A 25 Thousand Mile Update and Long-Term Driver's Take on the Chevy Volt

As I sit here reflecting on my experience with the Chevy Volt, I am still impressed with its performance and practicality. The vehicle has been reliable and easy to drive, making it a great option for daily use. One of the things that bothers me is the scratch on the wheel from a parking incident. I'm not sure who was at fault, but I've learned to be more careful when parking in tight spaces.

The Volt's features have held up well over time. The interior is still clean and tidy, with no significant issues or complaints. However, the key marked on the door is a bit of a problem. It's difficult to understand why someone would scratch their car like that, but I'm just glad it's an easy fix. There are also some scratches on the underside of the vehicle, which may be a sign of wear and tear from the parking garage.

Despite the minor issues, I am overall very happy with the Volt. Its fuel efficiency has been impressive, saving me money on gas each month. The car runs on regular gas, even when the battery is depleted, making it a convenient option for daily use. The nine-gallon tank means I can go 400 miles without needing to fill up, which is a significant advantage over other electric vehicles.

One of my main concerns with the Volt was its range, but after 25,000 miles, I've found that it still holds up well. While it's not quite accurate, I've learned to plan my trips accordingly and make sure I have enough charge for the day. The lease option has been a good choice, allowing me to drive the car without making a significant down payment.

As I look at buying this vehicle off the lease, I'm considering its long-term value. The tax credit has been a significant factor in keeping the cost low, and if the purchase options are favorable at the end of the lease, I may be able to buy it for a good price. Even without the tax credit, I believe the Volt is worth buying due to its reliability and practicality.

For those looking for a reliable car that can handle daily use for an extended period, the Chevy Volt is definitely worth considering. Its fuel efficiency and range are significant advantages, making it a great option for commuters or anyone who needs a vehicle for short trips. While it may not be the most exciting car on the market, its practicality and reliability make it a solid choice.

