The Chevy Volt

I would wait for the 2011 model and let them work out the wrinkles.

 

Get the Toyota Prius, which gets better gas mileage (60/51) and more miles off the battery. It's about $15k cheaper, too.

Honda's rebuilding the Insight and is due out soon. It's supposed to get 70 mpg and cost less than $20k.

While the auto industry is down in the U.S. now, the Japanese are much farther ahead in this market.

 

The EV1 had a range of 160 miles.
Why are they cutting down on the range?

 

I'm not walking home or riding a bike at 2 a.m. past a series of bars. I like being alive and in one piece. If I worked days, I'd walk, least in the spring/summer.

And the average American drives 29 miles a day. Not everybody drives 100 miles in a commute.

'Beetus, the prius still has emissions. The Volt, at least for the amount I drive, won't.

And Buck, I don't know. I'd rent an EV1 if the program was still running.

 

I've thought about getting a Prius when I can trade my Cobalt in. One thing is certain: I won't be buy domestic this time.

 

What happened to EV1 was crazy.
I just think it's stupid to reduce the range, even if you're adding a back-up gas motor.
Nobody is driving more than 160 miles on a charge by accident. That is just not happening.
You can drive more than 40 miles by accident.
It's like they want to set up situations for the battery capacity to be inadequate.

 

Well, given what they did to the EV1, it's entirely possible that's exactly what they're doing. Might also have something to do with the additional hybrid motor they're putting in the car. The battery might have to be smaller with a smaller range.

 

I'm much more interested in the new Camaro. 300-plus horsepower out of the base, direct-injection V-6 (the 350 had 285 in the first years of the last F-bodies) and it gets 29 MPG on the highway. And it starts at around 24 grand. Now that's a deal.

Unless Obama and his cronies find a way to jack gas prices into the stratosphere (which they want to do), the new Camaro will outsell the Volt 10 to 1. Guaranteed.

 

Yea, all that performance stuff doesn't interest me. The problem with American car companies is that they spend all their time going after people like you and ignoring people like me. There wasn't an American car on the market with gas mileage good enough to make me look twice until Ford put out the Focus a few years back.

 

I don't have a problem with that. But it's when busybodies take away my choice and force me to drive a eco-friendly penalty box that I clearly don't want, that's when I have a problem. Choice, it's a beautiful thing.

If your conscience tells you that you need to drive a car that is green-friendly and not much else, go ahead.

My point is that the new Camaro is a big-time paradigm shift as well. A rear-wheel drive performance car with 300 horsepower, 29 MPG (my old Trans Am with a hulking V-8 got close to 20 or so on the highway) is a world-beater. I definitely want one.

GM builds excellent cars. My old man has one of those GMC Acadias and it it gets great mileage and has a ton of space. And he hasn't had a bit of trouble with it either.

I'm just glad they're trying to shift the paradigm rather than playing catch-up.

 

When has anybody taken away your choice in cars?

 

I'm sure the weight of gas motor inhibits range, and it might limit battery size.
I just think it's a bad idea to even include the gas motor in the first place. I'd rather have the 160-mile range.
I'm probably two years out from a new vehicle, and I will definitely buy a hybrid, unless a better alternative comes out.
I just wish the EV1 was an option.