Sounds great! Now let's
Sounds great! Now let's check the math: While I understand you were spending $3500 a year on gas, a fair comparison would be against what a similar new car would cost in terms of gas. Driving 17,000 mile a year at 30 mpg with gas at $3.50 a gallon would make the gas cost $2,000 (I rounded up) a year. Unfortunately, this means your savings due to gas prices are $900 per year. Unfortunately, too is the $20,000 increased cost of the car. Using your numbers, this means the car is costing you $1600 more a year. Like most folks, once they do the real math, gas has to get somewhere north of $8.50 per gallon before the Volt makes sense. It makes people feel good about themselves, but does little for the environment or their pocketbooks.