[VoltenRock]

Found a NEW '14 sitting on a dealer's lot locally. With a motivated dealer, running the numbers could make me owe LESS after tax credit than what's left on my '13--wouldn't mind getting paid to drive a new car! It's also a later build date, so it may have the 17.1 kWh battery. Getting a few extra EV miles is not bad either.

However, my '13 is solid and I'm wondering if anything else was "cheapened" on the '14 Volt for the $5k MSRP drop. I couldn't get a solid answer from searching besides the following:

--eliminated automatic charge door opener (actually like this, but can deal with it)
--eliminated two-tone accents on the leather seats (a personal preference I really like, and will decide in-person if I can part with my ceramic white accents--fortunately this particular '14 has the white center stack)

Anything else? Is the gas door still locking?

I know GM shaved costs somewhere and am wondering if there are other things "unseen" that may make the car less reliable or less of a keeper than the solid '13 I have now.

 

[Steverino]

At some point (2014?) the underbody air baffles were eliminated and the inverter under the hood got a silver decal slapped on the black plastic cover instead of the embossed aluminum plate. Wheels that were machined with a clear coat became wheels that were silver painted. Were other changes made to hidden areas? Could be.

 

[canehdian]

Nothing significant has come to light.
There were additions, too, though.
2014 adds updated 12V battery maintenance profiles, not just when charging (a definitely plus with the premature issues some people have been having).
Infotainment also supports text message readouts and voice passthrough via bluetooth.
Possibly ~500Wh more, as mentioned.

 

[edk-austin]

On 2014;
Gas door still locking.
Clock is auto updated for DST.

 

[Jmaj]

2014 - structure reinforced for IHS offset frontal collision tests. Volt got a "good" rating.

 

[llninja]

At some point (2014?) the underbody air baffles were eliminated and the inverter under the hood got a silver decal slapped on the black plastic cover instead of the embossed aluminum plate. Wheels that were machined with a clear coat became wheels that were silver painted. Were other changes made to hidden areas? Could be.

My 2013 doesn't have the underbody baffles and does have the cover with the plastic sticker. I think the main reason for the price cut were lackluster sales along with better battery pricing from GMs vendor. As economies of scale improve, we are bound to see price drops compared to the early G1s. Had GM been able to sell volt's like hotcakes, they could have made a mint, but instead, they needed to drop the price to move vehicles. I'm thankful for the $5k price drop as without it, I wouldn't be driving a volt today. On the other hand I kind of wish they didn't drop the price, then I might be in an ELR instead when they were getting heavily discounted in 2015.

 

[Fyodor]

.... Wheels that were machined with a clear coat became wheels that were silver painted. Were other changes made to hidden areas? Could be.

The polished wheels were always an extra-cost option. They cost me $695!

 

[canehdian]

On 2014;
Gas door still locking.
Clock is auto updated for DST.

Well.. it's supposed to
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?204914-Automatic-Time-(DST)

 

[Fyodor]

Well.. it's supposed to
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?204914-Automatic-Time-(DST)

An interesting thread - I didn't see any real conclusion though. FWIW my 2012 has a button on the centre stack for adjusting the time. I have had the 4G upgrade and it still didn't alter the clock. I expect the chip is programmed for global use and doesn't know where you are or if and when DST kicks in. England and Europe, for instance, are a week ahead of North America.

 

[VoltenRock]

An interesting thread - I didn't see any real conclusion though. FWIW my 2012 has a button on the centre stack for adjusting the time. I have had the 4G upgrade and it still didn't alter the clock. I expect the chip is programmed for global use and doesn't know where you are or if and when DST kicks in. England and Europe, for instance, are a week ahead of North America.

I supposedly had this "upgrade" to 4G done also, but I don't notice any difference. Did you? It still takes forever to load the car's status from the app. Maybe this is improved in the '15 and Gen2 with the wifi hotspot. I don't think this is improved on the '14.

