Volt to Tesla Experience

[Holmes]

Currently have a 2014 volt and LOVE the volt.

Never owned a tesla, always wet myself whenever I'd see one driving on the road.

I pick up my very first Tesla this Saturday (eeeeeeeeee!!!!).

I'm REALLY excited to ditch the Volt for the MS, but I'm also very concerned with all the "shortcomings" I keep reading about the MS from other Tesla owners. Interesting reading the responses here. Excited to form some of my own opinions once I get to finally make the switch.

 

[Maximilien]

Hi, OP here. After driving the new Tesla, I would like to share my opinion.

The car is a different class like you guys mentioned. It feels more spacious. Wow, the power of 0-60mph for 60D was overwhelming. What's gonna be like for P100D?

Really, even though Volt was amazing, Model S is just too great. No regret of shifting.
Considered once for Bolt, and I am glad I made a right decision!

 

[derekmw]

We also had a 2012 Volt previously and although I liked a lot of things about it, there were many annoyances.

- We owned it for almost 2 years and had to go to the dealership 5 times with various issues from the shifter actually breaking, wheel bearings failing, or interior pieces falling off/breaking
- The interior design, although much better than most chevy's, was annoying for my wife - specifically all the chrome trim pieces that frequently blinded her when driving in the sun
- The car was only a 4 seater (I know the newer ones claim to be 5 seater but with that cup holder between your legs, it's not really a comfortable 5 seater at all)
- Dealing with Chevy's service department was a pain - in the beginning, when the Volt was still somewhat rare, we were treated very well at the dealerships, but as time went on, the service went down hill fast
- No power seats! I know this may be a small issue but for me and the wife who are considerably different heights, it's a pain to try and get the seats adjusted back to how I need after the wife used the car (and vice versa)

Now I should say, there are still items on the MS that bug me too such as:
- Cheap floor mats that are barely holding up after a year of use
- poor assembly of body parts and interior parts - we had some misaligned doors that were fixed but inside the car, I still have issues such as the A pillar panel continuing to come loose, wires exposed under door panel where the lighting is, dash trim pieces misaligned, etc
- as some have mentioned, inability to have text messages read
- lack of customization of apps - with that massive screen, I wish Tesla had an 'app store' to add additional approved apps like how Apple/iTunes does.

But regardless, I prefer the MS over the Volt (no surprise there considering the price point). I never once missed the Volt. Right now I'm driving our Audi A3 TDI everyday until we return it (from the diesel scandal) since the buy back amount won't change. I have to say, I've missed driving the MS.

 

[tdjvfr]

2011 Volt to 2012 Tesla. I love them both. They both have a spot in my garage.

 

[Az_Rael]

I have had my Model S for about a week now, so here are my thought vs my 2014 Volt:

-LOVE the power memory seats with an adjustable height lumbar adjustment! I really missed having this in the Volt.

-HATE the non-adjusting seatbelt shoulder height. The Volt had that too, so I thought it would be OK, but it's placed higher in the MS, and I can't adjust my seat to compensate and still reach the pedals without having my chest in the airbag. I have had to resort to a seat belt adjuster thing that isn't great. I am actually thinking about getting pedal extensions installed or something. I am only 5'3"

-LOVE the quiet ride. My Volt had an annoying high frequency whine, especially on extended range mode. I took it in, but apparently you have to have good ears to even hear it, so they couldn't fix it. The MS has ZERO noises like that.

-I miss the extensive inputs for TOU electricity rates in the Volt. I have no idea why the MS doesn't have that - it seems like it would be easy.

-LOVE the pano roof. I wish GM had offered a sunroof for the Volt

- It is more challenging to park the MS in tight spaces. The Volt I could pull in to just about any space with no worries. The length and width of the MS is something I have to be much more careful with. I have to do a lot more 3-point parking jobs right now. I assume this will reduce over time.

- Charge port placement on the S, isn't great vs the Volt. I have to back in to public charging if the cord is short, and I am terrible at that. I dread having to back into a crowded supercharger stall someday. And for some reason I keep forgetting to close the charge port door on my MS, a habit I never had an issue with on the Volt.


Overall, the MS is awesome and I don't miss my Volt at all.

 

[JoshM]

I will say that the voice recognition system in the Volt is far superior to the Tesla.

That's surprising. I've had my S for a week and think the voice recognition is really good. I think it has only mis-heard me one time so far. And it's correctly heard things which I expected to fail.

 

[artsci]

My lease on 2014 Volt is over in 8 days, and my new Model S should be delivered in a week or so (well, I can only hope.)

I am sure there are some original Volt owners who changed to Tesla in this forum. And some may own both Volt and Tesla.

