Chevy Volt? It's Complicated.

Real person charges her Volt.

It's one thing to drive the Chevy Volt around a parking lot on the West Side Piers of New York City.  It's another thing to own the car for a weekend.  First, let me say that  General Motors has spent a wad on developing electric technology for the car, although someone told me last weekend that his great-grandmother drove around in an electric car.  But that was then.  GM developed the EV1 and we all know what happened there--they crushed almost all of them after spending a billion dollars on a car that had a range of 60 miles and only a handful of customers.  Oops honey I have an MBA and forgot to add a gas engine for range.  That said, Reuters just published a story estimating how much money GM loses on every Volt.  GM came back with the statement--accurately--"Reuters’ estimate of the current loss per unit for each Volt sold is grossly wrong, in part because the reporters allocated product development costs across the number of Volts sold instead of allocating across the lifetime volume of the program, which is how business operates. The Reuters’ numbers become more wrong with each Volt sold."  GM notes that the investment in all the Volt technologies are applicable across many platforms--meaning we'll see those technologies in other GM cars.

Door for electric charger.  Door for putting gas in the car is on the passenger side.

Door open and charger plugged into the Volt.

Ordinary household outlet taking the Volt charger.  Photo is sideways because blogger is inept.

The current situation is that GM has an electric car that comes with a gas tank, the Chevy Volt.  They call it an extended range electric vehicle differentiating from a hybrid which is defined as a vehicle that is propelled by two powertrains or propulsion systems, battery electric and gasoline.  The Volt is a battery-operated, plug-in hybrid.  Here's how it works:  fully charged battery propels the car on battery only for 40 miles--in my case 37.  A 9.3 gallon gas tank holds premium fuel.  When the battery runs down completely after 40 or so miles, the gas fuels a generator that sends a charge to the electric motor as needed and stores remaining electric in  the battery.  The car continues to be propelled by electricity.  When you brake, energy is captured and used to recharge the battery.  That is called regenerative braking.  When you get home or to where you are going, you plug one end of the battery charger into a outlet of there is one available.  Then you open the door for the electrical charger, plug that into the car.   A green light goes on on the dashboard indicating that the car is charging.  A screen on the instrument panel tells you how long it will take to charge the battery fully--in my case using 120v it would take 13 hours, less if I had 240v.  What is downplayed by GM in the promotion of the Chevy Volt is that the gasoline engine does in fact help to power the car at high speeds.

Great looking car proving that new environmentally conscious cars don't have to look weird.

If you are supportive of the need to develop new technology to power automobiles, you'd be wowed by this vehicle. It is a trip to be in a plug-in hybrid and to know that you can travel, as I did, 435.4 miles on 6.3 gallons of gasoline, averaging 68.5 mpg.  And it is very sophisticated technology.  Those GM engineers know what they're doing.

Even though intellectually I knew the range of the car was in the 600 mile area, I saw those bars depleting on the battery on a dark, not-well-traveled road at night and I thought--hmmm, has AAA ever seen a Volt before?  Yes, GirlDriver had a brush with range anxiety, which is good because consumers who think about buying these new technologies have it lurking in their subconscious.  And to that point, most consumers are not buying either the Volt or the Nissan Leaf.    GM has sold about 16,000 Volts since its debut last year.  GM just idled the plant because it has too much inventory.  The major difference between the Leaf and the Volt is that the Leaf is all electric--there ain't no backup folks.  Range anxiety city.

I found driving the Volt a genuine pleasure.  I love its get up and go and had it running at 80 with no hiccups at all.  It's a real car.  It has a full complement of safety equipment and is gets five stars from government testing.  It does not have blind spot detection or some of the newer safety measures like pedestrian detection.  I didn't like the placement of the cup holders--high and too far back because of the battery storage in the center panel.  I had a hard time putting my drink in the holders and had to look down.  I really didn't like the very limited range of the AM and FM radio.

Other than that I thought the car was great.  There's one other problem and this is the biggest problem facing GM.  This 4-seater compact sedan cost $46,000.  There were $5,670 worth of options on my car with a base price of $40,000.  With compact sedans on the market that get 40 mpg and don't take premium fuel and additional expense for electric, it will be the rare consumer who buys this car--even with generous givebacks from the government. In addition, fuel economy on cars with only an internal combustion engine keeps improving year.  The monroney (sales sheet) says the consumer saves $7,600 in fuel costs over the average new vehicle.  I don't know what that means or what new vehicle they calculated against but, again, it does not include the cost of kilowatt hours you use to charge the battery.  In New York State the average rate currently is 6.668 cents per kilowatt hour.

