The sparke from everything i read from owners on review sites and this forum is they are a reliable car. there has been some brake issues from some people but my brakes work fine so lets say they are the exception not the rule. the volt has some horrible reviews. when its bad its really bad. do u think using a gas engine combined with a ev battery is a bad idea. the bmw i3 with the gas engine has alot of issues too compared to their 100% electric i3. why dont these manufacturers concentrate on 100% electric only and dump the gas/electric car combo. seems electric cars r better when they are made simple.
Sparke vs Volt reliability
- Thread starter evboy
- Start date
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I personally think the Volt is the highest tech car on the road. If I had to have only one car it would be a Volt. It serves most people's daily EV needs and can be a road trip car on the weekends.
It's a full 4-season PHEV, unlike some other offering in this category.
For instance the new Prius Prime. You know what happens when you press the defrost button? The stinker comes on.
It now has a high tech heat pump system, but you can't get de-humidification and heat at the same time with a heat pump. The previous Plug in Prius had no EV heat at all.
But I sold my Volt and bought a used '14 Spark EV for not much money, and with the free charge network in my town I only plug in at home during the coldest parts of the year.
I have a gasser (Honda Element) sitting the drive way that I only use for road trips/vacations and big hauling duties. ( I should take that stinker out sometime...)
These are still the early days of EV's. Hang in there. The charge networks are getting bigger by the day !!
It's a full 4-season PHEV, unlike some other offering in this category.
For instance the new Prius Prime. You know what happens when you press the defrost button? The stinker comes on.
It now has a high tech heat pump system, but you can't get de-humidification and heat at the same time with a heat pump. The previous Plug in Prius had no EV heat at all.
But I sold my Volt and bought a used '14 Spark EV for not much money, and with the free charge network in my town I only plug in at home during the coldest parts of the year.
I have a gasser (Honda Element) sitting the drive way that I only use for road trips/vacations and big hauling duties. ( I should take that stinker out sometime...)
These are still the early days of EV's. Hang in there. The charge networks are getting bigger by the day !!
My 2012 Volt is coming up on 5 years old and 90000 miles. Reliability has been great and I still love the car. I'm sure some people have issues with the Volt (and the Spark EV). But, both cars seems to be very reliable and generally liked by their owners. I would go as far as to say that the Gen 1 Volt was one of the best engineered vehicles ever produced. GM was extremely conservative with its design, and that's paid off with very good reliability.
Being a "simple" EV doesn't necessarily make a car better or more reliable. Just ask the early Leaf owners who had terrible battery degradation.
Being a "simple" EV doesn't necessarily make a car better or more reliable. Just ask the early Leaf owners who had terrible battery degradation.
LimeyBastard
Member
My volt has been rock solid reliability wise with 56k miles however, my spark has been in the shop a few times with only 10k miles. The spark sat in the dealer for 5 weeks waiting on a wiring harness after shutting off on the freeway. After getting the car back the dash and drive have still blanked out here and there and the radio likes to stay on after I shut the car off and exit the vehicle.
Firemom233
Member
I'm not sure where you got the idea that Volts get bad reviews, everybody on the Volt FB group loves them and knows they are the very best car they've ever owned!
You may be looking at some reliability reviews on the new Gen 2 Volts because those are surely out there, but the thing is they got that information from small minor details like something with the infotainment system needing something fixed and a bunch of those will tally up to show as a problem when in all honesty everything else got very high marks!
Volts are incredible cars, I just wish mine gave me more ev miles!! (More, more, I need more...muhhahahahahahaah!)
You may be looking at some reliability reviews on the new Gen 2 Volts because those are surely out there, but the thing is they got that information from small minor details like something with the infotainment system needing something fixed and a bunch of those will tally up to show as a problem when in all honesty everything else got very high marks!
Volts are incredible cars, I just wish mine gave me more ev miles!! (More, more, I need more...muhhahahahahahaah!)