![]() 2013 brings improved voice commands for your USB/iDevice allowing you to command your tunes at the press of a button, and unlike Toyota’s similar system, MyLink doesn’t have a problem with large music libraries. Unlike MyFord Touch and Cadillac’s CUE, the Chevy is virtually crash-free and always responsive. The graphics are slick, the display is easy to read and GM offers a touchscreen and a joystick/knob controller so you can use whatever comes naturally. GM’s mid-market entertainment operating system is one of my favorites. The Volt gets Chevy’s latest MyLink infotainment system with some slight tweaks for 2013. That’s before I comment that the Volt’s gauges are where they belong, in front of the driver… Sure the 7-inch LCD gauge cluster isn’t as snazzy as Land Rover’s 12-inch readout, but the Prius is stuck in a 1980s Chrysler LeBaron electrofluorescent-time-warp and one 7-inch readout trumps Ford’s twin-4.2″ display setup in my mind. When it comes to infotainment and trendy gadgets, the Volt scores big. The lack of a 5th seat seems to be a common reason given for choosing something else over the Volt, but the battery had to go somewhere so the Volt trades more cargo room with the seats in place vs the C-MAX Energi for that 5th seat. New for 2013 is some brown love, a color combo that brings the Volt’s interior feel up a substantial notch without actually improving the quality of the plastics.įront seat comfort slots between the Ford and Toyota alternatives up front, in the rear there is less headroom and legroom than in the Prius or C-MAX. Gone are the funky orange door panels with “circuit board” patterns replaced by a dark silver plastic panels on the black interior. Part of this is because 2013 brings more sedate and mainstream choices to the Volt’s interior. Style is subjective, but I would rank the Volt between the Prius’ funky interior design and the C-MAX’s mainstream interior. Hard plastics included, the Volt is a nicer place to spend your time than a Prius but Ford’s C-MAX takes top position in terms of interior parts feel. With a nominal 16.5kWh capacity, this battery is about four times larger than the Prius Plug-In’s pack and nearly twice the size of Ford’s Energi. Motors and batteries aren’t cheap and the Volt has 288 batteries jammed into a “T” shaped battery pack that runs the length of the car andacross the back of the car behind the rear seats. That is true for the Prius, Insight and the Volt. Hybrids have long suffered cheaper looking and feeling interiors than their “normal” counterparts. There are also subtle tweaks to the rear tail lamp modules this year. The Volt/Prius/Insight reminds me of this tactic and parked next to one another in the dark you’d be hard pressed to differentiate them by silhouette.įor its first refresh since it launched as a 2011, GM decided to ditch the somewhat awkward black roof and black painted liftgate opting for a more harmonious body-matching hue. Why? Because they all have the same shape and teams paint / add decals to “brand” their car. Since the shape is dictated by wind-tunnel testing (just like the Prius and Insight) the Volt reminds me of NASCAR cars. The Volt’s styling isn’t for everyone, but I find the overall style aggressive and attractive. Like the Japanese hybrids, the Volt is a liftback design which is more practical than your typical trunk lid for carrying large items from the home improvement store. There is also a segment of the population that says, “that’s great but I want a hybrid.” Guess what? The Volt is a hybrid.Īerodynamics dictate the shape of modern high-efficiency cars, and as a result, the Volt has a profile very similar to the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. By calling the Volt an “Electric Vehicle (EV) with a range extender,” a huge segment of the population can’t get past “Electric” and immediately cross the Volt off their list. After a week of strange questions and bipolar reactions to GM’s plug-in hybrid, I came to a conclusion. The Chevrolet Volt may be the most maligned and least understood car on the market. ![]()
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