New Volt owner, South Florida

1143 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by hellsop, Aug 23, 2017

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Discussion Starter · Aug 21, 2017

Good evening all,

I picked up my 2017 Volt on 20Jul, Premier, Pepper Dust Metallic, black&brandy leather, Driver pkg 1 & 2, Navigation, floor mats. Have 917 miles on it so far. 36 mile round trip commute. Battery range started at 53 and has slowly krept up to 68 and has seemed to peak out there. Heavy AC use this time of year, flat Florida, no hills. When I get home from work there is 27-30 miles left. Have not run the battery "out" yet.

I have read that the ICE will occasionally run by itself but hasn't yet. This past Friday I decided to try the "hold mode" and could hardly tell the difference. I could feel a clutch going in and out occasionally. Watching the "Flow" screen, the Volt seems to start from a dead stop on battery power and goes to ICE power at about 16-18 mph. When I got home from work and plugged in, the charge light went solid green in a very short period, so obviously the ICE-gen was replacing battery usage for the entire trip.

This is my first new car in 12 years. Last new car was a 2005 VW Golf TDI, 113,000 miles, 35.8 mpg lifetime, most on surface street, stop and go driving, same commute. The electronics in the Volt is culture shock compared to the Golf, which basically had none. One feature the Golf had that I miss is the ability to raise all the windows with the key in the door, if you forget to raise a window before getting out of the car. Of course, the Volt doesn't use a key, but the remote can lower all the windows but cannot raise them. If I forget to raise the window before getting out, I have to get back in and turn everything on to raise the window. A very small item but I miss it. Is there any way to configure the remote or the outside lock button to raise all the windows if held for 5 seconds?

My Golf diesel had good low rpm torque, but the Volt has MUCH more. This is a fun car to drive.

Still learning to use all the Volt features and hope to learn tips from others through this forum.

Everyone be safe looking at the eclipse tomorrow.

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Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 22, 2017

Good afternoon,

Hope everyone got to see the eclipse yesterday. Unfortunately, I was in a meeting the entire afternoon and only saw the daylight change from the meeting room window

Thanks all for replying to my comments and questions. This seems to be an active group. Hopefully it will be helpful and as I get to use my Volt more, I may be able to add to the discussion.

I have turned on the AC before getting in the car, and it is GREAT. Disappointed to know that there is no present way to raise all windows from outside the vehicle. Is there a "feature wish list" for the Volt? This would seem to require only a very few lines of code to accomplish.

I drive from Coral Springs to FLL every day and do not believe that I have seen another 16-17 Volt. I have seen older ones, but only one or two. Too bad there are not more around or maybe I am not looking close enough.

To Andy, do you drive your Volt from Ontario to FL? If so, how is it on long drives. I would like to drive to Massachusetts in the fall. Haven't been home in several years now and my wife and I no longer are up to flying. Too much hassle today.

Got to get back to work. Thanks again for the replies.

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Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 22, 2017

Good evening Coppersnowboarder,

I saw plenty of that kind of weather when I lived in Massachusetts, too cold to start, snow plow plowing a 6ft mound across the driveway, snowy, icy roads,.... Been in south FL for 31 years now and have only seen two frosts. In the 12yrs I had the Golf, I never had to use the TDI preheater. I HOPE I will NEVER need the Volt battery heated here.

Speaking of that, Saturday I washed the car, unplugging it before washing. It was at full charge. After washing, I plugged it back in and the radiator fans started almost immediately. Occasionally, when working in the garage, I can here the fans starting and stopping occasionally (the car is outside). At these times, the Volt has been plugged in since the night before, so obviously the battery is fully charged. What is up with the fans running? Has it something to do with the battery?

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