The 2011 Chevrolet Volt
The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is the companies latest attempt to enter the hybrid market. This one is a plug in hybrid that is widely considered to be a pretty big leap forward in technology. Whether or not that makes the car a good option if you are in the market for a new car however is much harder to answer. There are certainly some very good things about this car but there are also some issues.
The main attraction of the 2011 Chevrolet Volt is that it is the most advanced hybrid on the market. It is the most fuel efficient car on the marker right now. Basically the way that it works is that you have a home charging kit which you will charge the battery for up to forty miles. After that it works like a standard hybrid with a gasoline engine charging the batteries. A tank of gas will allow you to travel three hundred miles of city driving. Just how much mileage you get will of course depend on how you drive the car.
The actual driving of the Volt is what you would expect from an electric vehicle. If you haven't driven an electric car before you will notice that the engine is very responsive and very quiet at low to moderate speeds but that the car does not perform quite as well at high speed. When it is in hybrid mode the car performs much more like a regular car. Overall the Volt is a fairly good driving car although the brakes are a little bit on the sensitive side.
The biggest downside of the Chevrolet Volt is the interior, although it is a four door that is supposed to seat five in reality it is very unlikely that you are going to be able to get more than four people in the car. The other issue is that for a car in the price range of the Volt the interior is a little bit lacking in refinement. Things like power seats are generally expected in a car that has a price of more than forty thousand dollars. Luggage capacity is also quite small because of the space that is taken up by the batteries.
Opinions on the Chevrolet Volt are very much divided, the car is clearly a pretty major leap forward in hybrid technology. On the other hand there is a feeling that the car is over priced for what you get. In the car will cost about forty thousand dollars depending the options that you choose and in addition you are going to have to pay for the home charging unit. On the other hand the fuel efficiency is not all that much better than you would get from other hybrids. Whether it is worth the expense is up to you of course but there is always a risk in being at the forefront of a new technology.