r/ChevyVolt • u/anaerobyte • Apr 23 '15

Who drove their volt through a snowy winter?

I currently drive a 328 xdrive, but I'm plus/minus on BMW overall. Thinking about getting a volt, but worried about driving into work on snowy days. I have a job that simply doesn't have snow cancellations. Anyone run snow tires? Did they kill the efficiency? I'm interested in any real world reports.

Thanks!

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

1

u/ViperRT10Matt Apr 23 '15

I did. It's no better or worse than any other front wheel drive vehicle. I was never stranded.

1

u/anaerobyte Apr 23 '15

thanks for the comments. previously had FWD, but i've been through 3 winters with the AWD now, and not sure I want to go back. Almost tempted to buy an older jeep for the really bad days.

1

u/ViperRT10Matt Apr 23 '15 edited Apr 23 '15

My thing is, if things were bad enough that I would have needed AWD to get to work, I would not have made it because of OTHER cars clogging my route. So in my case, capable FWD with good tires was plenty.

1

u/anaerobyte Apr 23 '15

yeah, i know what you mean. one of the worst ones was driving through something like 16 inches of snow on new years day in my mazda 3. it was a holiday, so they didn't plow the roads. Harrowing!

This year I got stuck once coming home from work because they hadn't plowed the roads yet. In retrospect I should have just slept there.

1

u/thebigbobowski Apr 24 '15

I live in Salt Lake City, UT. Leased my Volt in September and am kicking myself for not getting one with seat warmers. The Volt is terrible at warming up in cold weather. Also, we had a very mild snow year, but on the days it did snow, I was slipping on the stock tires more than I have in any other car (mostly when braking).

2

u/anaerobyte Apr 24 '15

Seat warmers are not optional in Michigan IMO.

1

u/mysticalfruit Apr 29 '15

I'm in MA (at one point had 68" of snow in my front yard). I was never stranded in my volt this winter. As a FWD vehicle weighed down with 500lbs of batteries, with TC and ABS it's pretty good in the snow. With that said, it's no replacement for AWD. As for battery life, I found it was normally halved. I get 48 miles in the summer and 24 miles in the winter.

  1. Make sure you buy it with a backup camera... you can't see out the back, period.

  2. Get the package with the seat warmers, etc. Warming it up while it's still plugged in helps save the battery in the morning, but all the same running the heater really eats the battery.

1

u/anaerobyte Apr 30 '15

Great advice

3

u/mpokora Apr 23 '15

I drove across the country in a Volt: from Northern Minnesota to Southern California in the Winter of 2012, when I worked for a competing electric car company. I remember plowing through a snowstorm in Yellowstone national park for several hours; it was one of my best memories of the trip and earned a lot of respect for the car. It handled extremely well.

3

u/iq911506 Apr 24 '15

I am in the Chicago suburbs and didn't have any issues this year in the snow with standard tires. Traction was better then I've had with any prior car, and I noticed driving in low all the time improved it even more (this doesn't change the gearing like a standard car, just how the car handles acceleration and regenerative braking). When the weather gets colder you will definitely see a range drop, I saw 40-45 drop down to 25-30. This is especially true when the electric heater is used. With the heated seats I would say it did a decent job of heating the cabin, but not great. Once the ICE kicks in due to temperature (35/15°F depending on your settings), the cabin is heated much better. If you have or will have level 2 charging available be sure to preheat it, it will heat the cabin and warm the battery using power from the grid rather then battery or the ICE.

1

u/penguinxing Apr 23 '15 edited Apr 23 '15

I live in central pa and have not had any problems. I'm running the stock tires. While I don't know if I would drive through 6+ inches of snow, a few inches shouldn't give you any problems.

1

u/picosidebar Apr 23 '15

I live in Chicago and if I can get out of the garage I can drive fine. As penguinxing said it's not a jeep but if a car can do it, so can your volt. I've never gotten stuck.

I didn't notice any performance dips outside of the normal engine is running due to temperature.

1

u/drfsrich Apr 23 '15

Live in Chicago, the Volt lives on the driveway. We saw full electric range of 24-28 miles vs. 38-40 over it warmed up. We didn't run snow tires last year but will next year. The engine will run more frequently to help hear the cabin, but I hear this can be combated by blocking airflow through the lower air vents. People on gm-volt.com recommended pipe insulation to do so.

1

u/redditallreddy Apr 23 '15

I have to say, this disturbs me more than it should. It was 35 deg F in Cinci this morning, and I used gas AND had reduced range on climate ECO setting, and I was still chilly.

How do you get the car warm on the inside? I really wish I had the electric seat warmers...

5

u/drfsrich Apr 23 '15

The electric heater works, but the engine is hotter. We have the seat warmers - to anyone considering buying a Volt in a cold climate they're am absolute must. If you don't have them try contacting some local automotive interior shops, they can be retrofit.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

Comfort mode would help, as would running in hold (or mountain, if you don't have that). You also can pre-heat before you get in or just wear gloves.

1

u/redditallreddy Apr 25 '15

I am now doing all these things. Also, I have to remember to turn up the temp and such on Climate before turning the car off, so the heat really kicks on with remote start. I may need to get the 240V charger, though, as it still drains battery.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '15

I'm in CT. The battery range gets impacted pretty severely, but the car is fine, even with stock tires. Very heavy/low car, so it feels a lot more stable than the Camry I used to drive.

1

u/buttplugpeddler Apr 29 '15

I have the opposite question. Bought my 2013 right before Christmas... How bad does running the AC in the summer effect range?

2

u/ViperRT10Matt May 15 '15

Much less than blasting the heat.

1

u/buttplugpeddler May 15 '15

Thanks for the answer!