2016 Volt Beats Model S 85 To 30 MPH

As far as driving a small electric Chevy, probably nothing compares to the 2016 Chevy Volt. Rather than have to rely on claims from GM, though, a “First Test Review” review of the 2016 Volt from Motor Trendadds a lot more to promotions of the next-gen Volt. The nice review makes the car sound agile, quick, and smooth. The title starts off, “Revolution Two.”

The dialog stream of members on the GM-Volt Forum compares Motor Trend track tests, and as our title indicates, those tests found the ’16 Volt actually has a quicker 0–30 mph time than a Model S 85 (2.2 vs. 2.3 seconds)! Well, that is a fine time, and it will make many Volt owners happy! Personally, I am not interested in the ludicrous speed of the Tesla that tops all. Leave that to race cars and those working a Batman shift chasing Jokers late at night.

The new version of the Volt stands way out on its own when compared to other modern EVs — it has far more electric range than other plug-in hybrids (which is one reason why some are keen to call it an extended-range electric vehicle instead), but it does offer the significant security of a hefty gas tank and engine if the driver ever needs one. Competing with most pure electrics, it offers 105 MPGe when driving on electricity. It seems to be rapidly challenge the old days of smoke and fumes — with the styling matching the gentle power and athleticism of what’s under the hood.

“The Volt’s new generation makes the class of fine-tuned modern clean such as the BMW i3,” Motor Trend‘s Kim Reynolds highlights. Of course that ever-present and popular leading-edge Tesla plays into a comparison as well. Reynolds adds, “Chevy’s own 200-mile range Bolt EV (which will use much of this Volt’s hardware) and Telsa’s Model 3 are fidgeting in the wings…. And I’ll be fascinated to read a competent analysis by the likes of Argonne or Oak Ridge National Labs, comparing the Volt’s overall CO2 numbers to the Mirai’s.”

Continuing, Reynolds dives into specs and other details, but we’ve covered those here already.

Reynolds goes on to describe a “nimble” ride in the second-gen Volt, with a stream of seamless changes once noticeable in the first-generation Volt that have disappeared from engineers refining the system, eliminating noisier changes in invisible (to us) ways. He concludes:

This isn’t just another Volt, a second one, a slightly better one, a $1200 cheaper one (as low as $24,995 in California after incentives). Or one to kinda ignore because we’ve been there, done that, and the i3 and Mirai seem more, au current.

This Volt is a whole new deal, as revolutionary anything else out there. Try it again.

There are some ‘sweet’ and very affordable first-gen Volts on offer at the moment. According to a recent post by Zach, “no matter where you are living (in North America, at least), you should be able to scout out good Volt offers, and remember, even if the 2016 Volt is much better, the first Volts won a good number of awards and was the car most loved by its owners for a couple of years… until the Tesla Model S came along and took over the top spot.”

But no doubt about it — the 2016 Volt looks a lot more appealing. Too bad it’s only being rolled out in 11 states.