High VOLTage: the real volt blog

So… i read in this fairly new article about the volt that it would give about 38mpg in charge sustain mode (fuel engine on).. that sounds shitty actually in my world…

my new toyota yaris (don’t have it yet) does more than 45mpg.. and that’s not even a hybrid

So i finaly took the plunge..

time for a new car.. a few days ago i ordered my brand new Toyota Yaris..

it’s the 1.33l 100hp engine with Multimode (manual-automatic transmission)

i chose the “comfort” level of equipment for the car which includes keyless entry system and start button and a lot of other gadgets, it’s the most expensive version of the car, but so what, if i buy a new car at least i want it to be really mine and in the version i want it to be.

i also chose to have a JBL sound system installed, it’s a acoustically predefined 440-watt DSP system with 6 speakers and subwoofer.. it’s supposed to have some really good sound in it.

so i suppose i will be happy about it.

the cost.. around €320 euro per month.. subscription, not purchase.. so after 3 years i just give it back to toyota and i get my €500 deposit back. best of all, the price includes full insurance and service fees, including a loan car whenever you need to turn in your car for a checkup

it sounds like i’ll have it in at most 3 months, they qouted sometime in february, but i do hope it’s sooner.

So, the decision came down to Toyota IQ and Toyota Yaris.

Because my need for a car is something that is fun to drive but economically efficient, and hopefully makes less impact on the environment. so in other words, i’m aiming for a medium to small car with a carbondioxide footprint of less than 120g/km.. Toyotas new 1.33l 98bhp engine actually manages to do that, at regular unleaded gasoline.

Personally i don’t like Diesel or Ethanol as car fuel, i can rant about that some other time.

So anyway, the price difference was very little between the Yaris and IQ, but as i felt, the IQ was very limited in the ways it could be used, and if i sign up to have a car at least 3 years, i want it to be somewhat multipurpose.
for me the clear choice came down to Yaris.

The Yaris is pretty economical, at a 0,51l/10km with a price tag not too high, and leaving a carbon dioxide footprint of 120g/km exactly. And Toyota is offering a car subscription, meaning you don’t have to buy the car, you subscribe to it for a certain amount of time, then you give it back… which for me right now sounded like a very suitable idea.

i’ve been talking to the salesman, a 2010 Toyota Yaris Spirit, 1,33l 6-speed manual, and opted for which gadgets i want for the car, like upgraded speakersystem, keyless system and gps navigation and the cost came down to about €310 per month, which is fairly ok, the car will be 1o years newer than i have now, so of course it will cost more, but also because i chose some extra equipment straight up which actually costs a bit more, in fact, if i chose a more basic version of the same car it would end up being cheaper than my old car is right now with repairs, service and insurance. pretty funny.

So, it looks right now like this will be my next car, most likely i’ll sign up for one in the next coming week or so.

but there is one small problem right now, apparently toyota has just changed the optional packages list, so instead of having the choices basic, plus, sport, comfort and spirit.. they now have Base, ACL and Comfort.. for which i don’t know what is what yet.. i’m still waiting for a call from the seller before i make my decision.

oh and also something that is bothering me with the Yaris.. Toyota has this really awesome CVT transmission (Multidrive) system for their new 1,33l engine, but so far it’s only used on the Toyota IQ, but not on the Yaris.

The Yaris still has the crappy Multimode manual automatic transmission, and of course 5-speed and 6-speed manual transmission also… i actually do hope they add the CVT as a choice for the 2010 yaris, and i hope that’s one of the changes in the product packages.

new car for the win!

Hi everyone.

i might start this rant off with describing my old car first.

I own a 2000 Nissan Almera 1.6l Sedan, it has a a 120bhp GA16DE engine (measured), which is slightly upgraded with a Fidanza flywheel and a custom race stainless steel exhaust system, and some other secret modifications to the engine, it has upgraded brakes (calipers, pads and rotor), suspension and shifted weight distribution.

All in all, i like my car, i’m the second owner and bought it when it was 3 years old, now i’ve had it for about 7 years, which is actually quite a long time to own a car imho, and it has travelled around 150 000 km.

So, the last 6 months i’ve been looking at alternatives for cars, which is kinda when i fell in love with 4 different cars (not listed in order except the GTR which will always be the best car ever made)..

1. Nissan GTR, 3.8l V6 twin turbo engine with 485bhp, this is the most awesome car ever built, but way out of my budget

2. Nissan 370Z, 3,7l NA engine of 333bhp, also a really nice but expensive sports car.

3. Toyota Prius, 2009 edition, also known as generation 3, a really nice and environmentally friendly car but a bit too expensive with too little economical winnings for a car.. in other words, its just not really effective enough at 0,39l/10km, and i can’t really afford it right now anyway.

4. Chevrolet Volt, i’ve already ranted about how much i like this car.. it will be a great environment friend and a great cost-saver, and hopefully a nice car that is fun to drive.. but for me, i think it’s still about 2 years away at least.

so, i started looking at a fairly cheap car, with fairly good performance and quality, so i ended up looking to Toyota for my answer, the decision came down to Toyota IQ and Toyota Yaris.