My question is, how has your experience in the change so far and are there features that you miss from Volt that are not present in your Model S?

The Volt is a very good car (I had my Gen 1 on lease for about two years) but there is nothing about it that I miss. There are a few things that I'm glad to be rid of -- first of all fossil fuels and the absolutely lousy control panel. Re the former, even though I burned little gas having to use any of this poison is a no-no for me. Re the latter, I've never seen anything more poorly designed and indeciferable.

 

[Bridor]

Both my Tesla Model S and my Tesla Model X read my text messages to me - but I am using a Windows Phone with Cortana. The Tesla allows Cortana to interface with me and I can even respond to text messages. What phone are you using that you cannot have text messages read to you?

Brent

 

[Dithermaster]

Wow, lots of Volt converts here. Me too; 2012 Volt to 2013 CPO Model S P85+. Had the Volt just over 3 years, put on 25K miles, engine only ran for 5K of those. I loved the Volt, but the Model S is a huge upgrade. I can't think of anything I miss except maybe center console storage.

 

[andrewket]

Drove my 2014 volt for 67k miles, picked up my S on Saturday (which now has 500 miles on it)

Miss: being able to schedule a start and stop for the charging times.

The biggest change other then it is an entirely different class of car was the size difference, the volt is a roller skate in comparison.

You can schedule start time on the S, but not stop. Just in case you haven't discovered that yet

 

[SSonnentag]

I went from a 2013 Volt to a 2017 Volt Premier. There probably aren't too many Gen 2 Volt to Tesla converts as the Gen 2 has only been out for almost 2 years. Many of the issues in the Gen 1 Volt were fixed in Gen 2, like the funky controls, engine noise, power lag during full throttle passing maneuvers, etc. I'm hoping the move from a Gen 2 Volt of Tesla will be just big an improvement. I hate having to haul around an ICE and all of it's supporting equipment when I only need more range for about 1/3 of the miles I put on the car.

 

[MXWing]

2 pages and no one has mentioned:

Gen 1 Volt Seats 4
Gen 2 Volt Seats 4 and one midget

Seating capacity kills the Volt for me as a permanent car to keep in the stable (I lease them)

Model S seats 5 or 5 + two midgets

Volts go ZOOM when set to Sport Mode and L Gear.

Tesla's go ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Tesla's lack collision detection on the mirrors and cross traffic warning when compared to Gen 2 Volt.

As a whole, Volt doesn't come anywhere close to a base Model S. I understand it's half the price but you also get less than half the car.

 

[Skotty]

Just to add another bullet point. I switched from a 2012 Volt to a 2014 Model S P85. The Volt was a nice car, but really, the only thing I miss is the in dash DVD player, which Chevy dropped after 2012 anyway. Now if I want to listen to one of my stand up comedy DVDs or just listen to a movie, instead of just sticking the DVD in the slot and pressing play, I have to use a portable DVD player hooked up to an FM transmitter (which also requires a 12v power splitter) and find a FM station that is not in use (which is surprisingly hard to do). Quite a kludge compared to my old Volt.

One disappointment I had in the S was there still wasn't enough rear seat leg room for me not to have to scoot my seat up every time one of my kids sits behind me. But it does seem to be more leg room than I had with the Volt, so the S isn't any worse. I was just hoping for better. There's never enough leg room. Wish I could give up some of the trunk for more leg room.

 

[ig_epower]

Wish I could give up some of the trunk for more leg room.

My Porsche Cayenne has a sliding (and tilting) rear seat. It is a good feature to allow for more leg room or more cargo space depending on the needs of the day. I do find the MS trunk area to be very deep (much deeper than I normally need) which could be better served for rear-seat passengers. A sliding rear seat would be a nice upgrade on future models!

 

[MoonChou]

I went from a 2013 Volt to a 2014 ELR and I currently own both the ELR and a 2016 MS.

For driving it pretty much as everyone else has said prior to this post so I won't elaborate.

The biggest thing I missed going from the Volt to the ELR was the hatchback and seating space. I really like the fact that the MS is a hatchback, but keeps its sedan look. The blind spots on the MS are also better when compared with the volt.

 

[derekmw]

We also had a 2012 Volt previously and although I liked a lot of things about it, there were many annoyances.

