Spotted a Volt today

[NJ346]

was cruising through Rutgers campus. I was kinda surprised to see one considering their production numbers are still so low. Has anyone else seen one yet?

[BullittSVT]

Never seen one but i'm curious why people will spend 40k on an electric car? If you have that much.. don't you think you can afford gasoline?

[r0nin89]

Originally Posted by BullittSVT

Never seen one but i'm curious why people will spend 40k on an electric car? If you have that much.. don't you think you can afford gasoline?

Because theres actually wack jobs out there that think them driving a volt is gonna make a difference w/ foreign oil.

[V]

and u get like a 7,500 tax rebate

[RiggsLW81]

saw the volt (only one to see in real life) two weeks ago on 17 south in east rutherford... average joe looking guy in his 50s driving it. looked decent for what it is...

[edpontiac91]

It was just on News 12, the guy is a Real Estate Agent and got the FIRST one in the country and he lives in New Jersey. Has a vanity plate that says VOLT1 and it is Silver. Not a bad looking car, but list is over $41,000 with a $7,500 rebate, but that is still REALLY pricey!

[madness410]

in the city i drove one only because i was doing something for a nissan leaf for work. im assuming they were doing a story on electric cars. the volt looks pretty good actually imo

[BigRocsFirebird]

saw one up in parsippany, kind of weird looking lol

[BonzoHansen]

I saw a new volt in east brunswick Thursday morning and a camaro convertible Thursday evening on the turnpike

[madness410]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

I saw a new volt in east brunswick Thursday morning and a camaro convertible Thursday evening on the turnpike

i wonder if they were my companies cars...we handle all the press fleet cars and all that and both are pretty rare to find and we do business out of east brunswick. did you happen to see if they had michigan plates?

[BonzoHansen]

iirc volt had jersey plates. camaro was on a hauler full of new chevys.

[TaKid455]

Is the 7500 rebate, cash in your pocket or 7500 off credit off your gross income tax. in that event it would only be 750-2000 depending on your tax bracket. Not really enough to offset the cost of a new car vs maintaining your decent condition old car. IMO. They did a similar thing w/ 1st time home buyers and the 8k tax credit.

for 41k, one could buy a decent F body of any vintage and afford a few motor and suspension builds.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by TaKid455

for 41k, one could buy a decent F body of any vintage and afford a few motor and suspension builds.

Are you really trying to compare a low tech, performance car to a state of the art, economical new car? Apples vs. oranges.

Both cars have different uses and target audiences.

[LTb1ow]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Are you really trying to compare a low tech, performance car to a state of the art, economical new car? Apples vs. oranges.

Both cars have different uses and target audiences.

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by TaKid455

Is the 7500 rebate, cash in your pocket or 7500 off credit off your gross income tax. in that event it would only be 750-2000 depending on your tax bracket. Not really enough to offset the cost of a new car vs maintaining your decent condition old car. IMO. They did a similar thing w/ 1st time home buyers and the 8k tax credit.

for 41k, one could buy a decent F body of any vintage and afford a few motor and suspension builds.

It's a $7500 credit at tax time. You pay full price up front, then apply the $7500 credit when you do your taxes for that year (Much like the first time homebuyers $8000 credit from a couple years ago).

- Justin

[BigAls87Z28]

Its an expensive car, but there is so much technology packed into it, and 95% of Americans will never really understand it, nor would they care to know how it works.
one of the head program directors said in a press conference that the Volt's battery system has something like 15 million lines of code. To put that in perspective, the F-35 fighter jet has 8 milion lines of code for the whole jet.

This car is epic in many ways. Is it going to save you money? No. Is it going to save the polar bears? No.
The car is a technological powerhouse, for GM to display that they are not a company that makes pick up trucks and gas guzzlers. Its an image car, not to make the company tons of cash, but serve as a gateway to a new way of making cars, and how to think about cars for the future.


And if you guys come to the March meet....maybe you too can see a Volt.