Competing in a tough class, Mazda's CX-5 is up to it.

Exterior styling for people who don't want a compact SUV

 Doesn't Mazda's trademarked word SKYACTIV sound like something that connects you wirelessly to the universe?  It does to me.  When I hear the word or see it in print I immediately see myself sending and receiving messages from outer space.  But that's me:  I'm the playwright who wrote a musical about Microbes from Mars who hurtle to earth to steal Hollywood DNA and bring it back to Mars.
In reality SKYACTIV has nothing to do with interconnectivity or Mars.  It's funny that Jim O'Sullivan, president and CEO of Mazda North America, in a talk he gave, goes to lengths to tell us what SKYACTIV isn't.  Mazda needs to be clear about what it is because it has to do with Mazda's greatly improved ability to deliver Zoom-Zoom, which Mazda now calls sustainable Zoom-Zoom.   If you have experienced Zoom-Zoom, you know what I'm talking about.  If you haven't, you must, especially now that it's sustainable.
What is it? SKYACTIV is Mazda's let's-tweak-everything-and-make-it-more-zoom-zoom technology that combines engine, transmission, exhaust, body, steering and suspension.   In semi-layman's terms (semi because engineers are involved).  SKYACTIV combines a more fuel effiicient and lighter engine, with a new transmission and a cleaner exhaust system.  The SKYACTIV body is comprised of lighter stronger steel. They shaved 4.4 pounds off the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine making it 10 percent lighter than the previous one.  They added multi-hole direct fuel injectors, along with specially developed piston cavity shapes that ensure a shorter combustion time and suppress the impact on power and torque from engine knocking. Pumping loss also is decreased by employing dual sequential valve timing (S-VT).  (I told you it was "sort of" layman's terms.)  The net is that the engine has more torque, with a faster response time and a sportier ride, uses less fuel and lowers emissions without sacrificing performance.

A subtle, comfortable interior.

Steering and braking controls are very responsive and keep the driver engaged.  This is the new engineering that will be used in all new Mazda vehicles from here on out. 

The CX-5 competes with the best selling Honda CR-V which I drove last weekend and the Toyota RAV-4 which I drove in May.  Both of these vehicles delivered top performance in every way so the competition is stiff for a company that doesn't have the distribution network or the corporate heft of Toyota or Honda.

The CX-5 is powered by the SKYACTIV 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, which is rated at 155 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of torque and can be combined with either a six-speed automatic or an available six-speed manual transmission on the front-drive CX-5.  There's all-wheel-drive CX-5 Grand Touring  also available.

Optional navi is easy to read.

EPA fuel economy for the CX-5 is 26 city/35 highway mpg for the front-wheel-drive model with the six-speed manual. The front-drive automatic  is estimated at 26 city/32 highway mpg, and an all-wheel-drive CX-5 (available only with a six-speed automatic) should get  earn 25 city/31 highway mpg.  Mazda says there's a diesel coming.  Base prices runs $21,790 - $29,390.

Being inside the CX-5 feels roomy and comfortable.  There's plenty of storage space.  if rear seat room is of concern to you as an owner, know that rear leg room is a little tight .  There's a standard USB port and optional Bluetooth and navigation, but Mazda hasn't gone overboard to enable drivers to connect--thank you Mazda for that.  As a class these vehicles can be noisy compared to other types of vehicles but I did not notice this as particularly annoying. 
Mazdas all have handsome interiors with a focus on simplicity--the designers, shall we say, have constraint, which, if we are holding onto our vehicles for longer periods of time, is a good thing.  We're not going to get tired of the interior because it doesn't overwhelm.  What is notable about this car in a compact SUV category is that is is fun to drive.  You're not going to ever get tired of that--go Zoom-Zoom.

Auto Loaner is also a Kind of Bank of the Future

I had lunch with my friend Gina Proia last week.  She is the Chief Communications Officer for Ally bank and has been with them throughout the mortgage foreclosures, etc.  I knew Ally Bank as GMAC and have watched its transition into Ally but have thought of them mostly as a lender for automotive.  They do finance many of the car loans through dealerships and in partnership with some of the auto companies and that is mostly how we define them.

Now we all hate the banks.  That's a given.  And don't think they don't know that.  But I was actually impressed by the retail products and services they have.  Ally Bank offers some compelling arguments for changing banks, granted a difficult thing to do when you have done business with a bank for as long as I have been with mine--over 20 years.

What's most interesting  is that the bank does not have any retail presence at all--i.e., it is not occupying every corner of New York City with a bank and thank you for that.  One day we'll walk past interesting shops again maybe?

