I work for a rental company and have to drive at least 1 Chevy Volt a day, and the car is AWESOME!!!...................... If your 45 years old, live in california and drive 50+ miles a day.
-
'90 325is DD, 5 spd swap-H&R springs-Euro Headlight Fully Built OBD1 M54b30. Ox Blood interior, 3.46 LSD with Z3M Diff Cover. Custom shifter, every bushing replaced.
'86 325e- Donor car for swap/parts car
'00 323i- BBS 197s Totalted
'89 740 turbo Volvo- Donated
-
Wow, the whole middle of America really. WA to ID to NE to WV.
CA and East coast also have expensive gas... And Texas has cheap gas but expensive power. But WA and OR have expensive gas and cheap electricity, so does MI WV etc.
Yes, obviously driving even a V8 gas guzzling used car is better economic sense most likely versus a brand new efficient car. (Subarus with a vast % of cars still on the road after a long time reduces its impact by not needing as many replacements) But eventually cars wreck, get too expensive to keep up, etc. And a more efficient fleet helps.
What's more is if solar comes down in price, people can offset their charging with "free" electricity... (obviously system is costly and right now has a long payback, but eventually).
About green cars being wasteful... that's short-sighted: And even a Li-Ion battery that doesn't perform well enough for a car anymore could be re-used/re-purposed as a grid demand helper, storing charge during the night with excess capacity and discharging during the day when power peaks. http://gigaom.com/cleantech/faq-ener...he-smart-grid/
Makes more sense to me than:Pumped Hydro: Pumped hydro storage is the most widespread energy storage technology used in the world, according to the Energy Storage Association. There are about 90 GW of pumped storage in operation, which equals about 3 percent of worldwide generation capacity. The system works by pumping water from a lower reservoir to a higher reservoir and then letting the water move downhill to produce electricity when needed. Traditional iterations of the technology are ideal for populations that live close to high altitude terrain, like Switzerland, where pumped hydro has been used for a century.
After 10 years of driving, automakers expect they will have about 70 percent of their original capacity, which will lower a car's range.
But the batteries are still workable for many energy storage applications, such as home batteries or buffering the distribution grid. Lithium ion batteries are well suited for delivering bursts of power on the grid for minutes or hours. That means they could be used to create a steady flow of power to consumers as more variable wind and solar power comes onto the grid, said Jochen Kreusel, global head of ABB's smart grid program.
You're forgetting pundits made the car into a political punching bag and misinformed idiots have poor views of it, just like the people that think vaccines cause mental retardation now. If people ACTUALLY knew how to do basic investigation of reality and had basic reasoning abilities, then the market would actually be educated enough to make an informed decision, not some just spew some slanted ignorant views like jrobie79.Last edited by rwh11385; 03-07-2012, 10:28 PM.Comment
-
they aren't making it because its not selling right...something happened (which I cant understand) in the 80s that changed peoples minds about buying american cars. Every single car in my driveway is an American car aside from the 2 E30s I have. I will buy an american car for the rest of my life, but thats just me....I just think its funny when all these ass clowns say we shoulda bailed out GM, but they drive around in infinity's and lexus'. I'm not advocating for the govt to force people to buy American, just the complete contradictory stance they take "well I can't be seen in an American car, its so beneath me" then STFU about bailing them out1991 318is --- currently not road worthy
1991 318i ---- 308K - retired
Originally posted by RickSloan
so if you didnt get it like that did you glue fuzzy oil to the entire thing?Comment
-
Because GM made utterly craptastic cars in the 80s. And the 90s. Design processes that guaranteed the interiors would suck and they would be sold on being cheap, and people would only buy them because of price... which obviously negatively affected the bottom line. And government tax loopholes incentived huge SUVs (6000lbs+), which Americans loved with cheap gas, and GM made a lot of money on. Some programs, such as Trucks, were isolated from some of the bad management for design... but passenger cars suffered from:
1) Poor ownership/accountability of leadership - bosses that started or designed a car wouldn't be in charge of it when it sold, or didn't sell. It was someone else's problem and people fielded known losers
2) Design restraints / parameters - Those awful spring-loaded ashtrays that didn't glide open like on nice cars were actually a requirement... so that they would open at -30F. When asked what GM couldn't make something people wanted like the Chrysler 300, engineers put like 200 post-it notes identifying where Chrysler's design would not pass GM's design parameters
3) Backwards platform sharing - the exterior of cars would look the same but the innerworkings no one saw (HVAC) would be different. Now the Equinox, Terrain, and SRX look very different and unique (not just the same with different badge engineering) but still save costs. Brakes and suspension might be different, but they all bolt up the same.
