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Somebody just ask Ralph Nader what he thinks about the Volt. Oh that's right, he didn't blindly follow the party line so now he's persona non grata.
I was eyeballing the new Chevy Sonic in a parking lot and pretty much liked it. Size wise it seemed big for a small car. Maybe the styling could have been a little less edgy but thats the trend these days. and it was a third the price of a Volt. Or get a Cruze, thats about the same size of the Volt and under half the price.
These make much more sense to the average consumer than a Volt. Other than price a Volt would make sense for me as I drive less than 10 miles 90% of the time and I could take a trip to Vegas or for that matter NYC if I needed to.
Either way GM cannot win. Everytime they go green they get attacked. Everytime they do what profits suggest, they get attacked.
Sent from my autocorrect butchering device.
This is garbage. They have only been commended for the 40MPG in the Cruze for example. The 30 MPG highway rating for the V-6 Camaro is incredible.
Toyota lost money on every Prius for quite some years and didn't get a huge 8k or so tax credit to sell the ****ing car. It also makes sense as a vehicle and the price is affordable.
In Contrast the Volt while based on the much cheaper Cruze is a 44-50k vehicle. That is nuts. It is out of most peoples price range even with tax credit. Its not roomy nor has as much cargo room as the Prius either.
No doubt the Volt will get better each generation as the Prius but our tax dollars should not subsidize this vehicle for the wealthy. The avg Volt buyer has an income over $170,000.
Now if the car was affordable the credit would make more sense, getting more people into the vehicle. AS of right now the Volt and Fisker are ridiculous expensive propositions to energy saving (really transferring the energy from gas to coal) propositions.
Toyota lost money on every Prius for quite some years and didn't get a huge 8k or so tax credit to sell the ****ing car. It also makes sense as a vehicle and the price is affordable.
No, but Toyota got a large handout from the Japanese government to build the car. So it WAS subsidized.
Quote:
In Contrast the Volt while based on the much cheaper Cruze is a 44-50k vehicle. That is nuts. It is out of most peoples price range even with tax credit. Its not roomy nor has as much cargo room as the Prius either.
The tech costs what it costs, much like a plasma TV cost way more than a projector TV of the same size back when they were introduced.
Quote:
No doubt the Volt will get better each generation as the Prius but our tax dollars should not subsidize this vehicle for the wealthy. The avg Volt buyer has an income over $170,000.
Source?
And every EV has been eligible for the tax credit, not just the Volt. The tax credit does NOT SUBSIDIZE THE CAR! You don't seem to know what subsidize means, it means the MANUFACTURER gets paid to make the product by the government in order to reduce the price. In this case, the goverment gives a credit elswhere to get people to choose alternative energy.
I was eyeballing the new Chevy Sonic in a parking lot and pretty much liked it. Size wise it seemed big for a small car. Maybe the styling could have been a little less edgy but thats the trend these days. and it was a third the price of a Volt. Or get a Cruze, thats about the same size of the Volt and under half the price.
And neither one of those cars can be driven on zero gasoline on a typical commute. A Ferrari is aboutthe same size as a Cruze and costs many, many times as much. Sure it's faster, but pound for pound, it cost more. 'cause it costs more to go fast, just like it costs more to go without fuel.
The Volt is about the same size as an Accord or Camy, and has a lease that's about the same ($349/mo), but unlike either of those two cars, can be driven on the averag commute (which has been shown to be about 33 miles round trip) using no gasoline at all. And unlike a pure EV, can be driven on longer trips with no anxiety.
There's a reason the new breed of plug in hybrids coming out cost nearly as much as the Volt, and they (the Focus and Prius) are based on existing, amortized platforms.
Except the whole company was subsidized with taxpayers $$$. And with the magical wand of some of the best accountants there's billions of dollars we'll never see again, while the fatcats of GM sit on their own billions of dollars.... Who gives a flying F what the japanesse govt. does with THEIR $$$?? GM still sucks.. the $$$ right out of taxpayers pockets that is... I USED to b a fan of GM till the robbed me of my hatd earned $$. I feel the same about those "bankrupt" banks as well... My $$$ is in stocks or my local credit union.
And neither one of those cars can be driven on zero gasoline on a typical commute. A Ferrari is aboutthe same size as a Cruze and costs many, many times as much. Sure it's faster, but pound for pound, it cost more. 'cause it costs more to go fast, just like it costs more to go without fuel.
The Volt is about the same size as an Accord or Camy, and has a lease that's about the same ($349/mo), but unlike either of those two cars, can be driven on the averag commute (which has been shown to be about 33 miles round trip) using no gasoline at all. And unlike a pure EV, can be driven on longer trips with no anxiety..
The volt is NO WHERE the size of an accord or camry inside.. I cant even sit in the bwck of a volt at 5'10".
No, but Toyota got a large handout from the Japanese government to build the car. So it WAS subsidized.
The tech costs what it costs, much like a plasma TV cost way more than a projector TV of the same size back when they were introduced.
[/b]
Source?
And every EV has been eligible for the tax credit, not just the Volt. The tax credit does NOT SUBSIDIZE THE CAR! You don't seem to know what subsidize means, it means the MANUFACTURER gets paid to make the product by the government in order to reduce the price. In this case, the goverment gives a credit elswhere to get people to choose alternative energy.
"but Toyota got a large handout from the Japanese government to build the car. So it WAS subsidized."
Yep, the Japanese and the Germans model is protectionist and they will give every edge possible to their companies. I say, if they want to sell here they should be built here and support American jobs.
"And every EV has been eligible for the tax credit, not just the Volt."
And thats the problem I have: It's one thing spending American dollars to support American Companies that employ Americans, It's another when we send our money to the Japan and China supporting their products and their jobs. They have plenty of money let them take care of their own!
Idiots, ANY car can catch fire if your stupid enough, and cars CANNOT explode regardless of how "on fire" it is. Explosions require insane amounts of oxygen and this is why they often kill fires, there just isn't enough oxygen for it to explode. Batteries and gasoline are often only fuel for the fire and only about 5% of the time cause it. It's mostly caused by rubber seals creating heat in the wrong location like when you tow a car in gear it turns a rubber seal in the transmission the wrong way and lights the highly flammable transmission fluid on fire. Most other times the car overheats and lights the seals on fire or lights a fluid on fire (this is the leading cause for cars to catch fire while parked)
Strange this thread to be up. The wife and I decided to eat at an out of town steak house this evening. When we got there the parking lot was fairly full but I found a spot next to a new Volt with dealer paper plates still on it. It was a pretty candy apple red car. When we got out I could smell a hot car/truck. I've never had the issue with my truck so I moved the truck away from the Volt. Came out from eating and they were towing off what was left of the burned out Volt hulk. A fairly new King Ranch F250 was also burnt pretty bad on the passenger side. That would have been my truck if I hadn't moved. I didn't bother to ask about what caused the car to go to flames but there wasn't much left to salvage. Scratch one Volt.
Strange this thread to be up. The wife and I decided to eat at an out of town steak house this evening. When we got there the parking lot was fairly full but I found a spot next to a new Volt with dealer paper plates still on it. It was a pretty candy apple red car. When we got out I could smell a hot car/truck. I've never had the issue with my truck so I moved the truck away from the Volt. Came out from eating and they were towing off what was left of the burned out Volt hulk. A fairly new King Ranch F250 was also burnt pretty bad on the passenger side. That would have been my truck if I hadn't moved. I didn't bother to ask about what caused the car to go to flames but there wasn't much left to salvage. Scratch one Volt.
That sucks. It's never cool to see any vehicle go up in flames.
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