Chevy Volt 2017 Review: An Electric Car With A Gas Assistant

The Chevy Volt is unlike any car I've ever driven. For the first 50 miles it's an all-electric sedan with zero tailpipe emissions that you can recharge at home. Once the battery runs dry, though, the Volt keeps going on a four-cylinder gas generator that takes you the rest of the car's 420-mile range. So the Volt 2017 (which is nearly identical to the Volt 2016) exists somewhere between yesterday's world of internal combustion engines and tomorrow's world of full electrics – and whether you call that an E-REV or a PHEV, it's a pretty exciting place to be. Hop behind the wheel with Michael Fisher for MrMobile's Chevy Volt 2017 Review!


[ABOUT THIS REVIEW]

The Chevy Volt 2017 Review was produced after seven days with a Chevy Volt 2017 review vehicle on loan from Chevrolet. The car was principally driven in the Greater Boston area in September 2016, with a 500-mile round trip to New York City via Newport, RI.


[THANKS]

Additional cinematography for the Chevy Volt 2017 Review was provided by Mark Guim and Mike Jandreau.


[ADDITIONAL READING]

Chevy Volt 2017 at Chevrolet:
http://mrmobile.tech/2f

Chevy Volt 2017 at Car and Driver:
http://www.caranddriver.com/chevrolet/volt

Chevy Volt 2017 Review at Slashgear:
http://www.slashgear.com/2017-chevrolet-volt-review-the-secret-hybrid-22452812/


[MUSIC]

"The Ballad of MrMobile." Mobile Nations, 2016

"Dubday" by Cymatix, available at Premium Beat:
http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/dubday

"Fashionista" by Olive Musique, available at Premium Beat:
http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/fashionista

"Protofunk" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


[SOCIALIZE]

http://facebook.com/themrmobile
http://instagram.com/themrmobile
http://twitter.com/themrmobile
https://www.snapchat.com/add/mrmobilesnaps
http://mrmobile.tech


[DISCLOSURE]

This post may contain affiliate links. See Mobile Nations' disclosure policy for more details: http://www.mobilenations.com/external-links

---

Closed Caption:

