You remember when I got the chance to test out the Chevy Volt from GM Northeast  don’t you?  Well, I can’t get over how great it is that GM Northeast was able to give me the chance in that car.  And now, I can’t get over how generous GM is being with their GM Grant One Wish Program!

I am so lucky (and so are you) because GM is giving Ask Away the chance to hold a fantastic giveaway where one of YOU will get to have one wish granted by GM.   This can be anything like charity involvement, holiday travel help, or even an amazing gift for someone special to you. 

Just think of how some people may have to spend their holidays this year, without a shelter, without food, without heat.  Or how there are some animals in shelters that won’t get to have a warm home and a great owner to snuggle up to this year.  We are all very lucky to have so much in our life and it’s important to give back.    So when you make a wish this year, it doesn’t necessarily have to be something for yourself, but rather something that will benefit others and give you satisfaction if it comes true.  Personally, something I would like is for every animal in PA shelters to have a foster home rather than a cage in a shelter.  However, maybe your wish is to find a reliable way to travel to see your relative that you haven’t seen in 5 years.   That’s a great wish!!    

You will just have to submit your holiday wish via Twitter or photo/video and then myself along with the GM Northeast team will select one of you lucky readers to receive a $500 GIFT CARD and a week-long GM car loan to help make your wish come true.  How amazing is that!! TIS THE SEASON!!

***PLEASE NOTE*** This opportunity is limited to Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington D.C. residents ONLY.

In order to enter:

Submit your holiday wish via Twitter using #GMNER and #ASKAWAY as the hashtags. 

Here is an example tweet:

 My holiday wish is for everyone at my local women’s shelter to have a hot meal this Christmas Day. #GMNER #ASKAWAY

You can upload a picture or video and tweet it as long as it has those hashtags so we can see it, or else how else can we know you want to win!?  

On DECEMBER 14^th I will feature an announcement post about who has been selected for the Grant One Wish program!  GM will also post about it and will contact my winning reader to set up the loan and a gift card. 

This program is being executed in partnership with GM Northeast and one lucky recipient will be selected from each participating blog’s readership.   Recipient MUST live in the Northeast (New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C.) and must NOT be a relative of myself, GM Northeast, or any GM employee.

#DateMyChevy Picnics and Errands

During the week I had the Chevy Volt I made sure to do as many fun things as my schedule allowed.  One of those was to take the dogs to the dog park using the Volt. 

I must say it fit their car seats quite well and I easily fit the food bag and chairs I brought and some other items with no problem. It wasn’t too difficult to load the dogs up except I had to be careful when loading them because I nearly knocked myself out when I’d lean into the back to place each dog in a car seat.  I’m sure I could get used to the height though.  It was a nice smooth ride and the dogs didn’t seem upset at all. 

Once we were at the park it was very easy to unload them

The Chevy Volt would be good for pet owners because it has plenty of space for your dog in the back and it’s a nice smooth ride for them! 

During the week I had the Volt I also used it to run grocery errands and it definitely had plenty of space in the trunk to hold everything.  With the trunk opening so wide, it was very easy to load and unload everything and nothing spilled on the way home, event around sharp turns. 

The Chevy Volt is great for people who enjoy shopping and run a lot of errands because there’s plenty of room to hold your bags without everything spilling.  The trunk goes up high enough that it’s very easy to load and unload groceries.

We also went to a picnic and used the Volt to get there.  We loaded up the trunk and had all our supplies fit just fine.  The navigation system was a huge help and the pedestrian horn came in handy when we needed people to move out of the way on the entry road.  I think this car is sometimes too quiet for people to here! 

The Volt gave us a smooth ride even on the dirt road to get to our destination.  When leaving in the evening, the back up camera and light came in handy and we didn’t have to worry about hitting a car or a person!

The Chevy Volt is also great for people that love the outdoors because the Navigation system works great to find your way to a park of your choice and the trunk fits a decent amount of supplies.

That concludes my time with the Chevy Volt!

