5dr CVT Auto Hatchback

An Extremely Efficient and Smooth Operator

Having owned many hybrids over the years (my first was a Honda Insight in 2001), I was keen to buy an electric car and after much research I chose the Chevrolet Volt. I've owned it now for just under a year and can't praise it highly enough.

As officially an electric car, with emissions of less than 30kg/mpg, and yet with the same range as any other petrol car, it simply is in a class of its own.

Yes, it was expensive (£31k after the £5k government grant - I added a three year service deal and Supagard) but Chevrolet did offer me interest free credit, and it has a five year warranty. I was disappointed to learn recently that Chevrolet has withdrawn from the UK market, but as a sister company to Vauxhall that has allayed any fears I might have had about getting parts etc.

Back to the car itself. It offers Sport mode where the performance is much punchier, and also the ability to save the battery power for when in town or A traffic jam, which is very useful. I have an electric pod station at home (cost me £90) which I use to charge the battery and
because I have solar panels on my roof they provide me with free charging during the day. The pod station enables me to fully charge the battery from flat in less than 3.5 hours, compared to the normal length of 7 hours (normal lead).

To explain more clearly there are four drive modes:

- Normal
- Sport
- Mountain
- Hold

Normal is where you use the battery alone giving you between 30-50 miles of driving depending how heavy you are on the accelerator. Sport gives you extra acceleration (less mpg of course). Mountain is for when you are driving up a steep slope, and Hold which allows you to save the battery for when you are in town or in a traffic jam, in which case you start using petrol straight away. In normal you use the battery first and then change over, seemlessly, to petrol.

The ride is beautifully smooth, the extras lavish, and include:

- Bluetooth,
- DAB radio,
- AM/FM radio
- CD player
- MP3 auxillary input jack
- six speakers
- Thatcham Car Alarm
- top of the range satnav
- heated front seats
- leather seats
- cruise control
- BAS
- ABS
- Child seat Restraint system
- Electronic Satability Control system
- 17" alloy wheels
- rear and front assist parking sensors
- front and rear cup holders

All of the above helps to reduce the impact of the cost of the car, as these "extras" can be costly when added to basic models. The DAB Radio is superb and the satnav is superb and very easy to work, with an excellent full colour 7" screen. A clever extra is that there is a small "satnav screen" on the dashboard, if you want to keep your eyes fixed on the road, free from distractions.

Being a hatchback it is very versatile, offering plenty of storage space. This is because the sleak battery is set in the central console of the car. Thete is plenty of room for two golf bags and if you fold down the rear seats, there is even extra space.

I'm averaging just over 90mpg, which may confuse some readers. Despite it being an electric car it of course uses a petrol engine to drive the electric motor (hence why it qualifies as an electric car) enabling the ability to drive longer distances (360 miles on a full tank) - overcoming a big criticism of electric cars.

In essence, it's been a real joy to drive, which for a car buyer wanting to reduce CO2 emissions and yet have some fun (which has rarely been achieved in the past with hybrids - apart from the excellent Honda "original" Insight Coupe) has been a delight.

I went for the Chevrolet rather than the Vauxhall because it had a less flashy front and was slightly cheaper, but I did test drive the Ampera and it was identical in every other way. Full marks to Vauxhall who dropped the Ampera off at my house and picked up the next day to give me plenty of time to test drive at my leisure.

I would encourage readers to seriously consider this car, especially higher rate tax payers because of course you can offset the purchase price against your earnings making the cost much more agreeable.

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