New Volt vs Old Volt Experience

[SureValla]

Something that EV enthusiast do not always understand is that North America, (and the rest of the world), does not have a complete EV infrastructure yet.

If the Model 3 were available today, there are many areas in the USA that it cannot be operated without serious limitations. This is true for all EV's. The Volt does not, nor ever has, had that limitation.

Note that the New Prius is still like the Old Prius. It is a 10 second car to 60, like a $12k Spark ICE. For some folk, even the 7.x second performance of the Volt is not adequate. While the handling is greatly improved on the New Prius, it still lags behind the 2011-2017 Volts.

The Prius is an economy car above all else. It is not supposed to be entertaining to drive. Note: It does not push 121HP like the brochure says other than for short bursts. Hit a long uphill grade at 85mph and find out.

The Volt was engineered to be an economical car that is more fun to drive than economy cars, while being "greener" than it's competition for most drivers.

My mistake for not being clear, when i said an all electric prius/volt would be competitive I meant competitive for my next car. In case you didn't notice in my signature i have been driving a prius for 8+ years and have put 241k miles on it myself. I am well aware of its limitations but do not mind the 10s 0 to 60 in the slightest and have never had an issue even driving in and around NYC or Boston both of which I used to live in. My biggest gripe at the moment about it is A) it uses gas B) the interior isn't nice enough for me anymore.

Also, I'm fully aware of Toyota scorning EVs. Why do you think I'm on this forum now and not priuschat.com : )

 

[mhan00]

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.

Nice breakdown. Only addendum I would add is that you can also just tap the accelerator to resume TACC after the car has pulled to a stop.

 

[McRat]

I cover the brake the whole time. I don't trust electronics enough yet.
You can GENTLY rest your foot on the brake without the light coming on or disengaging ACC. Takes a little practice.

 

[mhan00]

I cover the brake the whole time. I don't trust electronics enough yet.
You can GENTLY rest your foot on the brake without the light coming on or disengaging ACC. Takes a little practice.

I don't rest my foot on the brake most of the time, I just keep my foot flat in front of the brake. I will rest my foot on the brake when I anticipate a possible quick cut in or when I am driving next to a merge lane. I do, however, have my left hand resting in the Regen paddle most of the time so I can hit that quickly for a quick initial slowdown as I move my foot to hit the brake. I also dont wait for the TACC to slow me down when approaching a section of bumper to bumper traffic, I'll use the paddle to slow way down and then tap the resume button for the TACC to engage it again as I close in on the car ahead. I love that regen paddle.

 

[Phillip L]

Anybody out there have experience of the Volt in the snow?

 

[cab]

Skotty, I too had a 2012 gen 1 Volt for 3 years, but having come from performance cars, I knew I wanted something with more performance this second time around (and given that you have a P85, I suspect that is at least somewhat important to you too). I test drove the original ELR, BMW i3 rex, Tesla Model S, Audi A3 E-tron and (when it finally came to Texas), the Gen II Volt. I was REALLY hoping the Gen II Volt would do it for me as my gen 1 was so great, but the performance just wasn't there. Sure 0-30 acceleration had improved, but it still had that "throw out the boat anchor" effect when you hit 35 mph or so - I was pretty bummed since the rest of the car was such a good combo. It didn't help that I had driven the Audi A3 E-tron immediately prior to the Volt drive so the solid feel and even better handling of that car were also highlighted. If the Volt had felt more like a BMW i3 rex (which I had for a 3 day test drive) in terms of acceleration, I would be driving one today. I didn't choose the BMW though because of it's many other compromises (darty freeway handling, poor low speed ride, compromised cargo space and suicide doors, questionable rex reliability, etc.). The A3 was nice, but with its paltry 16 miles of range...why bother with a PHEV?

The most interesting new EV is the Bolt of course. The reviews make it out to be a fun hot hatch w/o the i3 compromises.

 

[AndY1]

Anybody out there have experience of the Volt in the snow?

