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Would a 2016 Volt be good for me?

4K views 26 replies 12 participants last post by  Eagleco 
#1 ·
I drive 44 miles to work and back 5 days a week. It’s 90% Highway.

I can plug in at work for 120v and 220 at home. Looking to get something that I drive back and forth to work for quite a few years,

I’m in Michigan so I do get some decent winters

Thanks
 
#3 ·
I frequently drive about 44 miles from Silicon Valley to San Francisco on I-280, about 90% freeway. The freeway has some hilly sections. I usually drive at about 60 mph on the freeway, and reach my destination with about 13 miles on the GOM. I suspect your drive will be on flat roads, but maybe at higher speeds and with hotter/colder temperature. With L1 charge at work, there shouldn’t be any problem making the drive on electricity.
 
#6 ·
2016s have both CarPlay and Android Auto. Sounds like since he has charging at work and L2 at home, he should be able to drive on electric almost all the time (maybe not completely in dead of winter, but most other times should be gas free or nearly so).


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#7 ·
I know what it was now. Auto park assist. I was going to get a late 2017/2018 Premiere but too good a deal on a 2013 sealed the deal and I didn't have to sell any stocks. :p Sometimes you got to go with the deal.
 
#8 ·
Three comments, any year Gen II will easily meet your driving needs based on your charging situation, 2, always buy the newest model you can afford and 3 considering the amount of highway travel you'll drive I strongly suggest you consider finding a 2017 with ACC.

In any event you are blessed with the charging situation you have. Good luck
 
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#9 ·
Is it safe to assume when you say "I can plug in at work for 120v..." that means your employer will permit you to plug into one of their standard 120 volt outlets and charge for free? If not I would recommend checking into the cost, if any, of charging at work. Where I work we have two charging stations available but they cost money to use.
 
#10 ·
What are some of the concerns you have?

I bought a 2012 about a month ago and am very happy with it. The 2nd Generation (2016+) made some nice improvements.

What seems fairly universal with Volt owners is that even though the mileage isn't bad with the gas engine, nobody likes driving the Volt much with it on. Probably because it's so nice with it off. On the highway though you're not likely to notice it even if the gas engine kicks in. And from what I understand it's a bit quieter in the 2016s.

Not that it was that noisy in the 1st Gen cars, it's just that it can be kind of weird. The RPM of the gas engine doesn't necessarily rise and fall as you accelerate/decelerate. It sort of does, but it's primary function is to generate enough electricity to power the electric motor.
 
#11 ·
We have a 2016 Volt with nearly 40,000 miles and 13,000 miles of that just on the gas engine. Voltstats.net indicate since we purchased it new in July 2016 the overall gas mpg's(CS mode= (Charge Sustaining Mode) is 47.66 mpg. Highway range on electric should be around 50 miles or so, and the rest on gas you should average 45 mpg or so, with 87 octane regular gas.

When the gas engine is fully broken in your mpg's just on gas will increase. Ours was in the low to mid 40's mpg when new, now the last 1,000 + miles on gas has been over 54 mpg just on gas. Also the last oil change was with 0w20 weight Mobil One synthetic motor oil which seemed to bump up the mpg on gas a little.

The Volt( Gen 2- 2016-2018) is more fuel efficient on gas than most people give it credit for, and with a 88 mile round trip commute at least 30-40 miles of that trip will be on gas depending on your highway speed of course. Of course if you can fully charge at work you probably will not even need to use gas for your commute, either way the Volt would be a good commuter vehicle in your case.
 
#12 ·
I have a 48.5 mile round trip commute. My 2017 Volt can make this with plenty of charge to spare, even when I don't charge at work.
 
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#15 ·
Yes, the car will work well for your commute.

However, as a few others have alluded to, unless you have found a truly smoking deal on a used 2016, I do not think I would buy a used Volt in this market. New Volts can be had for around $27,000-$28,000 in most markets, leaving you with an after tax credit price of just under $20K.

Again, I do not know your market, but the only used Volts I see advertised around me are listed at at least $21K.
 
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#18 ·
However, as a few others have alluded to, unless you have found a truly smoking deal on a used 2016, I do not think I would buy a used Volt in this market. New Volts can be had for around $27,000-$28,000 in most markets, leaving you with an after tax credit price of just under $20K.
Not everyone qualifies for all or even any of the Federal $7,500 credit, so for us, buying used makes much more sense. I've paid cash for my last 4 or 5 cars, but I pay zero income tax (retired military) so my Federal credit would also be zero. I wanted a 2017 (had to have ACC) so I was looking for the best cash deal I could find and that ruled out buying anything brand new. I paid $24K for a fully loaded '17 which had a window sticker of more than $41K and I think I got a very good deal

Don
 
#23 · (Edited)
Level two is not required for preconditioning although it can handle about 80% of the need whereas level one can only handle about half or less so if you’re on level two and you precondition if you can wait 10 or 12 minutes after it’s done then you drive off with a fully charged battery and a warm cabin — that’s the difference, with level one you probably have to wait at least 20 or 30 minutes to refill the battery back to full and by then your car is cold again. To be clear the car does not have to be plugged in at all to have preconditioning, the battery will do it, but then you’re draining your battery without anything else going back in to replace it. I don’t believe EMM and FMM count in the stats, although they show up as gas miles in the display in the car, but I don’t think they’re recorded as such on Voltstats.


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