Got a new car!!! :-D

Will0W783 · 04-30-12, 08:23 AM

Omg, I actually did it- I've been looking at the Chevrolet Volt since it came out last year, and I finally got one. I am generally a sporty car girl- I like speed, and tight steering and good cornering. I've been spoiled by driving Saabs for the past 4 years, but Saab went bankrupt and I was going to lose the 4 years of extended warranty I had paid for on my 2009 Aero. So I started to look into trading it in on a lease for a new car. I don't tend to keep daily drivers for longer than 2 years anyway, so leasing made sense.

After a lot of disappointment and discouragement, I finally got a quote I could afford, on a fully-loaded demo car. It is AWESOME!! I'm seriously shocked at how quick this little car is- all the torque, all the time, available to the wheels through electric motors makes for great acceleration and launch! The really heavy battery pack set low in the car drops its center of gravity so low that there is almost no body roll and it hugs the road nicely.

Here she is:

alessia55 · 04-30-12, 08:24 AM

LOL I had a feeling you would make a thread about Volt

Congrats again on your new toy

Norm66 · 04-30-12, 08:32 AM

Congratulations! One of our project engineers here has one and loves it. I hope you like yours as well as he does.

Lankyrob · 04-30-12, 08:39 AM

Cool, is it fully electric or hybrid? I would love a hybrid but they dont make them big enough to be practical for me (or affordable on disability benefits)

Will0W783 · 04-30-12, 08:58 AM

Lol, I had to make a thread about Volt...I am fully enamored with it. Rob, it's technically a "plug-in hybrid electric vehicle". It has an outlet for charging it on the left-hand side in front of the front wheel, and also has a regular fuel door on the right side. GM claims a 30-35 mile fully-electric range (however, if you drive in the city where you do a lot of braking, the regenerative brakes will push it up near 50 miles), and after the battery runs out, the electric generator kicks on to recharge the battery. Since the wheels are always driven by electric motors, you have a flat torque curve- all 277 lb/ft torque to the wheels, all the time. This makes the 149-hp, 3750-lb car feel much quicker and more agile than the 9 second 0-60mph time suggest. It also goes from 30-60mph in under 3 seconds, making merging on highways not a completely terrifying experience, lol.

It was quite an expensive car, but the US offers a $7500 tax incentive that gets factored into the lease cost, plus rebates from GM, plus my state offers a $3500 rebate for any alternative fuel vehicle, so the cost is considerably less than the sticker price in the end. And, IMO, the "cool factor" of all the gadgets, connectivity, and futuristic looks of the Volt make it worth the cost. It's really the only hybrid I'd own.

Gungirl · 04-30-12, 09:07 AM

I will never own one but I am interested in how much the Volt will up your Electric bill from charging it. I don't like cars at all and the idea of a truck not being Diesel scares me..lol

KSTAR · 04-30-12, 09:37 AM

Sweet Ride

Will0W783 · 04-30-12, 10:19 AM

It's supposed to cost about $1.20-1.60 to fully charge the battery from dead, so it should cost about $45-50 a month to charge it, considering one full charge per day.

Gungirl · 04-30-12, 11:13 AM

If that is true that is pretty awesome..

MoreliAddict · 04-30-12, 12:27 PM

Congrats Kim!

I just got a new car too, it's currently being shipped to me and will arrive by Wednesday.

0-60 in 4.8 seconds, 13 second qtr mile, 390 horsepower. Can anyone guess what it is?

youngster · 04-30-12, 12:45 PM

That's super cool Kim, although I dunno if I would want one they are pretty interesting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoreliAddict

0-60 in 4.8 seconds, 13 second qtr mile, 390 horsepower. Can anyone guess what it is?

Wild guess, Subaru Impreza

MoreliAddict · 04-30-12, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by youngster

That's super cool Kim, although I dunno if I would want one they are pretty interesting.

Wild guess, Subaru Impreza

lol not quite.

I'll post pics when it arrives at my house, it'll be a mystery till then.

Gungirl · 04-30-12, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoreliAddict

Congrats Kim!

I just got a new car too, it's currently being shipped to me and will arrive by Wednesday.

0-60 in 4.8 seconds, 13 second qtr mile, 390 horsepower. Can anyone guess what it is?

New match box??

Just don't say it is a ford...