![]() On the road, is hushed inside until about 40 mph, when wind and tire noise start to filter in. The new Volt is much sleeker and appears lower than the Leaf (and than its predecessor), with a steeply raked windshield, angled accents lines, and a hatch that's almost horizontal, ending in a high tail that's well integrated into its fastback shape. It's an upright car with a drooping and curvaceous nose, swept-back headlights, and high vertical taillights. The design of the Leaf has always been polarizing, with some saying it's distinctive and futuristic while others deem it ugly, sometimes vociferously. Then it switches seamlessly over to run as a hybrid for another 300-plus miles, at a fuel economy of 42 mpg combined. The Volt runs entirely on battery power for about half the Leaf's range. It's a "pure" electric car, powered only by its battery, while the Chevy requires more context-which its maker has notably failed to provide to the mass market so far. The Nissan Leaf is a simpler and more straightforward proposition that's far easier to explain than the Volt. It's fine for a short trip with a lithe teenager, but you wouldn't want to try to put a larger adult back there. The Leaf can seat five adults in a pinch, while the Volt has four seats and a fifth "seating position" that's really only a padded hump on the battery pack, with a seat belt but no headrest. Each has an onboard charger, so owners can plug the cars into charging stations or wall sockets to recharge their lithium-ion battery packs.īoth are five-door hatchbacks with compact-car footprints, though the Leaf has more interior volume than its size might indicate-and the Volt has less. ![]() Each powers its front wheels mostly or entirely with an electric motor. The two cars take different approaches to driving on electricity from the power grid, but there are many similarities. The new Volt, meanwhile, is sleeker, better-equipped, faster, quieter, and more powerful. Leaf sales have flagged over the past 18 months, and the added range is expected to boost them to some degree. MORE: Read our latest 2017 Nissan Leaf and 2017 Chevrolet Volt reviews GM also lowered the base price of the 2012MY Volt by $1,000 to $39,995 (or $32,496 after applying a $7,500 federal tax credit), but the Chevrolet is still significantly more expensive than the Leaf which retails for $32,780 ($25,280 with the tax credit).(A note: we've changed our vehicle ratings and rankings system.) However, that may soon change as Chevrolet has just expanded the availability of the Volt from seven states plus the District of Columbia to all 50 states in the USA. Nissan has delivered 2,184 examples of the pure-electric Leaf from January to the end of May, while GM has sold 2,167 units of Chevrolet’s extended range electric vehicle in the same period. That said, it’s interesting to see how they’re doing in sales this year.īelieve it or not, it’s a fierce neck-to-neck sales battle so far in 2011 with only 17 cars separating the Leaf from the Volt. Even though the new Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt are two very different cars when it comes to details, they do have a common denominator: they are the most technologically advanced eco-friendly vehicles that are mass-produced and readily available in the U.S.
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