Our time with the Chevy Volt has come to an end, so its time to sum up the good … and the bad. The good. The Volt is a well-made, reliable Plug-In Hybrid Electric. The electric motor (like most electric motors) is very responsive. Pressure on the gas pedal resulted in immediate engine response. When […]
Ford C-MAX – Our Long Term Testing Ends
Our time with the C-MAX has come to an end. What insights has our one year/13,000 mile relationship brought us? Mostly, that the C-MAX is a much maligned car. It got bad press due to the EPA’s outdated testing procedures that resulted in the C-MAX getting unrealistic mileage ratings and a troublesome radio. Aside from […]
Chevy Volt – Cold Weather Impacts Batter
It probably isn’t a surprise to most car owners that cold weather has a major impact on car batteries, especially if they live in the Midwest (or anywhere the temperature falls below zero). That being said, I was still a little surprised at the dramatic impact of not so cold weather on the Volt’s battery. […]
Volt Road Trip – Real World Gas Engine M
Over the holidays we took the Volt on a quick road trip to Omaha. The weather was brutal (close to zero at times and when it warmed up we hit an ice storm) but overall the Volt performed well. Driving on icey roads is never fun but the Volt stayed under control and provided first-hand […]
The Volt at 6 months
We’ve had the Volt for 6 months now, absolutely no problems to report. In the last three months the Volt has used 1.1 gallons of gas. Also, thanks to the warmer summer months the EV range has increased from an average of 37 miles per charge to 43 miles. The fact is, the more I […]
2013 C-MAX MPG Improves Dramatically in ...
We’ve had the C-MAX for 6 months now and the big news is the huge improvement in miles per gallon. During the winter months the C-MAX averaged a somewhat disappointing 38 miles per gallon in-town. Now that the weather has warmed up the C-MAX is averaging an unbelievable 51 miles per gallon. Keep in mind […]
Chevy Volt – Getting The Best Mileage in
Does cold weather effect mileage with the Volt? The answer is yes… and no. Cold weather weather definitely has an impact on mileage but user controlled climate control settings have even more effect. For the first month our Volt was using a surprising amount of gas, by surprising I mean 4-5 gallons, but my commute […]
Chevy Volt – First Month
3/22/2013 We’ve had the Chevy Volt for a month now and overall the experience has been positive. As expected the mileage hasn’t been great because of the cold weather. Plus, if I had made a few additional configuration settings for the Volt the mileage would have been substantially better – more about that later. For […]
2013 Chevy Volt – Long Term Test – Deliv
2/12/2013 Picked up the 2013 Volt at the local Chevy dealer on the 12th of February. Sadly, it was a fairly typical delivery experience. Even though all the numbers were agreed to before I set foot in the dealership it still took over 2 hours to take possession of the car. And, as is typical, […]
Ford C-MAX – Long Term Test Begins
11/17/2012 Picked up the C-MAX at the local Ford dealer on the 17th of November. A surprisingly pleasant experience at the dealership. We negotiated the purchase online, then spent only 20 minutes in the business office filling out paperwork. The best part, no effort was made to sell us a lot of unnecessary upgrades such […]