2012 Chevrolet Volt consumer reviews

I had the Volt for about 3 weeks, driving back and forth to work in CT. My commute over back roads is about 22 miles OW. I can usually do the round trip on an overnight charge (120volt). My previous car was a 2004 Caddy CTS. So comfort on a long distance is a little less, but that is mainly due to the Volt seat being a little smaller. Vehicle ride is great. We left CT for New Mexico on a full charge and a full car. We got about 35 miles and went on gas for the remaining 2500 miles. We travel Interstates in the east, and back roads west of the Mississippi. Overall milage was 40 mpg. Western gas is lower octane, so milage always falls off west of the river. The return took us through Colorado and some mountain passes over 10,000 feet. I did not use "Mountain Mode" since I never really knew when I was going to climb until I was at the hill. So I got a lot of messages saying power was reduced. It was especially bad between Vail and Denver on the Interstate. Other than that the car performed well. We got an overall 44mpg on the return trip which was 3,000 miles. My likes - The car in general. My dislikes - The radio - It is especially bad in CT where there is a tree canopy over most roads. Both XM and FM are really bad. My caddy had an in windshield antenna, that I thought was bad, but this is worse. Of course XM doesn't work when there are trees over the road either. The climate control system needs more manual controls. BTW Why can't they update the clock when you change time zones? Onstar gets time from the Cell network, the Navigation gets time from the satelite, but nobody changes the clock except the stupid human. I do love the car, I hope they will re-engineer the radio and climate control, and it would be fabulous.

The Volt is an awesome car! We have driven almost 3,000 miles and 2,600 of those miles are pure EV. This was our first American car, after driving mostly European. I was in shock how the Volt felt and drove like a European car. It made me question my views on Chevys, but then I read the "Volt Book" GM sent to us after the purchase. In there it stated that Europeans were involved in the Volt's designing, which tied everything together for me. So, if you're looking for a really nice car that feels more European than American, whilst also saving the planet -- then the Volt is your car! Great Job Chevrolet!

The car is fantastic, with two significant drawbacks. The first is that bucket seat arrangement in place of a real rear seat. It is just too cramped. The second is that the car sits too close to the ground. We scraped bottom repeatedly on our test drive, including coming in and out of the dealer's parking lot! We could deal with the other drawbacks (like the very small side windows), but these two were deal killers for us. We hope that GM will address these and make the necessary modifications. Otherwise, it's really an awesome car!!

This is a solid, well built car. So many high mileage cars have a cheap look and feel to them. I really like this car. On this car in particular your mileage will vary depending how you use it. But for me, I am getting 180+ miles to the gallon.

I was driving a 2001 Chevy Suburban (which I loved) and was paying out $330 a month in fuel before I purchased so I was THE ideal candidate for a high MPG vehicle. I had been looking for either a used high MPG vehicle under $10K or a new hybrid and was seriously considering either the Ford Fusion or the Hyundai Sonata Hybrids. The problem is, I like to drill down on the finances to see the realized cost savings and both vehicles were still requiring gas regularly combined with a new vehicle loan payment. The payments combined with the fuel expenditures per month even for a car that got 35 MPG with fuel prices at $4 per gallon only made the used option a cost savings (not included a higher maintenance routine on a used vehicle with 40K miles on it.) I would be saving around $80 to $120 per month...maybe. ($180 car payment +gas) Luck had a drunk driver total my suburban while it was parked and gave me money to put on the car (not much but some). So, I went long for the Volt because the payment was now equal to the car payment and the fuel on the other vehicles. LOVE THE CAR! Currently getting 140 MPG. Averaging 500 miles per week. Blowing away the EPA estimates daily. It takes some getting used to because the car is designed to operate like a normal gas guzzling car but it really is meant to be operated differently...economically. Where I used drive 75 mph, I now drive 60-65 because the motor's sweet spot is below 65. I don't punch the throttle anymore because the car visually let me know how stupid that was on the HUD. All in all the car is SO good at what it does and it fits the two car seats (one in reverse so you know what kind of space hog it is...), the two kid Citi-Select stroller, my wife (and all of her bags, backpacks and gear ;-), and myself comfortably. Since I bought the car, I put 8.7 gals of gas in the car, driven 1500 miles, and on the current tank of gas I have used 1.4 gals of gas to drive 850 miles...and I DON'T hyper-mile when I drive. I just drive. Do that in a Prius. I dare ya. By the way, in Sport mode, I lit the tires up and I stretched her legs once so far doing 102 (governor at 99 so I coasted up to 102) all on electric and barely moved my MPGs for this tank of gas. It is quick, not like you are winding out something that should not wound out but it feels like the engineers detuned it a little bit to save the transmission. Just my guess. Just hope the Cadillac version lets you tap more of the unlimited torque potential of an electric motor cause I am sure I could smoke a Mustang with it! Now my wife wants one.

