SAUSALITO, Calif. — This seaside village on the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge was the ideal setting for the first drive of the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. Of the 80,000 or so Volts sold since 2011, nearly half were to Californians, and the Volt is Chevy’s number one seller in the Bay area.
After spending a few hours zipping around the wonderful roads north of here in the all-new second-generation plug-in hybrid, it’s a good bet the Volt will continue to capture the hearts, minds and dollars of the green conscious here in Northern California. The question is, will that affection for the Volt translate to the rest of North America in a substantial enough way for the compact sedan to be more than a niche vehicle?
The second-gen Volt improves in many areas. First, foremost and most critically, its all-electric range has gone from just over 60 kilometres to just over 80. That may not seem like a game-changing jump, but according to GM owners of the first-gen Volt do 80 per cent of their driving in EV-only mode. That 20-km increase will only see that number rise.
The battery pack has been redesigned and improved upon to make it lighter and more powerful, though slightly larger. That bigger battery has also pushed the 240-volt charging time from four hours to four-and-a-half, and the 120-volt time to 13 hours. It maintains the original Volt’s T-shape and while efforts were made to put a middle rear seat in the second-gen model that seat is really nothing more than a cushion. There is a seatbelt – technically it is a seat, but that passenger’s feet must share leg space with the other two rear seat passengers. Manageable if you’ve got three children back there; not so much for three adults. What is a good new feature for those back seat passengers is optional heated seats.
Apart from the extended range, the updated battery pack add some real punch to the new Volt’s acceleration, particularly from a standstill and low speeds. GM reports a zero to 50 km/h time of 2.9 seconds — an improvement of 19 per cent — and zero to 96 km/h in 8.4 seconds. The new two-motor drive unit is up to 12 per cent more efficient and 45 kg than the first-generation drive unit.
The gasoline engine is new too. One of GM’s new global engines, the 1.5-litre four-cylinder runs on regular fuel and when combined with the electric motors produces 149 horsepower to the Volt. To give the driver more ability to recharge the batteries, there’s a steering-wheel mounted paddle that when depressed activates regeneration of the battery using the car’s braking system.
There’s also been a marked move away from the first-gen’s futuristic exterior and interior designs, which did try a little to hard in the ‘Hey, look at me, I’m different!’ department. The new model has much more traditional, albeit sporty exterior lines, while the inside is more in-line with Chevy’s newest design language.
One aspect of that new exterior design is functional, with all-new active automatic shutters in the front grille that aid in both efficiency and handling. Inside, the Volt retains its signature dual digital color displays with an eight-inch-diagonal re-configurable screen in the instrument cluster to relay driver information.
An additional eight-inch-diagonal touch screen in the centre of the instrument panel controls the Chevrolet MyLink system. Both screens have been cleaned up, with fewer icons. Separate climate control knobs and buttons below the centre display are easily accessible and easy to use.
GM relied heavily on feedback from many first-gen Volt owners in designing the 2016 model and new additions reflect this. One is a small thing but one that drives many owners crazy; after charging the first-gen Volt and replacing the charge, if the charge door is left open the driver is only reminded of this once they’ve got back in the car, turned the car on and tried to engage the transmission.
At that point, a prompt with come up on the dash screen saying the charge door is open. In the new model, if the charge door is left open, the driver will be reminded by three audible beeps when the driver’s door is opened. A little thing, but for sure an improvement in the day to day living with the Volt.
Also, first-gen Volt owners who have programmed their car to charge at home at say 3 a.m. to take advantage of cheaper power rates have to reset the charging protocol every time they use a charging station not at their home.
The new Volt utilizes GPS to know where the vehicle is plugged in, therefore eliminating the necessity to program the charging each time a charge is engaged away from home. Again, a little thing but a good improvement. That really sums up the second-generation Volt; they are many improvements, none of them that major, but they all add up to a much better vehicle than the original.
The drive route took us north into Marin County, were some tight, twisting and undulating roads really brought the improvements to the Volt to the fore. The improved acceleration was noticeable when we came upon groups of the many cyclists who travel the two-lane Pacific Coast Highway, while the regenerative braking paddle provided a hill-descent control of a kind, enabling the driver to ‘gear-down’ in affect, all the while recharging the battery.
We managed to get 81 kilometres on the road before the gas engine kicked in, though some in our group exceeded the 100-km mark on electric power alone. The 2016 Volt is also quieter and smoother, and really does rival its all-electric vehicle competition in these terms.
Is the new Volt the much-anticipated game-changer that GM promised the original to be when first announced nearly a decade ago? That can’t be said. However, the 2016 Volt is a capable, fuel-efficient and even fun-to-drive compact sedan. That in itself should be considered a victory for GM.
The 2016 Chevrolet Volt arrives in Canadian dealerships later this month.
