Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Chevy Volt again ranked by Consumer Reports as most-loved car

Mike Colias
Automotive News -- November 29, 2012 - 6:00 am ET




The Volt has developed a cultish following. Hundreds of online forums have popped up with posts from Volt owners boasting of traveling thousands of miles between fill ups or squeezing out more than 40 miles on one electric charge.



DETROIT -- The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid landed atop Consumer Reports' annual owner-satisfaction ranking for the second straight year.
Ninety-two percent of responding Volt owners in a poll of the magazine's subscribers said they definitely would buy a Volt again, tops among 240 models, the magazine said today.
Several other fuel-efficient models also scored highly, including Toyota's Camry Hybrid, Prius, and Prius C as well as Nissan's Leaf electric car.
The Volt's two-year reign "points to the continuing trend of owners' enthusiasm for cars that are fuel-efficient cars, especially as we see more and more hybrid and electric models hitting the market," Rik Paul, Consumer Reports' auto editor, said in a statement.
It's also affirmation for GM executives who've battled bad press from early soft sales, scathing criticism from opponents of green-car subsidies, and a late 2011 federal safety probe into battery fires that turned up no significant risks.
Tops in the sports car category were the Chevy Corvette, Porsche 911, the V8 Dodge Challenger and the Ford Mustang.
Among luxury vehicles, owners of the Audi A7 and A6 and the Lexus GS were the most satisfied, the poll showed.
Sports cars, hybrids and convertibles have traditionally dominated the magazine's owner-satisfaction study.
The Nissan Versa sedan received the lowest rating from owners, followed by the V-6 versions of the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, and the Nissan Armada, Suzuki SX4 and Mitsubishi Outlander SUVs.
The survey included responses from owners of 350,000 vehicles spanning the 2010-2013 model years. It is based on the results from the magazine's annual auto survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.
Scores are based on the percentage of respondents who answered "definitely yes" to the following question: "Considering all factors -- price, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc., -- would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?"
The Volt has developed a cultish following. Hundreds of online forums have popped up with posts from Volt owners boasting of traveling thousands of miles between fill ups or squeezing out more than 40 miles on one electric charge.
The plug-in hybrid, launched in late 2010, uses a motor powered by a lithium ion battery to travel up to 38 miles in electric mode before a gasoline-powered generator kicks on to run the motor.
The Volt has a sticker price of $39,995. Buyers qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit.
Sales have fallen short of GM's original expectations. Last year, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson predicted GM would build 60,000 Volts this year, one-quarter of which would be shipped overseas for sale in Europe and China. Through Nov. 24, GM produced 22,357 Volts, according to the Automotive News Data Center.
Still, sales have soared compared with last year. Through October, U.S. Volt sales nearly quadrupled from a year earlier, to 19,309 units.
Part of the increase is due to sharply reduced leases that GM has run for much of the year. Lease deals of $279 a month with $2,400 or less down, have been common.
You can reach Mike Colias at mcolias@crain.com.


Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/2012...#ixzz2DcnB7S4Y

dknn

I believe it as I own one. I just hit 5000 miles and still haven't filled it up with gas.

LexFather

Most quirky cars or "different" cars are loved by their owners. Most might not understand it but those that do love the product.

mmarshall

I respect your view (and congratulatons on owning one) , but that's one of the things about the Volt that gives me some concern.

Seems that some people are elated with the Volt simply because they don't have to put much, if any gas in it....it can go some 40 miles on a charge without the gas engine operating at all. That's fine....but what about the fact that gas engines were built to run...not sit idle? Or the fact that gasoline sitting in a tank for months without being used doesn't do the tank or fuel-system any good, either. Running the car on the batteries all the time is going to encourage the gas engine and fuel-system to deteriorate from simple lack of use. The oil won't heat up or circulate and keep the engine lubed, coolant won't heat up or flow and keep the radiator and seals from corroding, and the hot exhaust won't clear the moisture out of the tailpipe. I hope the Volt's engineers have come up with a system to deal with this (mostly electric-use) to keep the gas-engine humming enough to keep from deterioration. Of course, this would affect owners who run the cars mostly on the batteries.....if they take long enough trips to get the gas engine-warm, then, of course, no problem.