If you're in the market for a new car and are looking for something that will get you from point A to point B without breaking the bank, the Volt is definitely worth considering. With its impressive fuel efficiency and range, it's an excellent option for anyone who wants a reliable vehicle without the high cost of exotic cars. And at a price point that's still in the mid-20s, it's a great value for the money.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enall right everybody rob for ready here in my Chevy Volt and we are now at twenty five thousand three hundred and twenty eight miles now what's cool about that is we're coming up on the end of my lease and I start asking myself all these questions should I buy it should I keep it what should i do should I return it oh there's some stuff I have to fix and did I maintain it properly am I going to be charged for this am I gonna be charged for that well the answer is who the hell knows but let's talk about it so I have I always have a question with leases with a lease it's not your car but you do have to maintain it because if you don't they're gonna charge you for it right but like here I brought it in for a service at like 15,000 miles and then they put this sticker on the car which there you go that sticker says next service do seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty six miles well let's just put it this way cars got twenty five thousand three hundred twenty-eight miles and I haven't done that service because you know what it's an electric car why don't have to change the oil every so often like if I never really use it do I really have to change the oil like is the oil actually being used or am I just changing the oil it just something's missing there like what sort of service history do you want to see on a navy on an electric vehicle it was a you know lingo and the question is like it depends how much engine time you have running on it now the engine in this is different than the engine you're used to in a car just the engine is used to recharge the battery and the car essentially is a battery operated car that has an engine backup generator think of having like a Generac unit in your house so if your power goes out you just that gas units naturally gas a natural gas or I think they even do them on diesel you fill it up the generator generates electricity you plug the car into it and off you go so you know it's just like I know it's a I don't know what the expected service intervals would be and that would my only real concern it's really tough to do that it's one of the appeals of like the Tesla and everything I got it's effectively a golf cart like it really is just a big battery and other than like swapping the battery the tires and the brakes it's really not much to it there's like really not much that that can require it doesn't need the oil changes the diff fluid it doesn't have any of this like nonsense that you have to really worry about and in like a regular gas-powered car so how did it hold up well let me pull over we're gonna be here be over at the shop in a second and well look how it held up and the answer is all right the actual maintenance costs on this and the first let's say - because I got about six months left on the lease in the first 30 months so just uh just a hair under three years is two and a half years the maintenance cost so far has been zero like I have spent $0.00 to repair or do anything having to do with the operation of the car I didn't have to change the oil but that first oil change was free this is the original tires and then aside from like refinishing or wheel or - I don't have anything that resembles maintenance costs which is nice like when you lease a car it's nice than I have any maintenance costs a lot of manufacturers the OEMs they'll include maintenance in the lease because they know otherwise people won't do it no but good of course I got the oil change but they'll really drive at 25,000 miles which I'm sure you can do for 30,000 40,000 miles without changing the oil and the car will survive but it's not the best thing for the car I can definitely see that as being the case and then what how are you gonna prove somebody didn't change the oil it turns into a lot of he-said she-said for no reason so I see that like I definitely see that as being a valid concern on a gas car you don't really have that on this I think anyone would buy an electric car and not ultimately drive it on electric and I Drive this when I can on electric it charges up pretty quickly the the gas I would say is used five percent of the time my long-term and I'll tell you what my long-term is in a second nice gt3 over there I'll tell you what my long-term is in a second but I think the long-term fuel economy is like 54 miles per gallon obviously I'm in an apartment right now that doesn't have the the apartment doesn't have any charging ports so I'm not plugging my car in at night what I which is what I would usually do want me to see we've got flow info we've got the fifty six point two miles per gallon my lifetime average four miles per gallon is seventy seven point four which I mean you know better than I do that's pretty good the last three hundred and sixty six miles I use ten ten gallons which means it's averaging nine gallons it's averaging about forty miles per gallon which is what I've seen when I'm just operating on gas say forty eight miles per gallon combined but just having like that even at sixty seventy miles per gallon that's worth its weight in gold right there no check engine lights no nonsense the interiors held up well I mean it's it's really something that if the car has a significant value I'll probably just end up keeping it I'll show you the little dings and dents there's just natural stuff after owning something for three years in this area now I don't know where most of this stuff came from because honestly I let anyone drive this thing but this is probably the most significant and I don't know if it's a it's a compression like it's flopped down like from from hitting something or it actually made contact with something I don't know I really it just it's there I'm aware of it the tires are still pretty good the stuff that bothers me this wheel is scratched I don't know who did I never hit anything but this is a curb somebody parallel parking that's not very good at it got this little scratch right here but that's just that could probably be buffed out this little nick right here this bothers me this is a key somebody keyed my car this is like that like perfect tight they were probably you know what maybe it was me because that that looks exactly about about my mam I know I am a little lower I would have to be up here but that's a key mark cuz