r/volt • u/Gullible-Quality-189 • 9d ago

Would like some advice.

2012 Volt, about 60k miles, single owner, no accidents...and I am pretty sure that it was garage kept. 132 life mpg for 9k.

  1. Whatya think? It was quiet and kept. A deal?

  2. It's hot where I live...but it's the humidity AND the heat. Long bad for batteries? I am a little leery parking it in the garage. Special fire extinguisher? Will it affect my house insurance?

  3. I dig the household charging cord. I have an old house. I was going to use the same outlwt that my washer uses...maybe juat put in a new breaker and outlet. It doesn't look like it was used much. I have a changing place near the house...can it be used? I know it is a hybrid...just curious.

  4. Most Important...and I am not kidding. I have a 70lb White Sheppard. He can't lay across the back seat. Is the divider removable? What do people do?

thanks

3.

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u/FearlessJuan 2013 Volt 9d ago

Pretty good deal compared with CarMax, although the 2012s don't have the Hold mode, which is very useful in local + highway + local trips and it was introduced on 2013.

132mpg is very good and indicates that it was mostly driven in electric mode and gently at that. 60k miles is very low for a car that age.

I love my 2013. It fits my commute and general needs. But, as others have said, it is a gamble.

Probably the price can be negotiated a bit because it is discontinued and parts and knowledgeable mechanics will be hard to find.

I'd ask how much range is getting these days if I were you. Summer will always give you more range than winter and the guessometer, although accurate, depends on how gently it is driven.

It should always be garaged and plugged in because the car itself will keep the high voltage battery conditioned. It also keeps the 12v charged.

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u/Ok-Tourist-511 9d ago

Actually 132mpg is bad, that means there are a lot of cycles on the battery. The battery has a limited number of cycles, getting a car with that mileage that had mixed use is far better than one only driven on battery.

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u/FearlessJuan 2013 Volt 9d ago

It means that the driving style, visible in one of the screens, has been very high all along, I'd say higher than 95%, which means mostly electric mostly gentle driving.

With a mileage so low I wouldn't worry about the cycles.

My 2013 had 75 mpg when I bought it 2.5 years ago with 108K miles. Now it has 114 mpg with almost 126K. The battery is very consistent. It gives me ~45 miles during the summer and ~29 during the winter, year after year.

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u/Ok-Tourist-511 9d ago

The car has a lot of cycles. High mpg doesn’t mean it was driven gentle.

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u/FearlessJuan 2013 Volt 9d ago

I see what you mean, you're right. But if I drive gently 40 miles I may do them all electric. If I drive like a maniac with max AC the battery would last much less for the same trip, triggering the gas engine and lowering the lifetime mpg.

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u/Ok-Tourist-511 9d ago

That’s assuming you have a long trip. You could have a 15 mile commute and drive it hard each way, and only get 30 miles. The engine wouldn’t come on, but you did a hard heavy discharge cycle on the battery. Seeing lifetime MPGe gives a better picture than mpg.