[markf]

I've bought Volt #5083 towards the end of Oct 2011 and currently have just over 5,500 miles, 79 lifetime mpg to date for the 90 days I've had the car. Basically I drive to work on battery power and mostly gas to get home. I generally tank up every 2+ weeks

My daily commute is 65 miles roundtrip, 2 hrs of commuting time to APG, MD over 2 lane roads. About 1/2 of the trip is 50-55 mph, and the rest is 35-45 with traffic lights. Mountain mode isn't much use to me as the high speed stuff happens near home, and one has to burn through 2/3 of the battery's electrons when you are fully charged before you can hold the last 1/3 in reserve, but by then the speeds are slow so battery travel is ideal.

I have gotten as high as 114 mpg (this does not count the cost of electricity, which for me is about $1.10 for a full charge) and 44 miles on battery alone on some warm days in Oct and Nov, but last week (first week of Jan 2012) was the lowest at 62 mpg (29 miles on battery alone) when the ambient temp was a god awful 9 degrees. I hit the road before 5 AM and I like it REALLY warm, so 62 is likely to be about as bad as the mpg will ever be for me since I pre-heat the car with maxed blowers, run with headlights/high beams, heater set on 80 degrees, heating vent blowers on setting 3, and seat heaters on 2 of 3.

I consider the cost of the Volt very reasonable, as least in my case. In addtion to the $7,500 Federal tax credit there was $2,000 credit for MD, $3,300 off in customer points off from my GM/Masrtercard, $2,000 available in dealer cash (ie, unadvertised rebate), and $6,500 trade for my 2008 Smart Fortwo Cabrio with 50K mi.

The Volt is fun and thrifty, and my lifetime mpg should rise significantly once winter ends since the weather has been fairly cold since I bought the car.