[MN Driver]

Based on the article above where they were discussing very good MPG and the 35-40mpg from I-don't-know-where type single-source speculation to a real world number. I'm not going to look at this until I see forum posts on the gm-volt site with owners showing what the car is capable of. A planetary drive is more simple than a transmission that needs to shift or a CVT with bands that move so if it is designed well(time will tell), it should last a long time. It seems the PSD in the Prius wasn't a major failure, sure there are a few failures but you see that on every forum for every type of transmission, even manual transmissions. Extra parts do leave more room for failures but I'm not sure if it is something to be expected just because there is a transmission shoved in place.

Does it bother me that GM said one thing and did another? Yes ...I had a hunch though because there was a video of them assembling an IVER that I saw MONTHS ago and I saw output shafts on the transmission that was connected directly to the engine so I figured they had something to do with it and then saw the few articles about it so I've let the idea sink in a little.

I would prefer the car to stay in EV mode during its charge-depleting mode of operation even if that means limited passing power on the 70mph highway that is within a short distance from my house if it means that my round trip would still have power in the pack and I don't need the gas power. Even if it were less efficient, and I don't think it is when in a full EV mode under a grid charge, it's most certainly cheaper either way when powered by the plug.

I'm not looking to buy this car, far too expensive but my opinion of it still exists and right now there is too much speculation over the MPG but in reality most people don't need the car for more than about 40 miles and I'm sure that most of the hypermilers on this forum could easily top 40 miles of range with no problem driving efficiently. The biggest concern I have is the idea that the ICE might power up to heat the battery when leaving work and provide limited EV power favoring gas power. I live in an area that gets -20f and in a state that has dropped to -40f/-40c as a record. If it performs well and doesn't fire the gas engine up everyday in the cold and gets roughly 50mpg, has a battery with a decent lifespan, it would be better than a Prius for anyone would would primarily be driving it using the electric power.

If someone in interested in this car primarily thinking of how it operates outside of its most efficient mode for any reason other than having it as a single car that you want to include on longer trips, than this car is OBVIOUSLY not for you. If you drive 50 miles and drive aggressively and get 30 miles off the electric, you might still win out owning this car.

This is coming from someone who buys used cars though so I figure the price would drop to a reasonable level before buying it, again I'm not buying it.
...at least not the whole car. I wouldn't mind buying the battery from the junkyard though and putting that 16kw of prismatic lithium into a different car as a pure EV though. *ahem* If the prices will become dirt cheap like all the hybrid NiMh, I'm all over those cells.

EDIT/ADD ...and I'm trying to figure out what the big deal is over terminology. Not calling the car a hybrid was used as a PR move to try to differentiate the car from a Prius in that it doesn't fire up the gas engine immediately getting on a highway or sharing the load extensively where all motive power is directly or indirectly provided by gasoline and not being able to grid charge. I deal with similar issues trying to tell people that my 1st Gen Insight doesn't run on EV mode and doesn't require the IMA battery to be in the car for it to actually operate and all it does is lose a little power and the regen and autostop functions, more or less. Getting into a big, "this is a hybrid and this isn't" flame war is beside the point, the car is what it is, done differently than the rest but yet similar with many concepts of the design.