I haven't published much about the Volt recently, (just one article) as I was very enthusiastic originally, and have seen no reason to change my opinion in any way since.
But DonC, an owner commenting in the "WindingRoad" site, seems to have hit the Jackpot!
People who compare the Volt to the Prius are delusional. If you look at ride and handling and quietness and weight and safety, a Volt is more comparable to a Mercedes E550 (check out the specs on Road & Track and you'll find that the Volt only loses on the 0-60 time and cabin space). A Prius? You have to be kidding! I've given rides in my Volt to a couple of Prius owners. "Stunned" is the word that best describes their reaction. One guy said: "In my Prius I can't even hear my daughter if she's in the back seat. In this car it would be like she was whispering in my ear". Basically it's unfair to compare a noisy econobox to a Zen car. At some point you get what you pay for.
Speaking of paying, if you go to the Toyota web site and configure a Prius so it is similarly equipped to a Volt the price is somewhere between $35K and $38K. Not very different than a fully equipped Volt at $35k - $36K after the federal rebate.
As for gas mileage, no comparison there either. After 1028 miles and three and a half weeks I've used .23 gallons of gas. That's a decimal point followed by a "23". If you do the math you find that's a real world MPG of 4469.57. Eat your heart out Prius owners. (And yes I had to use electricity. In fact I used 308 kWh @ $.06/kWh at a total cost of $18.52. Like I said, eat your hearts out Prius owners! )
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