I’m considering purchase of a used 2013 Chevrolet Volt, does anyone here have experience with it? I’ve seen many reviews and discussions about its capability as a hybrid (sorry, range-extended electric vehicle), but I’m more interested in whether it’s a good, reliable car. Most reviews are very positive, but the JD Power rating on overall quality is mediocre. Also, do you ever find it a hassle to charge it every day?
I have a 2012 Volt I love it. Fun to drive and very low maintenance. Charging takes 10 seconds, I just plug in when I park in my garage. Happy to address any additional questions.
That’s great to hear!
Have you had any trouble finding shops to work on it? Do you take it to the Chevy dealer for service?
Any reliability & usability issues, esp. with all the electronic accessories? (My wife is concerned about this, but also acknowledges that any modern car has too much electronics for her liking - her own vehicle has manual door locks and manual windows.)
I’ve always taken it to the dealer. Only one problem, with the charging system and it was fixed in two hours and cover d by the warranty.
The electronics are all good. Never had a problem.
One strange issue is that the radio comes on whenever you use any of the screen functions, like gps or even climate controls. There’s a mute button on the wheel that makes it not a big deal
Does the Volt work with regular charging stations? I spoke with a Nissan Leaf owner the other day, and he said Kansas City Power & Light had a program that gave him free charging at more than a thousand locations in the city - for free. He had a small business picking up and delivering dry cleaning, and all the business buildings he served had charging stations, and his entire cost of driving his route was subsidized. Pretty sweet deal if you can get it.
There are different types of charger ports. My understanding is that the J1772 port on the Volt is the most common in the US. Though it is not compatible with the Tesla charging stations, which is also common.
Nissan Leaf has the J1772 + CHAdeMO ports (CHAdeMO is faster but not very common, it’s a Japanese industry standard).
Personally I am opposed to the CHAdeMO standard on the grounds that the name is a horribly painful pun in Japanese (it means something like “how about some tea?”). And I normally like convoluted puns.
Yes. Lots of charging stations our there. And, if you’re not in a hurry, you can use any 110 outlet.
I have a 2013 Volt. Probably the best car I’ve ever bought. I charge overnight via a 110 volt outlet, and usually get around 38-40 miles to a charge in the summer, 29-33 in the winter. If you are used to luxury cars, the interior is a bit plasticky - most of the effort went into engineering the engine/charging system - but the seats are leather and heated (at least with my model trim). Visibility could be better, there are large blind spots, especially when backing up. Those are my main complaints, other than that I love this car. It definitely takes more than 10 seconds to charge though, unless Procrustus meant ten seconds to plug it in LOL.
I’m guessing that’s what he meant. It takes all night to charge, but only the 10 seconds of attention to plug it in, then you go into your house and ignore it. It’s not like a gas gar, where it only takes 4 min to refuel, but you have to be standing there watching it the whole time.
Yes, 10 seconds to plug it in. Set it and forget it.
I have a charger in my garage (220?) but I honestly don’t need it, as it would easily charge completely overnight with 110.
I’m looking at the new Volts, and the plug in Prius Prime (which appears to be quite nice). I test drove the Bolt, and didn’t care for it.
Thank you Dorjän and Procrustus for your input!
I met up with the seller today and test-drove it. It did drive very nicely. Interior space felt more cramped than I expected (esp. rear seats) but I think I’d be fine with it. I see what Dorjän means about the visibility, but some new cars I recently test-drove were even worse. (I think the Hyundai Ioniq was the worst.)
Going to sleep on it before deciding…
p.s. Is there any issue finding mechanics who know how to work on it? Are all Chevy dealers equipped to work on it, at least?
Just wanted to report that I did buy the 2013 Volt. My wife still thinks it’s got too much gadgetry, but I love the car so far. Feels very solid, fun to drive. It’s nice not to have to worry about the hurricane driving up the gas price.
Congratulations. Agree it’s “small,” but I’m only 5’6" so I don’t notice.
It’s even worse than that - it’s a horribly painful pun in mixed Japanese-Engrish (CHAdeMO comes from “Charge de More”, and the “chademo” thing does indeed mean something like “how about a spot of tea?”, because it is touted as being fast enough that your car is fully charged in the time it takes you to drink a cup of tea).
Death is too good for whoever thought of this.