The Chevy Volt Is A Dismal Failure And Things Keep Getting Worse

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"March's sales for the Chevy Volt plunged over 35% from last year to a paltry 1,478 units. To put that in perspective, that's about one Volt sold every two months per dealership. The number is also down from an only slightly less paltry 1,626 sales in February. GM's excuses for the poor performance seem to be drying up as quickly as the demand for the Volt. During GM's sales conference call, management claimed that sales are "stable" and that they are "feeling good about the trend." Such dishonesty brings into question GM's credibility."

"In the past, GM claimed that lack of supply was the reason for low Volt sales. In addition, GM indignantly blamed a Republican conspiracy to hurt Volt sales as a contributing factor to the dismal sales figures for the car. Regarding supply, a recent search on cars.com showed that 6,804 new Chevy Volts are available nationwide. That's about a five months supply! The problem is obviously a lack of demand as GM produced 2,722 Volts in March; over a thousand more than needed."

"So, now we have one more indicator that the Chevy Volt hype has all been a farce. Yet there is still no admission nor is there any accountability for the hoax that cost taxpayers billions of dollars. The lie lives on as few will criticize the politically-sensitive green failure. The Congressional Budget Office reported that electric vehicle subsidies will cost taxpayers about $7.5 billion over a few years for little benefit. Nissan and Toyota have admitted that lithium- ion based, plug-in electric cars are not a viable alternative to gas- powered vehicles. Still, the folly continues."

"GM has doubled down on the failed technology of the Volt, now offering a plug-in Chevy Spark while working on plug-in Chevy Cruzes and Cadillacs. The business strategy seems to be politically-driven, since there is no economic reason to pursue a technology that has been a proven failure in the free market, despite taxpayer subsidization. Billions of taxpayer dollars will continue to be lost on a green pipe dream which has no logical basis. When will it be time to say that enough is enough?"

Reply to
jon_banquer
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That's funny. People with money not buying Volts. Maybe people with money are smart ;)

Reply to
Frank

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# That's funny. People with money not buying Volts. # Maybe people with money are smart ;)

My experience is that GM has made crap for years, with the possible exception of trucks. However, my Suburban was a complete joke.

Reply to
Wayne

Yeah, smart people are careful with their money!

I haven't had a GM car since my '76 Vega. It wasn't as bad as a lot of people think, but it WAS a cheap car. Still, it got near

40 MPG on the highway. (I had a manual transmission, and they may have put in the rear axle ratio for an automatic. I used to joke it was 4 speeds, 3rd, 4th, half-grumble and full-grumble. It also blew the first clutch at 18000 miles. When I went to the parts store, the offered a 7 1/2" clutch disk or a 12 3/4" and told me only one of those would fit. Well, either one fit, so I put in the big one. Then I found out why they put the small clutch in, it was VERY difficult to start from a standstill. I developed a new clutch technique I called the inertial dump. You burned the clutch a little to get rolling, then backed off the throttle and it would essentially stall and then jump start. While teaching my wife to drive it, she actually managed to make it do a wheelie! The power pulses from the engine worked with the bounce in the front suspension and it kept building up. I ended up in the front seat footwell even though I had my seat belt on.

I managed to get 13 years and 76K miles out of a Vega, which was pretty close to a record (with no major rebuilds).

But, our other "American brand" cars in the following years were also horrible, ending with a 1998 15 passenger Ram van on the

3500B chassis. The worst thing was the A/C system, which was constantly leaking, and an auto transmission that blew at 80000 miles, right after the warranty expired.

On the other hand, I had a stick-shift 1989 Toyota Corolla station wagon that ran for 160K miles with only a starter replacement. Didn't even have to recharge the air conditioning in 19 years! Its life ended when it had an accident.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Or the $21K (real customer price) Honda Civic hybrid. I get 64 MPG when the temperature is reasonable, maybe 54 in winter or summer when using the AC, as bad as 49 when taking long trips with 600 Lbs of stuff going to a trade show. And, that is on gasohol, mileage should be better on pure gas if you can get it.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

64 mpg is excellent. The prius c, with a light foot, sposedly gets 68-70.