They are pausing production to align supply with demand. They also stopped production last July to double production capacity. It doesn't mean they aren't selling at all.
Ironically, GM was made fun of for years for being behind the game in ideas and design and quality and manufacturing, building huge SUVs and fuel inefficient cars. Now that they caught up in quality and manufacturing and design, people are making fun that they've made a car which is an "idea whose time has not come". They're actually ahead of the game and people want to see it as a negative.Last edited by rwh11385; 03-08-2012, 07:15 AM.Comment
-
I'm going to ignore all the politics in this thread. I'm not sure how many of you have actually driven a Volt? It's actually really cool. 40k might be steep, but it's no 20k car on the inside. Almost everything is touch screen and interactive. The electric system is actually really clever and for its application it's the best car in its segment.1985 M10b18. 70maybewhpoffury. Over engineered S50b30 murica BBQ swap in progress.
Originally posted by DEV0 E30Comment
-
1991 318is --- currently not road worthy
1991 318i ---- 308K - retired
Originally posted by RickSloan
so if you didnt get it like that did you glue fuzzy oil to the entire thing?Comment
-
Yup. Fortunately, they have a big ride & drive program to actually get people to experience it.
I believe you aren't remembering that we are dealing with Americans. Look at all the ignorant and misinformed comments in this thread.
And people are buying them. Just not as much as what jossh expects. They sold almost as many Volts as BMW sold 1 series last year. Are people claiming the 1 series is a failure in America? Of course it is paled in comparison to the Cruze, an entry-level compact economy car which was one of the Top 10 selling cars in 2011. Remember, they are on the same platform so Cruze sales helps offset the costs of the Volt. And the drivetrain will be leveraged in the Ampera and also potentially the Cadillac ELR. (As well as providing economies of scale for battery purchasing for mild hybrids that will grow to become a larger and larger % of total GM sales, via e-assist) And then there are the engineers that were hired or retained that design hybridization and electrification which wouldn't be there if not for the Volt...
Like Holland says, that is not simply a 20K car with batteries. If they had launched their PHEV as a cheap economy car that also happened to be a plug-in, the people who are early adopters and take risks wouldn't have liked it as much. It's not like people buying cheap Cruzes are as likely to take a chance on new drivetrain technology... but sales now of the Volt will drive future development of the fleet.According to the car manufacturer, the Chevrolet Volt has an initial starting price of 34,995 GBP in the UK, but this goes down to 29,995 GBP after the government’s Low Carbon Vehicle grant. GM says that the Chevy Volt is being offered with a long list of premium features in the UK, like the electronic keyless ignition with touch button start, ambient LED-based interior lighting, solar absorbing glass, Bluettoth with voice recognition, heated leather seats, cruise control, air conditioner, 7-inch LCD screen with the Driver Information Centre, pedestrian alert system, touch-sensitive controls on the center console, rear camera, front and rear park assist, fully programmable door locking and leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Besides all of these features, the Chevrolet Volt for the United Kingdom is also coming with a DAB six-speaker stereo system, which is using minimal electricity to operate. The high tech audio system, with sat nav, DVD-ROM and MP3 playback, along with seven energy-efficient BOSE speakers and subwoofer, voice recognition and a 30GB hard drive of music storage can be ordered at 1,745 GBP.
The Nissan Leaf's MSRP is $35K, with no gas range extender. (And Feb 2012 was dismal, as posted it was half of the Volt sales)Fox News noted that the Volt’s sales performance for its first year easily trump the sales performance of the Toyota Prius on its first year, which only managed to sell 5,600 units all the way back in the year 2000. Today, the Prius is the best-selling hybrid in America and Toyota has sold 136,463 units of Prius models in 2011.
Is $39K for a Volt crazy in comparison?
