It’s no surprise I loathe the Chevy Volt (see here, here, here, and here). I should be finished with it now. But I can’t help myself. The Volt is a big red neon target of stupidity that calls to me. “Pound me to dust”, it says. Who am I to ignore the voices? Somebody give me a hammer!
Luckily I’m not alone. Here’s what the Washington Post had to say:
“Perhaps the signature energy policy of the Obama administration was the Chevy Volt — the electric car that the Obama administration tried to bribe Americans (with their own tax money) to buy. These “green” cars, we were assured, were going to transform American industry and energy use. Sucking huge subsidies from taxpayers, the Volts nevertheless sold (or rather, didn’t sell) for an eye-popping $41,000.
But in crash testing, it seems the Volts have a nasty habit of bursting into flames — taking all of those government subsidies, to say nothing of the passengers — down with them. The metaphor is irresistible.”
See? It’s not just me. It’s a trainwreck of fail. You can’t help but watch in fascination as everything implodes.
Hat tip to Maggies Farm.
Hmm. The Chevy Volt — and, for that matter and fairness, the Nissan Leaf and a host of other vehicles — are not for everyone. And the plug-in variety (like the Leaf) are nowhere near as “green” as the advocates would like one to think they are.
However, honestly I had thought better of you, sir, than to attack the Volt on a false premise: namely, that they “burst into flames after crash testing”. Not that, strictly speaking, that is false — three of them did — but it implies that this is normal behaviour of the Volt in a crash, which it is not; it was directly the result of the idiots who did the crash testing not following the manufacturer’s required procedure for handling damaged vehicles. The manufacturer, to its credit, realised that said idiots — and probably the majority of wrench-benders in the country — wouldn’t bother to read, never mind understand, the required procedure, so they have modified the vehicle to significantly reduce the problem.
Bottom line: if you are going to attack some product, attack it on some defensible grounds, and be sure to attack all similar, and not just one specific make or model. Otherwise, you lose all credibility.
You’re right! I let a cheap slot slip and shall rectify the situation. Observe a mea culpa tomorrow: http://adaptivecurmudgeon.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/volt-revolt
“Volts have a nasty habit of bursting into flames”? I’ll bring the marshmellows.
Someone has to be the first…to roast a marshmallow.
The volt is as safe as a gasoline driven car. Check the facts and the idiots that did the testing!
I agree. I concede that the Volt, which annoys the hell out of me, is a safe as a baby’s crib.
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