{"id":9483,"date":"2026-10-12T12:16:40","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=9483"},"modified":"2026-10-12T12:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:16:40","slug":"shock-and-aww-2017-chevrolet-volt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/shock-and-aww-2017-chevrolet-volt\/","title":{"rendered":"Shock and Aww: 2017 Chevrolet Volt"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\r\n2017 Chevrolet Volt, owned by McKenzie Gatica\r\n

\r\nWant to see your ride featured? Feel free to submit it by contacting connor.parks@centre.edu \r\n

\r\n

\r\nby Connor Parks\r\n

\r\n

\r\nWell, folks, this is it. The lobbyists and politicians got me. Yep, you saw it right: the Cento is reviewing electric cars now, and there\u2019s nothing I can do about it. Doesn\u2019t matter that this thing is actually a hybrid, and only has about 50 miles of electric battery range, and gets around 53 miles per gallon average, and\u2026well, maybe this won\u2019t be too bad after all? \r\n

\r\nBefore I even got the chance to drive this second generation Chevy Volt, there was just one word I would use to describe everything I thought I knew about it: improvement. Compared to the shaky electric attempt that was the first generation, the second-gen was lighter, quicker, had a significantly improved electric range, and looked much better in just about every way (look up the first gen and you\u2019ll almost certainly agree). McKenzie\u2019s owned the car, \u201cBean\u201d, for a little under a year now after a tragic fate befell her previous Chevrolet Cruze and she took it over from her brother. In her eyes, it\u2019s a comfortable, fitting replacement with just a few changes to the ownership experience (namely the electricity). And I\u2019d entirely agree: it\u2019s everything you\u2019d want out of a standard, cute little economy sedan, only with the added touch of a little electric vehicle (EV) range, just a few years before the world bet big on an EV boom that, as we\u2019re now seeing, was catastrophically overestimated. Volt production ended in 2019 as it couldn\u2019t face the pressure posed by competition such as the Toyota Prius, yet I found it a compelling product for a number of reasons nonetheless.\r\n

\r\nUp front, the Volt\u2019s features felt largely standard for an economy model of its time, with some slight bonuses that gave it an unexpected little dash of luxury. The seats were plush pleather, and made it ride higher than other cars in the segment. The steering wheel, fitted with plenty of intuitive controls for voice commands, controlling audio, and more, also had the option to be heated! This is easily the cheapest car I\u2019ve seen with this feature (which can be very handy when needed), and I\u2019m surprised to applaud Chevy on its inclusion. Most everything, aside from the seats, was electronically controlled (notably the mirrors and climate options), and it felt good to be able to use real knobs and dials instead of the touchscreens which have pervaded more modern cars. There are plenty of charming little electricky gimmicks too: a futuristic startup noise to alert that the car is on when there\u2019s no engine running, a bright blue shift knob with little lightning bolts, and more to remind you of that invaluable 50 miles of electric range. And while that may not sound like anything, Kia recently cited a statistic of only 37 miles per day driven by the average EV\/hybrid driver, meaning that a daily charge could ensure the gas engine would only be used on longer trips. With the previously mentioned whopping 53 mpg. average McKenzie gets with the car, and a 300 mile average range with the gas and electric motors, it\u2019s no wonder she can count on one hand the amount of fuel-ups she\u2019s done since returning from being abroad in the spring. Even with a 4-hour charge time at local chargepoints, and an 8 hour average with her smaller charger at home, it seems a small price to pay for a cheap and reliable ownership experience in the current economic state.\r\n

\r\nOther features were also better than expected for the time, namely the solid, easy-to-use Chevy Mylink infotainment system that rivals higher-end cars I\u2019ve driven from around the same time. Everything from Apple Carplay pairing to checking tire pressure and fuel economy in the gauge cluster was seamless and intuitive. Space is a major plus as well: the front is slightly cramped, but the center console is deep and extends all the way to the cavernous rear seats. The Volt has easily the most rear space I\u2019ve encountered in a car this size, and although the extended center console (with cupholders and a charging port!) eliminates the possibility of a middle rear seat, it\u2019s a small price to pay for the immense legroom and ample headroom you get in the back. It\u2019s also a hatchback, something I didn\u2019t realise before this review, and an equally spacious one at that. With the rear seats all the way down, McKenzie and her mom were able to fit five wooden chairs in the hatch over the summer, and \u201ceasily could\u2019ve stuck another one in there\u201d. There\u2019s no sunroof, but the extended hatch window makes up for it by stretching past the heads of rear passengers, and the standard trunk lights accompany an emergency kit, cargo strap holders, and a jack in the car\u2019s remarkably ample furnishings. The rear EV battery, also accessible from the trunk, recently went out on McKenzie\u2019s example after 9 years and cost around $300 to replace. While that may be more expensive than your ordinary car, it evens out when considering both the incredible fuel economy and the fact that the easy-to-operate charging port works with most any public charger out there: minus those pesky Tesla ones, of course. \r\n

\r\nOut on the open road, the Volt didn\u2019t do much to impress, which didn\u2019t surprise or underwhelm me at all: it\u2019s a car of utility and value, not power. The rip-roaring 101 horsepower 1.5 litre inline 4-cylinder engine is backed by 181 extra horsepower through the electric motors, providing a blissfully quiet ride that\u2019s modestly quick when accelerating with just the electric motor, but nowhere near breakneck speed. Switching from electric to gas and between the 3 drive modes\u2013 normal, sport, and mountain (?)– is fairly uneventful, although McKenzie said she feels the gas motor kick on with a slight jolt most of the time. Handling was above average, and it takes corners easily and deftly in both normal and sport. My only real complaint about the driving experience was with the braking: the car sometimes shifts back to the electric motor when decelerating, reducing the braking firmness a bit and forcing you to press down harder a second time before stopping. Aside from this, though, it felt equal to anything else in the segment unless I chose to keep the EV motor on when accelerating down straight stretches of road, in which case it proved easy to get carried away with speed at times. \r\n

\r\nAll things considered, is the second-generation Chevy Volt the improvement I expected? Yes, and then some. For those looking for a cheap, reliable hybrid for their next (or first) vehicle, it\u2019s quickly becoming an excellent place to start. One of the car\u2019s greatest woes while in production was its steep price when compared to non-hybrid economy sedans, yet solid examples are now reliably selling around the $11-13,000 mark\u2013 a bargain compared to most other hybrids. Its styling is also a major plus\u2013 the lines are clean, sharp, and do just enough to distinguish the car as exactly what it aspires to be: a basic economy sedan plus a little extra zap. Considering a Civic, Corolla, Elantra, or something similar in this economy? Might I recommend throwing a Volt into the mix: it very well may shock you. ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2017 Chevrolet Volt, owned by McKenzie Gatica Want to see your ride featured? Feel free to submit it by contacting connor.parks@centre.edu by Connor Parks Well, folks, this is it. The lobbyists and politicians got me. Yep, you saw it right: the Cento is reviewing electric cars now, and there\u2019s nothing I can do about it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-leisure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9489,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9483\/revisions\/9489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}