Love the Chevy Volt! It is a good looking, quiet drive--with a peppy engine (accelerates well when extra speed is needed). It also gives you a guage that shows you when you are driving most economically. It is the unknown hero of the gas crisis... if you drive it efficiently-- you can get 45 miles (or more) on a charge. If you are going further than 45 miles... the gasoline engine takes over-- so you never worry about being stranded. Plugs in to a normal grounded household outlet. I am able to take my son to school, go to work, come home (41 miles roundtrip) -- all on electric. Truly have no idea how much gas costs today-- because I don't buy it anymore! Back seat area is not huge-- but comfortable enough for someone 6 ft or shorter. Plus-up options include beautiful leather, Bose speakers, and back-up assist camera. It is a shame-- it is the best kept secret for economical and fun driving. Government also gives tax credits to offset purchase costs. Look into it!

My husband (JDHCalif) wrote a lengthy review and I wanted to add my 2 cents. We are actually now getting nearly 130mpg per day because his company installed an electrical outlet in his office parking area. The car costs about $2 to fully charge at PG&E rates and each full charge takes the car about 45 miles. Even though we drive 130 mile+ daily commutes we are burning almost no gas...not insignificant in CA where gas is now $4.63 per gallon. The Volt is proving to be more than twice as economical as our Prius...and it drives so much better - even the regen brakes feel better. We are going to sell the Prius and get another fully loaded Volt for me (which net/net costs less than a comparably loaded new Prius).

I have a 2nd Gen Prius & a Volt (first American car I?ve owned) so I have some basis to compare them. To sum it up: In Calif. the comparably loaded new Prius goes for more than the Volt (thanks to the Fed and State rebates, and yet the Volt gets singificantly higher MPG. In fact, after several thousand Bay Area commute miles I am getting an average 80 mpg - and it would be higher if I had a electrical outlet to plug into at work (they are putting one in for me). Also, the 3 yr CA HOV Lane access that comes with the Volt is priceless - it saves me 50 min on daily commutes. Regarding the drive characteristics: The best way that I can describe how the Volt drives & handles is that it is solid & competent. The doors close with a solid thud & when underway, the steering is connected to the road & the cabin is extremely quiet. Said differently, the Volt drives like a much larger/more competent `regular? car without engine noise (oh, and the Volt accelerates much faster than the Prius, i.e. much better low-end torque). The 3rd Gen Prius (like the 2nd Gen I own) is bouncy & jittery (especially in any kind of wind or weather), loud, has a numb steering feel & is tinny ? don?t get me wrong, I expect this from a light car that gets extremely high mileage...but compared to the Volt, the Prius is a golf cart. It's no wonder that the Volt has won so many `Car of the Year? awards & Consumer Reports' super high marks.

Island living and the Volt are perfect for each other. My island is only 50 miles across, and Hawaii is making a great effort to provide a welcoming embrace for electric vehicles. Free parking, including the airport and parking meters, open access to HOV lanes and a concerted effort to install lots of recharging stations. I commute 64 miles round trip everyday and thanks to charging stations everywhere I do it all on electric. I've owned the car for 5 months now, I've put 5500 miles on it. I'm still have the gas the dealer put in when I picked it up. I'm at 750 MPG now, I did play with the gas engine when I first got it or it would have been much higher. I traded in my beautiful C6 Corvette for this car. Corvette owners are some of the pickiest owners around. If the Volt had any defects believe me I would have groused about it plenty, but perfection is hard to beat. The Corvette does what it does extremely well, the Volt does what it does better. Electricity rates and gas prices here are the highest in the nation and the Volt still in the end just makes sense. Complain about bail outs all you want, listen to Fox News pundits if you like, I'm as conservative as they come and I'm here to tell you the car is a wonder. Don't believe me if you want, check out the stats for 600 owners, google voltstats. Onstar downloads mileage data from all the cars 4 times a day, see what we're all seeing for yourself.

We got this car after looking around at many different options but with the $7500 back and the thought of saving gas we couldn't pass it up. I traded in my Avalanche (13mpg city and 17 mpg hgwy) even though I loved the car gas was just killing us with my wife and I driving and a 17 year old driving and 15 year old almost there. First off I have a buddy and he has a Prius and it is a nice car but for my taste the exterior on is downright ugly (just my opinion). The Volt is very stylish and sporty looking, nothing like a typical tree hugger car. Anyhow I figure real world driving we are getting 77mpg (to charge it is about a third of the cost of a gallon of gas) including the cost of electric. This would be more but the first day from the dealer did not have any charge on the vehicle. My wife drives to and from work about 39 miles 4 days a week without using a drop of gas. I use the car the other day and travel 100 miles on a little over a gallon of gas. In electric mode we are getting anywhere from 44 to 53 on one charge. Even after the electric runs out I have never gotten any worse that 40 mpg. Everyone that has sat in the car has been impressed and most didn't have a clue about how truly amazing the vehicle is. Best advise I can give is go test drive one yourself. Until you have used the vehicle its hard to understand how cool it is.