Chevrolet Volt
Ranked 2 of 5 hybrid cars by recommenders
Owners praise its long electric range, low running costs and few reliability problems, and call it a practical, enjoyable car. Critics say the battery and complicated design are the main drawbacks.
Owners praise its long electric range, low running costs and few reliability problems, and call it a practical, enjoyable car. Critics say the battery and complicated design are the main drawbacks.
44 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 29
- criticize it
- 15
- approval share
- 66%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 6 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 29 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Mostly electric daily driving
“Perfect car. I can consistently squeeze about 60 miles electric city driving, and 400+ on a trip.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Iran war energy crisis is a renewable energy wake-up call” “They sure do if 80% of your driving is done purely on battery”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain” “I could do about 80% of my driving on all electric”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Ford kills the All-Electric F-150” Low maintenance and few reliability issues
“The rotors are basically good as new, and the pads are at about 40-50%.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Europe EV sales rose 70.3% in September, 32.6% of market share” “I've never heard of any fuel-related engine problems on Volts.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Carmakers Have a New Idea to Boost EV Range: Add a Gas Engine” “I haven't done a single thing to it but change the oil.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Tesla Roadster” - Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “German carmakers flood jobs market with managers after wielding axe”
Practical, versatile everyday car
“Chevy Volt, outside of being Chevy, was still one of the best cars ever made for utilitarian purpose.”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Grok 4.7” “The Volt was a very practical vehicle, drove great and cost so little to fuel up.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “A New Kind of Hybrid Car Is About to Hit America's Streets” “for most of my tasks it's actually more convenient than the truck”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales” Owners are devoted to it
“I've yet to meet a Volt owner who wasn't fanatically obsessed with theirs (myself included)”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain” “It was indeed a delightful car!”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain” “they were well liked by owners”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “A New Kind of Hybrid Car Is About to Hit America's Streets”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Battery problems and costly repairs
“the only way to fix the battery is to find a third-party repair shop to work on it”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Toyota is taking the Corolla electric” “GM had to replace batteries in 142,000 Chevy Bolts & Volts due to fire risk”
Comment from 30 Dec 2025 in “Tesla's 4680 battery supply chain collapses as partner writes down deal by 99%” “Speaking as someone with a chevy volt that has a screwed up battery”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “When electric cars were for women” Complicated design with trade-offs
“It was way too complicated and expensive the two times they tried it”
Comment from 28 Sep 2026 in “Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain” “They just ended up making the same car but worse and twice as expensive.”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “Citroën metropolis concept car (2010)” “a worst of both worlds situation with too many unfortunate trade offs”
Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Ford kills the All-Electric F-150” Less efficient than rivals
“they kneecapped fuel efficiency by eating transformer losses twice instead of licensing Toyota patents”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “The US added a record 20.2 GWh of battery storage in just 3 months” “the Chevy Volt isn't as efficient as the Toyota Prius Prime”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “Carmakers Have a New Idea to Boost EV Range: Add a Gas Engine” Charging needs and electricity costs
“there are times, especially in the winter, when I really need to charge at my destination”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “A lithium-ion breakthrough that could boost range and lower costs” “for basically the last 100k miles I've owned it, electricity was more expensive”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing”
Other hybrid cars people recommend
The four most recommended other hybrid cars, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Prius | 68 | 19 | 78% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Chevrolet VoltThis page | 29 | 15 | 66% | 10 | 6 yrs5 owners | — |
| Toyota Prius Prime | 7 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| Honda Civic Hybrid | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
| Nissan e-POWER | 5 | 9 | 36% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 50 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Speaking as someone with a chevy volt that has a screwed up battery”
“they kneecapped fuel efficiency by eating transformer losses twice instead of licensing Toyota patents”
“The rotors are basically good as new, and the pads are at about 40-50%.”
“I am going to drive my Chevy Volt into the ground.”
“I haven't done a single thing to it but change the oil.”
“it has to be towed to Chevy to pay $200 for them to turn of a software alert and allow it to charge”
“They sure do if 80% of your driving is done purely on battery”
“There were several pretty good range extended EVs”
“The Volt was promised to use the gas engine only for range extending”
“It was indeed a delightful car!”
“I've yet to meet a Volt owner who wasn't fanatically obsessed with theirs (myself included)”
“It was an incredibly good system in that car”
“It was way too complicated and expensive the two times they tried it”
“the only way to fix the battery is to find a third-party repair shop to work on it”
“out of the 3 known common issues for Gen 2 only one has anything to do with the gasoline engine”
“Chevy Volt, outside of being Chevy, was still one of the best cars ever made for utilitarian purpose.”
“the Chevy Volt isn't as efficient as the Toyota Prius Prime”
“The Volt wasn't fuel efficient so EREVs can't be”
“I've never heard of any fuel-related engine problems on Volts.”
“Never had any reliability issues”
“They just ended up making the same car but worse and twice as expensive.”
“Compare Chevrolet volt concept car with actual Chevrolet volt car.”
“vehicles that (primarily or fully) operated as series hybrids like the Chevy Volt”
“I really liked the Volt. Probably would have bought one, but by the time we were in the market for a new car”
“they were well liked by owners”
“The Volt was a very practical vehicle, drove great and cost so little to fuel up.”
“while providing free heat in the winter from the gas engine heat”
“for basically the last 100k miles I've owned it, electricity was more expensive”
“Perfect car. I can consistently squeeze about 60 miles electric city driving, and 400+ on a trip.”
“there are times, especially in the winter, when I really need to charge at my destination”
“for most of my tasks it's actually more convenient than the truck”
“they seem a weak compromise that I wouldn't recommend to people”
“GM had to replace batteries in 142,000 Chevy Bolts & Volts due to fire risk”
“AND THEY WERE STILL GREAT CARS.”
“a worst of both worlds situation with too many unfortunate trade offs”
“Like the Chevy Volt version of the F-150.”
“was as a practical matter still a parallel hybrid”
“the chevy volt had a better hybrid design (not a serial hybrid) and you could drive it on gasoline only”
“I could do about 80% of my driving on all electric”
“My Volt had a component fail that was responsible for switching the cabin heater between the battery and the motor”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.