![]() The Volt retains Sport, Mountain, and Hold driving modes in addition to the Normal mode. The popular regenerative steering wheel paddles from the Cadillac ELR have now made it to the Volt and are extremely useful to avoid using the brakes in stop-n-go traffic. When switched to gasoline the car is noisy and a stark contrast from the EV driving modes. In EV mode the Chevrolet Volt is as smooth and quick as we have come to appreciate from the older model. Admittedly, all other range-extended electric vehicles have similar charging limits but it would have been nice to see the Volt lead the pack by offering DC fast charging or 6.6 kW for those who want to avoid using gasoline on longer trips. This is because most users will charge overnight at home but shows that GM may be doing the bare minimum to make the Volt relevant to most EV shoppers. We plugged the 2017 Volt into a Blink charging station while we were out to dinner for an hour or so and found a disappointing gain of 12 miles at a cost of around $3. Unfortunately, the team at GM simply updated the onboard system to 3.6 kW simply to give it the same slow charge time as the outgoing model. Many were hoping that the second generation Chevrolet Volt would upgrade the internal charger from 3.3 kW onboard system to a more modern 6.6 kW charger. GM has found that most owners rarely use the gasoline extender, so a slight increase is adequate for most buyers. The 9.3 gallon tank from the last Volt has been shrunk down to 8.9 gallons but overall range has increased to 420 miles – up 40 miles over the outgoing model. We hovered around 50 and got a high of 58 miles in our week with the car in some serious LA traffic. The update to the Voltec powertrain gives this new model a larger 18.4kw battery that is good for a range of around 53 electric miles. Our model was also equipped with all the safety features you can handle including Lane Keep assist Assist, Forward Collision Alert, and Rear Cross Traffic Alerts. Similar to other newer Chevy models the Volt has 4G LTE Wi-Fi available with plans starting at $10/month for 10GB a month through. Classic Enhanced, Modern, and Modern Enhanced modes. The driver can change the way the information is displayed slightly by switching from Classic. Those familiar with the older Volt gauges and the media display showing items like charge times, efficiency, and range will be at home as this new model maintains similar formats. With this system, owners can expect Android Auto and Apple Carplay which worked well and was a welcome update from the past generation. The model we tested was just under $40,000 and featured an updated 8″ Chevrolet MyLink media system. The chrome grill pattern extends to the interior shifter and helps tell owners “you are driving a car made for the future.” Despite this attempt, the rest of the interior is rather dull as the Apple-like white plastic interior trim has been replaced by more black plastic standard GM fare. The older model was reminiscent of the Toyota Prius and this 2017 model retains some of the shapes while taking on the face of a Chevrolet Cruze that has been to Space Camp. The biggest change on this new Volt can be found on the exterior.
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