No range anxiety with the Voltec battery/generator combo
When you think of green cars — EV or plug in — what are the first names coming to mind? Toyota Prius certainly, Tesla probably, maybe the Nissan Leaf. How ‘bout the Chevrolet Volt? Not so much you say? Us either.
That’s a shame, really: Many of us at Autoweek HQ think the Volt’s powertrain – an electric motor and 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine acting as a generator – is the smartest EV solution on the market. Why’s that? Because it eliminates the range anxiety that — right or wrong — people say they have with a straight EV.
In this, the second-gen Volt, the all-electric range is now 53 miles (compared to the old car’s 38) and with a full charge and full tank of gas the car can go about 420 miles in total. Electric mileage suffers some in the cold temperatures – when I first got in the car it was fully charged and the in-dash indicator said the generator would kick in after 37 miles.
The 1.5-liter four is new, smaller and lighter than the outgoing car’s four cylinder, with total power unit weight down 100 pounds.
The all-new, second-generation Chevy Volt with 53 miles of EV range is more efficient and has greater acceleration.
That’s important: The car does indeed benefit from the weight reduction. It accelerates briskly and there’s an overall light-on-its-feet feeling. No, it’s not a hot hatch — no one around here expected it to be — but it feels fairly lively, more fun to drive than we all thought it would be, and more fun than the new Prius we had in the fleet at the same time (gotta take that with a grain of salt though: The Chevy is something like $ 15K more expensive than the
The Chevy is also quiet in terms of wind and road noise and we think it looks much better than the outgoing one — inside and out. “I love the updates,” one staffer said. “The Volt no longer feels like a prettified science experiment but a real car meant to do real car stuff. The styling is a big improvement, but mostly I like how Chevrolet updated the interior and moved away from the Star Wars design ethic.”
People are asking us about this new EV and are going to ask you, too. We tell them the Volt’s lack of range anxiety and general overall pleasantness makes it one of our top picks for people looking for an EV or hybrid.
— Wes Raynal, editor
The all-new, second-generation Chevy Volt with 53 miles of EV range is more efficient and has greater acceleration.
OTHER VOICES:
I like this car a lot. I liked the latest Prius too, especially when compared to the previous one, but the Volt is just as good – if not better. Compared to the Prius, the Volt feels stiffer and sportier. The diet that Chevy put the Volt on makes it feel miles ahead of its predecessor. While it won’t set records at the Nurburgring, it could be the hybrid that converts the folks on the fence.
On the inside, it feels like I want a hybrid to feel – it’s futuristic in just the right ways, but not over-the-top. The sculpted dash might look too busy in pictures, but trust us, in person it’s just right. The only real frustration I had with it, was that the USB ports are placed in the lower tier of the center stack, making plugging a phone in kind of a hassle, but I suppose that’s an issue you’d only have once (if you have more than one phone charger).
— Wesley Wren, associate editor
The all-new, second-generation Chevy Volt with 53 miles of EV range is more efficient and has greater acceleration.
OPTIONS: Driver confidence package including blind side zone alert with lane departure alert and rear cross traffic alert ($ 495); Chevrolet MyLink radio with navigation ($ 495); siren red tintcoat ($ 395); front license plate bracket ($ 20)
