Volt for Clarity lovers

- how cramped and comparatively "cheap"-feeling the Volt interior is
+ slightly more EV range
+ the energy displays are much more detailed and show gas vs electric separately

 

The Volt is sportier than the Clarity but much smaller. The Clarity is more luxurious but its size makes it difficult to park in an urban environment. It doesn't look that big but its dimensions are actually larger than the current Accord. Our Clarity's footprint is bigger than our late model Outback, which is not a small car. The Volt is also a hatchback. It is more of a competitor to the Prius Prime in body size, interior design, and rear hatch. The only reason the Volt is always compared to the Clarity is because they have similar EV range. Other than that, they're very different vehicles.

 

As long as the vehicle is new, it doesn't matter its manufacture year. A 2017 Volt would be eligible, if you could find one still new on the lot.
Friendly reminder: The $7500 tax credit for GM EVs is slashed to $3750 if you purchase on or after April 1st of this year. I'm guessing you knew that, but no harm in checking.

I don't have any substantial experience with the Volt, but I've picked up the following from the forums:
+ The Volt will stay in EV mode even if you floor it.
- When the engine runs, forums report the Volt gets lower average highway mileage than the Clarity (38 vs 45 mpg). There are lots of variables, so take that with a grain of salt.
+ If you get the premier trim, you can get the Volt with Surround Vision, which is the top-down camera view. Very cool tech, and I'd get it on the Clarity in a heartbeat.
= The Volt is 2" narrower, 2" lower, and 13" shorter. Its turning radius is 5% smaller. Objectively, there isn't much difference in size.
- The Volt uses its passenger space less effectively. It seats five, but only technically.
- Visibility on the Volt is inferior to the Clarity. Plan on using the cameras to supplement your awareness.

 

Former Volt owne here. I agree with most of the above. The Volt is better at using the EV mode than the Clarity. You don't automatically shift into ICE mode when accelerating rapidly like you do in the Clarity. it also accelerates much more quickly than the Clarity. I surprised quite a few you drivers at stoplights. Also regenerative braking is simpler on the Volt. You just leave it in Low gear and you are always in RB mode, no silly paddles to deal with. One feature on the Volt I would have liked to see on the Clarity: If you unplug the charging cable on the Volt without unlocking the doors the alarm will go off. I loved the Volt and I love the Clarity. The increase in interior size is the biggest plus for me (14 grand kids). I would have ended up with another Volt if the dealers here would have applied the Tax Credit to the lease agreement. They refused to do so. That's when I looked around for another PHEV and the Clairy was the best of the bunch IMO. After buying out the lease I sold the Volt to a friend and they say it is the best car they ever had (longtime Honda and Toyota owners). If interior size is not critical and you can get a great deal I'd say go with the Volt.

 

I've seen some 2018 Volt LT's as cheap as $29K in my area. If you get the $7500 tax credit, you're looking at a great deal for a new Volt.

 

Parking the car in an urban environment is not that bad imo, just a bit difficult seeing out of the passenger side to be able to see the curb unfortunately. Worst part about the clarity though is the massive turning radius, I swear I was able to park my old Honda Odyssey easier because of the tighter turning radius in that van .

 

You do realize that the Volt has been discontinued? What about future support?

https://www.google.com/search?q=chevy+volt+discontinued&rlz=1CAOTWH_enUS807&oq=chevy+volt+d&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.9024j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

Future support? You got an entire nationwide network of Chevy dealers that will service the car for the full extent of its factory warranty.

 

Had a Gen 1 2012 Volt and cross-shopped the gen 2 2018 before buying a base 2018 Clarity a couple of weeks ago.

Biggest differences are size and cost. The clarity wins hands down on both. I would have to get a loaded volt @ $43000 MSRP to match the features that come standard in the $32,000 base Clarity. The volt is a small car (main reason I got rid of my gen1) with compromised ingress/egress and rear seating. Massive GM and dealer discounts got the volt closer but it was still higher.

Volt wins on hatch design and EV power. The hatch does have a tall lip which require lifting heavy items instead of being able to slid them out. I carry a lot of heavy work equipment sometimes so this was important to me. It's little more torquey and the ICE won't come on if you floor it. The Clarity has more than enough EV oomph for my driving needs and we have two other hatchback's in the family so neither of these pro's were even remotely close enough to being "wins".

FWIW

 

I guess you never drove a 1996 Saturn station wagon dinkycar. That car had the turning radius of an 18 wheeler. I don't find the turning radius of the Clarity too bad, the problem is the whole size of the car. Parallel parking is not bad if you use both the rear camera and the side camera.

 

One issue that I had with the Volt was that the base trim doesn't have emergency braking. The fact is that in crazy California highways this is a good thing to have. I had a collision that resulted in total loss of my previous car. I was not distracted or speeding, I was in a merging zone and as I was checking the mirror for lane change the car in front of my braked hard and I couldn't stop on time, it was more of a bad luck than anything. Half a second sooner or later and nothing would have happened. So having this was a priority for me.

Other than that the dash in Volt felt too close and bulky, and the front air dam is too close to the ground. I love the hatch and wish Clarity was a hatchback. Also based on some tests Clarity has better highway EV range, although total EV range is lower.

 

I'm afraid I consider that thought short-sighted. Although some important components have coverage longer than the basic 36/36, who really knows if GM will offer software updates, reasonably priced parts, trained mechanics, or much in trade-in value after the next 3 years. They have little incentive to do so. Those buying a discontinued vehicle line need to go into the arrangements with their caveat emptor settings on "high".

 

I doubt GM is leaving the PHEV market. They'll probably put this technology in a cross-over type vehicle. Something to compete with the Koreans.

 

For 20k, I'd say that is a good deal. I bought my 2012 premium Volt new for about 24k after incentives (bought in July 2013 and it had sat on the lot for over a year). Still have it and love it. It has 75k miles and absolutely no problems thus far. I'd drive it cross country without a second thought. As to the comments questioning service available in a few years, I'll be surprised if that is an issue. If you like the car and it fits your needs and your budget, I can't give you a reason not to jump.

 

The footprint for the clarity is more or less similar to the van I used to have, just a tad bit more aerodynamic. The clarity is just 7 inches shy of the van, I guess I just miss sitting in a veritable fishbowl of visability even though the visability out of the clarity is much much better than the visability out of my father's 2019 RDX. I swear trying to back up in that car without a camera is like peering through a porthole in the back of that car .

 

Congrats!

I've been a member of GM-Volt.com since 2009 but don't frequent or participate much anymore. In it's heyday, it was THE spot for all things Volt and it still has a lot of good folks who know all the ins & outs of both generations. It's archives are immense including tech data from GM insiders. It's a must join site.