Learn me used Chevy Volt

In my other thread about a new commuter car I had brought up the volt. What I was not aware of was that with Leases coming up right now used volts are crazy cheap. They are currently vying for most depreciated car ever at over 65% since new.

I am seeing lots with 40-50k miles in the 15-16k range and those with higher mileage down even as far as 12.

One article I read said a lot of the high mileage ones are fleet vehicles that were mostly driven on gas so the electrics are actually pretty underutilized

http://insideevs.com/perfect-storm-used-chevy-volts/

So what is there to know about these? Are there trim levels? options to look for or avoid?

Edit: Looks like theres a premium trim for some years with leather/nav/stereo upgrades

I was thinking of replacing the Leaf with the new 2016 Volt next year when my lease is up. Prices like that though, and it would be hard to say no to a used one.

I don't know much about them personally except to say that everyone who I've talked to who drives one absolutely loves it, even after thousands of miles. The biggest complaint I've heard is that the front air dam is too low, causing scraping when my neighbor gets in his driveway. At those prices I'd buy the lowest-mile highest-option one available, and drive the wheels off it.

I don't have any first hand experience, but they built that car to absolutely baby those batteries. Temperature control, never fully charged or discharged, balanced at the cell group level. The only thing that might concern me is if one had sat for an extremely long time. I would have to dig into whether the balancing mechanism might draw the battery voltage down to dangerous levels to know if that's a legitimate concern.

Yeah. I would worry too about fleet cars having been driven with no juice in the battery pack for years.

In reply to bastomatic: If they are driven at all they should do a pretty good job of keeping the batteries happy. My worry is if they were parked and ignored for a year or so. I'm still not sure if it's a legitimate concern, but if I were looking at on with a history of sitting I would look into it.

One article I read said a lot of the high mileage ones are fleet vehicles that were mostly driven on gas so the electrics are actually pretty underutilized

I would worry more about 'wear' on the ICE than the electric side. As said, the electrics are super protected by the electronics.

I would worry too about fleet cars having been driven with no juice in the battery pack for years.

Pretty sure thats not possible at all.

For myself, when i think about spending 10-20k on a used car in the next year or so, i think about used Porsches, a Ferarri Mondial, and a Chevy Volt.

These have been on my radar for a while. I did not know they had got that cheap. It would be a very good option for me as my commute is about 40 mikes round trip and the layout of my parking area at my house would be very conducive to putting in a charging station.

Vigo wrote:

I would worry too about fleet cars having been driven with no juice in the battery pack for years.

Pretty sure thats not possible at all.

I'm 100% sure. If the battery is low, the gasoline engine charges it when you're driving. You're never going to be in a situation where you're overpowering the gas engine unless you're renting a high speed oval.

The example above in that link I posted I believe the way they are measuring is SOC or standard operating charge is 10.3 kwh which makes sense in that it has a 38mile all electric range and I had read it has 2.7mile per kw electric efficiency. So if you find a car with lifetime mileage around 35 and a SOC around 10 then it was being driven on gas most of the time (which the engine runs as a generator for the electrical system I don't think it direct drives the wheels?)

The 10 SOC implies when it was charged it was always from empty to full and not being plugged in to be topped off etc.

I too was looking at the 2016 which was going to have slightly better mpg and supposedly a price drop but those used prices are a much more frugal proposition.

I looked quite a bit at the end of last year and I could find new 2014s for $26/32k. Seems like not bad depreciation if you are looking at actual prices instead of window sticker. I'm still waffling on buying a new one but I am not sure.

Vigo: I think mondials have jumped your price range in the last six months. Ridiculous jump recently.

In reply to Jaynen:

I'm not sure I understand. It looks like you're using SOC to mean something other than state of charge, which is the usage I'm familiar with.

In gas terms, by my understanding SOC isn't how many gallons it holds, but how many gallons you have in it.

