Lemonade
Lemonade
I love cars, not brands.
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Tags: GM, Volt, Chevrolet, Prius, Toyota

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Chevy Volt Less Than Electrifying.. Very Disappointing
Awww.

Photos of the production version of the Chevrolet Volt leaked the other day, with versions appearing on thecarconnection.com and a number of other sites. Based on the pictures, it’s a disappointment, compared with the concept car.

Based on the leaked photos, the production version bears a family resemblance to other middle-of-the-road GM cars. It’s not bad-looking, but it lacks the pizzazz of the futuristic concept car, which seemed to combine “sporty” and “ecological,” two terms you don’t see together very much, this side of a Tesla Roadster, which sells for $109,000. Presumably, that’s a heck of a lot more than the Chevrolet, which likely goes on sale next year.

The Volt is a plug-in hybrid, which means its gets a greater range than today’s hybrids because you can re-charge it with ordinary household current. Other hybrids, like the Toyota Prius, use their onboard, internal-combustion engines to recharge their batteries.

However, the Volt looks like less of a rolling billboard for GM, or more importantly, for its “green”-minded customers. A Toyota Prius makes an unmistakable statement, even if it’s a bit of a nerdy statement. It can’t be mistaken for anything else on the road. But the Volt could hide in a crowd. It’s possible that it has more curb appeal in person than it does in the pictures.

I’m usually pretty forgiving of styling, unless something is as horrendous as the Pontiac Aztek. I understand the trade-offs between a sexy but impractical concept car, versus a build-able, feasible production car that shares parts from the corporate parts bin. But the Volt really is a letdown versus the concept car.

The guys at a Los Angeles Times blog put it this way: “Hear that? It’s the sound of an underwhelmed army of car geeks, trying to hide their disappointment about the looks of the long-awaited production Chevrolet Volt.”

I’ve been harping for a while now about GM selectively leaking sneak peeks, and bits and pieces of future products like the Volt, to pique interest, to demonstrate that GM is more on the ball than they are given credit for, and maybe as an inadvertent sign that the company is getting a little desperate for some recognition. By the way, these latest pictures seem to be a genuine goof, not leaked accidentally-on-purpose, but you never know.

Having seen the pictures, the bits and pieces of the Volt were better-looking than the whole.

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Chevy Volt Less Than Electrifying.. Very Disappointing



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njsidekick3njsidekick3 - 9/11/2008 10:56:37 AM
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Diet Coke > Chevy Volt.

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BMW995BMW995 - 9/11/2008 11:10:19 AM
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100 mpg will take care of a lot of the style issues.

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LemonadeLemonade - 9/11/2008 2:22:41 PM
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100 MPG is best case scenario for the Volt. Let's talk about real world driving. GM says the Volt is a Electric Vehicle, but EPA says it's a Hybrid due to the gasoline engine on board. Did you know that if in fact the ruling goes to what the EPA says, the Volt will then be listed at 48 MPG? Loop-holes I tell ya...


hybridfarcehybridfarce - 9/11/2008 2:41:54 PM
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It looks like the EPA will have to rethink their MPG rating for series hybrids and other non-gasoline-powered vehicles (hydrogen, pure electric, pneumatic-air, etc.). The Volt can have two distinct modes of operation. Some people will hardly ever get the ICE to run, while others will. Thus, one MPG rating will not cut it. Hopefully, a new rating system will prevail based on technical considerations and not politics (oil lobbyists).


LemonadeLemonade - 9/11/2008 2:30:31 PM
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Well, you're just a stupid little GM badge whore!

GM could probably build a scooter, and you'll more than likely swear it's the best built scooter in the world.

You're probably that loser that rides around giving everybody in a GM car or truck a whopping thumbs up.

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Cornholio852Cornholio852 - 9/16/2008 7:57:53 AM
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calm down there Lemon-man you might bust a nut.

not many people give GM credit for what they do. sure GM has made some (really) bad cars but they run solid. if GM can do ANYTHING it is build a engine. fit and finish... not so mutch, but there learning. look at the new malibu and silvetato.

Lemon-man just take a deep breath, count to 10
and CHILL THE FU[K OUT..

