I am close to getting ready to be in the market for a new car. My trusty Mazda 6 Hatchback Sport is still doing very well after almost 6 years (and barely 55k miles). But with all the ads now coming up around electric cars I am getting excited. We already own a hybrid (Toyota Camry Hybrid) and love getting 30+ mpg's in the city and 40 on the highway in such a big, family friendly car. So far, the choices are boiling down to the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf (mainly because of availability). Thankfully, both have a $7,500 federal tax credit and the state of Pennsylvania will give us an additional $500. My main factors for choosing a car would be:
1. Cool (I know thats generally in the eye of the beholder)
2. Size (needs to be big enough for wife + 2 growing girls)
3. High MPG
4. Technology
5. Want to buy American
6. Layout of dash, console
7. Want to have a nice car, but not to showy (note: agreement by the wife trumps all of the above). Now reviewing the two cars, I think I am landing on the Volt. It is definitely bigger and that is a big reason. The other and more important is that the Volt has the backup gasoline engine. It seems a lot of environmentalists want to 100% eliminate use of oil. I am not in this camp. I believe we need to reduce oil consumption, but eliminating is too extreme (right now) of a goal. Overuse of oil is bad not only for the environment, but also because extra money gets into bad people's hands. A reduction of oil use by 20% in the very near term (next decade) will have a real effect - only spare money goes to terrorists, and all the spare money will be gone. The US has already flattened out amount of oil use on an annual basis. Now we can reduce the overall use year over year, in combination with better catalytic converters, will reduce pollution tremendously enabling the ecosystem some 'breathing room'. The other great thing about the Volt is that it uses standard 120v plugs in the house. The Leaf will require new plugs in the house, adding cost and frustration. On a daily basis, I can get to work or the airport and back without having to use any oil. If I combine this with moving my electric source to a clean energy provider I will dramatically reduce my personal footprint. Lastly, the Volt is American. I would like to buy American more often, but in the past, American cars have been clunky, poorly laid out internally, uncool, immediate value loss cars with poor quality. This caused us to buy the Toyota Camry Hybrid last time and the Mazda 6 before. This is changing in both reality and perception now (perception vs reality IS important). Now my only problem with the Volt (other than still a little hesitancy to buy a Chevy due to perception issues) is price. Now Chevy says that their cost is so high due to the battery. But the Leaf would have this same problem, yet comes in at $8,000 less. At least Chevy has made the lease rate the same as the Leaf ($350 per month). I haven't 100% decided, and I haven't even seen in person, nevertheless test driven either car. But on what I know so far, the Chevy Volt seems to be the choice over the Nissan Leaf. The prevailing thought I have heard is 'the Volt an be your first car, whereas the Leaf really should be your 2nd or even 3rd car.' Let's hope more choices come on the market soon. In the mean time, I am hopeful the Volt can be a pretty big mass market hit, reduce our oil usage and put America in the lead again. From The New York Times: The Volt, G.M.’s Plug-In Car, Gets a $41,000 Price Tag The carmaker has begun taking orders for the plug-in vehicle, which is expected to be at dealers in November. http://nyti.ms/dAzIY7
1. Cool (I know thats generally in the eye of the beholder)
2. Size (needs to be big enough for wife + 2 growing girls)
3. High MPG
4. Technology
5. Want to buy American
6. Layout of dash, console
7. Want to have a nice car, but not to showy (note: agreement by the wife trumps all of the above). Now reviewing the two cars, I think I am landing on the Volt. It is definitely bigger and that is a big reason. The other and more important is that the Volt has the backup gasoline engine. It seems a lot of environmentalists want to 100% eliminate use of oil. I am not in this camp. I believe we need to reduce oil consumption, but eliminating is too extreme (right now) of a goal. Overuse of oil is bad not only for the environment, but also because extra money gets into bad people's hands. A reduction of oil use by 20% in the very near term (next decade) will have a real effect - only spare money goes to terrorists, and all the spare money will be gone. The US has already flattened out amount of oil use on an annual basis. Now we can reduce the overall use year over year, in combination with better catalytic converters, will reduce pollution tremendously enabling the ecosystem some 'breathing room'. The other great thing about the Volt is that it uses standard 120v plugs in the house. The Leaf will require new plugs in the house, adding cost and frustration. On a daily basis, I can get to work or the airport and back without having to use any oil. If I combine this with moving my electric source to a clean energy provider I will dramatically reduce my personal footprint. Lastly, the Volt is American. I would like to buy American more often, but in the past, American cars have been clunky, poorly laid out internally, uncool, immediate value loss cars with poor quality. This caused us to buy the Toyota Camry Hybrid last time and the Mazda 6 before. This is changing in both reality and perception now (perception vs reality IS important). Now my only problem with the Volt (other than still a little hesitancy to buy a Chevy due to perception issues) is price. Now Chevy says that their cost is so high due to the battery. But the Leaf would have this same problem, yet comes in at $8,000 less. At least Chevy has made the lease rate the same as the Leaf ($350 per month). I haven't 100% decided, and I haven't even seen in person, nevertheless test driven either car. But on what I know so far, the Chevy Volt seems to be the choice over the Nissan Leaf. The prevailing thought I have heard is 'the Volt an be your first car, whereas the Leaf really should be your 2nd or even 3rd car.' Let's hope more choices come on the market soon. In the mean time, I am hopeful the Volt can be a pretty big mass market hit, reduce our oil usage and put America in the lead again. From The New York Times: The Volt, G.M.’s Plug-In Car, Gets a $41,000 Price Tag The carmaker has begun taking orders for the plug-in vehicle, which is expected to be at dealers in November. http://nyti.ms/dAzIY7
0 Responses to "The Volt vs The Leaf. Both a great choice, but one wins out"
Post a Comment