Automotive Blogs

As I walk closer to the showroom, the unmistakable smell of hot dogs and hamburgers meets my nostrils. A couple of trailer grills are fired up, cooking up the all-American cookout food for the gathered crowd. Looking around, it was an interestingly eclectic bunch. A few spiky-haired 20-something male rocker types, some obviously eco-activist types in thrift-store threads, tribal-looking wooden jewelry and well-worn sandals, and a few suburbanite 40-something couples. Thankfully for our eco-conscious friends, the dealership management was smart enough to include veggie burgers and dogs on the menu, and whole-wheat buns.

I then looked back out to the sidewalk to see what these prospective customers drove. There were several Priuses, a six-to-seven year-old VW Jetta, a first-gen Focus ZX3, a Cobalt, and my little blue Mazda. Surprisingly, there was also a BMW 5-series, and a Lexus GX 470 SUV.

There were several nattily-attired PR reps milling about and schmoozing with these prospects, wearing golf shirts with the Chevy bowtie and VOLT embroidered on the left front. Just as I took my first bite of my carnivore dog with brown mustard on a whole wheat bun, a particularly bubbly rep named "Sara" tracked me down. "Hi, I'm Sara from GM Communications. Do you have time to answer a few questions?" I nodded my assent as I chewed on my food and tried to wash it down with the promotional "VOLT" bottled water.

"So what brings you here today?" She asked cheerily.

"Oh, I've been interested in this car for quite some time. I saw the piece on the morning news that they'd be at this dealership, and I thought I'd come by and check them out."

"Great!" Sara chirped. "What do you currently drive?"

"A 2003 Mazda Protege."

"Okay. Have you ever owned a domestic-brand car before?" she queried.

"Nope, this would be the first."

"Okay. And all I need is your name and zip code. Just fill them out here."

She handed me a clipboard, and I filled out the obligatory information.

With that bit of awkwardness out of the way, I walked over to the lineup of the cars. There were about five lined up, each with a cord hanging out of the power port on the side. They were all unlocked, and people had the hood popped open on some, and others were sitting inside, checking them out.

Since the drivers' seats were occupied in most of the models, I popped open the passenger-side door on one of them. The styling of the interior was definitely futuristic, but much more conventional than that of the Jetsonian concept. The seats were comfortable, and the dashboard was logically arranged, with a central monitor that was flashing an icon showing that the vehicle was being charged.

The gentleman in the driver's seat was carefully surveying the interior, and skimming his hands around the rim of the steering wheel. He appeared to be in his 60s. "They should have had this years ago," he said in a thick Northeastern accent.

"Well, they finally came through," I responded. "What do you drive now?" I asked.

"We've got that blue Prius out there. It's been a great car. But I was curious about this one," he said.

Just as I finished talking, one of the reps stepped up on the showroom balcony and started speaking into a bullhorn.

"MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE, FOLKS. THANK YOU. You should have gotten a ticket when you first arrived here. If you did not, please go to the information table. This ticket is very important, because it determines which order you will get to test drive one of these cars. As you can see, there are quite a few people here today. We have a pre-determined route that we have set up that we think will give you a good demonstration of the cars' performance and driving feel.

For those of you that got here late or didn't get a ticket, I apologize, but the numbers were given on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will try to give everyone a chance to drive a car if they wish. If you don't care about driving a car, you can see if you can go for a ride with one of the other guests. This will help speed things along. So again, if you don't care about driving, please see if you can find a ride. We will be starting with number 4. Number 4."

I looked down at my ticket. It said 16. Somewhat disappointed, I went back and found a folding chair to sit down on. Mr. Bullhorn got back on his soapbox once again.

"Folks, if you're not in the first round of test-drives, please clear away from the cars, so drivers can drive them off the lot."

I was soon joined by a handful of others with higher numbers. A young woman in her mid-20s sat down next to me. She had on a tanktop, and a long paisley-pattern skirt. She had a Asian-motif arm band tattoo on her left arm, and some chunky silver rings on her fingers. As she turned toward me, I noticed a tiny diamond stud in her nose. She crossed her legs, and she had on Croc thongs with an anklet and a few toe rings. It was clear she wasn't part of Chevy's usual demographic.

Breaking the silence, I introduced myself, "Hi, I'm Ed."

"Hey Ed, I'm Juli," she said in her youthfully raspy voice.

"So, what do you think of these cars?" I asked

"I dunno. I think they're pretty cool. Some other people in my Heal the Bay chapter told me about this, so I thought I'd check it out."

"That's cool," I said. I began to hear a periodic electronic chirp, and noticed that some of the cars were starting to pull out. "Huh," I said, partially to myself, and partially to Juli. "I guess that's that built-in safety feature for the blind that I heard about."

"Huh, that's cool they thought of that," Juli said.    

As the cars pulled out of the driveway, it was clear there were different drivers in each of them. One of them pulled away slowly and deliberately. A few seconds later, the rocker-looking dude with the spiky hair stood on it, and you could hear the tires squeal as he pulled out aggressively. "Gotta love that electric torque," I said to myself under my breath.

"What?" Juli said, somewhat puzzled by my geek-speak.

"Nevermind," I said, "Just thinking out loud."

It was starting to get sunnier and hotter, and one of the attentive PR reps noticed me wiping my brow. "Would you like another water, sir?" she asked cheerfully.

"That would be great," I said. As I finished the second bottle of water, a few of the first cars to go out on the drive started to come back. Some of them parked and chatted with with the reps for a few minutes. Bullhorn guy started to stare down his underlings and motioned with his hands to "let's keep things moving." On that cue, the doors opened, and the next round of drivers started to make their way toward the cars.

"Very impressive," I could hear my New Englander friend say as he stepped out of the Burgundy-colored model. "It has a nice solid feel, and plenty of power."

"Glad to hear you liked it, sir!" the accompanying rep schmoozed.

A few more minutes passed, and finally one of the PR reps called my number. I got up and made my way toward a bright silver model. Although toned down considerably from the original concept, it reminded me of some of the pictures I saw of the first show car. Subconsciously, I felt a little tingle of anticipation as I opened the door to the car. I didn't think I'd be as excited about this, but over the several years that had passed since I first saw and read about it, I couldn't help myself.......

Volt Dream Drive, Part II - Coming soon!