[Sheldon]

Traded in base 2014 for 2017 Premier!

The tax rebate and a good deal sold me. I really like the return of analog climate and radio controls. I didn't like the 2014 touch sensitive interface, and it drove my wife crazy. I'm looking forward to using Android Auto for maps and stuff, but the micro-sub cable needs to be really good - the one I transferred from my old car is flaky. Actually, the invoice says I have mylink w/navigation so maybe that's just as good?

The gen2 Volt feels like the perfect combination of green car and sports car; it is fast and responsive. Getting 40% more EV miles is really cool, and its more efficient. The gen2 will be 100% electric car except for road trips, and I'm looking forward to using regular gas for those road trips. The Premier stereo/speakers are way better than the 2014 base too. The two tone brown leather interior is very luxurious. You only live once ....

Someone will get a really nice gen1 volt from my trade in. I figure its my small part to support green cars too, and GM's investment. I really do think the gen2 Volt is a fantastic engineering design.

I got a premier with the two confidence packages, adaptive cruise control, and the illuminated charge port. So I guess its pretty much loaded
- Sheldon

 

[linkim]

The tax rebate and a good deal sold me. I really like the return of analog climate and radio controls. I didn't like the 2014 touch sensitive interface, and it drove my wife crazy. I'm looking forward to using Android Auto for maps and stuff, but the micro-sub cable needs to be really good - the one I transferred from my old car is flaky. Actually, the invoice says I have mylink w/navigation so maybe that's just as good?

The gen2 Volt feels like the perfect combination of green car and sports car; it is fast and responsive. Getting 40% more EV miles is really cool, and its more efficient. The gen2 will be 100% electric car except for road trips, and I'm looking forward to using regular gas for those road trips. The Premier stereo/speakers are way better than the 2014 base too. The two tone brown leather interior is very luxurious. You only live once ....

Someone will get a really nice gen1 volt from my trade in. I figure its my small part to support green cars too, and GM's investment. I really do think the gen2 Volt is a fantastic engineering design.

I got a premier with the two confidence packages, adaptive cruise control, and the illuminated charge port. So I guess its pretty much loaded
- Sheldon

Congrats on your upgrade. I went from an old Prius to a Volt, and very pleased. Over 90% on electricity and better mpg than the Pri

 

[JoeReal]

your initial road trip mpg cs will be lower than 42, but after driving it in mpg cs for 500 miles at least, your mpg cs will climb. I'm now regularly hitting over 60 mpg cs by using the Hold mode when driving in the freeway at greater than 55 mph.

 

[OldDominion]

Please excuse my lapse, but what, please, does "cs" stand for?

 

[JoeReal]

Please excuse my lapse, but what, please, does "cs" stand for?

charge sustaining
the Volt's mpg based on burning gasoline in order to maintain the same state of charge of its battery. this is different than ERDTT, because you are actually driving the car.

 

[Arcanox]

To supplement JoeReal's description, people usually compare "MPGcs" as their average MPG only over the miles where the engine is the primary power source (either when the battery is depleted, or in HOLD mode). For example, I like to reset Trip B as soon as my battery hits 0 on my way home from work each day, and I measure the average MPG from then until the time I get home. I've been getting ~42 in the winter.

 

[acarney]

To supplement JoeReal's description, people usually compare "MPGcs" as their average MPG only over the miles where the engine is the primary power source (either when the battery is depleted, or in HOLD mode). For example, I like to reset Trip B as soon as my battery hits 0 on my way home from work each day, and I measure the average MPG from then until the time I get home. I've been getting ~42 in the winter.

What's the actual mpg suppose to be when needing to run with a completely dead battery? I've noticed the "MPGe" or whatever on the usage screen will continue to get better even when the engine is not running, so it's not really accurate for how efficient I am with the engine.

I've been getting about ~30 mpg in HOLD mode but I've only driven in HOLD maybe 50 miles at low speed (around town) and 150 miles at freeway speeds (that was one 150 mile roundtrip day trip I took). I can't figure out HOW to get anywhere close to 40 mpg unless going downhill in neutral or something. Right now I'm using the heater but I was hoping to still get ~35 mpg and in the summer, with how efficient the AC seems, I was hoping to get like 38 to 39 in the summer with cruise control set.

(This is coming from someone that was able to get about 18/25 mpg highway from a 2002 Audi A6 with a 2.7 liter turbo charged engine when EPA rating was 17/24 so I don't drive crazy... I was hoping to get within 90% of the EPA rated for the Volt, especially because from my understanding in the last few years the EPA rating testing was made more accurate to real world driving...)

Edit: Volt Stats is saying for December 112 MGP 62 MPGe 26 MPGcs based on 560 total miles driven...

 

[edk-austin]

Congrats Sheldon. Have test driven gen2 at AutoNation North Austin, and really like the black&brandy interior, and the same gen2 upgrades you mention. Just can't bring myself to get rid of the 2014 I have. It's doing great, fully loaded, only 18K miles, and I bought an extended warranty for it originally. Kind of waiting for one of my adult kids to need a car But yeah, I want to take advantage of those $7500 rebates at least one or two more times. Unless I have a mid-life crisis and buy a Tesla Roadster as an additional fun car

So what dealer do you use?

