Chevy Volt -- 2011 Car of the Year

[TampaYankee]

2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Chevrolet Volt

A Car of the Future You Can Drive Today

From the January, 2011 issue of Motor Trend / By Angus MacKenzie / Photography by Julia LaPalme, Wesley Allison

"I expected a science fair experiment. But this is a moonshot."

Chris Theodore is a wily veteran of the auto business, a seasoned development engineer whose impressive resume includes vehicles as thoughtfully executed as the Chrysler minivan and as tightly focused as the Ford GT.

As one of the consultant judges on this year's COTY panel, Chris brought the deep insight and professional skepticism you'd expect of someone who's spent his entire working life making cars. But our 2011 Car of the Year, Chevrolet's ground-breaking Volt, has blown him away.

This is a fully developed vehicle with seamlessly integrated systems and software, a real car that provides a unique driving experience. And commuters may never need to buy gas!"

Like all of us on the staff at Motor Trend, Chris is an enthusiast, a man who'll keep a thundering high-performance V-8 in his garage no matter how high gas prices go. But he nailed the Volt's place in automotive history: "If this is the brave new world, then it's an acceptable definition."

In the 61-year history of the Car of the Year award, there have been few contenders as hyped -- or as controversial -- as the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt started life an Old GM project, then arrived fully formed as a symbol of New GM, carrying all the emotional and political baggage of that profound and painful transition. As a result, a lot of the sound and fury that has surrounded the Volt's launchhas tended to obscure a simple truth: This automobile is a game-changer.

...

The more we think about the Volt, the more convinced we are this vehicle represents a real breakthrough. The genius of the Volt's powertrain is that it is actually capable of operating as a pure EV, a series hybrid, or as a parallel hybrid to deliver the best possible efficiency, depending on your duty cycle. For want of a better technical descriptor, this is world's first intelligent hybrid. And the investment in the technology that drives this car is also an investment in the long-term future of automaking in America

See complete article at:http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/1101_2011_motor_trend_car_of_the_year_chevrolet_volt/index.html

[TampaYankee]

This looks to be a real technological marvel and true energy consumption game changer if it lives up to its potential. I hope it does. I hope it helps bring back GM as well. We desperately need to maintain and expand our manufacturing base for a variety of reasons.

I would love to have one except for my aversion to being a beta tester, the price, and the compact size.

That and I just bought a Fusion, the 2010 Car of the Year, to replace my 2002 Cougar that someone ran over while parked on a residential street.

Had that not happened, and I still commuted 500 miles a week roundtrip to a job I might have bought in after a couple of years of shake out experience on the Volt.

[JKane]

The Volt was also named one of Car and Driver's 10 best. I sat in one at the autoshow: a lot of luxury features--BUT really crappy fit and finish for a $40k car. Very plasticy, very Chevy. I love the idea, but am waiting for v2 or anybody else to make one.

Though the all-electrics look very tempting (well, I wouldn't say look--given how unbelievably FUGLY the Leaf is!), especially the ones with Tesla drivetrains like the forthcoming Toyota Rav4.

[Guest zipperzone]

Kinda reminds me of the days when Dinah Shore was singing

SEE THE U S A IN A CHEVROLET

[kjun12]

Kinda reminds me of the days when Dinah Shore was singing

SEE THE U S A IN A CHEVROLET

Oh, you are an old fart to remember that. We were singing it just the other day and laughing about our memories.