Two weeks with the Chevy Volt

I’ve had my Volt for two weeks now, and I’ve been pretty happy with it so far. I’ll probably post a more detailed report a few months into ownership detailing all the costs associated with owning a Volt and how much money its saving me every month.

But there is nothing bad to say about the car right now. Other than some poor sight lines out the rear window (which is why I got the model equipped with the backup camera), the design of the vehicle is strong. I’ve been getting anywhere between 39 and 44 miles on the battery so far (in the mild spring weather), but that will probably decrease to around 32-35 miles once I have to use the AC full blast during the summer months.

In my driving so far, I’ve driven about 600 miles and have used 2.8 gallons of gas (thats about 215 MPG). By my initial estimation, my electric bill has gone up about 20 dollars a month, but thats only judging by two weeks worth of numbers. So, compared to my old car, I’m not spending $150-200 a month in gas, and replacing it with about $20 in electricity and about $10-15 in gas every month. When I factor those savings into the 5 years I’m going to have the car (because the loan is 5 years), thats $8,400. Combined with the tax rebate, and the real price of the car is closer to $24,000. We’ll see if those numbers hold up…