I took delivery of my Chevy Volt (one of the first in the country!) on December 22nd, and it's been performing beautifully ever since. It really is amazing that GM pulled this off and one of these is sitting in my driveway. I'm doing demo drives for friends and coworkers nearly every day, spreading the word and dispelling myths.
Since I got the Volt, I basically haven't driven my old car at all (a decade-old Audi A4). I drove the Audi once during the ice storm, when I thought it was safe enough to drive but didn't want to risk it with my brand new Volt. Otherwise the only time I've driven the Audi was on two days to take it to and from the repair shop, where I had a few things fixed to get it ready for sale.
I've been driving the Volt for a month now, so I was eager to see how my old Audi felt in comparison. Fortunately I didn't forget how to drive a manual transmission. I've already written at length about how I was going to miss driving a manual ttransmission car, but here are some more observations about the Volt vs. the Audi:
1. The Audi is definitely a quicker car. Of course, it's a 2.8 liter V6, with 190 peak horsepower, but I still expected the Volt to keep up with it due to the electric motor's full torque availability. But I think the Audi is way it out in front on this, especially in first or second gear when it just leaps off the line. Now, the tradeoff is that I do have to shift the Audi (and even if it had an automatic transmission it would still have to shift) whereas the Volt just keeps pulling continuously up to 100 MPH. It's actually a little boring that I don't have to shift gears in the Volt.
2. I do miss that blast of hot air that you can get in the cabin (if you want it) once the gas engine has warmed up. Gas engines produce enormous amounts of waste heat (due to basic thermodynamics) and so they have plenty of cabin heat ready whenever you want it. Electric cars don't have waste heat (a side effect of their phenomenal efficiency) and so need to heat the cabin with electric heaters. And no electric heater is going to be able to produce the monster heat you can get from a gas engine. In the winter cold, the Volt never seems to really heat up the cabin, rather just seems to take the edge off. Of course, that's why they offer electrically heated seats in the Volt, because it's much more efficient to warm you up that way.
3. The Audi is a bit roomier, both up front and in the back. I didn't really notice the Volt's cockpit being smaller, but it actually is -- the Audi's dash is just a bit further out in front of me. And the Volt's back seats are definitely more cramped, especially if you have a tall person (cough) sitting in front of you. The Volt is fundamentally a smaller car than the sports sedan that I've been driving for 10 years, and certainly smaller than just about any car you'd get for $41,000. There's your bleeding edge technology for you ...
4. The steering feel of the Audi is sooo much better than the Volt. It just feels like I'm really connected to the road. I can't put my finger on the problem when I'm driving the Volt -- I just know that when I'm in the Audi it's different. Like I can really feel the car on the pavement, in a good way.
It's possible that the Audi also feels more agile, although I don't think I can really judge that yet. I haven't been really throwing the Volt into turns like I would the Audi, for several reasons, including the fact that it's a new car and I don't want to crash it just yet.
If you are in Atlanta and haven't heard from me yet about going out for a lunchtime drive, and want to, get in touch with me! I'm working my way down the list of coworkers and friends and will likely be able to meet up with you soon. Let's do it!
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