Welcome back! Today we have our third pairing in our quest to find the perfect ride for a theoretical apocalypse, and today it’s all about squeezing more miles out of every precious gallon of fuel. Both of today’s cars are gasoline/electric hybrids, but they go about it in different ways.
Yesterday we were counting on sheer unwillingness of the vehicles to die to save us, with two tough-as-nails sedans. Lots of commenters made good cases for both, but in the end, the big black Panther won the day. V8 power and parts availability seemed to be the most common reasons given for choosing the Crown Vic.
I think that makes sense, but I still think I’d take the diesel Mercedes. Not only will it run on more types of fuel, but since there’s no electricity necessary to keep the engine running, you have a better chance of getting away if the bad guys whip out some sort of electromagnetic pulse weapon. Chugging away from the scene slowly is better than not being able to leave at all.
Fuel availability was on the minds of a lot of the detractors of the Crown Vic yesterday, and yeah, barring the creation of a “Gastown,” regular unleaded is going to be a little hard to come by after a while. So it would seem to make sense to find something that will go as far as possible on a tank of gas. Something, perhaps, that gets a little boost from an electric motor, or better yet, only uses gas to charge the batteries that drive an electric motor. Something like one of these two.
2009 Nissan Altima Hybrid – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.5-liter dual overhead cam inline 4 plus electric motor, CVT, FWD
Location: Seattle, WA
Odometer reading: 206,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The Nissan Altima is a car with a certain reputation, through no inherent fault of its own, for aggressively bad driving. But that reputation actually speaks highly of the car itself; it takes that abuse, and just keeps going. Smashed-in panels, donut spare tires, mirrors duct-taped on, no maintenance since the Obama administration – the Altima just doesn’t give a damn. I feel like a dose of “big Altima energy” could be an advantage in the wasteland.
This is the short-lived Altima Hybrid, featuring a drivetrain licensed from Toyota, and Nissan’s own QR25DE four-cylinder. It’s a well-proven design, and provides a serious bump in efficiency over a standard four-cylinder Altima. This one has had the same owner for years, and has been very reliable for them, and they have all the maintenance records for their ownership tenure. It has a lot of miles, but it still runs and drives just fine.
The seller also added a screen to the dash with a back-up camera and Car Play and stuff, bringing it up to date technologically. The interior looks worn, from the few bad photos we get, but intact. Outside, it’s dull and faded, and almost looks like parts of it were spray-painted. Getting a jump on the post-apocalyptic look, I guess.
The trouble with the Toyota-based hybrid system is that there is no provision for electric-only operation. You always need gas. But every little gain in efficiency matters, and this car averages about 8 miles per gallon better than the standard four-cylinder, and 10-12 better than the V6. And you never know when getting an extra eight miles away is going to matter.
2014 Chevrolet Volt – $4,700
Engine/drivetrain: Electric motor plus 1.4-liter inline 4 range extender, single-speed gearbox, FWD
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Odometer reading: 152,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The thing about hybrids is, you don’t really need to use the engine to power the wheels. You can just drive the wheels with only an electric motor, and use a small gas engine to charge its battery. The advantages of this system are that you can drive on battery power alone until it runs down, at which point the engine kicks in and runs at a nice, efficient steady speed to generate more electricity. It’s a clever solution, one embraced by BMW, as well as General Motors, at least for a while.
The Chevy Volt was one of those strokes of brilliance from GM engineers that actually made it to production. It’s powered by a 149 horsepower electric motor, with a clever T-shaped battery pack that fits in the center tunnel where a driveshaft would go in a typical car, and the space under the rear seat. It also has a little 1.4 liter four-cylinder connected to a generator. With this setup, the Volt can go about 38 miles on batteries alone, and gets phenomenal gas mileage after the engine kicks in. This one has 152,000 miles on it and the seller (a dealership) says it drives great.
A high-tech chassis like this requires a high-tech interior to go with it. The Volt has power everything, keyless entry and ignition, and two screens, one for the instrument cluster and one in the center stack for the infotainment system. You need all that stuff to sell cars in normal circumstances, but I wonder if it might end up being a liability in a post-apocalyptic scenario. I know from experience how annoying it is when the battery dies in a key fob; what happens when you have to flee the zombies and can’t find a fresh CR2032 cell anywhere?