But ito fundamental design, ie, the plug-in SERIES hybrid motif, chevy got it right with the volt, bloat notwithstanding.

It would be really inneresting to see what toyoter or honder or even nissan, mitsubishi could do with that concept. I'd use two 20-25 hp multi-winding motors in the back, two 5-7.5 hp motors in the front, for an incredibly versatile vehicle -- any combination of rear/front/all-wheel drive on command.

I'd keep the generator ICE to 1,000 cc max, skip all the Volt bloated bullshit -- any engineer with planetary gears in his drawings would be immediately fired. A bitty diesel genset, where people could throw in their old salad dressing/biofuel, would be pretty neat as well, perhaps as an option. Bloat-free, I'm sure a toyota-designed car like this would be good for the std 100++ mpge on all electric, and 70+ hybrid.

Reply to
Existential Angst

EA finds it necessary to prove how little he ever knew, and continues to not know, about a car he loves/hates/wants/wouldn't buy/is too complicated/is necessarily complicated. He's started multiple threads to talk about EVs, but early on declared that electricity costs more than gas in his area. If only they still included secret decoder rings in cereal then perhaps there'd be a way to discern what he truly wants. My guess is that he wants a Volt BAD but can't afford it. At some point he said he'd buy it if the government subsidized it down to $15k, which I take to be the top amount he can borrow for a new car. Coincidentally, that's the price he erroneously claimed for a Prius C, which he clearly has no intention of buying.

No need to worry unless you start contradicting yourself.

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

That would be a great number if all your trips were downhill with a tailwind both ways. Here are the real world numbers:

"The EPA rates it at 50 mpg combined, as it does the larger Prius liftback--but the little Prius C gets a better city mileage rating (53 mpg) and a worse highway rating (46 mpg) than its big brother, which is rated at 51 mpg city, 48 mpg highway.

This weekend, over our usual test route of about 320 miles--which is roughly two-thirds highway and one-third urban and suburban--our 2012 Toyota Prius C test car returned 47.1 mpg.

That's well within the 10 percent margin we allow on the EPA combined rating, and it's an impressively high number.

The second trip odometer setting, which included an additional 117 miles before our tenure in the car, produced 46.2 miles per gallon on average."

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Note that the C gets worse highway mileage than it's larger and heavier cousin, which throws cold water on your "lighter simpler smaller is always better" baloney.

Your certainty that you know more about car design than the majors brings to mind Nick Offerman's character in American Body Shop.

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He even grafted aircraft wings onto some old shitbox. And why not? Just because some stupid engineers say it can't be done, that's no reason for a crank to hold back, right?

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

What the f*ck is wrong with you? If you did even cursory reading of the articles I've supplied you about the Volt, then you'd know that it has "mountain mode." That's required because the generator is already the minimum size, and too small for every condition. There are times (long steep hilly stretches) when the battery and generator are BOTH needed, but the battery is too depleted. In that case the car runs at reduced power... which can be prevented by switching the car to mountain mode in advance of the situation, whereby the generator powers the car AND brings the battery to a higher SOC than is normally required.

Why the hell do you keep posting things that demonstrate how little you know about the subject? Do you even understand that charging a battery with an ICE _ADDS_ inefficiency?

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

But it's such an interesting subject, with lots of metalworking and amateur engineering, ripe for speculative ideas and imagination, and so unworthy of argument.

Why do we develop such a proprietary involvement with the gadgets we own or decide not to own? Seriously, I recognize the impulse, especially in these days when we own so much crap and there's nothing much to justify it except as symbols of our identity.

But still...in 2013, we're using cars as intellectual fashion statements?

Maybe I'm just out of touch, or I left that stuff behind me.

My neighbor down the street owns a body shop and he drives a Mercedes CL. Maybe I should ask him.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Wbatever it is, I"m glad it's not the same thing that's wrong with YOU.

