* How is the performance at fwy speeds? When does the gas engine boost come on? Is it above 55mph or 65mph or 75? Perhaps it's based more on throttle input? If I smash the pedal will the gas motor kick on? How noticeable is the transition? Is there a lag?
* Did you buy the 220-240V charger?
* What kind of mpg do you get when you're going say 75-80mph on a drive to Tahoe or Vegas?
* Have you noticed any cold weather affects to the electric range? I assume we're quite mild here in CA but thought i'd ask.
* How supportive are the front seats?
* Is the navigation option worth it? I use Waze exclusively so I was considering not getting it. Though, I read reviews that the sound system is awesome in this car... I suppose it's partly due to the car being so quiet to begin with.
* The gas engine does not come on until the battery is dead, period. You can cruise at 80mph on the battery though you may only get 20-25 miles of range doing so (whereas you get 35+ using the battery around town at 0-55mph or so). If you know that you are taking a trip where there is some highway first, then some city driving later, and you prefer to use gasoline on the highway and conserve your battery charge for the city, the Volt has a feature called "hold mode" where you can force it to pretend the battery is dead and act like a Prius. When the battery is dead the car becomes a better Prius - the gas motor sounds pretty terrible, but I guess it's quiet, and the transition is pretty seamless and the dynamics of the car don't seem to change at all.
For performance, the car feels very torquey at around-town speeds. On the highway, speeding up to pass is pretty glacial... but the brakes are quiet good so you can do "momentum driving" :wink:
* Nope, I've found that if I go through the charging menu and set the 120v charge speed to 12 amps, I can fill the car up off a standard outlet overnight. The chargers at my workplace are 240v though, which is nice if I drop someone off at the airport in the morning before going to work or something.
* I took the car to Los Angeles and back once and got 44mpg on the way down and 47mpg on the way back up (because I got savvy about when to use the battery and when to coast down the grapevine and recharge...). This was on I-5 at 70mph.
* I got the car in the dead of winter and that's actually when it was getting its best range - high summer temperatures mean I am using the a/c more and that is reducing my range slightly.
* They're very comfortable, no complaints on long trips.
* I have never owned a car with factory nav. In the case of the Volt you do get free OnStar with the lease, and this includes OnStar nav - so I use the OnStar app on my phone to type in an address, and then it sends it to the car. Works well enough for me.
As far as the stereo - well, you saw my other thread, my car audio standards have gone up considerably as of late :tongue: - I dunno if I would call it "awesome", but yes, the car being quiet helps a lot, and I'd say the system is pretty good for a stock system in a non-luxury car. I can certainly see being very happy with it and not being tempted to replace it.
