My new daily

[Jeff V.]

As far as I know, they don't offer that option. We've got plenty of other cars. It's just annoying.

[Boostaddict]

Funny, we are picking up a summit white '13 CPO volt on Saturday am. The wife has to turn in her car next week (switching jobs) and we needed something fast. She drives 25-30k miles for work and most of it in short trips so the Volt makes good sense for us. Ours only has premium package. Only thing we'll probably miss is the back up camera and maybe the upgraded stereo (maybe this one has the Bose I didn't even look). There were only a few '13 CPO volts in the area with lower mileage and premium package in our low price range. I got it for a song but that's because I argued it needed an alignment, 2 tires, and it has some spider cracks on the front bumper. The way my wife drives the bumper damage is the least of my concerns though...

[Duck Vader]

Welcome to the club.

There are options for aftermarket back-up cameras. It will be helpful. Rear visibility backing up is limited in the Volt.

On a side note, my center review mirror won't stay up. I have to put it all the way up as high as it will go for me to see out the back, but every couple of days it droops just enough I have to readjust it. I know, first world problem, but it annoys me at times. Also, the battery does not like to go over 60-65 mph. It drives fine at that speed and above, it just takes energy from the battery faster. Drops my range to upper 30s instead of mid 40s in electric.

Now that I have had it for one month I have no other complaints. I have used 4 gallons of gas since I bought it (vs the 80-100 a month in the LJ) and everything works great on it. A/C gets cold quick, nice quiet ride, good radio, etc. Put it in sport mode when I want to pass someone and it accelerates great. Hold mode is awesome on the freeway. Normal mode is great around town and the regenerative breaking is good too. In heavy enough stop and go traffic my range actually goes up as I drive. Been averaging between 40-45 miles per charge.

As for the color, I think I would have preferred a charcoal gray but I am happy enough with the white. Still need to tint the windows though.

[Boostaddict]

Yeah, I would have preferred black myself, but the Malibu we are turning in was dark gray and my wife wanted something different. Besides the bmw is black already and heaven forbid we can't have 2 black cars.

What is the best forum for all things volt? I see a few from a quick search.

Need to start shopping for a level 2 charger. Lots of them on CL with people doing lease returns, or some cheaper models are popular too it looks like.

[Duck Vader]

I haven't been on the Volt forums much. Pretty much just browsed a couple.

I thought about the 240 charger, but then I would need to get an electrician to come out and everything. So far, since I work from home, the 12-16 hour charge is not a problem. If I get a job that would require shorter charge times then I will look into getting the better charger. Right now the stock one works fine for my needs.

We looked at a black on and a white one. We liked the black better, but got a better deal on the white one.

[mjannusch]

[quote=""Boostaddict""]Need to start shopping for a level 2 charger. Lots of them on CL with people doing lease returns, or some cheaper models are popular too it looks like.[/quote]
This guy is a friend of mine and makes good L2 chargers...

https://bsa-electronics.myshopify.com/

http://gm-volt.com is probably the better of the Volt forums, though I haven't spent much time there. Just lurking. The Volt people don't really do much customization, etc.

[Jeff V.]

So far, since I work from home, the 12-16 hour charge is not a problem

Really? I thought it was 8-9 with a 120v unit? Hmm.

Can you monitor state of charge via your phone, or is that only the new model?

[Duck Vader]

[quote=""Jeff V.""]Really? I thought it was 8-9 with a 120v unit? Hmm.

Can you monitor state of charge via your phone, or is that only the new model?[/quote]

There are two modes of charging. 8 amp and 12 amp. It defaults to 8 amp and takes longer that way. 12 amp will be closer to the 9-10. However you have to manually select that each time.

If I know I will be driving it again the next morning I will set it for 12.

Also, the 2013 has a bigger battery than the older ones, so it takes longer to charge.

[mjannusch]

If you use an EVSE other than the one that comes with the car, that should charge at 16 amps or whatever the EVSE can do (or is set for). The 8/12 thing is just for the included charger since a lot of normal house outlet circuits can't do the 12 amp without blowing breakers if the circuit is shared.

