12 ms·
Unlike your Civic, the Volt has to lug around a huge battery, a complex powertrain, and two high-torque motors. Its curb weight is about 40% higher than a 2008
by SeanLuke 11y ago
Unlike your Civic, the Volt has to lug around a huge battery, a complex powertrain, and two high-torque motors. Its curb weight is about 40% higher than a 2008 Civic.
BTW, did you mean a Civic Hybrid? Because the US EPA estimate for even the most frugal of 2008 non-Hybrid Civics is 29 MPG combined. If you are driving so as to coax 50 MPG US out of a 2008 Civic, you will love the Volt.
- eitally 11y agoBut on the other hand... My 1994 Nissan Sentra got 35-38mpg and my 2001 VW GTI (with a V6!) is still being driven by my bro-in-law and gets 30mpg highway with 260,000 miles on the original powertrain. The fact is that cars are far more complex, far heavier, and have bigger engines today than they used to, at the expense of gas mileage.
- stonemetal 11y agoSince he mentions the UK I assume he means the diesel version which is estimated at 60MPG. The latest version of that car is estimated to come in around 78MPG.
- cjrp 11y agoSorry, should have mentioned - it's a 2.2L diesel.
- SeanLuke 11y agoI think you're using highway-driving only. The estimate for the latest Civic I could find (2012) is 67.3MPG UK (55.9MPG US) combined, using a British cycle. This is diesel, which has a higher energy density than gas, so the equivalent in gas would be 49MPG. But also note that european MPG measurement cycles are much more generous than US ones: the EPA measure would be much lower in the US. All in all the Volt probably is almost the same as and possibly better than, the Civic in gas-only driving, despite the fact that it has to lug around an additional electric motor and battery.