With the advent of a new driver in the family, the focus slowly but surely has turned towards a new vehicle. And even though it is technically MY turn for a new car, most of the talk has been about getting Suzanne a new car. There are a couple of reasons for this:
- Suzanne has expressed, repeatedly, that she is tired of driving a min-van.
- Given Suzanne’s commute it makes sense to get something a heck of a lot smaller and a whole lot greener.
- We really need the van for a few more years at least for transport of boys and boys equipment….just can’t see how we can go away from that.
We’ve been talking Toyota Prius for an awfully long time (with a small dash of BMW convertible thrown in as a dash of excitement).
So, we started looking around a little more seriously when we came back. Went out one evening and test drove a 2012 Chevy Volt. The short version is that aside from getting used to the rear view mirror I really liked it but Suzanne hated the interior…the Volt was white (the only one at the dealership) and the interior was a gray or black with a white instrument panel…a really big contrast that Suzanne thought looked really cheap. Very surprised by how the car drove; we were on battery power the whole time and it certainly didn’t feel that way, no problem with acceleration.
Looked at Prius on the way back home (dealership was closed), stopped by and looked at a BMW convertible on the way home too….
The next day, in the pouring rain and with Matthew, we test drove a Prius. Suzanne liked the interior of the Prius better, it would be able, although crowded, to fit all three boys in the back. The engine, a true hybrid, has limited pickup…you can mash that pedal down and it’s not going to get better on the acceleration front. Matthew, just blown away by all the new-ness, is all onboard with anything!
The Prius, with it’s hybrid, will get 50-60 mpg all day long no mater what. There is a plug-in Prius (not available in Michigan yet) that will increase that number to 90 by giving you about 11 miles of electric power before the battery goes.
The Volt gives you 38 miles of electric power….so the top end of it’s mpg measure could be very high. Given Suzanne’s normal commute, it might be a long long time before we have to fill up the gas tank.
Test drives are over and the internet research begins…and Suzanne discovers that the ugly looking interior of the Volt is only for white colored Volts….other exterior colors for the Volt have grey interiors and gray instrument panels. And something amazing happens….Suzanne, who has never ever bought (or even driven for an extended period) an American car slowly but surely decides that the Volt is the way to go.
(with one caveat…we are leasing it, not buying it. The lease price is very palatable for two years and the lease also lets us drive and make sure we like it. Also, we want to see how the battery operates over the long-term….any degradation in storage of power or anything like that)
So while Fric and Frac are up in Evart at camp, on Wednesday the three of us headed down to a dealer in Southfield to pick up a 2013 Volt. The color is Viridian Joule….some fancy term for a gray that looks blueish-green at times.
Why did we drive all the way down there? Apparently this dealer has made it their specialty to sell Volts; there is an article in Forbes magazine about them. And, they have this color.
You can see the door for the electric charge in the photo above.
Next week we’ll go with a post to discuss first impressions…..
