Has a Real Engine and It's Good - 2016 Chevrolet Volt

Edmunds.com

Has a Real Engine and It's Good - 2016 Chevrolet Volt

It's easy to forget that our 2016 Chevrolet Volt has a gasoline engine. Turns out, it's a pretty good one.

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kirkhilles1

You see, this is why the Volt really isn't appealing. Look at busy that engine bay is. What is up with those 3 red fluid containers? I want an electric vehicle that is just basically a small electric engine and big ole battery. Nothing to see. Nothing to "top off". Nothing to worry about changing. I get stressed out just looking at this picture.

throwback

" I get stressed out just looking at this picture. " Are you a car guy?

auntie_mame

kirkhilles1 said:

"What is up with those 3 red fluid containers?.

The "three red fluid containers" are the coolant overfill containers. There are three separate coolant loops in the Volt: 1) Engine, 2) Electric motors, 3) Batteries. Each have different operating temperatures so they require separate coolant.

5vzfe

kirkhilles1 said:

You see, this is why the Volt really isn't appealing. Look at busy that engine bay is. What is up with those 3 red fluid containers? I want an electric vehicle that is just basically a small electric engine and big ole battery. Nothing to see. Nothing to "top off". Nothing to worry about changing. I get stressed out just looking at this picture.

See I'm the opposite. I like being able to see what's going on underneath the hood. I was pretty impressed when edmunds showed the new Civic's exposed engine. New cars in general are increasingly complicated machines, they need servicing to function well, and having everything readily available in the engine bay would make me feel better about stepping into a newer, more advanced model. However, "VOLTEC" is a little too much for me.

thecardoc3

Funny how one person see's stress and I see things in plain view that can often be a nightmare to access in other cars. In fact on this one some of them are so easy to access it makes me think they may never fail just to spite the techs. (eg look at the upstream A/F sensor)

longtimelurker

auntie_mame said:

kirkhilles1 said:

"What is up with those 3 red fluid containers?.

The "three red fluid containers" are the coolant overfill containers. There are three separate coolant loops in the Volt: 1) Engine, 2) Electric motors, 3) Batteries. Each have different operating temperatures so they require separate coolant.

So basically, kirkhilles1 is still going to see two of these even in his pure BEV. Funny how complicated those simple battery-and-motor vehicles can be...

longtimelurker

thecardoc3 said:

Funny how one person see's stress and I see things in plain view that can often be a nightmare to access in other cars. In fact on this one some of them are so easy to access it makes me think they may never fail just to spite the techs. (eg look at the upstream A/F sensor)

You could swap that out almost with a Crescent wrench and five minutes.

daryleason

I just keep thinking to myself with all-electric vehicles, "You're screwed if a storm knocks out the power." For the city dwellers, this may not be that big of an issue. But I live in the country. There have been areas where it took DAYS to get the power back up and running. Even if the car predominately ran off its battery, I'd like the back-up of having an ICE for it. The same for long road trips. You may not have half an hour or longer to wait every 200 miles for a battery to recharge. ICE as a back up makes sense.

thecardoc3

Agreed @daryleason Remember the post about Tesla and them sending out a flat bed truck up to 500 miles to pick up one of their cars that needed repaired? Imagine what the owner might have to go through, to pick it up and drive it back home. Good thing the flat bed truck isn't using the same technology.....

stever

All Tesla and the rest have to do is hit 400 miles of range and the party is over. More ice? No thanks.

daryleason

@thecardoc3 : No offense, but I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not. But figure an average speed of 50 mph for a 1,000 mile round trip, we're talking a 20 hour drive. I hadn't heard about the incident you're referring to. But I do agree that if the owner had to go pick up the vehicle, a 500 mile trip would not make me too happy. I think electric vehicles will eventually be prevalent. I don't know if it'll be because of consumer demand for something trendy or because the technology will finally make it more feasible than an ICE car. But right now, I have my own reservations about adopting it.

kirkhilles1

Hey, look, that's just my opinion. I mean, why else would you "car guys" choose a Volt anyway especially with cheap gas? I would think people that would choose the Volt would either choose it because of the whole "green" thing (which means it doesn't really matter whether the car is good or not) or because they want the advantages of an electric vehicle. I stand by my opinion. I'm not saying that Model Ses and Leafs are more reliable, but I'm sure you can see the appeal of the simplicity.