why not you vault owner don't know what that is that's more damage and see the problem is I'm gonna have to fix all this when I return it that's all the damage on the car the I think there was another yeah right here on the wheel I don't know if that comes off but that should clean up but other than that the car is pretty clean and then whatever happened in shahboz parking garage up here I don't know if they ripped that off and put it back on like you see the gap under there she was like I don't know what I did but it's uh it's a man he just waved at me it's really just like but that's that all of these things I'm gonna have to fix and now the question is I sort of make out I think the values on these hold pretty strong and it may make sense for me to buy this off of lease I don't really have any complaints with it it's probably a better play than getting the Tesla I'm still on the fence as to whether I'd like the Tesla or this this thing but again zero zero issues with it I mean in in twenty five thousand miles I had another tend to go on the lease I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to do the other ten it really it's held up fairly well I would definitely still give it a thumbs up on the recommend I'd still suggest it to people that have less than just say like less than twenty five or thirty miles in each direction to and from work or to and from like their daily use so if you're doing less than sixty miles a day this is an X car for you so the only real complaint would be if the range was accurate I'd be much happier with it that's that's the only real thing that I can complain about when you think you have sit when you when you buy something saying like oh I can make do with 65 miles but it's not really 65 miles it is a valid concern a valid complaint I don't know what the next generation volt is or what the next generation Evi is but as far as just a people mover point A to point B like predictable does what you want it to do and just like it absolutely pedestrian people mover it's like perfect for that and you don't have to think about it I paid 273 a month with no money down for this on lease I think it's worth still in like the mid-20s and for a car that was like 33 new depending on where that tax credit falls and what my purchase option is at the time of at the lease end if the purchase options like 18 or 16 or something like that I'm gonna buy it because that means even if I buy it and sell it for 21 or something like that I'm in the money in this thing for a fairly long time but no real complaints other than that that is the let's just call it two-and-a-half year update on the vault 25 thousand mile update on the vault long-term driver and it's like it's not an exotic I get it but it's important for me to share stuff like this with you because a lot of people like hey what's a good reliable car that I can drive for 10 years and and like under 40 grant this is a good one and the fact that it's it's got such substantial fuel savings it runs on regular gas even when this thing does run out of gas even at night now like three and a half it's a kite like a nine gallon tank so even if you run it absolutely dry it's not really that expense to fill up 20 bucks to fill up which will go at 40 miles it goes like 400 miles for 20 bucks you're not gonna really beat that so there you have it if you want a Chevy Volt they'll give you a one and a half thumbs up it's one and a half thumbs up it's not the two thumbs up because of the range but other than that it's been as expected and I don't really have any points thank you for watching tomorrowall right everybody rob for ready here in my Chevy Volt and we are now at twenty five thousand three hundred and twenty eight miles now what's cool about that is we're coming up on the end of my lease and I start asking myself all these questions should I buy it should I keep it what should i do should I return it oh there's some stuff I have to fix and did I maintain it properly am I going to be charged for this am I gonna be charged for that well the answer is who the hell knows but let's talk about it so I have I always have a question with leases with a lease it's not your car but you do have to maintain it because if you don't they're gonna charge you for it right but like here I brought it in for a service at like 15,000 miles and then they put this sticker on the car which there you go that sticker says next service do seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty six miles well let's just put it this way cars got twenty five thousand three hundred twenty-eight miles and I haven't done that service because you know what it's an electric car why don't have to change the oil every so often like if I never really use it do I really have to change the oil like is the oil actually being used or am I just changing the oil it just something's missing there like what sort of service history do you want to see on a navy on an electric vehicle it was a you know lingo and the question is like it depends how much engine time you have running on it now the engine in this is different than the engine you're used to in a car just the engine is used to recharge the battery and the car essentially is a battery operated car that has an engine backup generator think of having like a Generac unit in your house so if your power goes out you just that gas units naturally gas a natural gas or I think they even do them on diesel you fill it up the generator generates electricity you plug the car into it and off you go so you know it's just like I know it's a I don't know what the expected service intervals would be and that would my only real concern it's really tough to do that it's one of the appeals of like the Tesla and everything I got it's effectively a golf cart like it really is just a big battery and other than like swapping the battery the tires and the brakes it's really not much to it there's like really not much that that can require it doesn't need the oil changes the diff fluid it doesn't have any of this like nonsense that you have to really worry about and in like a regular gas-powered car so how did it hold up well let me pull over we're gonna be here be over at the shop in a second and well look how it held up and the answer is all right the actual maintenance costs on this and the first let's say - because I got about six months left on the lease in the first 30 months so just uh just a hair under three years is two and a half years the maintenance cost so far has been zero like I have spent $0.00 to repair or do anything having to do with the operation of the car I didn't have to change the oil but that first oil change was free this is the original tires and then aside from like refinishing