1 Month with the Chevy Volt


Today has been about month since we brought home the 2011 Volt.  We have put over 400 miles on it.  Only using the range extender once for about 7 miles.  The one time we used the range extender we were finally able to see how far the car would actually go on a charge.  Not just the predicted mileage.

Keep in mind we live in the Appalachian mountains.  The roads are very up and down and never straight.  And on this run there were many sections of 55 MPH and we drove in sport mode (We always drive in sport mode).   And well it included a foot to the floor acceleration run from a stop light to 55 mph.  I'm sure that hurt the range.  We weren't seeing how far we could stretch the range.  We were just driving it like we would drive a car.  Anyway we got 42.3 miles on battery power alone.  Which seems right in the neighborhood of what was predicted for the car when it was new.  For a 7 year old car with a 125K miles I'm thinking that is really good.  Will a 7 year old Nissan leaf get the same range as new?  Not a chance.



 After telling a person that I bought a Volt they asked "how long will the batteries last before needing to be replaced".  I said "well it has lasted 7 years and they still seem about the same as new.  So I'm guessing a long time".  They were surprised as they had expected I had bought a new car not a 7 year old car :-)





Like all cars there are a few annoying things:

We Always drive in sport mode as it makes the car feel more lively.  And when I say always drive in sport mode.  I mean ALWAYS.  Yes even my wife.  But the stupid car won't leave it on sport mode.  Each time we get in we have to push the mode button twice.  That's getting old.  Wish it would stay set to sport all the time.  In the near future I see myself adding a CAN bus device to auto select sport mode.  Oh and to pop the charge door once returned to the Garage.  Seems like it should know to do that on it's own :-)

Oh and the GPS won't allow for selecting an address while it is moving.  Seriously.  First time we drove with the GPS I stopped in the middle of our street so my wife (in the passenger seat) could enter the address.  The car KNOWS there is someone in the passenger seat.  But yet won't let the GPS be played with while moving.  Stupid.  If I had brought my tom-tom or used my cell phone this would be a non issue.  Why is this car going all Ralph Nader on me?  Keep in mind that this is the same car that will let me change the base, treble, fade, source and pick a playlist on the stereo while driving.  And if I want to know the climate control settings I have to push a lot of buttons on the little screen to find out.  Instead of just glancing at the HVAC controls like a normal car.  But to enter an address I have to stop. Very inconsistent.  These type of design choices drive me nuts.

Oh and the headlights don't light the way very good.  I mean really poor.  Got online and found lots of other people complaining about the same thing.  Some say get HID's, some say LED's, one says there is an updated OEM bulb.  I'll have to try one.  On a whim I thought I'd check the factory bulb to ensure it wasn't coated with dirt or black (had that before).  I open the access cover to find.......the previous owner had converted it to LED.  I can find no names on it so likely lower quality.  But removed it from the housing they looked nice and bright.  Humm.... What to do there.

The other downer is that I bought a GM style scanning tool.  And it seems there are very few settings that can be changed without "reprogramming".  And reprogramming requires a subscription fee.  This is inconvenient.  On the other cars I've owned I was able to change settings (key beep off etc.) on them using some nifty coding tools that cost 1/3 what I paid for the GM tool.  This being my first GM car I'm quite disappointed in that.  I kept reading how there is so much support for GM cars.  Where it seems they really meant is there are so many people out there ready to take your money to do things FOR you.  Not as much for DIYer's as the some other brands I've had.

But those are small things and not why we bought this car.  We bought the car because it was the best price per value EV.  And the EV part has been brilliant.  No complaints there.  Not one.  And the Range extender totally eliminates range anxiety and adds so much utility to the car.

But not all is bad.  A nice thing I found about the car is that we can program our own keys.  This was great as when we bought the car it had only one key fob.  And it was very worn. Instead of having to buy a new key for 100+ from the dealer we were able to buy a new OEM key for about $40 and program it to the car with not tools at all.  Fabulous.  Perhaps not being able to change settings with the special tool isn't so bad?



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