Last year thanks to Chevy and Klout I was able to test drive a Chevy Sonic for three days and write about my experiences with it here on Fandads.  Somehow I was lucky again, because this time Chevy and Klout gave me the opportunity to test drive a Chevy Volt.  Again, like last time, I was given the car for three days and after the three days, I wish I was able to keep it longer.

I was contacted by the loan service on September 25 and we set up a time that was good for me, since I was going to be at work at the time.  The car was delivered to my job at the pre-set time and I was able to go out and was shown some of the bells and whistles of the Volt before I had to get back to work.  As the rest of the afternoon went on, I couldn’t wait to get out of work and drive the car home.

After work I had to meet my wife downtown for her doctor’s appointment and from there we had to take my little girl to her doctor’s appointment.  I was getting a good feel from the car on these two trips and I really liked how smooth the car drove.  There were times that I did not feel anything from the car and I kept asking myself, “Is the car even on?”

Estimated charge time

Although the car’s battery wasn’t fully charged, according to the onscreen gauge, I still had about 200 miles to drive before I needed to go to a gas station or charge up the car.

Before I get into all that stuff, let me tell you a little about the car.  The car is battery powered, but does have a gas engine.  On a full charge, the car runs an estimated 94 MPG.  The car comes with it’s own charge cable and can be connected to a standard 120 volt wall outlet.  One of the cool features of the car is that it lets you know about how long it will take for the car to fully charge when it’s connected to either an 120V or 240V outlet.

Image of battery levels

The model they gave me was all decked out: rear camera assist, leather interior, audio system with navigation, heated front seats, etc, but being a parent all I cared about was if it had the Latch system.  Due to the car’s battery running through the middle of the car, the car only seated 4 and did include the Latch system.

The interior of the car was pretty roomy and the car made a cool power up sound when you entered the car. The car had a keyless access and ignition and as long as you had the key fob in your pocket you could open the doors and start the engine with a push of a button. 

Sadly, like when I had the Sonic, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the car until after work.  So I only drove the car to and from work.  In the few moments I had in the car, I really enjoyed the smooth drive and the technology inside the car.  It pretty much felt like driving a spaceship and I wish I was able to keep it a bit longer.

Chevy Klout Tweet-up

A few days after giving the car back I was invited to an event thrown by Chevy and Klout to showcase the Volt and to network with other people that have either had the car loaned to them or that worked for Chevy.

The event was great because I got to meet some cool people from Twitter, Klout and Chevy.  There was a video screen that was projecting live tweets from those at the event along with some information about the Chevy Volt.  At the event they were giving away 2 one week loans of the Volt and various give-a-ways: shirts and watches.

Departing gift

It was funny because one of the people I met was interested in trying out the Volt and while we talked to one of the reps from Klout, I joked to the Klout rep to put his name on the loan list.  Later that night when they announced the name of the one week loan giveaway, the guy I was talking to was the winner.  Cool thing, though, was that everyone went home with a Volt, albeit a toy Volt.

All and all, it was a great night at the Chevy Klout Tweet-up and a great experience driving the Chevy Volt.  I had a great conversation with Alex Chaparro (@Chapparrogroup) about video games and kids and I swear that Luis Hernandez (@desigNERDLuis) rigged the video screen, because I kept seeing his tweets on the screen all night long.  These are two guys that you should definitely follow on twitter along with Klout, Chevy and of course us, Fandads.

 Until next time, thanks for reading.