Cowmeat learns to drive the Volt

[Daox]

Doh, that must have been a good size branch.

[ECO-AKJ]

That sucks on two accounts:

1. Branch to paint is no good.

2. Chip/dent will cost a few MPG at the level you are getting. (Jokes on me!)

[cowmeat]

All better!

[cowmeat]

The glitch in the Matrix

I'm not going to say the Volt is a rare car, but you don't see a lot of the green ones like mine, unless you live in north Lakeland Florida I guess!

I drove next to the guy for about a mile last night on the way home, it had to look funny to anybody behind us

[cowmeat]

Well, it's been a year now that I've been driving the Volt.

Honestly, I don't have any negatives to throw out there, I love the car as much as I had anticipated! I ran a couple of tanks of gas through it over the year since I ended up driving it long distances a few times, but for my daily commute it's been all EV, and it's been a really positive experience.

The nightly charging routine only takes a couple of seconds to plug it in and then unplug again in the morning, and it's second nature at this point. The battery doesn't show any signs of degrading whatsoever, and I still get the mileage out of a charge that I did when I bought it (unless I drive in sport mode which I tend to do a lot). I run the Ac and stereo the whole drive, and usually the lights are on in the morning since I go to work early, but I still have enough juice to make the 38 mile commute with miles to spare even when I do drive in sport mode.

All in all I'm really happy with the car, it turned out to be just what I needed for my particular commute and lifestyle. It's hard to miss my Insight when I traded up for a Volt

[WyrTwister]

The 2 we test drove , it just seemse like they were not as roomie inside , as I was hoping .

Glad you are pleased . :-)

Wyr
God bless

[ciderbarrel]

Hey Cowmeat, I am super late to the party but I have way too much fun in Sport mode and flooring it at red lights. It is such a sleeper car that it takes the boy-racers by surprise.

I would probably get better milage if I stayed in normal driving mode and driving like a sane person, but to each their own. In my 22 months of ownership of my 2013, I estimate that I have saved about $1600 so far in Volt premium gas (146.87 gallons in almost 20K miles driven) and electricity vs the 18 mpg average I was getting out of the 2005 V8 Mustang I traded in.

If it were not for the 300 mile family trips 2-4 times a year, I would be doing much better as my 13 mile round trip to work and back is all on battery power. 3 kWh on average.

[cowmeat]

Sport mode is hard to resist, huh?

I've had a blast driving my eco car that can actually pass with ease and can hold its own against practically anything out there coming off a dead start. I'd be doing a lot better mpg-wise if they hadn't added "sport" mode, since there's hardly a day I don't use it

Still, in the year I've had my Volt I've managed to raise the lifetime mpg from 111 to 124, and it had over 50K miles on it when I bought it. I think I used less than 40 gallons of gas over the span of a year, and still have most of the last tank, and my oil life indicator only went from 55% down to 44% in a year.

[cowmeat]

***UPDATE***

I didn't wait for tomorrow before charging it at work, I went back out and plugged it in right after the president of the company okayed it. I had to fiddle with the menu for a minute to remember how to change the charge schedule, but as of now I have official corporate sponsorship!

I never got around to modifying my charge cord to accept the 220V outlet at work, but today I found a 110V outlet I can use that I never realized was there. Starting tomorrow I'll be charging the Volt for free every day!

[Ecky]

Going to save $5 per year, huh?