You have your analogy precisely backwards. I was expecting New York strip - an inefficient, basic serial hybrid like the i3 REx - and received Filet Mignon - a powertrain that can be either serial or parallel depending on the more efficient path. The architecture also let them eek out some extra highway miles by…

BMW hired Frank Weber, the original Volt Lead Engineer, in April 2010. I'm confused by your statement. If I told you Mr. Weber is German and originally from Opel, does that make the Volt (and the i8, by association) more impressive? Good engineering is good engineering IMHO, no matter where it comes from, and there…

In summary, you're upset that they did the smarter thing. Serial operation is just not as efficient as parallel, which is why they developed it the way they did. They made the right choice and they did it YEARS before the car debuted. It's an integral part of the design. It's a shame you're so butthurt about…

It would get worse MPG. Eventually someone at GM would have let slip that they could save 10-15% in fuel usage at highway speeds by clutching the engine in (it's all part of the GM implementation of the Power Split Device) and the blogs would have lit up with "GM IS STUPID - WASTES GAS TO BE A 'PURE' EXTENDED RANGE…

Really? The Prius plug-in can barely go highway speeds (62mph IIRC) for a few short miles. It can't even complete the EPA cycle w/o requiring an engine start due to acceleration. It can go 12ish miles if you crawl around. The Volt delivers full range electric performance for the duration of its battery charge,…

Thanks for that. 250,000/yr! With 120 dealerships, each manned with FIVE employees! Awesome.

I went to their website and a few things stood out:

What imaginary number of sales would allow them to build and sell this vehicle for $6800 when a Suzuki Burgman 650 SCOOTER costs $11,000?

I have no problem believing a conscientious 2nd gen Insight driver can get 58mpg over a long trip and was only responding to your claim of 75@75.

NFW. You may have seen 75 in the instant readout (the bar graph?) courtesy of a false flat, a tailwind, or a period when it was drawing down the battery but 75mpg@75mph over a long distance is a pipe dream.

Sorry, I reaching new heights of lazy there.

The real problem with this particular car is that there's another '07 on ebay right now with 42k miles, a $36,390 ask, and a clean title. I have no problem with rebuilt titles if the price reflects it. This one doesn't.

What in the world is wrong with the alignment? Because it's not in the precise middle of each spec? Maybe there IS frame damage but the alignment numbers indicate nothing.

Maybe the rebuilt title proceeded the most recent crash.

Corvetteforum disagrees with you. The 26E indicates Z06 for an '07. Someone even posted 1G1YY26E.

Total agreement. A friend has an '11 (I think...) in Cyber gray with the tasty carbon fiber bits including brakes and the gunmetal wheels. Striking is exactly right.

Wave away the risk as much as you want. There is a very real reason these cars are so cheap.

They've sold about 50,000 of them so far, averaging about 100k each.

I had a friend with one too. While he did describe it as "stupid fast", he had more than a few other choice words for it. It spent a lot of down time waiting on parts. Starters were a big problem until someone eventually figured what to use that would survive. A turbo seal let go at our local C&C, making the…

Hah. I pulled up to my friend's house in my V70R one day and he asked me how it felt to be a boring suburbanite or something similar. "Dude, you have two SUVs and you're asking ME?"