Leaf owner, looking at volt, looking for input from owners

Wife loves our new Leaf, but needs a daily car with more range. So we are looking at the Volt. I would love to get feedback and input from owners of both cars. What are your impressions of the two in comparison in terms of drive, reliability, quality or just about anything else. Essentially anything outside of technical specifications, but would live to hear about experience with dealers for service.

Thanks in advance.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3281&p=267884&hilit=submarine#p267884" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; might help. He has a Rav4 EV and Volt. IIRC, he was one of the Phoenicians who pretty severe battery capacity loss within 2 years (?) and got Nissan to buy back his Leaf.

Adric22 has both, perhaps search thru his posts? Is an example I found by Googling http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9576" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (e.g. site:mynissanleaf.com adric22 volt leaf comparison).

I've leased both for the past three months. My impressions are as follows:


1) I hate the Volt bucket seats. They are hard and uncomfortable and you sit down real low. My solution was to fold up a blanket and put it on the seat. A world of difference. It's soft and comfy, now, and I sit up nice and high (and at 5' 11", I'm not short).

2) The Volt's ride feels "heavier" than the LEAF, most likely because the Volt is lugging around its backup generator and a few gallons of gas. Sometimes I like the feeling. Other times I like the more light and bouncy feeling of the LEAF

3) The Volt has a more classic sedan look. I find it much more attractive than the LEAF styling.

4) For driving ranges up to the usable capacity of the battery (somewhere around 40 miles), the Volt acts just the same as any electric car. Smooth and quiet with nice low-end torque. Essentially the same as a LEAF

5) For driving ranges beyond the Volt's usable battery capacity, the backup generator kicks on. If you are used to driving an electric car, the sound and vibration is noticeable, but not overly objectionable.

6) You never have to worry about the battery. If you don't have TOU rates from your utility, just plug the car in when you get home and unplug it when you are ready to leave. It will take care of itself to keep the battery cool, and unlike the LEAF, it will properly maintain the charge on the 12V battery even if you keep it plugged in indefinitely.

7) No more worry about range limitations. Once the battery charge is depleted, it will shift seamlessly and automatically to charge-sustaining mode. If you never drive beyond your battery range, it will still kick on the backup generator once every six weeks for about ten minutes to make sure it's running properly. After about a year, it will kick on the backup generator for an extended period of time to burn off your stale gasoline, so you might just as well use it during the year, or the car will still burn if off at the end of the year, whether you want it to or not.


As a general rule, the Volts have proven themselves to be very reliable. It comes with three years of OnStar support, so system diagnostic help is just a push-button away, if you ever need it. There are, also, insurance companies like State Farm, which may give you a discount on your insurance premium if you allow them to monitor your OnStar stats. For low-mileage drivers, this is a plus.

Thank you for the detailed feedback. Just got back from test driving the Volt. It is nice. Only negatives were the driving "weight" of the car and the road noise. It was bouncier in the back than the Leaf, definitely had more pick up and obviously range, but the road and ambient was much higher.

One of the many things that impress me about the Leaf is that it is quieter than an Audi (forgetting the engine noise, but the road and outside noise), and drives rather smoothly.

Finally the Volt interior space felt a bit cramped compared to the Leaf. And there wasn't as much attention to detail about the interior IMHO.

Definitely a good car in the EV category overall.

Yes, I do agree it's a bit cosy inside. Kind of reminds me of a sports car. Real tight to get into and out of, and sit way down low.

And, yes, I had forgotten my first test drive where the road noise was higher. Curiously enough I don't notice that, anymore. Maybe the tires wear in a bit so they don't make as much noise? I don't know. What I do notice is that the Volt doesn't have the LEAF's swirly sounding VSP. So, in that sense, it's quieter at lower speeds than a LEAF.

I have both cars. Not sure what Weatherman was talking about on the seats being too low. They are adjustable and you can raise them up. My wife drives the Volt and has to raise the seat up and she's very short around 5'2" and has no trouble.

My biggest complain with the Volt is the center-console is very un-user-friendly and takes a while to learn to operate. Specifically I hate the way you can't use the NAV system without having the radio on.

I happen to LOVE the bucket seats in the Volt, including the back seats. I think they are super comfortable and much prefer over a bench seat. Granted, we have a family of 3 so we don't need the extra seat.