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Peyton18Peyton18 - 9/11/2008 12:17:26 PM
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It doesn't matter what this car looks like, if people don't have to use gas, it will sell like a big dog. If they made roller skates that were powered without gas, they'd sell like mad.

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Peyton18Peyton18 - 9/11/2008 7:47:30 PM
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haha, I mean that don't require energy on our part :-P


t_sotellot_sotello - 9/11/2008 1:48:11 PM
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i was more than just intrested in buying one i was almost for sure going to buy one. but now seeing the production version of it, it looks lame, ugly, and just straight out bad. Major let down Chevy and GM!!!

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cdokecdoke - 9/11/2008 2:06:18 PMView My AgentSpace
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Listen,

What exactly was this guy expecting? This car was created with a very specific purpose in mind- efficiency; its single overriding principle.

GM cannot annul the laws of physics to make the concept car aerodynamically efficient. The technology is not good enough or developed enough to be able to ignore aerodynamics and its effect on drag.

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800over800over - 9/11/2008 8:30:31 PM
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Then why are they still showing the old Volt in the commercials? The concept was exciting. This is much less so. Part of the interest in the vehicle was that is WAS cool. It makes the $30000+ price tag easier to swallow. If the car was always gonna look like a prius you wouldn't have had all the people saying "when's it coming out!"


cdokecdoke - 9/11/2008 8:54:53 PMView My AgentSpace
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I have to say that I have not seen those commercials, but it does not change the point. Sure the concept was cool, but it was a concept- one that was frankly a bit suspicious from an aerodynamics standpoint.

New technologies are generally executed in a purely practical manner. It is only after time, further development, and decreases in price that less purely practical considerations can be made.


Type707Type707 - 9/11/2008 5:49:33 PM
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Chevrolet should stick on devoloping SUV's, Trucks and Impalas. Screw the compacts...they haven't had much success anyways.

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sholemonsholemon - 9/11/2008 6:23:29 PMView My AgentSpace
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I was happy with the looks. I think the look is practical enough that it allows for this car to sell well. You want the extreme aspect of this car to be its mpg, you dont want it to look like some extremely futuristic concept and turn people away because of diminished practicality in form and function. Its gonna sell based on its mpg, and the fact that its practical is only going to help.

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t_bonet_bone - 9/11/2008 11:13:38 PM
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I am so relieved it looks like a normal car. I hated the boxy concept with slits for windows.

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neutralneutral - 9/12/2008 8:58:52 AM
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Thank You,

I thought I was the only person on this earth who thought the same. I thought the concept's styling was just like all concepts, way too "out-there". I like this sleek, more conventional design.

Some people say it will push away younger buyers, but truth be told people aren't buying this for razor-sharp syling. In fact, I think the new styling will help this car sell, since it is going to be rather expensive, you don't want to scare off the middle-aged buyer with crazy edges and looks....


Cornholio852Cornholio852 - 9/16/2008 7:42:17 AM
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You guys are not the only ones, i hated the concept and im glad that the production car looks more like a real car. a better looking alterative to the giant shoe known as the toyota prius.

lets just hope that people dont act the same way they do in priuses.


neutralneutral - 9/12/2008 9:00:38 AM
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"The Volt will do very well and the potential for more than half of America to go to work and back and not burn a drop of gas"

I hear ya brother, but we'd all better start investing in Solar/Wind/Hydro/Nuclear so that our grids (which are wildly antiquated) don't overload!!

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BarrieBarrie - 9/13/2008 6:23:08 PM
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I have a BMW but go to and from work on an electric motor scooter, it costs very little to charge and has sufficient range , this is the future like it or not petrol as it is now is the past, and the volt does work better than the Toyota Prius which gets nowhere near Toyotas claimed economy and also costs a lot of money to buy, the real choice now is between electric and diesel

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Cornholio852Cornholio852 - 9/16/2008 7:37:25 AM
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I dont really thing people are looking at this car for the style, the want the extreme MPG

Besides the first gen prius looked like shit and they sold like crazy

Then agian all priuses look like shit and still sell well becuase of it 48 MPG

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