Insider Look in the Chevy Volt

Here is another review of the Chevy Volt from a boyfriend of a GM engineer. Not too much is new but it does give us more insight on the soon coming alternate energy vehicle.

From GM-Volt.com:

Kevin Corrigan is the boyfriend of one of the Volt engineers, Mel Fox. As is common practice at GM, Mel got to take a Volt integration vehicle home for the night. Kevin decided to write about it on his blog. He claimed not to drive the car as GM wouldn’t allow it, but his experience gives us for the first time a real-world extended driving impression with an advanced dvelopment production intent Chevy Volt.

Kevin thought it was “watered down from the concept” but “looked good” and he found the hatchback space “enormous.” Once inside he was “driven” to the instrument panel which looked “awesome.” He found the two LCD screens “large, colorful, and crisp” and enjoyed the capacitive finger-sensing console buttons.

He was impressed with the silence of the car though noted some slight “whistles and whines.”

He said the car’s power was “adequate” though not overwhelming, but he did find the very linear power delivery curve a “cool sensation.”

Kevin did notice the sound of the engine. Here’s exactly how he described it:

With the radio off the engine could be heard coming on quite clearly, but that’s not to say it was overly loud. given that the engine operates more like a generator then a direct source of propulsion, it’s noise is not dependent on speed. That takes a bit of getting used to. The best comparison i can make is that it sounded like a very muted turbo prop airplane engine. There’s a low level “drone” of sorts that comes to life as the engine hit’s it’s operating speed(s). If the radio was on i think it would be virtually un-noticable. There was a vibration that could be felt, but that was very subtle. When the vehicle stops the engine goes into auto-stop.

Kevin was unable to determine the Volt’s fuel efficiency in charge sustaining mode. When I asked him he replied, “not sure about mpg..display’s weren’t working 100%.”

Overall, Kevin got to spend about 30 minutes driving in the Volt.

Now here’s some more very exciting news.

In a couple of days I will be given an extended test drive opportunity of a Chevy Volt integration vehicle in both EV and range-extended mode operation.

If I could take you all with me I would, but since that isn’t up to me, please leave your requests for what you would like me to observe in the comments below. Stay close to the site and I’ll keep you posted!