[Fast92RS]

Yeah thats the thing that gets me. To go green with one of these cars you have to spend a ton of cash. While you can get a comparable size car that gets really good mileage for alot less. Until go green cars come down in price I don't think they will sell as many. The funny thing I read an article in USA today a while ago saying that green cars are going to sell and thats what american people want.

[LTb1ow]

Why is it so hard to believe people want green cars?

Any new device, be it a car, or tv is gonna have a high price when it first comes out thats perfectly normal. And I do not think GM is prepared to sell a lot of them, as many cities are not prepared electrical grid wise to fully support a mass purchase of volts feeding off the grid.

The ironic part is when someone thinks that cause they don't use gas, they don't pollute... when the power they use to charge their car comes from a coal burning plant out in iowa belching out black smoke 24/7 ..

Need moar fusion research.

[WildBillyT]

Originally Posted by Fast92RS

Yeah thats the thing that gets me. To go green with one of these cars you have to spend a ton of cash. While you can get a comparable size car that gets really good mileage for alot less. Until go green cars come down in price I don't think they will sell as many. The funny thing I read an article in USA today a while ago saying that green cars are going to sell and thats what american people want.

That is my gripe too. My commute is such that I could go to and from work each day on just battery power, with just a little left at the end of the day. Say I spend $35 a week on fuel now (which I don't) then that's only ~$1800 savings a year if I completly ignore the recharge costs, and it would take a while to recover the cost difference between a comperable gas burner and the Volt. I get that this car is really for technophiles at this point, I just wish it was a bit of a better value for the common guy as I would really consider purchasing one as my next car. Hopefully if it takes off more the price will come down and it will make more sense.

[sweetbmxrider]

Well when the demand of petroleum exceeds the supply or the supply runs out, trikes are gunna be where its at.

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

That is my gripe too. My commute is such that I could go to and from work each day on just battery power, with just a little left at the end of the day. Say I spend $35 a week on fuel now (which I don't) then that's only ~$1800 savings a year if I completly ignore the recharge costs, and it would take a while to recover the cost difference between a comperable gas burner and the Volt. I get that this car is really for technophiles at this point, I just wish it was a bit of a better value for the common guy as I would really consider purchasing one as my next car. Hopefully if it takes off more the price will come down and it will make more sense.

Like I said, this car is not about saving money. No new car really is. This car is not for everyone, but it could be. Cars like this will always be expensive because this is the first car of its kind. Early adopters will pay the price and as time goes on, the price will come down. GM is already trying to figure out how to make the batteries cheaper and cut costs out to expand volume.

[HeadlessNorseman]

Yes, its setting a precedent. Just like the first gasoline engine did 120 years ago. At the time, people had similar arguments, like horses are better! I still want a volt though

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

GM is already trying to figure out how to make the batteries cheaper and cut costs out to expand volume.

Battery technology is what this all hinges on. Figuring out how to make batteries that are cheap and efficient, and without tearing up the environment gathering raw materials, is what is really gonna make the EV / PHEV market take off.

I also really wish a manufacturer would run a small diesel rather than a small gas engine in cars like the Volt. So many upsides to that....maybe it will happen if a few more small car diesels do well here.

- Justin

[LS1ow]

Originally Posted by RiggsLW81

saw the volt (only one to see in real life) two weeks ago on 17 south in east rutherford... average joe looking guy in his 50s driving it. looked decent for what it is...

by the federal reserve???? i swear i saw one too!

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

Battery technology is what this all hinges on. Figuring out how to make batteries that are cheap and efficient, and without tearing up the environment gathering raw materials, is what is really gonna make the EV / PHEV market take off.

I also really wish a manufacturer would run a small diesel rather than a small gas engine in cars like the Volt. So many upsides to that....maybe it will happen if a few more small car diesels do well here.

- Justin

Lots of reasons there is not a diesel

1) not made in America
2) NVH issues
3) cost issues
4) weight issues
5) powerband issues
6) additional equipment issues to make it 50 state legal