Consumer Reports: Volt Doesn't Make Much Sense

The Chevy Volt may be the cover girl of April’s issue of Consumer Reports, but the magazine doesn’t have a lot of glowing things to say about it. Economically, the car “doesn’t really make a lot of sense,” the magazine’s director of auto testing told the Detroit News and other reporters. “The Volt isn't particularly efficient as an electric vehicle and it's not particularly good as a gas vehicle either in terms of fuel economy.”

“This is going to be a tough sell to the average consumer,” he continued. “If you drive about 70 miles, a Prius will actually get you more miles per gallon than the Volt does.” The Prius, he added, costs about half what the Volt does. He even criticized the Volt’s heating system—“your feet get cold and your hands get cold.” Still, he acknowledged that the car accelerated well and that, on shorter drives, consumers could avoid using gas altogether. (More Chevy Volt stories.)