Posted on 08/03/2010 10:07:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As everyone knows by now, GM’s entry into the electric car market--the Chevy Volt--costs $41,000 before tax breaks. After the tax breaks, you can happily drive one off the lot for $33,000 ... if you can ignore those guilt pangs knowing your fellow Americans have chipped in $8,000 to your new ride.
Welfare for the sanctimonious?
Meanwhile, back in the real world, there are plenty of great cars you can buy for less than $41,000 or even less than $33,000--and honestly. Here are my picks (in alphabetical order).
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
THE AUTHOR’s PICKS...
Ten for Less Than $41,000:
Audi Q5
BMW 3-Series (Base Model)
Cadillac CTS Sports Wagon
Chevy Camaro Z28 (Coming in 2011)
Chrysler 300 (Hemi Model)
Ford Flex EcoBoost
Infinity G37
Lexus RX350 (Mid Model)
Nissan 370Z (Touring with Sports Package Model)
Toyota Sequoia
Ten for Less Than $33,000:
Chevy Silverado 1500
Ford Fusion Hybrid
Ford Mustang Convertible (V6 Premium)
Honda CRV
Hyundai Genesis
Nissan Leaf Electric
Mini Cooper
Subaru Outback
Toyota Avalon
Toyota Prius Hybrid
This list doesn’t even touch the rich recession market of slightly used cars.
IF the Volt was the #1 car...I STILL wouldn’t buy it....on principle alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is obvious that one should not buy the Volt for economic reasons.... the numbers simply do not come close to adding up.
That too!!!
‘08 Toyota Yaris sedan. I get 41mpg on average and the car cost me just shy of $13k.
The problem with that list is that none of the cars can run on the smug self satisfaction that the Volt delivers.
Is the electricity for the Volt free?
If you're trying to "Tread Lightly" on the environment the Volkswagon Passat TDI should be at the top of this list. It get 50mpg on diesel and doesn't have an expensive battery pack to replace every two or three years.
If you want to bump up the price up a little, my Mercedes R320 diesel starts out in the mid forties and gets 28mpg. Not bad for an all wheel drive full size station wagon. It will still be running after you wear out and discard several Chevy Volts. As a bonus, it's made in America with non-union labor.
I have the smug self satisfaction of knowing that my Sequoia would squash a Volt like a bug in the case of a collision.
Every 40 Miles ya gotta mess around with a 220 volt extension cord. So its not worth it. I would just run on the internal combustion engine. But, its crazy to haul around all those batteries.
RE: As a bonus, it’s made in America with non-union labor.
Just curious, in what great state and city in the USA is the Mercedes R320 built ?
...and has much more room than you would think.
I really want a diesel but it seems like Mercedes parts would be difficult to find, particularly used.
Same car I recommended for my daughter's first real car. She loves it. We've always bought Toyotas. We have a 2000 Toyota Sienna with 220,000 miles on it that we use almost every day and the engine is still going strong.
Better value than the Volt?
Every car manufactured in the entire world....
“Every 40 Miles ya gotta mess around with a 220 volt extension cord. So its not worth it. I would just run on the internal combustion engine. But, its crazy to haul around all those batteries.”
The design concept of the small engine is good but batteries simply aren’t there yet.
I always thought the best design for a fuel-burning car would be a small highly efficient combustion engine charging a battery/capacitor.
The engine would always be running at an optimal efficiency and power would be stored electronically to provide acceleration when needed.
Most of the available power in IC engines is only used for acceleration. If you could smooth out the IC demand curve with a light electric motor/storage system, the efficiency would be unheard of. Of course the DOLTS pushed this to be a “plug-in” car and gave it a tiny engine. *Facepalm*
Hybrids use this concept to improve efficienty greatly but battery technology isn’t available to make it cost effective. The “green” incentive is nonsense as mining and disposing all the metals used in current batteries would cause more pollution.
A while back there was an energy/production expert on C2C.
Noory asked him about Cash for Clunkers and whether it was a good deal or not.
The reply was “H*ll no!! It’s better to buy a used rig, put a few bucks into it, then drive it till the wheels fall off.”
Energy/economic wise, it takes far more energy to produce a new vehicle than you can save by it’s efficiency/gas mileage.
All of my rigs (I have 3) are more than 16 years old and run like tops! But ya gotta be able to do the work...
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