1966 Chevrolet G10 Van Base 3.8l on 2040-cars

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It's possible to go 111 miles on electricity in the new Chevy Volt

Wayne Gerdes at CleanMPG put the 2016 Chevrolet Volt in Premiere trim through a few closely watched on-the-road tests over a few days. One of them was a run from full charge to EV-only exhaustion, and at the end of the trip Gerdes had traveled 111.0 indicated miles on a single charge, 111.9 according to his Garmin. What's the catch? He guessed his average speed was about 20 miles per hour, which was 15 and 20 mph around town and "a few miles" at 50 mph on the highway. The EPA says the new Volt should go 53 miles on battery power. In the 2011 Volt, rated at 38 electric miles, Gerdes got 75.5 miles on a charge. The upshot is that at urban driving at average speeds should get drivers the EPA rated 53 e-mpg without fuss. He wasn't so impressed with performance in Charge Sustaining Mode, though. During one run that covered 101.2 actual miles in CSM, using 1.691 gallons, the Volt got 59.8 mpg. Speaking of driving in CSM only, Gerdes said it's less efficient here than in competitors from Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai, but that's one of the few performance-related complaints he had. Elsewhere around the PHEV, Gerdes liked improvements to the eight-inch display and rear-view camera, build and design quality, the much quieter ride, and the switch to regular fuel. The six-foot Gerdes found the cabin space still cozy, especially in the back where ingress and egress could be a challenge for people of a certain stature. He lamented the fact that he couldn't find instantaneous fuel and energy consumption or among the many readouts, and would prefer the sedan kicked into glide mode sooner. In spite of that, he declares the Volt II "a full blown electric car." Head over to CleanMPG for the rest of his assessment.

MotorWeek's 80's GM muscle coupe roundup includes Regal GN and Monte Carlo SS

Even with just four brands in the family, General Motors still represents a performance powerhouse. Between the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Camaro Z/28, Cadillac CTS-V and ATS-V, The General can still deliver plenty of thrills. The 1980s, though, saw the brand go even crazier with performance. While the Camaro and Corvette were still around back in the day, GM had a number of other interesting performance offerings. The Bowtie was complemented by the long-deceased Monte Carlo SS, while the now-defunct Pontiac and Oldsmobile offered the Grand Prix and thumping 442, respectively. And Buick, which isn't short on performance with its Regal GS and Verano Turbo, offered a much more serious vehicle, in the form of the Grand National (not to mention the Darth Vader-spec GNX). MotorWeek, in its hugely entertaining retro flashbacks, looks back on these three long-lost GM performance icons, and it's just as good as you might expect. News Source: MotorWeek via YouTube Buick Chevrolet GM Pontiac Coupe Performance Classics Videos buick grand national chevy monte carlo oldsmobile 442

General Motors and EVs: No stranger to firsts, but where's the leadership?

2015 is already shaping up to be the year of "affordable, 200-mile EV" concepts. Nissan and Tesla have each been talking about them for some time, the latter promising to unveil its Model 3 at the North American International Auto Show in January before balking when the time came. Instead, Chevrolet beat them all by unveiling the Bolt concept at the same event, followed shortly thereafter with suggestions of a 2016 launch – potentially offering the first nationwide EV with anything close to that range. It was the ballsiest EV-related move General Motors has made in a quarter century. But will it remain so? Exactly 25 years before the Bolt rolled up onto the turntable, then-Chairman Roger Smith unveiled GM's last ground-up EV concept, the even-more-unfortunately-named Impact, at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 1990. A few months later, he surprised most of his colleagues by announcing its intended production in honor of Earth Day. It was the first modern foray into electric vehicles for the US by any automaker, one that was rewarded by the State of California with what is now known as the Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate. The program not only forced other automakers into competing with Roger's pet project, but inspired all of them to fight it like small children against bedtime. Some years later, the drivers themselves weighed in, with a biting documentary about that obstinance and the leadership it cost both GM and the country. Within months, GM was first back into the fray of plug-in vehicles. Many criticized the company for starting with a PHEV rather than jump straight back into EVs. The choice wasn't totally out of the blue – even EV1 was meant to be followed by a PHEV. And especially on the heels of Who Killed the Electric Car?, some skittishness was understandable: even a successful EV would invite a "we told you so" public reaction, underscoring their mistake in ending the EV1 program. If a new EV didn't do well, they'd be convicted in the public eye as serial killers. All while seeking a federal bailout. For all the flak, the resulting Chevy Volt was and is a better car than GM has ever gotten credit for. But the company seemed to grow weary of having to overcome its varied past, and while the current owners remain happy, much of the stakeholder and community engagement that so effectively built early goodwill and sales growth faded not long after launch. Marketing has been spotty in both consistency and effectiveness.