"mcseanerson" (mcseanerson)
10/17/2014 at 13:10 • Filed to: None
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"mcseanerson" (mcseanerson)
10/17/2014 at 13:10 • Filed to: None | 3
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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
We all know better and still...
I hate when people are so quick to bash the Volt or any other technology in a similar situation because it's not readily apparent to the masses that an engineer who knows what they're doing made the right call, marketers be damned. I want a better made product not the one with the bigger numbers or the most features.
Leadbull
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:11 |
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Go through and read the annotations on that article.
You will not be disappointed.
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mcseanerson
> Leadbull
10/17/2014 at 13:14 |
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I did, they are awful. I remember before the Volt debuted and before anyone knew a thing about the ICE touching the wheels a European engineer who was studying ICE hybrids said for any car to use it's electric powertrain on the highway is just wasteful and it is better reserved for city driving extending overall electric range and helping the vehicle to use less fuel overall which if you stop and think about for even 5 seconds makes sense to anyone with the exception of fp commenters.
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:19 |
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Since when do engineers get to make calls, especially at GM? Last time I checked, the car that led to safety standards was a GM product rendered dangerous by an accountant who refused to allow them to install a front sway bar...
TwinCharged - Is Now UK Opponaut
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:21 |
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Oh my fucking God I want to reach through my computer screen and throttle that commenter's neck until it looks like a soggy towel.
HammerheadFistpunch
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:21 |
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its the same principle between the dual mode hybrid drivetrain in the full size GMT600 series suvs and trucks. cvt for low speed, 4 speed auto for the freeway. Crazy but better...and a total flop.
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mcseanerson
> SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
10/17/2014 at 13:23 |
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Things come and go and they take turns with who's in charge. The current CEO is an engineer and they put Mark Stielow in charge of the Z/28 so I'd say things are pretty good right now. I've always felt though that GM is better at engineering individual parts and always misses something when putting the car together. Like making a kick ass car with a lame transmission. Ford on the other hand I've always considered just a little above average at parts engineering but they do a great job tying a package together and making it more than the sum of it's parts. Every once in a while though GM gets a couple right and they're epic.
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SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:33 |
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That's true. GM has been responsible for many of the most important changes in car design. They invented the autotragic, synchonized transmissions, electric starter, and a bunch else. Unfortunately, as you said, it's pretty rare that they get the whole package right. Sometimes they have brilliance on their hands and then just throw it away. The Fiero could have been brilliant, but just as they started figuring that out and developing the third gen to be the Fiero that should have been, it was canceled.
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mcseanerson
> SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
10/17/2014 at 13:41 |
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I think they knock it out of the park Monday through Thursday and then on Friday afternoon someone comes in and says they're having nickle drafts down at the bar and they say they'll fix the Corvair suspension in the next gen while they grab their jacket.
deekster_caddy
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 13:49 |
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Ugh. As a Volt driver of two years going, and having put it through so so so many different driving scenarios, I stepped in to help defend it. It is most definitely one of the most misunderstood cars on the road today.
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mcseanerson
> deekster_caddy
10/17/2014 at 14:19 |
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It, like most cars, is ideal for certain life situations. It is the most ideal alternative energy car for my situation. I commute ten miles one way, live in a small rural town fifty miles from the closest interstate.
A Ford Fiesta ecoboost is probably the most efficient car for my situation but a Voltnwould be second. Diesel costs more than premium here, there's no where to charge EVs publicly, and we dont have enough congestion to justify a Prius.
The Volts flexibility is what makes it key in my situation.
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deekster_caddy
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 14:43 |
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Flexibility is key for me too. My typical daily commute is 30 miles, so the Volt just cuts it in the winter with the heat on to make the whole trip electrically. But on the weekends if I leave the house I will exceed the battery range. At least one day every other week I go out with friends after work who aren't close and put 150 miles on. I average 80% electric driving for "100 MPG" average
Then there was that trip I had to make this past summer. I was on vacation in Maine, and my dad in Florida and had a stroke. My brother and I decided we needed to go see him, but balked at the thousand dollars or so we'd have to pay in airfare, and that there weren't any flights available until the following day. So I picked him up a few hours later and the next afternoon we were in my dad's hospital room, just over 1500 miles from where I had been the day before. We averaged reasonably above the speed limit the entire trip and still pulled off 37 MPG, so the entire trip was a little over $100 instead of $1000 one way, and we didn't have to rent a car etc etc. I put about 4,000 miles on the gas engine that week. That's the kind of flexibility I'm used to and expect. The Volt gives it. This trip did knock my "lifetime MPG" down to 80 though...
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mcseanerson
> deekster_caddy
10/17/2014 at 14:47 |
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Yes with a $100k Tesla model S you could do the same but you'd have to plan those trips carefully where the Volt represent classic American get up and go.
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deekster_caddy
> mcseanerson
10/17/2014 at 14:54 |
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Umm, I don't think I could. I haven't seen a battery swap station anywhere yet, not along the east coast anyway. On a trip like that I'm not waiting 2 hours at each rest area to charge. Maybe someday when I retire that would be an interesting way to travel, but you are still limited by infrastructure. I see the EREV model as the only way to go for a few decades still. I'd love to see that day, but some other battery breakthrough needs to happen first.