Chevrolet Volt - Vehicle Overview

In case you missed all the hullabaloo that occurred last year when this car debuted, let's get one thing straight: The 2012 Chevrolet Volt is not a pure electric car. Much of the general public initially assumed it was, helped along in this belief by the car's name and some vague marketing. The Volt is essentially a plug-in hybrid, meaning it has the ability to run much faster and farther under just electric power than a normal hybrid. In the Volt's case, this means up to 100 mph and anywhere from 25-50 miles without using a drop of gasoline.

Once you run out of battery juice, the gasoline-powered inline-4 engine kicks in, producing electricity for the motor and actually powering the wheels in some circumstances, stretching the Volt's range as much as an additional 300 miles. All told, the Volt is the most advanced hybrid to date and quite possibly the most fuel-efficient car you will be able to buy. We say "quite possibly" because you can't measure the Volt's fuel economy in any conventional way. It all depends on how you drive.

If you have a 30-mile round-trip commute and you plug in your Volt every night when you get home (a full charge requires as few as 3 hours), give yourself a gold star. Your fuel economy would be infinite because you'd always be running off the battery pack and hence never use gas.

Now let's say you have a 60-mile commute. In that case you'd be using gasoline for driving about 30 miles each day, so you'd be fueling up regularly. In an Edmunds test of a Volt with the battery pack depleted, the car averaged 31.4 mpg in mixed driving. This isn't a bad mileage figure compared to regular gas vehicles, but it is seriously subpar when compared to the mid-40s mpg that a standard hybrid typically provides.

For 2012, the Chevrolet Volt gets a slightly lower price tag, but its formerly standard navigation system and Bose audio system are now on the options list. New standard features include updated keyless ignition/entry and the new MyLink system. The latter provides Bluetooth streaming audio as well as voice control over the audio system and your cell phone.

Body Styles, Trim Levels, and Options

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt is a midsize four-door hatchback sedan with seating for four.

Standard features include 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights, heated mirrors, keyless ignition/entry, remote ignition, automatic climate control, cruise control, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, six-way manual front seats, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, cloth upholstery, Bluetooth, OnStar (with turn-by-turn navigation), MyLink (includes Bluetooth streaming audio, voice control for phone and audio functions and enhanced smartphone integration) and a six-speaker sound system with a CD player, auxiliary audio jack, iPod/USB interface and a touchscreen.

The Premium Trim package adds leather upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and heated front seats. The Rear Camera and Park Assist package adds a rearview camera and front and rear parking sensors. Other options include a navigation system (with voice controls, real-time traffic, DVD player and 30GB of digital music storage) and a Bose audio speaker upgrade.

Interior

The 2012 Chevrolet Volt's distinctive center stack appears to have been modeled after various personal electronic devices with touch-sensitive buttons. It's a fitting theme for the car, but we've found the collection of small and similar-looking buttons makes actual operation a bit finicky. Overall interior quality is high, though, with materials that seem to be the best yet from recently improved Chevrolet.

In terms of functionality, the Volt's futuristic gauge readout is easy enough to read at a glance, though it washes out in sunlight. There's also a display -- sort of like the bubble in a spirit level -- that helps you stay in the most energy-efficient driving range. It's big and green when you are conserving fuel or battery energy and smaller and angry orange-yellow when you're not.

Under the Hood

The front-wheel-drive 2012 Volt is primarily powered by an electric motor rated at 149 horsepower (111 kilowatts) and 273 pound-feet of torque. This motor draws power from a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery pack until the battery charge is 70 percent depleted. At that point, the Volt's 1.4-liter four-cylinder internal combustion engine, which requires premium fuel, comes to life as a replacement power source for the electric motor. Under certain higher-speed conditions, the four-cylinder can also help power the wheels directly.

The battery can only be completely recharged through either a 120- or 240-volt outlet, but regenerative braking and the engine generator can replenish it slightly. In Edmunds testing, we found the Volt had an electricity range of about 25-50 miles. When the battery is depleted, our testing showed the Volt gets an average of about 33 mpg. In general, the term "your mileage may vary" has never been so true.

Chevrolet estimates a fully depleted Volt battery will recharge in eight to 10 hours using common 120-volt household power. With 240 volts, which requires a charging station, the time drops to four hours. The charging station is priced at a relatively low $490, plus installation. The car allows owners to schedule charging times to take advantage of off-peak rates. An application for smartphones gives owners remote control over this feature along with detailed monitoring capability.

In Edmunds performance testing, the Volt went from zero to 60 mph in 9.2 seconds in electric mode and 9 seconds flat with the engine generator. Both are reasonably quick times for the traditional hybrid segment.

Safety

Safety features on the 2012 Chevy Volt include antilock brakes, stability control, front side airbags, front knee airbags and full-length side curtain airbags. In Edmunds brake testing, the Volt came to a stop in a respectable 124 feet.

In the government crash tests, the Volt scores an overall rating of five stars (the highest possible), with five stars for both frontal and side-impact protection categories. Similarly, in Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash testing, the Volt earns the highest rating of "Good" in frontal offset, side-impact and roof strength tests.