Over and above that, (and again, no offense to you, dknn, since you own one), but I personally find the car highly overpriced (even with the big tax credit) and the dash/gauge/console/shifter ergonomics awful. To me, 40K+ is a heavy price to pay for just not having to fill up with gas often....and for dis-use of the gas engine and its (possible) consequences.

But, of course, I could be wrong on my view, too (I've sometimes been wrong before). There are a lot of satisfied Volt owners out there...and of the similiarly-designed Prius Plug-in. Perhaps they know something I don't (yet).

Aron9000

^ GM has addressed those concerns about "lack of use" of the gas engine. If I remember right about the article I read about that car a couple years ago, the computer forces the gas engine to start and run after a month or two of inactivity to circulate the oil and prevent the gas from going bad.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

thats a good way to put it

dknn

I've had the car since July. During the summer my range was 50 miles, but now that the weather is colder my range is about 40 miles. That is more than enough for my daily commute.

As for the fuel, the Volt has a special pressure sealed fuel tank that preserves the gas. Additionally, there is a fuel maintenance mode that will turn the engine on to burn the fuel if it has not been done in awhile. I've used roughly 6 gallons of gas so I never had that mode activate.



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mmarshall

Thanks, guys. I had wondered about that for some time on both the Volt and Prius Plug-in models. I reviewed a Volt last year (haven't gotten to the plug-in Prius yet), and, while I did a general evaluation of the Volt, I didn't have time, of course, to go into all the computer-programs or entire Owners' Manual in detail. Perhaps I didn't give the engineers enough credit. I still don't care for the Volt's dash/gauge/console ergonomics, though, in their present forms....that won't change.

Aron9000

I can't help but feel like Chevy might have sold more Volts if they weren't so damn ugly. I mean really it looks like a toaster with an attitude, if it were beautiful people might buy it just because it looks cool(apple has really done a good job of this)

mandidy

now thats a nice car....

IS350jet

Isn't 40K old news? I think Chevy is pretty much giving these things away right now. With tax credits I think you can pick one up for about 25K, or even less. Can anyone verify that?

mmarshall

I admit I haven't formally priced one in the last few months, but when I reviewed a Volt last year, base price was 41K, the ones in stock had typically 3-4K in options, and the dealerships tacked on another 3-4K ADM (Adjusted market-Value) because of the car's media-publicity and the demand it was expected to generate. So, in effect, you wound up with a 48K car that, even with the $7500 tax-credit, ended up costing a good 40K or more.

IMO, that, for a car the Volt's size and ergonomics, was simply unacceptable. Opinions can differ from mine (and I welcome those that do), but that is how I feel about it....and why I didn't buy one.

Sulu

That would seem to be the problem. North Americans have equated small size cars with low prices and do not seem to be willing to pay the full cost that it takes to design and manufacture good, high-quality small cars. Small cars cost as much – or more – to design, develop and produce as larger cars; but if buyers are not willing to pay for the full cost, the manufacturers must cut costs somewhere, so we get decontented small cars full of low quality materials. The result is that we end up with “econobox” Corollas and Jettas built in Mexico.

Technology, especially new, high technology devices – that have not yet been subject to economies of scale, such as state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries – cost money. So should we not expect the Volt – which is a giant Li-Ion battery on wheels – to cost more than its platform-mate, the mediocre (technology-wise) Chevrolet Cruze?

Perhaps GM’s mistake was not in building the Volt, but making it such a small vehicle. If they had based the Volt on the mid-size Malibu, full-size Impala, or labelled it as a Buick or Cadillac, instead of basing it on the small-size Chevrolet Cruze, the cost – and suggested retail price – would likely have been much the same but the buying public would be more likely to accept the high price.

Toys4RJill

When Chevy starts selling this model in numbers that actually show that the model is profitable, or is actually SELLING, then consumer satisfaction will be important.

This is just CR being the typical way they always are MEANINGLESS.

LexBob2

FWIW, this came from Owner Surveys and not from CR themselves. Other segments were listed too from the results of the Would You Buy Your Car Again question.