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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.

Best-selling vehicles by state

America loves trucks. According to Edmunds, which has tracked the best-selling vehicles by state based on new vehicle registrations, 40 out of 50 U.S. states’ best-selling vehicle is a pickup. Most often, thatÂ’s the Ford F-Series, but occasional Chevy, Ram and even Toyota top the lists. Here, weÂ’ve compiled the best-selling vehicles by state, including the four runners-up for each state. Interestingly enough, only one EV shows up in a stateÂ’s top five (Tesla Model 3 in California). Read on below to see whatÂ’s most popular in your state.

Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards

The U.S. News Best Cars for the Money Awards picks winners by looking at the average transaction price, five-year total cost of ownership, the regard a car has from the automotive press, reliability figures from J.D. Power and Associates and safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The result, according to the magazine, is "the best combination of critical acclaim and long-term value."
Ford nabbed six of the 21 categories that received awards this year, the Focus, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Taurus, Escape and Edge getting trophies. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion sub-brands took another five, the Tacoma and Tundra owning the two categories given to pickup trucks. The other ten awards were split between Honda with three, Buick with two, and one each for Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Mazda.
Follow the link to see all the winners and read about why they were chosen.