Well, This Is “Shocking”….

Hi there! I am a Volt boy (or man) from the Philippines because I am looking forward to see your rant/review of the 2017 Volt. It’s so awesome!

eric, I was speaking with another old(er) trucker today and we lamented the US produced nothing for the most part except gender benders and lawyers to make their bending law come before law for everyone else, like straight people.

I mentioned the Buck Cascada and he corrected me, Cascadia. I just let it slide. But thinking about it again I decided to look to another review of it since I thought I remembered you attending the Eric Zoolander School of Kids Who Don’t Read…….Good. Had to throw that in. If you haven’t seen it, it’s fairly funny since Eric is a half-wit model.

Anyway, I decided to see what Car and Driver had to say since I was a C&D acolyte for decades making the switch from Sports Car Graphic. Well C&D had some stunning things to say and made points I hadn’t thought that important but they evidently do.

Firstist, I ain’t big on rag tops for a few reasons, the first being most don’t do well in rollovers. When I “try out’ a car, it usually gets the ultimate test in handling and not handling. Friends always knew to offer me the wheel or not for good reason. Some would pick me up to figure out the limits of their car, others were glad I wasn’t driving. The other reasons have to do with west Tx. sun, something that can not only burn hell out of the occupants but do a number on a ragtop itself with all those rays of one sort or the other. And just yesterday I spied a ’67 Impala rag top, sans top but straight as hell body sat in a yard to for view and possible sale.

Well, here’s what C&D had to say on their first page, not all but I picked out the parts that stuck out at me. Here it be. “A 1.6-liter turbo four makes 200 hp; front-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic are standard. Despite its sleek looks, the Cascada weighs almost 2 tons, which hinders performance. In our test, it took 8.3 seconds to hit 60 mph—much slower than its competition. More important is that the soft top can drop in 17 seconds and at speeds of up to 31 mph.”

Well yeah, more importantly(I didn’t attend the Eric Zoolander School for Kids Who Don’t Read……Good) so little did I realize the “more important” aspect is the speed in which the soft top can drop. Live and learn. I’d just like to point out that in west Tx., 17 seconds is an eternity. You can go from dead calm to 80 mph wind and back to dead calm in less than that time. We call em dirt devils or whirlwinds, rag tops call them body shop appointments. Still, is the speed of the top, going down, more important than anything else.? If we were speaking of Peggy Sue or Zanna Beth, that sort of time might be important but who is in the need for sun or not in under 20 seconds? Looks nice, zip, oh no, maybe not, zip. Well, that about sums up our society. I guess that’s the reason all the girls wear really tight t-shirts and such that accentuate their fat rolls, cause it’s one of the only US made things to be found(the rolls, not the tops……which are all made somewhere else in the world, mainly places where people don’t make enough making tops to have rolls to accentuate). Rant over.

Nice post, Eric. I’m looking forward to your full review/rant.

I’m an “EV nut” from New England, and I’ll be purchasing a Volt next month. For the past three years I’ve been driving a Honda Fit EV (yeah… a compliance car), and I’ve learned the hard way about the pros and cons of operating an EV, particularly in a cold climate.

You’re spot on with your assessment that EVs currently *suck*; battery life decreases substantially with increased velocity, range is significantly reduced in cold weather, and recharge times take forever.

However, there are many positives to an EV that you fail to mention: significant torque/acceleration, a very smooth and quiet ride, and no engine noise or exhaust fumes. And do you know how long it takes me to refuel?… about 5 seconds. That’s how long it takes for me to plug in the 240V charger at home, and in the morning I have another “full tank.”

But I’m not advocating that everyone should be driving an EV; it’s just not practical as a primary car. BUT… as a second car, it ain’t that bad. Most of those quick trips shopping, or the daily commute, can be done in peace and quiet without using drop of gasoline.

Anyway, sorry for rambling on…. looking forward to your full rant.

Eric, I wonder how much range you would be losing if you were testing this in January rather then June?

And do you think Chrysler is attempting the same kind of driving experience with the upcoming electric hybrid Pacifica minivan? I think they are claiming about 60-70 miles before the gas engine comes on.