Am I a "car guy"? Dunno, never received my card in the mail. That being said, I change my own oil, transmission/differential fluids, change my spark plugs, coolant and not that long ago swapped out a damaged idle controller and ECU. I drive a MT Miata. That being said, just because I CAN and DO these maintenance and repair items doesn't mean that I love trying fix something in a 100 degree or 40 degree garage and don't enjoy being worried about how to get to work the next day if I can't get it running. Stalling at low speeds in my i30 was not something I enjoyed.

daryleason

@kirkhilles1 : I don't think anyone was really calling your masculinity into question. I think it was more of a comment about the way different people look at things. I am a car guy. I've done all the things you've mentioned. I'll also freely admit that I don't do all those things as much anymore because I can afford to pay people to handle the "simpler" services I hate doing (oil changes) or the ones that require assets that I don't have (hydraulic lift). And, newer cars are easier to sort of "ignore" on some things. I've had older cars that you had to constantly check the oil, brake, power steering, coolant levels, etc. My F-150 I have now (2013), I've never had an issue with the fluid levels when I have checked it. So I get what both of y'all are saying.

schen72

Gas won't always be cheap. I see the Volt as an excellent transition vehicle when we can't truly live with only an EV.

5vzfe

There's nothing wrong with not enjoying working on your own car, - it's frustrating at times. Although I enjoy traditional ICE vehicles, I also will probably own a hybrid or electric vehicle in the future and enjoy it as well. But I don't know if I'd still work on it - despite the tame performance most of them offer, the amount of electrical current they manage can easily kill you.

kirkhilles1

It'll be interesting to see how the Model 3, Bolt and Leaf models progress over the years. That + fully self driving cars will make things interesting.

daryleason

From the performance side, the possibilities of the electric vehicles can be exciting. Instant torque. I see a future where you have "modern" speed shops swapping larger motors and battery backs into "boring" electric vehicles for guys to go thrash on the track. Which isn't a bad thing. It'll be a generational rebirth of weekend racers. Especially with the younger generation being so into technology & electronics. I'm not real thrilled with the self-driving car aspect, because I'm afraid it'll end up killing self-driven vehicles that are new. But I definitely like the idea of having the option of letting the car drive itself, if it's ever truly able to be autonomous. Especially if you could just send the car to get someone. "Oh, my son gets out of school at 3:30. My meeting is running late. Let me send my car to get him. I can't leave."

lmbvette

kirkhilles1 said:

You see, this is why the Volt really isn't appealing. Look at busy that engine bay is. What is up with those 3 red fluid containers? I want an electric vehicle that is just basically a small electric engine and big ole battery. Nothing to see. Nothing to "top off". Nothing to worry about changing. I get stressed out just looking at this picture.

I've been driving a Voltec equipped vehicle for 4 years (Volt, ELR) and I've never had to top off anything but washer fluid. Not sure what all the worry is about.

FYI, regarding your other comments as a car guy, I traded my CTS-V in on a Volt. I'm done with using gasoline regardless of price.

darthbimmer

Having an ICE engine that delivers ordinary drivability is huge. As someone who's presently got a long commute that involves hill climbs both ways, Edmunds experience with the BMW i3 unable to keep up with freeway traffic after its battery ran out really turned me off from looking further at that vehicle.

justoneopinion

I bought a 2017 Volt because I wanted smooth, torquey electric drive for 80-90% of my driving around town and a gas engine for extended range road trips -- in one vehicle for my one-vehicle household. It is a transitional car until I can buy an affordable 100% EV with access to a nationwide charging system (such as a Supercharger-enabled Tesla Model 3, pre-owned Model S or other brand future EV). So there is a truly practical reason for some of us to buy a Volt now and capitalize on its engineering.