Being a gear head my first thought whenever I hear electric or hybrid car, I think of riding the little kids roller coaster at the amusement park. Sure its fun and seems like a blast when you are young, but then you grow up and realize how much of a loser you were for not looking around and seeing that every single thing around you is better. This comparison is very close to me because I am actually in the market for a Chevy Cruze ECO so I have been doing a lot of recent calculations about fuel economy.
First off, the Volt. Lets take a look at some of its awards before even being a fully released car.
- North American Car of the Year
- 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year
- 2011 Top Safety Pick
- Green Car of the Year
- 2011 World Green Car
- Automobile Magazine Car of the Year
- Car and Drivers 10 Best
- Top 10 Best Engines
This is unbelievable to me, for one car to win all of these awards is a HUGE accomplishment for an American car company. And in my eyes all I can say is, all of that for a massive waste of money? Hear me out, the car costs around forty thousand dollars and is available in only one trim level. Granted you get pretty much every feature from a digital display in the dashboard which is fully customizable to your liking, to over 2000 lithium ion laptop style batteries which is enough to get Bill Gates excited. Now obviously what will attract people to this car is the "electric" tag on the advertising. Now lets brake it down.
Chevy claims that you can drive 100 miles on the batteries before the gas engine kicks in. Now the gas engine in no way is attached to the drive train, its sole purpose is to act as a generator to charge the batteries for another 275 miles. So you are looking at about 375 miles total using the gas and electric motors. They way I see it is the fuel tank for the generator is about 9.4 gallons in size. After you use 100 miles of electric charge that leaves about 275 miles, if you divide that by 9.4 gallons in the tank you are looking at about 29ish MPG. Secondly the Volt comes with a standard 120 volt charger for the house, which to fully charge your vehicle you will need about 18 hours. Now you can install a home charger that is about 275 volt and will charge your car in about 4 hours, but we haven't seen the prices for that yet.
Probably the biggest fault of the Volt is the batteries, for any of you who have owned a laptop you know that the lithium ion batteries lose their charge after a while. Chevy does admit they will after about 7 years and they are warrantied that long with the power train for 100k miles as well. I fail to believe they will last that long, and after looking at every feature and aspect of the Volt I think that it is a waste.
This is due to Chevy's most recent small vehicle the Cruze. I am 100% in love with this vehicle and I cannot stop dreaming about it. I consider it a "big little" car because it does not seem small at all. It is quiet, comfortable, fun, perfectly balanced, and affordable. The sound system is perfect with USB and AUX hook up, the dash glows blue and makes me feel like I am at the controls of a 30th century space ship. The seats fit me, a 6'9" grown man in a car that costs twenty thousand dollars. The 6 speed manual transmission is extremely easy to operate and could be done by your grandmother...or your dog. I could continue on forever, but all I can say is go drive one. Even if you are not in the market.
Now the comparison, the Cruze quotes itself at 29 city and 42 highway. Being a salesmen at a Chevy dealership I get news from GM themselves and what I received a couple of days ago blew my mind. A couple took their Cruze ECO on a 48 state 9,500 mile trip across America and averaged 64.4 MPG. I think I may have just had a crisis, your telling me I can buy a brand new car, extremely well equipped, with a 12.4 gallon tank drive 768 miles on one fill up for 45 dollars??? Last time that seemed even possible was the great depression!!
So more or less what I am getting at is you can buy a extremely futuristic Volt, which yes will be very cool for around forty thousand dollars. And is already been promised by Chevy to loose its battery power in years to come. Or you can buy a Cruze, for twenty thousand dollars, get 64 MPG and fill up for about the same price as the Volt's gas generator and save yourself for lack of a better word, S#%! ton of money. The choice is up to you, but personally I want the more fun, affordable, and all around better car....the Cruze, compared to its at best wildly mediocre counterpart, the Volt.
JM
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