Lease a Chevy Volt?

[Meghan54]

Hey all,

I currently own a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT with 70k miles on it. It's been good to me, with no major repairs needed. I've had the car for 8 years now, and am interested in the volt. I found a lease deal for $274 a month, $999 down for 39 months on a Volt. If you were in my shoes, would you keep driving the Legacy into the ground? Or go for the Volt while the leggy has decent trade-in value?

My choice in this is bolded. But if I was intent upon buying/leasing a car right now, given the car you've got and its condition and mileage, I'd at least wait until the 2014's begin to hit and the 2013's are on clearance.

I just think your Subaru is well over its major depreciation days, so it'll decrease in value much less year-to-year now. I just don't see your car depreciating $1500 between today and September. That's how much you should have in your pocket from not making payments on the Volt until September. (Strictly speaking, the amount you'd realize from no payments until Sept. is $2196, but I'm deducting $700 for gas/maintenance.)

With the used car market being so damned strong these days, I'd wait until Aug/Sep and then make a buy then if you still want to move to new. Or maybe by waiting, you'll find out that drive it into the ground really is the most profitable way.

 

[OSULugan]

Looks like you'd have to drive the Volt for about 10 years to start seeing an economic benefit over a Cruze or similar vehicle, given the purchase costs.

My point being that driving the Volt over 40 miles reduces the effective mpg rating severely. It only gets 35/40 mpg (rated) after the all electric range runs out. In this case, another "high mpg" car is likely to have just as good fuel efficiency. So effectively, if the Chevy Volt can't beat a "high mpg" car, cost-wise, by being driving only 40 miles a day, then it will never beat it.

TLDR; Driving more miles doesn't solve the problem because it takes away Volt's advantage.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

My point being that driving the Volt over 40 miles reduces the effective mpg rating severely. It only gets 35/40 mpg (rated) after the all electric range runs out. In this case, another "high mpg" car is likely to have just as good fuel efficiency. So effectively, if the Chevy Volt can't beat a "high mpg" car, cost-wise, by being driving only 40 miles a day, then it will never beat it.

TLDR; Driving more miles doesn't solve the problem because it takes away Volt's advantage.

But if it is used as a commuter car when the commute is less than 40 miles you may never use the gasoline in the tank. On longer trips/vacations it would use the gasoline and then you have a decent mileage trip car. That is the whole point of the Volt, the advantages of the electric motor without the issues that arise with using pure battery power. You don't need a second car for long trips as is required with pure electric vehicles.

 

[jagec]

or let the car sit a day in the sun with a solar charger. eventually, youll get home

You would need about this much solar to fully charge a Volt in one sunny day:

 

[OSULugan]

That is the whole point of the Volt,

Yes, I understand. This isn't what the conversation was about. It was about a cost comparison analysis of buying/leasing and driving the Volt vs. some other "high mpg car." The statement was that you need to drive more miles to make the Volt worth it. My contention is that driving more miles doesn't help the Volt in this analysis.

 

[LTC8K6]

My point being that driving the Volt over 40 miles reduces the effective mpg rating severely. It only gets 35/40 mpg (rated) after the all electric range runs out. In this case, another "high mpg" car is likely to have just as good fuel efficiency. So effectively, if the Chevy Volt can't beat a "high mpg" car, cost-wise, by being driving only 40 miles a day, then it will never beat it.

TLDR; Driving more miles doesn't solve the problem because it takes away Volt's advantage.

I disagree. If you only need to drive 30 miles or less a day, the Volt still seems to have no economic advantage over the Cruze. Unless you keep the Volt for a long time. Which was my point, I think.

Now if you bought a used Volt...

But then you could also buy a used Cruze...

The extra money for the Volt will buy a lot of gasoline for the Cruze.

But again, people aren't buying the Volt to be frugal. They are buying it because it's cool, which is true.

The push for a mileage tax would/could throw another cost in there as well for electric vehicles.

 

[OSULugan]

I disagree. If you only need to drive 30 miles or less a day, the Volt still seems to have no economic advantage over the Cruze. Unless you keep the Volt for a long time. Which was my point, I think.

I don't think we're disagreeing on this point. My assertion wasn't that the Volt held an economical advantage over the Cruze. My assertion was that adding more miles driven doesn't solve the problem and give the Volt an economic advantage over the Cruze. Since you have a fixed number of miles you get "for free" with the Volt, due to recharge time, I don't think that the Volt holds an economical advantage. I was just confused by the thought that driving more miles in the Volt would solve this problem, because I don't believe it will.

How about some math to illustrate what I'm saying:

Assumptions:
1) You get 40 miles of drive time with a full charge on your Volt. Which just so happens to be your round trip commute length.
2) You only are able to charge at home
3) It takes you at least 8 hours to charge your Volt to full
4) The other car you're considering gets avg 37 mpg (same as Volt when using gas)
5) You pay $3.50 / gal gas

Each work-day, you only get to drive 40 miles
52 weeks per year * 5 workdays - 10 holidays - 2 weeks for vacation = 250 workdays

On weekends/holidays, you get 2x the number of miles because you charge it during the day as well as overnight
52 weeks per year * 2 weekends + 10 holidays = 114 non-workdays

Total miles driven = 250 * 40 + 114 * 80 = 19,120 "free miles" per year

For Car A those miles cost you
(19120 / 37) galons * $3.50 = (516.75) gallons * $3.50 = $1808.625

So, ignoring cost of electricity to recharge, you are saving about $150.72 per month, if you drive the Volt for the maximum number of "free miles" per year. If Car A costs you $200 less per month in payments, then you choose Car A. "But wait!" you say, "Driving the Volt more miles helps equalize this".

You drive an extra 40 miles on your workdays = 10000 miles
Volt cost for extra 10,000 miles = (10,000/37mpg) gallons * $3.50 = 270.27*$3.50 =$945.95
Car A cost for extra 10,000 miles = (10,000/37mpg) gallons * $3.50 = $945.95

Cost differential is still the same. In fact, if Car A instead gets avg 41mpg, the cost differential is worse for the Volt.

 

[LTC8K6]

The Volt requires premium fuel, the Cruze does not, so you can tweak your numbers.

 

[vertika]

If you shop around, you might be able to find a better deal (have you visited the purchasing forum of GM-Volt.com? - lots of salesmen lurk there and offer deals). Is this 274 for a base model?

With that said - I love my Volt. I am one year into my lease - at 11K miles now with mo major issues. Just plug it in and drive

Yes right
If you shop around, you might be able to find a better deal, there many online dealers are available....:thumbsup:

 

[Reckoner]

Update:

I got it. Couldn't contain myself and leased a 2013 black Chevy Volt with the Safety package (rear view cam when going in reverse) and heated seats/leather wrapped wheel. Comes out to $286 a month w/$2900 OTD. Very happy with the car and am a little overwhelmed with all the options it comes with as opposed to my old Legacy. Haven't used any gas mileage in the week I've had it yet, and I see that being the case for the majority of my travels. It'll make a great commuter car for the next few years!

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Could not hold his itch.

 

[herm0016]

pics? volts are sweet.