I will say that even though the Volt is technically faster than the Leaf on a 0-60 run, I can attest that the Leaf is more responsive with instant torque than the Volt. The Volt often has a slight delay to ramp-up power after pressing the accelerator pedal. Now granted, the Volt probably still more responsive than most gasoline cars, but the Leaf still does better.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions.

Thank you for the feedback. One of my main concerns about the Volt is how much bouncier it is. Sitting in the back seat I was getting thrown about a bit, much more than the front. We did check the tire pressure and they were correct.

Wife and I both commented on the controls and graphics, they do take more attention to sort.

Also there was much more noise and some rattle compared to the Leaf.

Finally I am good with sporty tight interior, but my impression was more claustrophobic than cozy. And I have been in some tiny interiors mind you!

We will probably do an overnight loan to double check our impressions. But getting back in the Leaf after the test drive was a shockingly different feel.

Not sure what your requirements are but if the Volt won't cut it, there are other PHEVs. See plug-in cars list at http://www.hybridcars.com/september-2013-dashboard/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. The ones that come to mind are the Plug-in Prius (w/VERY short EV range) and Ford's Energis.

The PiP is considered a mid-sized car (like the Leaf), unlike the compact Volt and has a lot more cargo room than the C-Max Energi.

While I have a leaf we have company volts available for check out, and I've gotten two weeks of "stick time" with 'em (soon to be more). I too find the interior more claustrophobic than the leaf. My biggest beef with the volt is the narrow windshield.

I rented a c-max hybrid for a weekend and actually quite liked it. Handled well enough for me and had good power. I would check out the energi version before pulling the trigger.

Note that on the volt "eco" is the default and you have to select sport mode to get the default leaf behavior. That makes the volt seem heavier.

for two years I have been very happy with my Volt. One evening
I got a call from the GF & had to meet her some 200 miles away.
This was at 11:30 pm, no problem. Just jumped into the Volt (my
only vehicle) and was there in a jiffy. Not sure where I would
have found a rental car at that time of night........ :shock:

I have both as well (wife has a volt).

- Firstly, the batteries keep up way better than the Leaf - for just over two years I have lost 30% capacity with range ~55 miles. My wife's volt (1.5 years old) still has the same range she had when new and with the same kWh per mile and she can get 50+ miles on a good summer day.

- The volt is definetely a smaller car. While some had said they didn't like the bucket seats, I actually like them, but they do "lean back" some. The trunk is also smaller

- The volt is less affected by the colder weather. At night, while being plugged in, the volt's battery will still be at optimal temps. You will still loose range during the winter as the BMS will need to heat the battery while driving, but the Leafs range swings are extreme when compared to the volt.

- If you follow the factory recommended maintence for both cars, the Volt is way cheaper (only rotate tires until 45K then its only a transmission flush). Oil is really only changed every 2 years.

- If your leaf is a 2013 with the faster charging system, it will charge twice as fast as the volt

- I prefer the user interface with the volt versus the leaf. It looks dauting at first, but its less menus to navigate to get what you want.

- The gas generator is really NOT noticable. If you are driving in the car you actually have to be paying attention with the radio off to even notice. You can tell from outside, but inside, not at all.

- The style of the volt (inside and out) is better, the interior especially compared to the 2011-2012 models. It probably is about even compared to the 2013 SL.

- The rides are probably similar. The volt can bounce a little more due and wind but that is due to its size and lowness to the ground (which helps it get bettery highway range on the battery). But the volt is heavier than the leaf and is usually less prone to bouncy from rough roads. Tire pressure is higher for the volt - 38 psi vs 36 psi.

- you have to worry less on the volt with the upper and lower end of the battery. No need to worry about only charging to 80% and maybe 100% sometimes. And no need to reserve a few miles of range in your drive to get home - drive the battery to Zero!

- The volt has 4 modes: Regular (which is just like the leaf regular), moutain which reserves stuff for shifts in vertical climbs (never used it). Sport which makes it more sporty than the leaf and a B or hard regen mode which is like the leaf's eco.

At the end of the day, for all their pluses and minuses, the Volt, Leaf and Model S are what most of us have to work with for going down the road on electricity. Sure there are a few other niche/compliance options out there, particularly for those in CA, but I see you live in MD, so you'd really have to work at finding one of the other options. Except for the RAV4 and Fit I don't see any that would be worth the bother.

