I'm glad you did not fall in to the prius plug-in trap. Many of my prius owning pals or their wives chose to upgrade to a Plug-In Prius without really doing their homework. They thought Toyota was the king of green basically. I tried to warn them and told them about the Volt but many just nodded to make me talk about something else...a year later many have told me they wished they had bought a Volt especially after seeing my car's data. The prius plug-in really is a gas guzzler under most driving routines when compared to the Volt. My wife has a 2011 Prius and she wants my Volt after I buy a new car at the end of this year (or sooner).

 

Toyota is the king of marketing . They get suckers into believing anything for brand loyalty . I've heard many a story about the 70 mpg Prius vs. the 30 mpg Volt .

 

Welcome from the dark to the light side. The volt is the best kept automotive secret in the world. You now know first hand what we think of all Prius and PiP owners. Even after nearly 5 years after the volt's introduction, nobody has come close to surpassing the volt's specs, except for volt g2. Just quietly enjoy your 250+ MPG.

 

The fun begins when you have to climb a steep hill that lasts a while. Engage Mountain Mode about 10 minutes beforehand, shift to Low, and you will discover that the Volt can take it on without a struggle.

 

Unless he travels long distances I doubt he'll need MM. He lives in Illinois, they don't call us FLatlanders for nothing - ha ha.

But to the OP welcome aboard. I assume you have charging at work.

 

I don't think shifting to L on the uphill accomplishes anything. Also if you know you are traveling in a mountainous area it's best to put in Mountain mode prior to depleting more than aprox. 60%

 

Congrats on the car. The Volt is a step up from the regular Prius in every department except for interior space. Coming from a PriusC it's a step up in every way.

However, the Prius has been a super reliable car. The Volt has been solid, and all cars have gotten closer in their reliability, but you still have to give Toyota credit for turning out super reliable vehicles. One good thing about Volt 1.0 is that it's built like a tank.

 

I will have to agree that Toyota does have a better reliability reputation than Chevrolet. And the average Toyota has a higher resale value as well. But the Volt seems to be pretty good so far.

 

The Volt would probably not exist but for two things: 1) Toyota's Prius, and 2) Elon Musk's Tesla. Just ask Bob Lutz.

VIN # B0985

 

Why did you buy a Prius C instead of a Volt in the first place? Just curious.

 

Regardless of tech features or specs, driving the Volt is completely different (better) than the Prius. After driving several Prii as Zipcars, I finally drove a Volt...and look what I bought. The Volt is a better car in EVERY way. EVERY way. Especially design. Prius is barf.

 

The title scared me for a minute, I thought you traded a Volt for a Prius C.

 

The "mountainous road" I took my Volt to two weeks ago happened to have a lot of twists and turns (Tail of the Dragon). Heck, I have difficulty naming a mountainous road where twists and turns are not abundant. Therefore, shifting to Low is precisely for more aggressive regenerative braking. By the last run on the Tail of the Dragon, I was able to modulate the accelerator pedal so that I was barely touching the brakes.

 

The 2016 Prius may be a game changer as Toyota had over 6 years to improve it from the Prius III model which came out for sale in the U.S. in May of 2009 when we bought ours. Toyota knows the 2016 Volt has moved the needle with its 53 mile electric range and 42 mpg avg. on 87 octane.

Its hard for me not to believe that the 2016 Prius, Toyota's green flagship for sure, will not rock the auto world when it finally comes out. Right now however Toyota has little info to offer the public on the 2016 Prius.

 

I replaced a 2012 Prius with a 2015 Volt. My biggest regret? I did not make more of an effort shopping the Volt back in 2012.

There are a couple of things miss from the Prius:
More interior space
Express UP on all windows
Rear window wiper & washer
Stereo defaults to last mode used - including bluetooth
Brighter Headlights