In January, Mark Lee, a Lansing, MI native, packed a suitcase and boarded a plane to New York to take delivery of his white 2011 Chevrolet Volt. While Lee’s trek was lengthy, it pales in comparison to Moisés Paiewonsky’s cross-country, Volt-buying journey.
Paiewonsky, a 29-year-old Tucson, AZ resident, attempted to fly to New York to pick up his Volt, but the trip turned into a fiasco. A massive snowstrom pounded the East Coast, forcing the plane to divert to Pittsburgh. From there, Paiewonsky drove a rental car to New York, while his Volt was delayed in Boston.
Eventually, Paiewonsky arrived in New York, plunked down $50,000 for a marked-up silver Volt and began his 2,000-mile trek back to Tucson. During the majority of the trip, Paiewonsky claims that the Volt averaged 50 miles per gallon, but noted that aggressive driving or use of the vehicle’s HVAC system dropped the mileage down to nearly 40 mpg.
The trek home convinced Paiewonsky that the Volt’s extended-range setup makes it long haul-capable. He researched the Nissan Leaf before buying the Volt, but admits that he was worried about being stranded, stating “The Leaf has better range [than the Volt] as an electric, but then once that’s gone, you’re dead in the water.” When you travel as far as he does, that’s not a situation you want to experience.
[Source: Arizona Daily Star]