 

[lil' dave]

Great upgrade! It's hard not to love the Gen II. I'm over a year into my upgrade (from base '12 to Premier '16) and am really happy. The extra EV range and excellent fuel economy are just one of many great things about it. Enjoy!

 

[Sheldon]

Great upgrade! It's hard not to love the Gen II. I'm over a year into my upgrade (from base '12 to Premier '16) and am really happy. The extra EV range and excellent fuel economy are just one of many great things about it. Enjoy!

Thanks, it is fun to drive

 

[16513]

Ditto the last comment. If you're not getting around 40 mpg on gas in mostly level , temperate driving you have a mechanical problem or a heavy foot. But in freezing temps all bets are off because of the many variables.

 

[alfon]

We traded our 2014 Volt, my wife's car, in June 2016 for our current 2016 Volt LTZ, also now my wife's car. The 2016 gets way better electric range, and 45+ mpg, on the gas engine using good ole regular 87 octane gas. Also faster, quieter, and more comfortable as well, and in a pinch can carry 5 people, the smallest one will always sit in the rear middle of course...

 

[Lewis9]

I am a clone- 14 base to 17 premiere. Big improvement overall but I have missed 1. More comfortable front seats in 14, 2. Homelink, 3. Usb in console and 4. Stand out bauhaus styling in my old 14.

The new safety equipment and increased electric range make me happy I upgraded.

 

[BAZINGA]

Welcome aboard, I traded our loaded 2013 for a loaded 2017. The 2013 was to be our retirement vehicle and was about to buy an extended warranty when I spied several 2017's at my local dealer, arranged a test drive and within an hour returning from the test drive I had worked a deal and drove off in the 2017.

That was back on Aug 20th, have driven over 3K miles at 99.7% all electric. So far it's been FLAWLESS except for the recent RECALL (software update).

 

[Sheldon]

your initial road trip mpg cs will be lower than 42, but after driving it in mpg cs for 500 miles at least, your mpg cs will climb. I'm now regularly hitting over 60 mpg cs by using the Hold mode when driving in the freeway at greater than 55 mph.

Three week update:

Highway EV range seems much better than in the gen1, and ICE mileage is impressive too. We took a one day trip to San Antonio, and back which included 95 gas miles and 86 EV miles using 2.18 gallons of gas. That works out to 43.7mpg on the highway, and 50 highway EV miles on a full charge. Granted, the weather was mild but we needed some AC on the drive, which was mostly 65-75mph so I was impressed. The best we ever did on the gen1 for a similar trip to San Antonio was 2.8 gallons of gas at 39mpg, and that was with a full charge in San Antonio for the return trip home. This time, we couldn't quite "filler up" in 3 hours 45 minutes, at a public L2 charger, which was maybe 78% of a full charge at 3.3kw. 6.6kw L2 charging might have saved us another 0.25 gallons of gas on the way home, though I would never pay extra for 6.6kw. A full charge at 3.6kw at home on my Clipper Creek LCS20 takes 4 hours 20 minutes. You only get 3.3kwh/hour on public chargers since they're 208 volts instead of 240 volts.

On another day, I manged to get in 105 miles of pure EV driving without the ICE turning on, which isn't too bad either. myvolt misses charge events even more than with the 2014, which is really annoying. But range on a full charge depends on a lot on highway vs city and the weather, and varies from 50 miles EV to 59 miles EV, on the guess-o-meter. Of course, this will drop in the hottest summer months. So far, the climate control on the gen2 seems to be improved over the gen1. The heated seats work really nice on cold mornings and this allows more driving in fan-only mode than I could do with the gen1. I always turn on the heat if my wife is in the car. The heat works pretty well, even in ECO mode.

Overall, the car is fun to drive, much quieter, and it feels like a big improvement over the base 2014 I traded in. Acceleration and performance is just amazing. Also the gen2 feels a lot more like a pure EV. 53 miles of EV range seems like a lot more than 38 miles of EV range. Its much harder to drain the battery in one day, especially with an L2 at home. And if you do manage to drain the battery, the ICE is much quieter than on the gen1. Plus there aren't many other cars out there that get 42 ICE mpg, and also also go from 0-60mph in 7.3 seconds.

The Premier with Bose Audio is nice. I'm getting used to all the safety features like Adaptive Cruise control and lane assist. Having dedicated analog controls for the climate system is very nice. Android Auto is really cool. So overall, the gen2 is a nice upgrade from the base gen1 2014 we traded in.

 

[alfon]

I think people forget that if you never plug in a 2016-17 Volt you will still get better gas mpg than 90% or more of the cars out there.
Plugging it in for 45-65 miles on electric is just an added bonus. So far we have been averaging over 45+ mpg on just gas with our 2016 Volt, pretty close to what our 2010 Prius is currently getting...

 

[Runnn]

I think people forget that if you never plug in a 2016

I agree. I drive a lot of hwy miles (work & back) so I'm holding elec everyday. Even after doing so, I still spend between $8-$13, next to nothing, on gas when I fill it up each week. I, too, am going to grab a '17 Premier very soon so I can take advantage of the increased range, non-premium unleaded fuel req, increased perf, lighter weight, sportier feel, etc. Oh, and the 0%/60, outstanding prices available right now and $7500 federal credit is icing.