Not having retail makes it hard for them to get the word out that they have a retail business but the no bricks and mortar benefit is obvious--they aren't paying rent in all those places, which has to be a huge bite out of Citibank, Chase, HBSC and other bank's bottom lines.  That they don't have to pay for all that retail space has to be one of the reasons that Ally Bank can provide its customers with real benefits.  That's really smart.

Ally Bank will let you get cash out of any other banks's ATM for free (they reimburse you for any fees you incur) and they have an App that you can download to your phone that tells you where the nearest ATM is. 

They offer interest bearing checking accounts with no minimum deposit, money market accounts, online savings accounts with competitive rates and high interest CDs with flexible term options, no penalty CDs in 11 month terms and raise your rate CDs in two-year and four-year terms.  They also offer IRA products.

All of their products offer no minimum deposit, no monthly maintenance fees, and daily compounded interest.  Chase Bank just helped themselves to maintenance fees on my account because I didn't have a balance of $7,000 in my no interest checking account. Are they just kidding around about the seven grand?  Apparently not.

Ally Bank is one of several banks have a feature that allows you to scan a check and get remote deposit.  They currently offer that via scanning and sending on a computer.  The ability to do it on your phone is coming later this year with phase two of their mobile application.  Very cool if, like me, you still get checks in the mail.  Ally eCheck Deposit supplements other deposit methods to Ally Bank accounts including transferring money
online from another financial institution, direct deposit, wire transfer and U.S. mail., for which Ally Bank provides postage paid envelopes.

I payed $40 for my last box of checks at Chase.  At Ally they would be free.  Free security software.  You can send money to people--say someone in your family needs money--electronically and for free.

"We have some tools on our site for consumers like a payment calculator that might be helpful for folks," says Proia.   http://www.ally.com/auto/

"Also, we have a free financial literacy program called Ally Wallet Wise that covers many topics including auto financing."  http://www.allywalletwise.com/

 Is this virtualness the future of banking I asked Gina?  Say in 20 years there won't be any bricks and mortar banks?  She thinks we're moving in that direction.  I know she'd say that because she's in PR but it seems totally logical to me that banking will be virtual.  Should you have problems with your Ally banking you can reach a live person by phone or via online chat 24/7. You don't even have to go through 15 multiple choice menus that  raise your blood pressure to get to a live person.  Just type in the name you want to be referred by and check the subject matter and you are connected to a real person.  Customers can even preview current call-in wait times, if  applicable, at www.AllyBank.com or by using Ally Mobile Banking.

Every company says they are focused on customer satisfaction but few actually are.  Now I'm not an Ally customer (yet) so I don't know if all these services and products work perfectly but you can see, they do have a customer focus. 

Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good Program

This is a great outreach program that gives not-for-profit organizations a vehicle.  Toyota asks the public who should receive new Toyota vehicles.  A hundred organizations are chosen.  The final votes have been cast for this year and the results are in.  Willing organizations begin receiving vehicles in September 2012.  Toyota has awared more than $7 million in vehicles and cash grants over the last two years. 

Tuesday, August 21 marked the last day of voting in Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program, a national philanthropic program that awards 100 cars to 100 U.S. nonprofits over the course of 100 consecutive days. Winners were selected each day through public voting on Facebook at www.100carsforgood.com.

Each day five nonprofit organizations were profiled on the 100 Cars for Good Facebook page where the public could vote for their favorite organization. The organization with the most votes at the end of the day won a new Toyota vehicle while the four runners-up each day received a $1,000 cash grant from Toyota. In total, 100 new Toyota vehicles and $400,000 in cash grants are being awarded to non-profit organizations across the country.

 

“It is rewarding and inspiring to see the response Toyota’s 100 Cars for Good program has received from the public,” said Jim Lentz, president and chief executive officer of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “Over the course of two years, this program has awarded more than $7 million in vehicles and cash grants to local nonprofit organizations across the country, as well as helping to raise awareness  to hundreds more.  We are very pleased to have the opportunity to help these worthwhile organizations broaden their impact in communities all across the nation, and we thank the public for their support in determining the winners.”

 

Winning organizations offer services in a variety of areas, including: education, safety, animal welfare food banks, and human services for children and adults.  Cool, huh?

Suzuki Kizashi with All-Wheel Drive

Great looking car.

I wish Suzuki had sold more than 11,000 cars this year because they have good car.  The use of the singular in the previous sentence isn't a grammatical error, but it is a slight exaggeration.  Suzuki sells two cars in the U.S., the Kizashi and the Aerio SX4.  Oh, yes, and to date in 2012, they have sold 1 Forenza/Reno.  They sell crossovers too, the Grand Vitara and the Equator.  Compare that to their Japanese counterparts.  Toyota has sold 625,000 cars, Nissan, 389,000, Mazda 110,000.  You get the drift.