or wheel or - I don't have anything that resembles maintenance costs which is nice like when you lease a car it's nice than I have any maintenance costs a lot of manufacturers the OEMs they'll include maintenance in the lease because they know otherwise people won't do it no but good of course I got the oil change but they'll really drive at 25,000 miles which I'm sure you can do for 30,000 40,000 miles without changing the oil and the car will survive but it's not the best thing for the car I can definitely see that as being the case and then what how are you gonna prove somebody didn't change the oil it turns into a lot of he-said she-said for no reason so I see that like I definitely see that as being a valid concern on a gas car you don't really have that on this I think anyone would buy an electric car and not ultimately drive it on electric and I Drive this when I can on electric it charges up pretty quickly the the gas I would say is used five percent of the time my long-term and I'll tell you what my long-term is in a second nice gt3 over there I'll tell you what my long-term is in a second but I think the long-term fuel economy is like 54 miles per gallon obviously I'm in an apartment right now that doesn't have the the apartment doesn't have any charging ports so I'm not plugging my car in at night what I which is what I would usually do want me to see we've got flow info we've got the fifty six point two miles per gallon my lifetime average four miles per gallon is seventy seven point four which I mean you know better than I do that's pretty good the last three hundred and sixty six miles I use ten ten gallons which means it's averaging nine gallons it's averaging about forty miles per gallon which is what I've seen when I'm just operating on gas say forty eight miles per gallon combined but just having like that even at sixty seventy miles per gallon that's worth its weight in gold right there no check engine lights no nonsense the interiors held up well I mean it's it's really something that if the car has a significant value I'll probably just end up keeping it I'll show you the little dings and dents there's just natural stuff after owning something for three years in this area now I don't know where most of this stuff came from because honestly I let anyone drive this thing but this is probably the most significant and I don't know if it's a it's a compression like it's flopped down like from from hitting something or it actually made contact with something I don't know I really it just it's there I'm aware of it the tires are still pretty good the stuff that bothers me this wheel is scratched I don't know who did I never hit anything but this is a curb somebody parallel parking that's not very good at it got this little scratch right here but that's just that could probably be buffed out this little nick right here this bothers me this is a key somebody keyed my car this is like that like perfect tight they were probably you know what maybe it was me because that that looks exactly about about my mam I know I am a little lower I would have to be up here but that's a key mark cuz why not you vault owner don't know what that is that's more damage and see the problem is I'm gonna have to fix all this when I return it that's all the damage on the car the I think there was another yeah right here on the wheel I don't know if that comes off but that should clean up but other than that the car is pretty clean and then whatever happened in shahboz parking garage up here I don't know if they ripped that off and put it back on like you see the gap under there she was like I don't know what I did but it's uh it's a man he just waved at me it's really just like but that's that all of these things I'm gonna have to fix and now the question is I sort of make out I think the values on these hold pretty strong and it may make sense for me to buy this off of lease I don't really have any complaints with it it's probably a better play than getting the Tesla I'm still on the fence as to whether I'd like the Tesla or this this thing but again zero zero issues with it I mean in in twenty five thousand miles I had another tend to go on the lease I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to do the other ten it really it's held up fairly well I would definitely still give it a thumbs up on the recommend I'd still suggest it to people that have less than just say like less than twenty five or thirty miles in each direction to and from work or to and from like their daily use so if you're doing less than sixty miles a day this is an X car for you so the only real complaint would be if the range was accurate I'd be much happier with it that's that's the only real thing that I can complain about when you think you have sit when you when you buy something saying like oh I can make do with 65 miles but it's not really 65 miles it is a valid concern a valid complaint I don't know what the next generation volt is or what the next generation Evi is but as far as just a people mover point A to point B like predictable does what you want it to do and just like it absolutely pedestrian people mover it's like perfect for that and you don't have to think about it I paid 273 a month with no money down for this on lease I think it's worth still in like the mid-20s and for a car that was like 33 new depending on where that tax credit falls and what my purchase option is at the time of at the lease end if the purchase options like 18 or 16 or something like that I'm gonna buy it because that means even if I buy it and sell it for 21 or something like that I'm in the money in this thing for a fairly long time but no real complaints other than that that is the let's just call it two-and-a-half year update on the vault 25 thousand mile update on the vault long-term driver and it's like it's not an exotic I get it but it's important for me to share stuff like this with you because a lot of people like hey what's a good reliable car that I can drive for 10 years and and like under 40 grant this is a good one and the fact that it's it's got such substantial fuel savings it runs on regular gas even when this thing does run out of gas even at night now like three and a half it's a kite like a nine gallon tank so even if you run it absolutely dry it's not really that expense to fill up 20 bucks to fill up which will go at 40 miles it goes like 400 miles for 20 bucks you're not gonna really beat that so there you have it if you want a Chevy Volt they'll give you a one and a half thumbs up it's one and a half thumbs up it's not the two thumbs up because of the range but other than that it's been as expected and I don't really have any points thank you for watching tomorrow\n"