Dumbfuck, your ICE puts out 80 hp -- at LEAST. My genset is powered by a 22 hp honder motor, which could EASILY maintain a compact car at 60 mph.

You completely missed the fukn point.... again.

AND, whatever bullshit modes your conspicuous-consumer-oriented BloatCar offers, I could do manually, by throwing 59c HD wall switches. BUT, that would require thinking and understanding, which you don't really have time for. Cuz, well, yer too busy screaming, Lookee Mommy, I passed another gas station!!!!!!

If you did even cursory reading of

Very good. Now, study a little harder and mebbe you'll get the real point.

You figgered that out, all by yerself?? No help at all???

Reply to
Existential Angst

Warning:

Reply to
Existential Angst

Kidding is unworthy of argument. He's simply sport. I'm too lazy to play chess, so I f*ck with Kidding.

Which is precisely why KiddingHisself drives around in his Volt with an ascot....

Hmmm..... I think I was wrong.... I think kidding DOES stop in gas stations, just to talk to some hapless driver about his Volt and pointedly mention that he is *not* buying gas, but a Dunkin Donut Iced Latte....

Kidding obviously is. I drive a Nissan pickup, and a Honder Shit.... I mean, Fit. I can take or leave either of them. They suit their purpose. The Nissan hauls; the Fit is easy to drive, park, easy on gas, insurance rates, parts/repairs. Neither will get stolen, vandalized for parts, both are very reliable. The only thing wrong with the Nissan truck is that I got it in Fagit Blue.... even the Wife laughs at me....

I WOULD love a Volt -- IFFFF it made sense. I"d even overpay for a Volt, like Kidding did, "for the cause", but NOT at the risk of being held ransom forever. AND, I'm no fan of chevy, anyway.

Kidding seems to have IMMENSE intellectual difficulties with the following non-exclusive non-contradictory statements.

  1. The Volt design is fundamentally sound.
  2. The Volt design is bloatedly executed.
  3. All things being equal, I would like to have a Volt
  4. All things are not equal.

He should go to Kaplan, study for the SATs, where they cover logical statements, inconsistencies. Might also boost his reading level, so he can finally read on grade.

The Free Therapy mode of UseNet is obviously not working for him. Mebbe he can get some thru medicare??

Hey Ed, what kind of car do YOU drive? And how do you drive it? Leadfoot?? Helium-foot? LOL

Don't get me started on benz.... lol

Reply to
Existential Angst

I just explained to you that even with that much power, it needs to be applied IN ADVANCE sometimes to maintain full power in extended hilly sections. It's apparent that you cannot understand such realities.

It could NOT power a 4 place series hybrid (which is what you keep claiming is the perfect arrangement) up a hill. Get yourself one of these

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and try to learn something. Put it on your Fit and read the horsepower going up a hill, moron.

Your only point seems to be to prove over and over that you're immune to reality.

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

Who is "we?" Not me. I wanted a car that I could power with PV.

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

Ford Focus ZX3, with 2.3 l engine. Only 30 mpg, but it goes like hell. Blowing off Audi A4s is my favorite sport.

Yes, I'm a bit heavy-footed on acceleration, but I don't drive fast. Except for 105 into a Jersey jughandle to sucker an A4 off the road (no kidding -- A4s do a kind of sluggish spin...). No tickets since

1982.

My wife drives a Hyundai Sonata.

At $150,000 (CL63 AMG), he can have it.

'Wish I owned a body shop, though...

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

Well, I meant that in general, not particularly about you, and as a source of self-identity and some ferocious arguments.

I love cars, but they aren't worth it.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Arf arf You're obsessed, just like Bonkers.

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

Certainly a lot of new cars are too much appliance for enthusiasts. The Volt is a rare bird in that regard. It's an appliance that an enthusiast can enjoy. Which is pretty cool considering that its five year cost is less than comparable appliance type cars.

Reply to
whoyakidding's ghost

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