You should be reasonably confident you'll like the car and it will meet your needs before taking the plunge, but face it, with a three year lease it's hardly a life choice. Hopefully one more Volt moving off the lot to someone like yourself and that scene being repeated by more like you furthers the manufacturers bringing more new EV offerings.

I doubt you'd regret the Volt; we really like ours. It's quite a clever bit of engineering.

LTLFTcomposite said:

Note that on the volt "eco" is the default and you have to select sport mode to get the default leaf behavior. That makes the volt seem heavier.

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Thanks and thank you for e-mail response. We had it on sport, it was very peppy. The "heavy" is from how the suspension reacts to turns and bumps. I was getting thrown around pretty hard in the back seat.

For you Volt owners out there coming from a Prius - one of my reservations about the Volt is it's size - back seat is definitely an issue (really wish it had bench rear seats so could squeeze 3 in the back in a pinch) - but how does the trunk space compare to say the Gen-2 Prius and the LEAF? The Volt seems to be similar in trunk space to the Prius to me looking at pics...

drees said:

For you Volt owners out there coming from a Prius - one of my reservations about the Volt is it's size - back seat is definitely an issue (really wish it had bench rear seats so could squeeze 3 in the back in a pinch) - but how does the trunk space compare to say the Gen-2 Prius and the LEAF? The Volt seems to be similar in trunk space to the Prius to me looking at pics...

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It is smaller than a Prius, but for us completely sufficient.
The roofline starts sloping down sooner leading to less height. Footprint (going from memory) of storage is similar and the back seats do fold down.

The back seat is small, especially leg room. However, that was never an issue for us as we rarely used the back seat except for cargo.

We enjoyed our Volt quite a bit, except when the ICE turned on. More so because I hate burning gas, than the sound/vibration of it.

Likes:

40+ miles EV (2013 w/ 10.5kWh usable)
40mpg on gasoline, once the EV range is gone
Exterior design (much cooler than the LEAF's)
Wheel design (thought these would be hard to keep clean, but the brakes throw off very little dust)
Seat design
4 passenger seating and rear seat console (didn't think I would like this, but I do - makes it feel like an old school, European 2+2)
Car has it's own phone (and phone number)

Dislikes:

Hard seats
Seats that stain quite easily but which also refuse to give up the stains to cleaning products that would normally take care of anything
Difficult to wash exterior (lots more nooks and crannies to trap water than on the LEAF)
Override the charger timer by double-plugging the J1772. Time it wrong the the car will throw a hard code that needs to be cleared with an OBDII scanner.
Doors seem quite a bit heavier than the LEAF's, and have a tendency to spring back at you if you fling them open too far.
Hood needs to be dropped to close it (and you can actually dent it if you try to push it closed from just latched)

Neutral:

Interior design other than the seats and rear console (feels a little claustrophobic compared to the LEAF)
Forward console has too many buttons, and key features seem difficult to find and control on both it and (to an extent) on the LCD screen (may have to actually read the owners manual to understand this one!)

mwalsh said:

Hood needs to be dropped to close it (and you can actually dent it if you try to push it closed from just latched)

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Already got a dimple from doing that. Has to be the softest hood metal of any car I've owned.

adric22 said:

I have both cars. Not sure what Weatherman was talking about on the seats being too low. They are adjustable and you can raise them up. My wife drives the Volt and has to raise the seat up and she's very short around 5'2" and has no trouble.

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I have a friend at work who is 5'9" and she mentioned on a test drive at a dealer the seats seemed too far forward and not adjustable. I took her for test drive last week and she ended up really liking all the adjustments. Aside from going forward backward (track) with level below your right knee there are two adjustments on the side as follows:

Pipcecil said:

Sport which makes it more sporty than the leaf and a B or hard regen mode which is like the leaf's eco.

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I only drive in Sport and L(ow-max regen). Low is not gearing but common nomenclature with some resemblance to "low" when slowing down. Low is only electronically turning on max regen. I've driven in Low for 33K miles.

Sport mode can be entered at any time with two quick taps of the 'mode' button. You do NOT have to wait for the display to pop up after the 1st tap. Just tap a 2nd time. They are queued. Sport mode is definitely more responsive as it readjust the pedal mapping. Put it to the floor and it is the same as normal. See these numbers: