I drove a Volt the other day; only a few miles, and under battery power only. Some impressions:
For the life of me, I don't see the market for the Volt. With only 35 miles available on electric drive, what's the point? One of the two "evaluation drivers" who've had Volts for 6 weeks bragged how he's only used 2 gallons of gasoline in that time. Well, I have a vintage car, and I can authoritatively state that 10% ethanol gasoline should not be kept more than 60 days without Sta-Bil or other treatment. Of course, the Volt "exercises" the gasoline engine occasionally if you don't otherwise trip it into use, but I don't think that's enough. I think they should run an algorithm to determine one's driving style, and run the gas engine enough to consume the tank in 60 days, regardless. Nine gallon tank won't get used up in 60 days if the typical route is all- or mostly-battery.
Other impressions: Plenty of zip in Sport mode. Easily capable of Beltway entrances without endangering yourself or other drivers. Braking was only "Fair". Some confusion in the computer whether to use regen, hydraulic, or both. Car creeps at "idle" ... why? Maybe a "safety" issue, they want drivers to always have a foot on the brake. I think it's dumb. Why waste juice pushing the car against the brake when stopped? Doors don't open much past 60°, so ingress and egress is not great. And it's a small car. If the Leaf is this size, I may not get it. The center stack must be 20" wide, so driver and passenger knee room is poor. Conventional shift lever buried in this enormous stack. Of course, with an 111kW motor, generator, 12v battery, LiOn battery pack and 4-cyl ICE engine (and radiator, catalyst, exhaust system, etc.) they've got to put all this stuff somewhere. Just doesn't make sense when you look at it; dragging all this stuff around to get about the same mileage as a Cobalt, at twice the price?
I'm calling the Volt "the SUV of hybrid cars" because it tries to do all things for all drivers, and ends up doing nothing particularly well.
Halogen headlights; obviously they're not concerned with energy consumption. Regular Goodyear tires; nothing weird or unobtainable. Did not drive far enough to engage the gas engine. Two TV commercials shown, and Chevy is pushing "car", not "electric". "Freedom to Roam" and all that.
Charging port near drivers o/s mirror in an inconvenient spot, as pointed out earlier.
One useful Leaf competitive info: I publicly asked what the failure mode was for the battery pack, and was told 70%. Let's hope that Nissan uses that figure (or better).
I'm a member of the Washington Automotive Press Association. This was a WAPA event, not open to the public.