Ford C-Max and Chevy Volt Test Drives
 

On Thursday October 2, 2015 my wife and I test drove two plug in hybrid cars in El Paso, Texas, the link is to my blog at Ev World about my impressions and thoughts about the experience of driving the cars.

Test Driving Two Plug In Hybrids : EV WORLD.COM [1349]

Well thought out analysis. My new Mirage is averaging about 56 mpg, which is about 3.2 cents per mile at current gas prices. It cost me $12,964 out the door including everything, but I do not have any solar capabilities to sell to the utility company.

It does seem dumb for a dealership to offer a test drive without the battery fully charged, but then I once owned a F350 car hauler that my business partner (at the time) borrowed and left the tank so empty it ran out of gas leaving me a 3 mile walk to the nearest station.

In 1976 the fuel tank was right behind the front seat, so from that day on I just reached back and disconnected the sending unit.

Next person who borrowed the truck came back and told me "I put ten bucks in the tank and the needle didn't move."

"I'll check it out" I told him, trying to not break out in laughter.

regards
mech

thanks for the write up! I am looking at a c-max right now, and my brother has the volt. one thing I noticed was that yous said the volt had more space, from the spec sheets the volt has 100.9 CF interior space and the c-max has 118.9CF.

From what my bother has seen in the 9 months he has had his volt is that he does scrape a lot on the front air dam, but can get 45-50 miles eclectic if he tries hard.
I can say from my test drives that the volt is peppier but lacks a 3rd back seat and the rear window is a pain to see out of. the c-max drives nicely and has taller feel and sits like a suv rather than a sports car.

Scraping the front "wind deflector" (GM verbiage) was/is a common problem on the Cruze, ie: same platform chassis up to 2015. It's also an occassional problem on our Gen III Prius.

I presume you've already seen these?:

• Ford C-Max http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/hev/fact2013fordc-maxhybrid.pdf

• Chevy Volt http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/EREV/GMMay11-Mar14.pdf

GM offers smaller front air dam if requested

I love how, with the Volt, people stop talking about mpg and the whole discussion shifts to range.