2011 was its first year, with most of calender not having models for sale in the majority of the states, a supply stoppage for capacity increases, safety investigation, and a LOT of political strife. And people are dooming it for 20% under planned sales?Last edited by rwh11385; 03-08-2012, 09:08 AM.Comment
-
I love how rwh11385 keeps justifying the failure that is the Volt. High risk + high price + government loans + failed company=bad business sense.
You want a "green" car, buy a much less expensive Toyota Prius that was given to us by the free market. Oh wait, people already are.Last edited by joshh; 03-08-2012, 06:52 PM.Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the [federal] government." ~ James Madison
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen" Barack ObamaComment
-
GM has turned around a lot, thanks to Lutz. But it's highly ironic that you are promoting a car that faced the EXACT same criticism a decade ago. The cost wasn't worth it, it had new technology people didn't have experience with, it wasn't selling as expected, and ... it had government incentives too. Even safety recalls, investigations, and concerns.
Calling it a failure now underlines how close-minded you are.
http://autos.aol.com/article/toyota-prius-reliability/
Ten-Year Old Toyota Hybrid Priuses Defy Early Critics
Skeptics are posing questions about possible ghosts in the machine, wondering how long the batteries will perform at top level, worried about the length of the battery life, and want to know what it will cost to replace a battery if required.
If those questions sound familiar, it's because skeptics were asking the same kinds of questions about hybrid-car technology almost 11 years ago, when the Toyota Prius was making its debut in the U.S. market.The Prius originally had 1.4 kWh battery cost $10,000... which is the high end of estimates for the Volt's 16kWh battery system. (And look how replacement cost dropped like a rock). And The Volt isn't as lame as the Prius, its 0-60 is 8.7 (not Prius slow, more like Super Eta).when the 0-to-60 time was measured, the numbers were 13.1 seconds and 12.7 seconds, respectively.
"Because it was a new technology back in 2000, I think the questions and concerns that people had at the time were understandable, especially when it came to how long the battery would last, and how long the battery would perform at top capacity," says Jake Fisher, a senior automotive engineer at Consumer Reports.
When most people think about batteries, they think about other batteries that don't last very long. Car batteries don't last more than a few years, and anyone who owns a laptop knows how quickly battery life can degrade over time.
"People back then were afraid that, over time, the miles per gallon would drop, it wouldn't run right, or that it wouldn't accelerate as quickly as it did when it was new," said Fisher.
Fisher says he recalls rumors about what it might cost to replace the Prius battery if that was required, with estimates as high as $10,000. But, right now, if the battery on that '02 Prius did need to be replaced, it would cost between $2,200 and $2,600 at a Toyota dealership.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius car qualified for a $2,000 U.S. tax deduction, the first gasoline-electric vehicle to be certified in a program to encourage sales of low-pollution cars and trucks.
Toyota recalling 75,000 popular Prius cars
And then there was the pedal recall safety thingLast edited by rwh11385; 03-09-2012, 12:19 AM.Comment
-
and in other news....
Bad Karma: Our Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid breaks down
Our Fisker Karma cost us $107,850. It is super sleek, high-tech—and now it’s broken.
We have owned our car for just a few days; it has less than 200 miles on its odometer. While doing speedometer calibration runs on our test track (a procedure we do for every test car before putting it in service by driving the car at a constant 65 mph between two measured points), the dashboard flashed a message and sounded a “bing“ showing a major fault. Our technician got the car off the track and put it into Park to go through the owner’s manual to interpret the warning. At that point, the transmission went into Neutral and wouldn’t engage any gear through its electronic shifter except Park and Neutral.
More here....Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs!
Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.Comment
-
Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the [federal] government." ~ James Madison
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen" Barack ObamaComment
-
On a side note, the Cruze is a stellar little car too. The 1.4 turbo is frugal and quite fun. You can option a 6 speed manual on top of it. I actually quite like the little buggers.1985 M10b18. 70maybewhpoffury. Over engineered S50b30 murica BBQ swap in progress.
Originally posted by DEV0 E30Comment
-
Ich gehöre nicht zur Baader-Meinhof Gruppe
Originally posted by Top Gear
Every time you buy a car with DSC/ESC, Jesus kills a baby seal. With a kitten.
Comment
Comment