At 25K, the Volt might be a good idea. Given the rates for electricity, at least until Obama gets tax and trade passed, you would be able to top off the Volt’s batteries for under two dollars in most places. I expect the insurance will costs about what it would on any 40K car.
Electric cars in theory have almost no maintenance costs. However, since the volt retains a gasoline engine, you won’t be able to avoid the maintenance costs for the combustion engine, such as oil changes, fuel injector cleanings etc.
At 40K, the volt will be just a toy for the rich. If you want to avoid the gas pump I would recommend going with the Nissan Leaf. Nissan’s new EV due out next year.
Agree - unless and until gas goes to $10 a gallon. For some reason people don’t blink an eye at price tags of 10’s of thousands of dollars but have a stroke when they have to pay over $3 a gallon at the pump. My view is money out of my pocket is money out of my pocket, whether it’s paid up front at the dealer, or down the line at the gas station.
Agreed, 40K is too much. The price point needed to be below 30K to make it reasonable.
This is the first generation — buying the first generation of any new model, even when the engine is proven conventional internal combustion technology is a risk.
Besides I don’t like the idea of buying anything from Government Motors, especially knowing the unions that have ruined the US auto industry are now profiting from sales.