The bottom line here is that you can purchase three Honda Civics (the regular, not hybrid versions) for the price of one Chevy Volt. Civics get close to 50 MPG with a regular gasoline powered internal combustion engine.
Of course, all high MPG cars are basically beer cans with wheels. I prefer to keep driving my 2006 (pre-government takeover) Chevy Suburban.
Point well made. When gas was at $4/gal, I was in the market for a used fuel-efficient car. I crunched the numbers on a Prius v. a Corolla. The Corolla was definitely the better buy. For highway driving, I get 35 mpg with my Corolla (as opposed to 50 for the Prius). Even at $4/gal, it would have taken me over a decade to recover the initial cost differential.