#DateMyChevy Chevy Volt First Drive/Work Comm/Meeting the Parents

My first drive with the Chevy Volt was very smooth.  The Volt was super quiet when I started it up.  In fact I wasn’t even sure if it was on.  I didn’t even know a car could be so quiet!!  I loved backing out of my driveway with the reverse camera and being able to see everything behind me.  I also liked the fact that you can't enter addresses into the Navigation system while the car is moving.  That's a great safety feature to prevent us from getting distracted.  The navigation system was quick and easy to use and I liked the maps and how they changed from dark to light depending on the time of day it was.  The XM radio was also great.  It made my rides and my commutes so much more enjoyable.  And the signal of course came in great.  There's also a handsfree phone capability which is another great safety feature.

Like any new date, it was time to meet the parents.  I took the Volt to meet my mom and dad right away.  It did great in their neighborhood.  There are always kids playing and at one point I had to slam on the breaks when a tennis ball rolled out into the street.  The Volt stopped right away.  How convenient and safe!

My parents were ecstatic to get a ride in the volt.  It fit the four of us quite well.  My dad had to sit in the front though because he’s tall and likes his leg room.  It handled very well when we test drove it on the back roads near their neighborhood.  I like that I didn’t feel myself or anyone else sliding when we went around sharp turns.

The Volt would make a great car for a small family because it's a smooth ride and everyone can fit in it comfortably.  It does great going around sharp turns.

My Commute to work with the Volt was very smooth.  I have a 45 minute to an hour drive to work and home during the week.  Lucky for me (and the Volt), I get to go on the highway and through the city.  once I finally got the charger for the Volt, I charged it overnight and it was super easy to do.  Plug in to an outlet, plug into the charging port, which is in the front left of the car on the outside, and then push the charger in.  When it was time to leave for work in the morning, I simply unplugged it and was on my way!  I can go to work and back without using any gas! How cool is that!

In the city, the Volt did very well.  It was good with the breaks ( I had to get used to them though) and it was easy for me to watch the road ahead, see people changing lanes next to and behind me, and watch for pedestrians crossing the road.  I park in a parking garage for work and it has some slim parking spots.  The Volt fit right into a parking spot and the backup camera was great for seeing if anyone was behind me when I had to back out at the end of the day to go home. 

 The Volt is a good car for someone with a city commute because of it's fuel efficiency and it's good braking capabilities, especially with traffic jams and pedestrians everywhere.  If you park in a lot or garage, the Volt fits in fine and you won't have to strain your neck to look around when you back out of your spot (or back in).

On the highway, the Volt ran very smoothly.  I didn’t feel half of the bumps I normally do, and the ride was surprisingly quiet.  Highway driving can cause a lot of noise while you’re in the car, but I really could barely even notice anything!! It’s a pretty luxurious ride inside if I do say so myself! The Volt flowed with traffic just fine and XM radio really helped make my commute home more enjoyable after a long day at work.  It was easy to program the channels so that my favorites were just a button touch away. 

The Volt is a good car for someone with a highway commute because it's a quiet and smooth ride and the climate control is really easy to use when you need to cool down when sitting in traffic or stay warm in the morning.  XM radio is a huge plus for anyone with a long commute!

Stay tuned next Tuesday when I post about how the Volt did with errands and with a backseat full of pooches! 

Meet The Chevy Volt #DateMyChevy

So it finally came.... my date with the Chevy Volt! We got off to an awkward start however.  Originally, in the email from someone at GM Northeast, they gave me some date options and one of them was September 8th-19th.  So since I picked that date set, and I had tons of things planned to do with the Volt, beginning on the 8th.  When I finally heard from someone that handles the vehicle dispatch, they informed me that the car would be ready for me on the 10th.  I was quite stunned and I asked him to double check the date, and it certainly was the 10th.  So that being said, I was pretty bummed for a couple days and extremely stressed because I had JUST finalized all my plans for the 10 day period I thought I would have the car.  Thank goodness I didn't schedule an actual vacation with reservations on the 8th or else I would have gone crazy having to redo plans.  Unfortunately, a lot of the things I had planned for the first weekend, couldn't be rescheduled for the second weekend because I already had committed to certain plans that were paid for.  I hope you still find my reviews interesting.  When all was said and done, I was happy to have the Volt, I just wish I had it planned out more smoothly. 