- [Narrator] When I test
drove the Tesla Model S
and Model X electric
cars earlier this year,
I said driving them was like
sitting inside the future.
Well, the 2017 Chevy Volt
feels more like sitting
inside the present, but
it turns out the present
is a lot cooler than I thought it was.
I'm Michael Fisher, and this
is the Mr. Mobile Review.
(exciting music)
Chevy's electric car branding
can be a little confusing.
First of all, this is the
Volt, not the similar sounding
Chevy Bolt.
The difference is that Bolt
is an electric only car
while the Volt is what's
called an extended range
electric vehicle, or if you
prefer, a plug in hybrid,
but unlike a typical hybrid,
the Volt is designed to operate primarily
on electricity alone.
That's the mode it wakes
up in when you press
the power button, and
whether you're tooling around
the city, cruising the 'burbs,
or speeding down the highway,
all of you motive power is
coming from the electric motors
and the onboard battery.
Chevy says the Volt will
give you up to 53 miles
of range just on electric power,
and you can recharge it directly,
either at home or at a
public charging station.
If you forget to recharge it,
or you can't get to a charge
point, or you just need
to take a longer trip,
that's where the hybrid part comes in.
The Volt also packs a
gas powered generator
and a nine gallon fuel
tank that extends the range
almost tenfold.
Unlike previous generations,
this Volt takes regular unleaded
instead of demanding premium.
For all the innovation in the power train,
and there's a lot, the new Volt's design
blends in more than it stands out.
That's not a strike
against it, necessarily.
While I tend to prefer
something a little more
ostentatious, I came
to love the new Volt's
aerodynamic lines, especially
in the kinetic blue paint job.
It's got a few surprises too.
I didn't know it was a
hatchback when I first
took delivery, but I sure was glad for it
when it came time to tote around
a bunch of camera equipment.
Fold down the seats,
you get even more room.
That somewhat makes up
for Chevy calling this
a five-seater.
Try putting anyone but the smallest child
in that middle seat and
you'll see what I mean.
Also, big and tall folks may have trouble
fitting in even the full sized rear seats.
At least they get seat warmers
and USB charging ports though.
Up front, the interior
strikes a nice balance
between modern features
and straightforward design.
The physical controls
are pleasantly tactile
with big buttons and easy to find knobs
while the virtual stuff
is more straightforward
than most car software I've used,
though it's still a bit laggy at times.
The Volt's onboard navigation
suite works well enough,
and so does its OnStar system,
and the car can also
produce its own WiFi hotspot
using a built in AT&T cellular connection.
I didn't make much use of these though,
since you can also just plug your phone in
and use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
If your phone has Qi wireless charging,
there's a place for that too.
On the whole, the cabin
exudes a sense of quality,
even if it doesn't approach glitz.
My review vehicle had a
problem with the entertainment
system frequently rebooting,
but this isn't an issues I've
seen widely reported yet.
So for now, I'm calling it a fluke.
How does it feel to drive? Pretty sporty.
I had a Volt 2017 for a full week,
and I used it for
everything from quick jaunts
to the studio to a 500-mile
round trip to New York City.
It's a speedy little thing.
While it doesn't pack the pep of a Tesla,
its 2.6 second zero to 30 time is great
for quick little launches
into neighborhood traffic.
To a kid who grew up
accustomed to mid-tier
gas guzzlers, the instant
acceleration when your foot
hits the go pedal is still intoxicating.
When you come down on the other pedal,
the Volt is smart about it.
It applies regenerative braking first
to convert some of your
kinetic energy into current
and to bolster your battery charge.
Only if you need to stop
fast does it blend in
some friction with the brake pads,
which should mean they last longer.
You can also choose to
exclusively use regen
with a dedicated paddle
on the steering wheel
or switch to L on the gear shifter
for a bit of one pedal driving.
You get direct control over
energy consumption too.
The hold option is basically
the opposite of normal mode.
It lets you drive primarily
on the gas generator
and keeps the battery
charged at or close to full
so you can save that power for later.
The Volt I reviewed is the premier trim,
which packs a lot of built in conveniences
I quickly came to appreciate.
The proximity sensors
around the car's perimeter
give it an awareness of its surroundings.
While driving slowly on a city street,
it can search for available parking spaces
and then, with a little
help from the driver
in braking and shifting,
the Volt can park itself.
It was impressive, and it worked three
out of the four times I tried it.
The same sensors give
you proximity warnings
when you're creeping up on obstacles
or they're creeping up on you.
My favorite feature they
enable is the warning light
on each side mirror that lights up
when someone's in your blind spot.
The blind spots on the Volt are huge,
so I really appreciated the help,
especially driving in a city
where bicyclists abound.
There's also a front facing camera here
alongside the rear view mirror.
Among other things, it
theoretically makes it possible
for the car to keep
itself in its own lane,
but it's better as a lane
departure warning system
than any kind of auto pilot.
The Volt will also warn
you with lights and sounds
if you're approaching a car ahead
at an unsafe speed, and of course,
Chevy offers a smart phone app
so you can remotely
unlock and start your Volt
or just see where it is.
How far you can drive on a charge
depends on many factors,
traffic, outside temperature,
how liberal you are with
the steering wheel heater,
you name it.
Plus, driving efficiency
has a lot to do with it.
I'm not a very efficient
driver so I tended
to go through the Volt's
battery in more like 45 miles.
Again, this doesn't mean my trip ended.
Even at highway speeds, the
car seamlessly transitions
from the battery to the gas sustainer.
Aside from the slight added
noise, I hardly noticed it.
Even with a lot of gas driving,
thanks to my road trip,
I inked out an average
efficiency of 52 miles per gallon
during the week I had with the car.
If I had stuck around town,
I'd have gotten much closer
to what the EPA says it's capable of.
What fuel I did burn was regular unleaded,
not the premium stuff
that older Volts demanded.
I still hated falling back on fossil fuels
in such a futuristic
car, so I tried my best
to find charge points instead.
There are more of these across New England
than I expected, and the charge point app
is super handy for navigating you to them,
telling you how much the charge will cost,
and it'll even let you
know whether a particular
charger is being used at the moment.
Some of the charge
points I found were free
and some weren't, but all
were much less expensive
than a gas pump.
The downside is because
the Volt lacks an onboard
high speed charger, it
doesn't fill up fast at all.
A full charge takes
between four and five hours
at a level two station.
You also have the option
of charging via level one,
which is literally plugging the car
into a household outlet,
but as you might expect,
that's even slower.
As a guy who lives in
an apartment building
without a charger, the Volt
obviously isn't meant for me.
So who is it meant for?
For folks who can juice it up every night
in their garage and wake
up with a full battery.
If you're one of those
people, and your round trip
to work is less than
50 miles, you could be
one of the proud Volt owners
who only go to the gas station
a few times a year.
That, plus the fact that
the car can take gas
when it needs it, makes
it easy to understand
why the Volt has accrued
such a passionate fan base.
Again, keep in mind that
I reviewed the high end
$40,000 configuration.
The least expensive one
I could build online
was $34,000 and it skimps
on some of the tricks.
That's pricey, but it's
in line with competitors.
You've gotta keep in mind two things.
First, as of today, the
Volt still qualifies
for the full $7,500 tax
credit for electric vehicles,
and second, the cost
savings over time with a car
you almost never take to a gas station
is significant.
While I'm not canceling
my Tesla Model 3 pre-order
because it won't be
delivered for a few years,
if I were shopping for
a new car right now,
there's a good chance I would.
Whereas the all electric
Teslas and Chevy's own Bolt
may be the cars of
tomorrow, the infrastructure
of tomorrow isn't here yet.
So the Volt is an excellent car for today.
If you wanna know more about those Teslas,
check out my Model 3 preview featuring
test drives of both Model S and Model X.
If you're watching on
YouTube, please subscribe
to the Mr. Mobile so you
don't miss more videos
dropping twice a week.
Until next time, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.
(upbeat music)