We need ultra light four wheeled cars

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

All well and good, but then why did chevy sell so few volts? Including discounts and rebates.

I believe they made more VW safari's in 3 years than total volts.

Cant wait for $5.00 a gallon fuel.

Because they were at least 15 if not 20k more than a similar normal car. Even with $5 gas that buys a lot of mile. The Prius is also about 10k more than a normal car that size but proved to be very reliable and pretty normal.

More and more I am starting to long for the essence of simplicity in a car. All of this expense and complexity for what seems like minimal returns. I wonder where the sweet spot was. Cars from the 70s and 80s had complex emissions and fuel systems prone to fail but today's cars put the first space shuttle to shame with wiring and computers also glitchy as could be when old. Maybe late 90s early 2000s.

[redpoint5]

My 1996 Subaru Legacy 5-speed never gave me a single problem other than it used about a quart of oil every 2,000 miles, but it had 220,000 miles on the odometer.

The original owner did burn the clutch out, but that's the owner's fault, as I drove it HARD for half the miles and my clutch didn't burn out. We're talking rally type driving on logging roads, jumps, and jaunts through the forest and up grades so steep that a running start in 1st bogged the motor down until it stalled.

I probably did a set of plugs and wires at some point, and a set of brake pads.

Oh, I suppose I did get a P0420 catalytic threshold error, but we don't DEQ, so I just ignored it.

My parents 1996 Camry went 240k miles without issue, though it did go through a few timing belts.

I'd say most Japanese cars in that time period that had timing chains were very reliable.

[oil pan 4]

I'm not riding a bike out here. That would be stupid.
I live out in the country where electric vehicles like the early leaf aren't really supposed to work. There are dust storms, 40 mph cross winds are a regular occurrence. Thats just what I need, breathing all kinds of dust deeply into my lungs. Nope.
NM is top 3 for hit and run crashes, probably because of all the uninsured illegals. The roads are 2 lane, speed limits are high, no bike lane, drivers aren't paying attention and don't care.
Plus on a typical day I get 30 to 50lb of wood to burn from work. On a great day I fill the hatch, back floor bord and back seat, 300 to 400lb. Not doing none of that with a bike.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Because they were at least 15 if not 20k more than a similar normal car. Even with $5 gas that buys a lot of mile. The Prius is also about 10k more than a normal car that size but proved to be very reliable and pretty normal.

Sales of vehicles are very much affected by the ability of a person to drive one at the lot and by advertising.

In the last 10 years vehicle advertisements are 10:1 (1 being for cars) by the big three.

The real price of the Volt brand new was $17-30k depending on area and discounts which is no different than any other normal car.

At the end of the day the Volt has a very strong smear campaign during its run
4 total TV advertisements along the coastal regions and a very strong anti Chevy view to overcome.

I can think of no other car that had as much angst and anger directed towards it from both environmentalists and reactionaries
My own extremely liberal relatives lambasted me for buying an extremely expensive $17,000 brand new Volt when I could have just gotten a reliable minivan or Spark that wouldn’t have a bad battery in 50000 miles
I had to prove to every person that free charging but good reliability made it good for me, I have never had this experience with a Suburban an Insight or even Prius so I am uncertain that price had anything to do with it.

More like ideology killed it

[sendler]

I don't think many people bough a new Volt for anything near $17,000 even with rebates.

[Lemmy]

Originally Posted by jjackstone

Fans are ‘sickened’ after Kim Kardashian and Kanye West take private 747 jet meant for over 600 passengers and fail to crash it.

Fixed that for you

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by sendler

I don't think many people bough a new Volt for anything near $17,000 even with rebates.

I did and I’m not even in an EV friendly state
To be exact...
$17,500 with tax title and license out the door
And I’m not the only one, it was otherfolks who posted their deal that got me mine for the price I did, it was a similar experience to the one I had with my Cobalt, new was $5000 cheaper than used excluding very high miles.

I think the key thing to remember is that the Gen I Volts were much more heavily discounted than Gen II .
Many folks actively posted about the deals they got and where.

So For me the new fully loaded volt was much cheaper than a used one just had to email the dealer a few times and got the price.

[redpoint5]

Wait, what? When the Volt first came out it was like $50k, at least in the States, which is why nobody bought them.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Wait, what? When the Volt first came out it was like $50k, at least in the States, which is why nobody bought them.

I got a new “leftover” $46,000 2013 volt premium in Nov 2014

Around end of 2013 onward folks were getting major deals on new Volts (if they were willing to wait 6 months)

Early adopters always get hosed, very similar to Leafs

The Gen IIs have not had nearly the level of discounts that Gen I enjoyed, might be its a more popular 5 seat model? Or maybe just Because it’s priced more reasonably in the first place?

Not sure but there were countless threads with folks posting their deal back when I was actively trying to get a Volt, the deals posted lately are less killer.

[redpoint5]

If I understand correctly, the Volt somehow qualifies for the full $7,500 Federal tax credit. I could be interested in a new Volt considering Oregon now offers a credit too.

I need another vehicle like I need a hole in my head though.