After rushing home in a tizzy on Monday, I  was delighted when the Volt was dropped off and proudly sat in my driveway. Unfortunately the charging cord was left at the previous driver’s house. Bummer, but the gentleman who dropped off the car, John, was super nice and friendly.  He showed me the basics of the car.  The fact that I just had to push a button to start up was hard for me to grasp because I am so used to starting my own car with a key in the ignition.  It was really cool and easy!  A few days later, on Wednesday evening, someone from dispatch dropped off a charger so I could charge the Volt and see how it did on my commute to work the next day. 

  

The Chevy Volt was so shiny and has a nice sporty look from the front.  The back is so unique.  I love the structure of the tail lights.  It looks like such a fancy high end car! So let me you introduce you to my date, the Chevy Volt.

The Chevy Volt could be considered a nerd if it were a human, and there’s nothing wrong with that especially when it comes to convenience, safety, and being environmentally friendly.  The Volt is very much all of those things. 

Here are some basic features of the Chevy Volt:

*An Eco friendly and money saving power system

*A lithium-ion battery

This battery is rechargeable and uses a  Voltec  electric drive system with 1.4 L gasoline powered range extender.  So basically, you can charge your Volt and drive it or you can use gas.  And once the battery is used up while you are driving, it will switch over to the gas, so no need to worry about it just shutting down or dying on you!

*Great Safety Features

The Volt has:

-an Antilock brake system

-eight air bags. 

-electronic stability control system called StabilliTrak

-LED daytime running lamps which are great for helping others notice your car so as to prevent accidents.
-rear camera with parking assistance which is super easy to use

*A luxurious interior

-Automatic climate control so you can make sure you are always comfortable on your drives.

-Keyless access and keyless push-button start. This is so convenient not only for the luxury of it but because it’s a great safety feature if you want to be able to quickly get in your car and go, rather than fumble around in the parking lot trying to fit your key in the door. 
-7 inch diagonal reconfigurable LCD screen with Driver Information Center.

-Chevrolet MyLink which provides a lot of entertainment and information, as well as  a convenient GPS guide.
-Bluetooth wireless technology capabilities for certain phones. This is a great safety feature.
-Sirius XM comes for 3 trial months when you get a Volt.  Let me tell you, Satellite radio SURE BEATS THE HECK out of the standard radio which I never even listen to.
-OnStar technology which is another great safety feature. You never know what can happen to you.

And as for some more technical details about the Volt:

*Battery Power

It’s long lasting battery has a 435 pound lithium ion battery pack and supplies energy to a 149 hp electric drive system.

*Gasoline Power

It has a 1.4 L Gasoline powered engine that extends its battery power range up to an additional 344 miles on a full tank.  It operates the vehicle’s electric drive system until the car can be refueled or recharged.

*Fuel Economy

It has a fuel economy of 94 MPGe EV, 37 MPG  Gas , and  60 MG combined.  That’s pretty good compared to anything else out there. 

As for gas type, it takes Premium Unleaded. 

Its Horsepower is 111 kw/ 149 hp and torque 368 lb-ft/ 273 Nm

Some extra cool features:

Bose Energy Efficient Series sound system with 7 speakers and a subwoofer!

I love the dashboard.  All the buttons are touch and the screen is touch also.  You can view the navigation system on a split screen with the Radio, or just by itself.  You can also hit the Info button to get the weather for your area.  The rear view mirror was awesome because it's tinted when cars are shining their overly bright lights at you, something which usually gives me a headache! 

Check back later this week, when I post about how the Volt did on our first drive, as a family car, and with my work commute!