Deathtrain, against the $19000 Cruze, based on the American average useage, they say the Volt will have cost the same to own and operate(maintenance and fuel costs included) after 5˝years.
Tugboat, the price is high but the car really should be competing against entry level luxury cars and not economy cars/standard hybrids. It is much more like a 3 series than a Prius. The ride is much nicer than the Prius or the Leaf, as is the interior finish. All the displays are colour led, one is a touch screen and the capacitive touch button layout in the car must have cost them a ton on a car by car bases compared to conventional buttons in every other car I've seen. The fit and finish of the cabin is the best I've seen from any GM product. It is very much like what you would expect from a much more expensive European car. The car is a Technology Halo car for them so they went over the top. The Spark BEV will be much more inline with the economy car segment you can be sure and the Gen2 Volt(sometime around 2015) will be closer to the $30000 mark you can be sure. But even then when you look at price, and compare apples to apples, it is the most expensive but not really by that much. The Nissan Leaf starting price here in Canada is $38390, they say the plug in Prius will be $39525, so the Volt at $41545 is not that out of line. And though both the Leaf and the PIP are nice cars neither come near to the comfort, interior finish, and ride of the Volt.
Right now like Frank Lee says, I've paid to be a first adopter. Maybe I need my head read, but after a month of driving the car I'm glad I didn't buy anything else!