- We owned it for almost 2 years and had to go to the dealership 5 times with various issues from the shifter actually breaking, wheel bearings failing, or interior pieces falling off/breaking
- The interior design, although much better than most chevy's, was annoying for my wife - specifically all the chrome trim pieces that frequently blinded her when driving in the sun
- The car was only a 4 seater (I know the newer ones claim to be 5 seater but with that cup holder between your legs, it's not really a comfortable 5 seater at all)
- Dealing with Chevy's service department was a pain - in the beginning, when the Volt was still somewhat rare, we were treated very well at the dealerships, but as time went on, the service went down hill fast
- No power seats! I know this may be a small issue but for me and the wife who are considerably different heights, it's a pain to try and get the seats adjusted back to how I need after the wife used the car (and vice versa)

Now I should say, there are still items on the MS that bug me too such as:
- Cheap floor mats that are barely holding up after a year of use
- poor assembly of body parts and interior parts - we had some misaligned doors that were fixed but inside the car, I still have issues such as the A pillar panel continuing to come loose, wires exposed under door panel where the lighting is, dash trim pieces misaligned, etc
- as some have mentioned, inability to have text messages read
- lack of customization of apps - with that massive screen, I wish Tesla had an 'app store' to add additional approved apps like how Apple/iTunes does.

But regardless, I prefer the MS over the Volt (no surprise there considering the price point). I never once missed the Volt. Right now I'm driving our Audi A3 TDI everyday until we return it (from the diesel scandal) since the buy back amount won't change. I have to say, I've missed driving the MS.

Too funny, EVERY single thing you mention is exactly our experience with the Volt when we had it. At first I loved the service at Chevy but after a while it went down....really down.

Since it was for my wife, she complained all the time about the chrome interior pieces blinding her.

In addition to the issues you had such as wheel bearings, shifter breaking, our shocks went out (this is all before 10k miles!), the shocks for the rear hatch went out TWICE. So many things that are basic items and have been around forever were breaking on the car. I was shocked...the only good part was at least the EV portion of the car never had an issue.

My wife also hated the sound once it switched to gas...sounds like a loud generator.

Regardless though, as some have mentioned, they're just not comparable in my opinion. Totally different cars. The MS is my car but I drove the Volt enough to be able to compare the two. Aside from basic issues that both cars seem to struggle with (I've had plenty of trips to the SC for the MS as well on basic items going out).

 

[McRat]

The Volt is an entirely different kind of car and mindset.

2 pages and no one has mentioned:

Gen 1 Volt Seats 4
Gen 2 Volt Seats 4 and one midget

Seating capacity kills the Volt for me as a permanent car to keep in the stable (I lease them)

Model S seats 5 or 5 + two midgets

Volts go ZOOM when set to Sport Mode and L Gear.

Tesla's go ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Tesla's lack collision detection on the mirrors and cross traffic warning when compared to Gen 2 Volt.

As a whole, Volt doesn't come anywhere close to a base Model S. I understand it's half the price but you also get less than half the car.

The best feature of the Volts? We purchased 2 for the kids and 1 for business. Total costs, all taxes fees incentives: $79k. For 3 new cars. Quantity is sometimes a good thing.

Yes, 5 adults fit in a Volt. We have done that several times. 5 Large Adults do not fit. 2 Large Tall, 3 average height and build.

The Frontal Automatic Braking has BRIGHT HUD warning in your face and is excellent as are all the other safety features and the ACC. It's easy to park and use, and handles with confidence. All 3 cars will fit side by side in our driveway or if needed, 2 in the garage.

The Tesla is far better looking, much nicer interior appearance, WAY quicker. But oddly enough, it lacks little things like door storage, seat storage, hand grips, etc. It gives the car a cleaner look, but those features are exceptionally handy and very cheap to produce.

So the Tesla is a superior car without question, like fine cutlery, a premium tool. However, the Volt is more like a Swiss Army knife. Just a 'good' knife, but more flexible.

 

[Tex EV]

We went from two gen 1 Volts to Roadster + S85D a year ago. The only thing I miss about the Volts was how easy they were to plug in. Pull up, flip open the charge port door and plug in. The port being located forward of the driver's door made it a quick 5-second task. The Roadster was made pre-J1772, so there's always an adapter involved that needs to be retrieved from the trunk. In most cases (for me), the Model S needs to be backed up to a charger. If it's public, there's likely going to be an adapter involved. Every time I charged my Volt in public and saw a Model S pull up, I wondered why it took so long for the owner to plug in and why they always went around to the back and fumbled around in the trunk. On the flipside, we only charge the Teslas a couple of nights a week versus every night with the Volts. Totally a first world problem.

 

[curt_toolman]

I went from a 2012 Volt to a 2012 MS about a year ago. The only thing I miss is Onstar.

 

[Bluejuice]

Have a 2012 Volt and getting ready to upgrade to Model S this summer. Thanks for all the helpful posts. There is no CD player in MS? How do you play your CD's? Also, regen braking isn't as strong initially until battery pack warms up? Hadn't heard that before. How does regen feel in MS vs Volt? Thanks! Looking forward to joining the club.