 This is a shame.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Suzuki makes good cars.  I drove the Kizashi  2012 Sport GTS with AWD.  It has a 2.4-liter inline 4-cylinder engine that delivers 180 horsepower and 170 lb.-ft. of torque.  That translates into plenty of power for this sedan and it is available with a six-speed manual transmission.  It also comes with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).  Mine came with dual zone climate control and cloth seats which I vastly prefer over leather especially when wearing shorts in hot weather.  (How long does it take you to peel your legs off leather seats in the summer?  It takes me around 4 painful minutes.)

The interior is very well designed, plenty of leg room, easy to manage controls, and cool touches that aren't so terminally hip you feel diminished if you're not in the latest fashion.

Roomy, sleek interior.

 

Very cool IP.

Fuel economy is competitive at 22 city/29 highway/25 combined.  The GS has some very nice features included in the base price:  sunroof, tilt and telescope steering wheel, power driver's seat, 18-inch wheels, a 425-watt Rockford Fosgate audio system with 10 speakers, iPod and MP3 USB port, front fog lights, sport aero body kit, sport wheels, sport tuned suspension and sport design steering wheel.

In the highly competitive sedan category, the Suzuki Kizashi lines up against the best selling Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.  It competes with the best of them.  If there is a Suzuki dealer in your area, you can bet that they are hungry for business and will very happy to see you walk through the door.  Go for a test drive.  See what they're offering.  The MSRP on my test vehicle was around $26,000.

Ford's C-MAX Rates 47 MPG Fuel Economy City and Highway

This is kind of cool.  Ford Motor Company once again raises the hybrid fuel-economy bar with the all-new Ford C-MAX Hybrid, which is now officially EPA-certified at 47 mpg city, 47 mpg highway and 47 mpg combined – beating Toyota Prius v by up to 7 mpg.

Below are a few highlights and attached is a release with further information. Please let me know if you have

any questions or if you would like to speak with someone at Ford. Thanks.

·         All-new 2013 Ford C-MAX Hybrid delivers EPA-certified 47 mpg city, 47 mpg highway ratings – 7 mpg better than Toyota Prius v on the highway – for a 47 mpg combined rating

·         Ford’s first hybrid to achieve equal city and highway ratings, the versatile C-MAX Hybrid also is expected to offer 15 class-exclusive features such as the available hands-free liftgate

·         C-MAX Hybrid launches this fall as part of Ford’s power of choice strategy to deliver leading fuel economy across its lineup while tripling electrified vehicle production capacity by 2013

GM Reuses Shipping Crates and Collaborates with Other Organizations to Make an Urban Garden

General Motors is unveiling Cadillac Urban Gardens on Merritt, a community project where 250 shipping crates from Orion Assembly – home of the Buick Verano and Chevrolet Sonic – are converted into raised garden beds.
The once-abandoned southwest Detroit parking lot will now benefit nearby residents, providing them nutritious and locally grown food.
“Instead of recycling this material, we found a direct reuse, which saves energy and resources,” said John Bradburn, GM’s manager of waste reduction efforts. “We seek opportunities for projects in our backyard that reduce environmental impact and strengthen communities.”
This project is a result of collaboration with eight-time GM Supplier of the Year Ideal Group, and composting company Detroit Dirt. The soil, supplied by Detroit Dirt, is sourced from local partners, including Detroit Zoo animal manure, Astro Café coffee grounds, and composted food scraps from the Marriott Hotel in GM’s world headquarters and GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, home of the Chevy Volt.
Several organizations helped make the project a reality. Detroit Dirt provided urban planning expertise, and Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision created the urban environmental plan; Rush Trucking delivered the GM-donated crates for volunteers from Ideal Group, Congress of Communities, Better Day Ministries and Southwest Detroit residents to begin planting.
“Our mission is to create a space that promotes the health and security of our community,” said Frank Venegas, Ideal Group chairman. “Cadillac Urban Gardens is producing vegetables, community health and growth.  This vision came true with fast action on the part of our collaborative partners.  In four short months, we are well on our way to linking sustainability with producing community growth.”

Invitations for Southwest Detroit families and residents to participate in the urban gardening project are facilitated through community partners like Detroit Cristo Rey High School, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Southwest Detroit Business Association and Community Health and Social Services Center. The lot borders a residential neighborhood and Ideal Group.