The EVSE (charger) that comes with the 2nd gen Volt is 240 capable, if you just feed it two different phased hots. That's what I'm doing until Plugless Power gets off their asses and sends me my wireless charger. I don't think the older one is capable of that, but you may want to check.

[Duck Vader]

Since I have bought it I have only used just over 10 gallons of gas. I also got my first full electric bill. Only went up about $12. So for almost 2000 miles of driving I paid $24 in electric (figure two months), and at an average of $2.50 for gas, $25 in gas. So I am getting about 2000 miles out of $50. Not bad.

[mjannusch]

Drove ours to Wisconsin Dells and back this weekend. Used gas for all the highway miles, switched to electric in the Dells. Overall mileage was 43 mpg combined and a little over one fill of gas. Worked like a champ...

[Duck Vader]

I miss the Dells.

[Duck Vader]

I need to upgrade the headlights. Anyone have any recommendations?

[mjannusch]

[quote=""Duck Vader""]I need to upgrade the headlights. Anyone have any recommendations?[/quote]
Silverstars? I used those in my Avalanche and they have been good. My 2017 Volt has LED projectors, so haven't had to look for anything for that.
[quote=""Mike""]I wanted one of these so bad. Apparently they can be temperamental.[/quote]
I know a few people who have the 1st gen models, and they haven't had any issues with theirs. Mine's been perfect so far with 7000 miles on it.

[Duck Vader]

[quote=""mjannusch""]Silverstars? I used those in my Avalanche and they have been good. My 2017 Volt has LED projectors, so haven't had to look for anything for that.

I know a few people who have the 1st gen models, and they haven't had any issues with theirs. Mine's been perfect so far with 7000 miles on it.[/quote]



Thought about converting over to HIDs but not 100% sure.


I have not heard of anyone having issues with their Volts either.

[alienviking]

Coworker drives the heck out of his Volt and has had zero issues..

[Duck Vader]

Just an update on how this thing has been over the winter. Drives perfectly fine. Heats up nice and quick and has handled everything like a champ.

Since I got the car I have put on over 5000 miles and have now averaged 120 mpg (running the heater takes a bit hit to the electric range). Been driving it to the gym 4 days a week and wife take it to work 2 days a week. Also is our around town errand car on the weekends.

No problems whatsoever yet. Still very happy with the purchase.

[Boostaddict]

We also are happy with our Volt we bought just after you. We have over double the mileage in less time though… I think we are at almost 11k miles (we drive the crap out of it). We had it in for a few problems (luckily it was bought CPO). The battery coolant level (common problem) and electric motor drive bearing were replaced. Recently the center console display has started rebooting randomly which is another common problem for 2012/2013 models. We had a software update this week but not sure if that fixed it.

All that said the car is fun to drive and handles really well in the ice/snow with decent dedicated snow tires. Ground clearance is poor (it’s a snow plow basically) but that is no fault of the car. Electric range in the winter sucks! I was getting 44-46 miles per charge in the summer/fall. Now I’m at about 26-27/charge. The car puts out no heat at all unless the defroster is on high. Even then I have to wear gloves to drive if the temperature is below 15-degrees outside. I need to check with a couple other Volt owners I know to see if theirs are as poor at heating as mine. Remote starting it for 5 minutes while plugged in helps a lot but I don’t always have that luxury.

I figure we’ll keep this one for another couple years until the new body style floods the market used with lease returns and then pick up another one. My company is supposed to be installing a bank of level2 chargers at work which will be awesome. We were seriously considering the Pacifica plug-in hybrid as a replacement for the aging Outlook but they ONLY offer it with light gray seats at launch. Who puts light gray seats in a vehicle intended for rugrats to spill food in?

[Duck Vader]

I have had 0 problems and it heats up quickly enough for me.

One thing that drives me nuts though is when on Auto the windshield will fog up more than I like before it turns on the defroster.

As for the poor charge in the winter, try learning to drive it in L instead of D when doing stop and go driving. There is no "LOW" for the transmission and when in L you will get more regenerative power from the engine. It has two electric motors and when in low it uses the engine to slow you, and thus creates more regen. Yesterday I had 32 as range on a full charge when I left for the gym. Kept it in L and drove conservatively. Drove the 25 miles to the gym taking back roads and arrived with a range of 22 miles still left on the battery.