, the commuter car, so it really doesn't need to have much passenger or cargo room. Even so, with 4 doors, it works fine for smaller carpools up to 3 kids. I also take it on trips if it is fewer than 4 people going. I wouldn't want to rely on the Volt as my only family car, but most families have multiple vehicles, so the Volt can easily be one of them. My last commuter car was a 5-seat sedan and I used the center seat only once or twice in 10 years, so for my purposes, a center seat is not all that helpful.