By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

Jen and I met Rob and Griot’s Garage in Tacoma Washington on Saturday morning as GM kicked off the Volt Unplugged tour–a 3400 mile cross-country road trip providing the American public its first chance to get hands-on with the Volt. Although the production Volt looks almost nothing like the concept, it was immediately clear that pictures do not do this car justice. The closer you get to the Volt, the more you realize that this car has a lot to offer. Follow the jump for more pictures and test drive review of GM’s first Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (EREV).

Continue reading "Driving the Chevrolet Volt" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

I finally got to drive the Volt this weekend. It’s a real car! Runs, drives, the works. Looks good, too. But does it live up to the hype?

As I mentioned yesterday, GM is in a bit of hot water over Volt. Until recently, GM has been saying that the gasoline motor was only there as a backup, that it was only used to charge the battery. Well now it turns out that the gasoline engine may indeed directly power the wheels at speeds over 70 mph. So can GM still call it an electric car? Did they lie to us? Can the Volt still save GM? Is it all just a big scam? Should we all be feeling very sad and disappointed right now?

Honestly, I think the only people who are going to be disappointed are the people who bought into the hype to begin with. Because despite everything that has been said or will be said about the Volt, it’s still a very nice car.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "The Chevy Volt: Don’t Believe the Hype" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Jen and I got the chance to drive the new Chevy Volt on Saturday. Rolling into the office today we were greeted by a mounting Volt backlash in the automotive press. It appears that GM is now saying (admitting?) that the gasoline engine will directly power the wheels in charge-sustaining mode at speeds over 70 mph. This contradicts previous statements that the gasoline engine was only there to recharge the battery. GM also downgraded the electric range in recent weeks from a 40 mile range to a 25 to 50 range.

So what does this all mean? To me it means that the Volt is an electric car when you use it for short trips around town, but then it morphs into more of a hybrid-type vehicle when you use it for longer trips. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad car. But GM definitely has a marketing problem, and they’re gonna need to figure it out pronto.

We’ll get our Volt reviews up shortly, but here are the cliff notes: it’s a very cool car. You can read more about the Volt drivetrain at Motor Trend, with commentary on the recent findings by Jalopnik, Autoblog and Edmunds

By Steve Little

SouthernGuy8503

The 2011 Chevy Volt has been a long time coming, but Chevrolet has been taking pre-orders for its new electric for the better part of a month now. Though there have been reports of dealer gouging, the Volt is offered at the official site for $350 a month with $2500 down. Or purchase for as low as $33,500 after the $7,500 tax credit. The Volt is so far only available in the major markets of New York, New Jersey, D.C., Michigan, Texas, California, and Connecticut. It’ll be interesting to see if and where it gains traction–what are your thoughts, does Chevy have a winner? More pics below the jump.

Continue reading "Chevy Volt Ready For Pre-Order" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

The Volt is now in testing on public roads without much in the way of camouflage. These two were spotted on I-66 in Virginia by VWVortex member jamerican1. I’m a little disappointed that, rolling down the road, the Volt basically just looks like a Prius. But I guess pretty much everything electrified looks like a Prius these days, and the Volt has so much more to offer over the current crop of hybrids. One more pic below the jump!

Continue reading "Production Volts Sighted In The Wild" »

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

Marking a major milestone in American automotive history the first pre-production Volt rolled off the line at the Hamtramck Plant in Detroit on March 31st, 2010.  GM’s engineering team will use this first wave of plug-in electrics for quality control testing before full-scale production starts later this year. See more pictures after the jump and read more on Chevrolet Volt’s official Facebook page.

Continue reading "First Chevy Volt Rolls Off The Assembly Line" »

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

If you read the major car publications it’s easy to get the feeling that all automotive journalists agree on everything. When journalists sing universal praise, throw jeers or are notoriously silent, it’s hard for readers to disregard.

There are plenty of conspiracy theories that blame editors beholden to advertisers scaring writers into not even trying to say something good about one car or bad about another. Personally, I buy more into the explanation of groupthink, as it’s easy to be confident in your opinion when others have come to the same conclusion time and time again.

I, however, being totally independent (not to mention subtle-as-a-chainsaw) have no problem saying where I differ from the rest. So here is my list of Top Ten Automotive Things About Which I Disagree With My Colleagues.

10) Chrysler 300C: I’ve owned plenty of Chryslers in my time, so maybe this is why I approached the 300C with a more critical eye. Consequently, I never liked the 300C (and its lesser variations) as much as the rest of the automotive journalists.

Everyone else saw a good-looking car with ample power from the “Hemi V8″. I saw past the nice styling and focused on a huge car with sub-Honda Accord-sized leg and knee room (courtesy of typically ultra-thick, but not very comfortable front seats). As nice as the Hemi (sans hemispherical combustion chambers) was, it couldn’t overcome the totally numb steering and spongy braking that made the car feel cumbersome. Plus, as someone who lived through Chrysler ownership, there was always the certainty that the 300C would be just like Chrysler’s other vehicles — engineered at low cost to ensure high failures, which would only be made worse by one of the most poorly trained dealer service networks in America.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Top Ten Automotive Things About Which I Disagree With Most Other Automotive Journalists" »

By Jim Brennan

UDMan

I realize that 2009 was a very tough year for GM, but at the press event, I never realized how depressing the year really was until today. Instead of debuting some knock your socks off concept, or another special edition Camaro (how about a Camaro with the ZR-1 Corvette Engine installed?) we were treated to the introduction of the Chevy Spark (a concept that is over two years old, and which GM top brass would never would be sold in the US), another version of the Chevrolet Cruz, as well as a different Chevrolet Volt.

Continue reading "NAIAS: The Chevrolet Reveals; The Spark, Volt, Aveo and Cruz again." »

By DriverSide

DriverSide

Looks like General Motors has let a few pre-production Chevrolet Volts escape from the company’s Warren Testing Center. A few of the cars have been spotted scooting around on all-electric power near the facility, representing the closest we’ve come to seeing the real deal in action. GM says the company plans to unleash up to 80 pre-production models to help work out any bugs in the system and prepare for the car’s launch next year. For those of you who are blissfully unaware, the Volt is being hailed as GM’s savior incarnate. The extended-range EV can cruise up to 45 miles on a single charge, plug into a household outlet and pop you in the wallet for $32,500 after a government rebate. Via BackSeatDriver

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

So far we’ve only seen prototypes and test mules, but GM started building the first pre-production Volt yesterday. These early vehicles will be built by hand, and take about two weeks to finish. GM plans to build ten per week by July and will have 80 cars on the road by the fall. Full story at Wired