Oh gotya, I was guessing :) based on the context of that article. So that means it isnt charged or minimimally charged etc

because of this thread i jumped onto craigslist and checked local prices for these Volts. I was surprised how cheap they have gotten.

A 2012 premium with leather and all the goodies with 56k on it was listed at 16.5k. Including wall mount charger. I'm sure there's room to bargain in there. Very tempted to grab one for my wife to drive, as she really likes them. Reliability seems to be hit or miss though, some sites have all sorts of complaints, and others say they are super reliable. The first camp seems to be nit picky crazo people, complaining about the dash cross bar (bare steel) inside the car has surface rust on it. So their credibility is diminished as a result. Is scooping a 60k mile Volt a bad idea?

You guys are killing me. I am looking at these now. I have a 42 mile one way commute and this seems like a nice possible kid hauler once the Insight gets out grown.

Why is it I feel scooping up a bunch of used plugins at bargain depreciation is a very GRM thing to do :P

Was gonna trade in the S197 this spring for another car on my list. Coyote, Charger R/T or maybe a even Challenger.

Volt is on the list as well.

Be kind of a funny trade there, they be like what the berkeley just happened.

Paging JG! How about another Volt update for everyone?

Personally, I think the Volt is a great design, ideal if you commute about 20 miles each way. I have talked to owners whose gasoline cost dropped to nearly zero. The fuel savings pretty much covers their monthly payment, while they are driving a nearly new car.

Was gonna trade in the S197 this spring for another car on my list. Coyote, Charger R/T or maybe a even Challenger. Volt is on the list as well. Be kind of a funny trade there, they be like what the berkeley just happened.

I was cross-shopping the S197 and the Volt. Had the mythical $169 - $199 Volt lease been located, I'd have pulled that trigger. As I couldn't find that, I got the Mustang.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/cto/4921755631.html If this were blue, I'd be applying for a loan.

In reply to DuctTape&Bondo:

Why is that so cheap?? Are Volts just falling from the sky in Cali? That car in MO is an easy $16K-17k private sale.

I'm in Cali hmm and I actually like the white.

singleslammer wrote: In reply to DuctTape&Bondo: Why is that so cheap?? Are Volts just falling from the sky in Cali? That car in MO is an easy $16K-17k private sale.

No clue, I'm not shopping for a car right now so I didn't lay eyes on it. Does seem to be on the "too good to be true" end of the price spectrum though.

Lots of leases turned in means there will be a lot of low priced cars (supply is greater than demand).

I bought mine last year and have about 14k miles on it. It has been a great car. I have a 60 mile round trip commute, and get 35-42 miles on a charge in the winter and 45-53 miles in the summer. I'm not a hypermiler, I drive the speed limit or a little above. If you have a 40 mile commute and live where it is warmer (I am in PA) you should easily be able to go gas free.

I will most likely drive it a few more years and trade it in on a Bolt. Even with the "depreciation" I am not that concerned. With state and federal incentives I only paid $20.5k OTD for mine with 6 miles on the odometer. If I can drive it a few years and trade it for $12-14k I think I am doing alright.

To be clear you get a 7500 tax credit which means you will owe 7500 less and it doesn't convert to a refund. so if you are financing the car your payments are still on the full price of the vehicle.

In cali you also get 1500-2k in state incentives

Such a nice daily driver. I've loved mine.

Here's my problem with buying a used one for $17k: it's gonna cost you $300 a month for a 5 year loan to do it. You can lease a new one for that $300 a month. The used one will be obsolete in 5 years, so by the time the loan is paid off, it'll be time to replace it, so you're still going to be making a payment, but on an older car. The '13s and '14s have better tech and better options than the '11-12 cars. So just lease a leftover '14-15 and spend the same money to get a newer, better car. The Hold mode added to the '13-14s is a godsend to make it a viable long distance car with much better fuel mileage than it's rated at. And the '11-12 models can't be upgraded with that feature.