I have a 2012 Ampera and it handles very well in a snow. Every November, I put winter tires on (Continental WinterContact TS830P XL 205/60/16) because we do many kilometers and safety is first.

I have winter tires on a separate set of black alu rims, because summer tires are 215/55/17 and winter tires are 205/60/16.

 

[Phillip L]

I have a 2012 Ampera and it handles very well in a snow. Every November, I put winter tires on (Continental WinterContact TS830P XL 205/60/16) because we do many kilometers and safety is first.

I have winter tires on a separate set of black alu rims, because summer tires are 215/55/17 and winter tires are 205/60/16.

Thanks. I am assuming the Ampera is the European version of the Volt. We always put winter tires on all our vehicles. We are in a heavy snow area of Canada. Lots of lake effect snow here.

 

[McRat]

GM is jointly developing H2 fuel cell tech with Honda which just announced their new 366 mile range Clarity model.

I'm not sure how far GM is going with the Clarity. It might just be patent leasing. Or it could be control software. Or even cells. Or just electric motors.

If it were a true joint effort, normally you see a GM branded clone car. Like the Geo Metro and Suzuki Cultus. The Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix. Or the Chevrolet Spark with Daewoo Matiz.

 

[Jeff N]

I'm not sure how far GM is going with the Clarity. It might just be patent leasing. Or it could be control software. Or even cells. Or just electric motors.

If it were a true joint effort, normally you see a GM branded clone car. Like the Geo Metro and Suzuki Cultus. The Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix. Or the Chevrolet Spark with Daewoo Matiz.

GM and Honda are jointly developing the H2 fuel cell technology but the Clarity car model is entirely Honda's. GM has not announced any plans for a fuel cell passenger car, as far as I know.

 

[bradbissell]

Anybody out there have experience of the Volt in the snow?

I have a 2016 Volt and it is fine in the snow. I have the OEM tires, and they do slip a little, but the weight of the car makes driving in snow a non issue. Now, the lack of a heat pump heater is a bigger issue. The range drops from 60ish in the summer to 35 in the winter for my commute simply based on heater/ac use (set to 72 in summer and winter). My LEAF did not have as large a drop in range until the temperature was closer to 20F. I now have ERDTT set for temperatures below 32F. The drop in range was too significant when set to its lower value.

 

[Phillip L]

I have a 2016 Volt and it is fine in the snow. I have the OEM tires, and they do slip a little, but the weight of the car makes driving in snow a non issue. Now, the lack of a heat pump heater is a bigger issue. The range drops from 60ish in the summer to 35 in the winter for my commute simply based on heater/ac use (set to 72 in summer and winter). My LEAF did not have as large a drop in range until the temperature was closer to 20F. I now have ERDTT set for temperatures below 32F. The drop in range was too significant when set to its lower value.

Does the new Volt allow you to remotely heat the car while it plugged in?

 

[McRat]

Does the new Volt allow you to remotely heat the car while it plugged in?

Yes you can preheat the car from inside your house with your cellphone. It can come with front and rear heated seats and heated steering wheel. It has 2 systems to provide cabin heat. Electric or gasoline. When you have low range left on your EV in the winter, you don't have to turn down the heat on a Volt.

Heat pumps DO use electricity, and their performance is tied to temperatures. The colder it gets, the less effective they are. Resistance heating does not have the problem.

Some people are so allergic to using the ICE generator for heat that they ignore it's a better heating system than electricity. That's one of the reasons to buy a Volt. Best of both worlds.

 

[AndY1]

Thanks. I am assuming the Ampera is the European version of the Volt. We always put winter tires on all our vehicles. We are in a heavy snow area of Canada. Lots of lake effect snow here.

I put winter tires on today. Summer Michelin Energy Savers were starting to slip on wet autumn roads when I needed fast acceleration from the trafffic light.
I think I will replace Michelin Energy Saver tires with Continental e-Contact tires in spring. Michelins have started to show their age and are not very good in wet condition.