TO be continued (don’t want to make the blogs too long)

So, i guess a blog is supposed to be written in daily, or at least regularly.

i’m guessing i should do something of the sort.

although the main focus of this blog will always definately be about the Chevrolet Volt / Opel Ampera.

i think maybe sometimes i should write something else just to keep the blog updated, i mean, it’s not like there will be something interesting to write about the Volt every day.

i just finished a 3-day security refresher course for work and of course now i have work the rest of the weekend… typical huh.
but the best part is that i got whole monday-tuesday free, so i’ll probably write a blog special about the Opel Ampera during those days.

i got lots of pics of it too

anywho,I’ve looked around and this is obviously so far the  best updated blog on voltnation! so i hope people will start coming here, i’m also interested in your comments.

And of course i hope some GM/Opel officials will even come here and try to answer some of the questions that i will pick up.

in fact i came up with another concern of mine, but of course this one should almost be included in the heating problem.

Concern: how much electricity will the seat warmers and the rear window deicer use when activated?

So, we’ve all been informed now that this is probably the most awesomest car in a long time, especially regarding technological advances.

For me i think i regard this car, Chevrolet Volt, as one of the biggest milestones in the automotive industry since the invention of the ottomotor.

But, there is of course no new technology without unanswered questions, and no unanswered questions that i won’t post on this blog

Regarding this new technology i  actually do have a few concerns, which i still don’t have an answer to (in fact i will try to find these answers for you and me both);

Concern 1: Airconditioning, obviously in a modern car this is a feature that will be present.

My biggest issue with this is; how much power does that actually drain from the system?
Is the AC driven on it’s own electrical motor?
Is it somehow driven on a belt from the main electrical motor.
Or is it perhaps even mechanically driven by the fuel engine, does that mean that the fuel engine have to be on when using the AC? These are all concerns with different impacts on either the fuel economy or battery efficiency.

Concern 2: Heating, personally i live in a country that can get very cold in the winter, sometimes down to -30 C in the city i live in. So how does the heating package work? Is it like a 2000 watt thermostatic heater running for the full trip duration, or is this also connected with the fuel engine?
In either way it would definately impact the performance/economy of  the car somehow, probably even more than the AC problem.

Concern 3: How much will this car cost in europe? According to preliminaries it doesn’t sound like it will be super expensive.. I’m guessing around a Prius in cost.. So probably around €30000, for me personally I would probably buy it even up to €35000.

but i actually think thats my upper limit.
And this is ONLY if they can actually manage to hold a 0,1 – 0,2  litre per 10 km… which i think is fully possible.

Concern 4: The gas tank is almost exactly 12 gallons or 45 Litres for us europeans.. if the car has a rating of 0,16 Litre / 10km (according to Opel) that means.. I would be able to go 1739 miles / 2800 km on one gas tank? But that data actually conflicts with sine data previously shown (wikipedia, 300 miles / 482km on a full tank)..Giving the car a rating of  0,93 Litre /10km which means it has worse fuel economy than my current car?
UPDATE: i’ve checked around and some places says it could go 230 mpg (miles per gallon), in metric terms thats around 0,1 litre / 10km, or if the tank is 12 gallons, that would mean it can go 2760 miles / 4441 km on one tank of fuel.
that would mean i would only have to fill my car up about 2 times per year, instead of 2 times per month as i do now..
but back to the concern.. it’s that the fuel rating won’t be this good.

First Post.

I love this car, it’s almost ridiculous. I can’t say i love it as much as i love the Nissan GTR, but that car is in a league of it’s own.

There are several reasons as to why this car is so awesome.
And i’ll list them all. At least all of them i can come up with right now. (Be sure to check for more later on)

1. Mileage, can you get another car that gets mileage like this one? I doubt it. Definately my number one reason for wanting this car.

2. Environmentally friendly, sure the electricity could come from an unclean source, but that in itself can’t be reason enough to say that this car isn’t made with the environment in it’s mind.

3. Design, it looks awesome. It’s about the exact type of vehicle i’ve always do tend to buy, 5-door sedanish hatchback.. Why? it’s simple really. It’s practicality + looks mixed with eachother. The hatchback allows for ridiculous amount of practical storage, without the car looking gay like a station wagon or being unecessarily large.

4. Performance. Sure it’s a green car, but that 149hp electrical engine mashed out over a roughly 1500kg? displacement should give the car reasonable performance.

I’m guessing around 8,5-9 seconds 0-100 km/h. Sure it’s not a sports car by any means, but seeing as the power is there 100% as soon as you push the pedal (because it’s  an electrical engine) would make it an awesome redlight racer. I’m guessing the 0-50 km/h is really really fast on this car.

Which makes it ideal for us everyday racers who want a semi-sporty car with reasonable performance, but still don’t want to pay neither the money for a sports car or the high insurance or the lack of practicality of such a car.

5. Interior design, if the design on this car is kept as is, then it’s more futuristic than the Honda Civic.. I love it, the whole part about computer screens.. It almost screams star trek… Now that’s nerd love right there.

6. Ihe fact that this car is made the way i want it to be made, a highly optimized engine running a generator powering batteries and electrical motor for propulsion. This is what i’ve been talking about to my friends for the last 5 years. In fact i even wonder why Toyota and Honda didn’t go there already.