Our family has 3 Volts.
Improvements in 2nd Gen:
- The electric motor output has been bumped to 120kW, you will feel the difference. Speed limiter remains at 101mph, however, it gets there much quicker now. Does burnouts from stoplights if you are 12 years old. I'm 12.
- The weight has been reduced, if driven aggressively, you will know it. A bit better feel.
- ICE generator is much more quiet, now uses regular gas, supposedly more powerful, dunno about that, not sure how you'd know.
- ICE generator gets noticeably better mileage.
- Yes, you can haul 5 adults in one if you consider high school seniors as adults. I've done it before, and so has my daughter. I was raised with cramming 6 or 7 people in a VW bug, 5 in a Volt is gravy.
- Rear camera is better all around. Better resolution, better predictive tracking, better low light/high light performance,
- Controls are more intuitive.
- On Board Charger is bigger, but actually takes 4.5h now for full charge from zero since battery is also bigger.
- In urban use or stop and go freeways, 60 miles is cake on a charge. 69 mile is most I hit in normal driving. You can drive like a spaz and hit 53 miles. My son's is sitting at 58 miles average when I used it last month.
- Hatch is now composite polymer.
- 120V included EVSE has undocumented feature, it will charge at L2 if you make an adapter to feed it 240v. However it is still 12a peak, so it only charges twice as fast as 120v on the 12a setting. If you want the fastest charging, you still need a dedicated 16a L2 device.
- Now has cabin filter.
- Scrapes less on driveways.
- Headlights are WAY better.
- Front pillars slightly smaller.
- Less rear visibility, get the Driver's Confidence I and II if you can. The tools it comes with make the rear visibility issue a non-issue.
- Stupid GM changed the bolt pattern for the wheels slightly to shave a few ounces off. Now 5x105, but remains 17x7 w/40 offset. Bizarre, and pissed me off.
The Gen 1 is great, for the most part, the Gen II is just more of it. Either one is a fun urban ripper, and rock steady at 100 mph sustained even in corners on windy days or bumpy freeways. The Gen 2 will shave at least a full second off your lap times on AutoX.
Electronic Warfare stuff? It's good. Get it. Sorry we didn't get it on the 2016. It's all worth it just for the Forward Collision Alert / Intelligent Braking Assist / Automatic Emergency Braking combined system. Uses an HUD with 6 bright LED's and audible warning. Not subtle, will bring zombies back to life.
Adaptive cruise? OK, I'll admit it. It doesn't suck. I'm still better than the electronics, but it's not bad at all. I've been in cars with other people driving who aren't as good as the Volt's ACC. You must press Resume with your left thumb if the traffic completely stops, but it brakes fairly hard, and keeps the following distance about perfect. It is a bit too aggressive with the accelerator sometimes, so cover the brake at all times. It's biggest flaw is that it's stupid. It cannot tell when the traffic pattern is unstable. Luckily the FCA works excellent.