 

[Fyodor]

I supposedly had this "upgrade" to 4G done also, but I don't notice any difference. Did you? It still takes forever to load the car's status from the app. Maybe this is improved in the '15 and Gen2 with the wifi hotspot. I don't think this is improved on the '14.

It added a WiFi hotspot that I didn't have before. The App's functionality was spotty and inconsistent before, to the point that I stopped using it and never took it up again, so I can't comment. Other than that, as far as I can tell, business as usual. In Canada it was mainly meant to enable continued coverage as the previous network was being phased out.

 

[canehdian]

An interesting thread - I didn't see any real conclusion though. FWIW my 2012 has a button on the centre stack for adjusting the time. I have had the 4G upgrade and it still didn't alter the clock. I expect the chip is programmed for global use and doesn't know where you are or if and when DST kicks in. England and Europe, for instance, are a week ahead of North America.

My conclusion is that the car is syncing regularly, but whatever the source is, it's not (always) accurate.
My guess is onstar, because that's the only thing that's changed since getting the car. And it changed on the correct day to the correct time for the first few changes. Only broke after the upgrade of onstar to GSM/WCMDA.
It knows where you are (GPS) - or at least has the capability to, if they would program it that way.

 

[edk-austin]

I still have the original 2G radio. And OnStar is still active. No XM.

My wife has a 2015 Ford C-Max Energi and just got a note from Ford that they will upgrade the radio, due to older cellular service being phased out (didn't provide details).

 

[Fyodor]

My conclusion is that the car is syncing regularly, but whatever the source is, it's not (always) accurate.
My guess is onstar, because that's the only thing that's changed since getting the car. And it changed on the correct day to the correct time for the first few changes. Only broke after the upgrade of onstar to GSM/WCMDA.
It knows where you are (GPS) - or at least has the capability to, if they would program it that way.

Your car is two years newer than mine. I have a quite different entertainment and nav system, ( with the HDD and no MyLink) so the car might know where it is but it doesn't seem to tell my clock.

Programming that capability in, using the location and the date, might get a little complicated. It would be easier to pick up the local time externally. Even pushing a button twice a year is not a big problem.

 

[Fyodor]

I still have the original 2G radio. And OnStar is still active. No XM.

My wife has a 2015 Ford C-Max Energi and just got a note from Ford that they will upgrade the radio, due to older cellular service being phased out (didn't provide details).

It sounds like Ford is in the same situation there as GM was in Canada. The 2G network that OnStar used here is being phased out, if it's not already gone.

 

[silverone]

Haven't seen the number of heater problems on 2014 as there were reported on 2013 models.

I hadn't noticed in 2 1/2 years that the gas door locks! The charge door is more convenient for sharing EV spots than my coworkers 2012/13s, and is more reliable with no potential CELs from it.

 

[Fyodor]

The charge door is more convenient for sharing EV spots than my coworkers 2012/13s, and is more reliable with no potential CELs from it.

Agreed. I've always thought the remote release door is needlessly complicated.

 

[edk-austin]

The charge door is more convenient for sharing EV spots than my coworkers 2012/13s, and is more reliable with no potential CELs from it.

Agree x2,
I once returned to my Volt (plugged into a public ChargePoint), and another Volt was parked beside it, although not in an EVSE slot, as if waiting for the plug. I unplugged my car, pulled the plug over to the other Volt, pushed on the door, but whoops, it's locked. Can't help you like that!

 

[ghostgs1]

Our 2014 is just as nice of a car as our 2011. I sometimes have to check the interior color to remind myself which car I'm driving. Lol!

 

[llninja]

So I think to summarize the 2014 got rid of the remote charge door unlock button, added battery life, added some sort of talk to text feature in the mylink. The removal of under carriage panels and the sticker cover swap were done in 2013.

If I had a do-over I would have liked the additional EV range, but that might have cause me to miss the IL state $3400 EV rebate as it was suspended that year. I got great deal on the 2013, and my only regret was not holding out and getting an ELR whivhnis what I really wanted before they overpriced the heck out of it.