Motors Updated: The Chevy Volt - clever, and it looks like they've hit the spot!

Maybe you can explain this to me then...

Why is it that cars made in Japan or Korea fit Americans and cars made in America only fit asians?

Last month when the G/F and I went to Nevada we rented a car. They tried to put us in a Chevy Cobalt and I couldn't even sit in it without my head being mashed into the headliner. We sent that back and (for an extra $50 a day) they put us in a Pontiac something or other that I could at least sit in, even if I had to be a contortionist to get into it. My mom's car is a Trans-Am which is a massive beast weighing over two tons, and yes there is essentially zero legroom and you have to drive it laying down! And I'm only 6'1"

At home we have a Toyota Matrix, which is smaller that either of those vehicles, and yet I can comfortably ride in it without any problems. I used to have a Kia and despite being a small car, it had a TON of room inside.

For some reason that has never been clear to me, American designed cars always have cramped interiors. Maybe they're trying to push people into their larger (and more profitable) large vehicles. Either way, I will never again willingly buy American.

 

But it's missing the one thing that will guarantee massive amounts of sales......Hybrid. Who wants to drive something if other people don't know that it's good for the planet? My main question is, how much juice does it take to charge the batteries for that 40 mile trip? I assume it will have a bigger impact on your electricity bill than that new toaster you've been looking at getting So if it costs as much as much as one gallon of gas to get that charge, then you may as well just get a Sentra. It will save you alot of money in the long run.

 

Because a lot of older American-designed cars aren't done particularily well, and don't try and optimise for space as much as the rest of the world's cars. Euro/Japanese cars have been squeezing much more from less for years now.

 

The Cobalt is a pretty new design. I'm not disagreeing with your point, only the premise that it's gotten any better.

 

only that the electric equivalent of a gasoline gallon is like... 4x cheaper.... depending on the car and were you live.

 

GM unveils Chevy Volt

This is a four page article with few surprises, but it encapsulates some of what is to be expected upon initial release.


http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0809/gallery.gm_volt_reveal/index.html

 

its cute... it does not look like a box anymore....

 

I'd buy it tbh, it's a nice looking car, and it's a real step forward, this is how electric cars should be, you don't want to be stranded once you run out of juice from the plugin charge, so having basically what is a generator to charge the batteries and let you do long journey's seems like a brilliant idea to me!

I'm actually surprised GM managed to make such a nice looking car!

 

It doesn't actually charge the battery, when the battery get to a set point (IIRC, 30% charge) the generator then provides a "trickle charge" to keep it at that set point. So you don't arrive at your destination with a topped up battery, you still need to plug it in to get to 100%

Global design centers are starting to bear fruit, there is more in the pipeline and it looks great for the US market (the rest of us already have decent looking GM cars - Saab, Opel, Holden).

 

"The car will cost "less than purchasing a cup of your favorite coffee" to recharge, and use less electricity annually than a refrigerator"

????

 

by virtue of them buying out half decent designers in the first place.

 

40 miles is the range on a full charge. Hence it costs 80 cents (USD) to charge. A tall mocha at starbucks is something like $3 or $3.50, so it costs less then a cup of coffee to recharge. You can't find even a black coffee for 80 cents these days.

 

I should have been clearer JJ, I knew that it wasn't going to charge the battery to full when using the engine, I did make it sound like I thought it would though.

I think that's a pretty good system though, it doesn't over use the engine, just uses it for the right amount to keep the car moving. I think this could a brilliant thing they've done here. I'm going to changet the thread title to something more positive.

 

I think they would have to pull their fingers out and use a lot of composites to make this viable. A heavy alluminum shell, not to mention all of that crap it has to drag around (readeople) would make it as much of a lie as the prius.

 

Aluminium is a lightweight material, you couldn't use composites and keep it affordable, plus it's equal to 150bhp and 273 lb-ft of torque, which is roughly the same as a Passat TDi, so it's going to have no problems shifting itself.

 

Yes, but if you run out of the initial 40 miles of juice your stuck lumping yourself around in a family powered by a hampster esque 1.4 litre engine.

real economical.

 

Did you read this thread? The hampster wheel petrol engine is a generator all it does is trickle charge the battery to run the electric motor its not connected to the running gear.

 

Exactly, unlike the Prius which uses the 1.5 engine to haul itself around, this engine is used to charge the batteries (or put another way, to keep the batteries charged to 30% capacity) so you've always got the 150bhp and 273lb ft of torque. GM needs to make this clearer I feel?

@ Steveo: thought it was worth repeating this again lol

 

the prius is used for both, also despite my initial doubts i really love the position gm is finally putting itself in. I mean real social change needs to occur, and frankly it wont be the people buying them which will have the decision, its the manufacturers .