I have always liked the styling of the Volt, actually. It’s a sharp-looking car, and it’s a hatchback, which boosts the practicality by a bunch. It has a few scuffs and dings, but I’m sure in our scenario it would get more. And the HOV lane pass is a nice bonus, though I doubt the zombies would care much which lane you’re in.
Yeah, I know, there’s no real way around the gasoline problem. After a year or so, whatever is left will be stale and the cars will run like crap anyway. But for our purposes, just imagine that there is gas, but it’s expensive and hard to get – like, you have to trade an entire pallet of Cup O’Noodles for a gallon. In that case, you’d want the most bang for your buck. Which one of these is the better choice?
Didn’t the Volt have modes where it directly connected the motor to the wheels? Wasn’t that a story that DT did here, like when he did a Trade-in-Tuesday with a Volt?
Yes, at certain speeds the planetary gearset delivers power straight from the engine to the wheels, this is at highway speeds where the computer determines it’s more efficient than acting as a series hybrid.
Oh man I was visiting some friends and I did make an Altima joke related to someone’s terrible Uber story saying like “If it’s an Altima do you just refuse to get in?” to which the guy laughed and went “well that’s what I drive now” and I was so embarrassed – until he immediately went in with “yeah and it’s got duct tape everywhere and you can’t go above x speed in it” and leaned into the whole super beater car for living and commuting short distance in Chicago
No option to just become a zombie instead?
If these cars are your only choices, becoming a zombie may not be optional.
My plan is to go zombie early. Join the winning side.
Put on my bike leathers and helmet, cable-tie an axe to each arm, then get lightly bitten on purpose. It’s the only way I’ll get to be an end of level boss.
The Altima. Just because nobody would think you had anything of value worth taking.
Here’s the problem with both. We owned a 2011 Volt. Great car. But at 165,000 the battery was toast. Cost to replace with a remanufactured battery was going to be $5,000. So I’d say this one is getting close. But- if you don’t mind spending that its still not bad. $9,000 for what would basically be an almost new car. The Altima? If it has that awful CVT? I’m amazed it still runs.
This is the Altima hybrid so I think it has whatever Toyota uses in the Synergy drive
If it’s the dual electric motor / planetary gear setup that Toyota and the Ford Escape use, then it should be very reliable. And it also will drive on electric only, just not very far. I had an Escape and it could go a couple miles with the engine off.
It is such a clever drivetrain. Two motors and one planetary set, and it gets CVT, reverse, pure electric drive, hybrid drive, regen braking, and HV charging all from like 4 moving parts.
Ok, well that explains things. If it had the CVT It’d be a whole different ball of wax.
Oooo, that’s a good point! After raiding the local Cabelas for all the ammo and weapons I can stuff into a shopping cart, I’ll stop off at every CVS on the way home to grab those precious coin cells.
I imagine that every Cabela’s and Bass Pro shop will be a true killing field during end times. A site of the purest expression of what it means to be an American. People so desperate to find ways to kill each other that they are willing to run to the spot where all the other people with the same idea want to be. I doubt there would be any ammo that escapes with its powder intact. It would all be used in futile attempts to get more ammo.
It absolutely would be like the start of the hunger games. Probably worse. Even Walmarts will be deathzones.
Walmart has been killing communities and people’s will to survive since its inception.
When I lived in Florida they sold guns & ammo at Walmart there
I’m a current 2nd Gen Volt driver, and a GM-stan in general (pun intended), but the Altima is still an interesting choice.
If my life depends on one of these two vehicles, my best option is to try to convince the zombies that I am high in cholesterol and suggest they eat a vegetarian instead.
I don’t see either of these vehicles being particularly effective in the apocalypse, but if I have to choose I’ll go with the Volt. I would rather die in a Volt than an Altima. I would also rather die than drive an Altima, so there’s that.
If the Altima didn’t look so worn out it would be a good option, those Toyota hybrid systems are very reliable.
This Volt since its not an early one, you can run it on Hold Mode to preserve some battery at the bottom level and avoid the common Service High Voltage system, as these cars age, they don’t like to deplete the battery, specially if you leave it parked outside in the cold.
Greentech batteries have replacements for both, giving one to the Volt is like an organ transplant, you get a second life of it, one of the best GM made quality wise.
I wouldn’t be seen in an Altima – So it’s the Volt for me.
And is that a Polestar 2 and a BMW i3 on the same lot as the Volt?
David needs to make a trip to Huntington Beach to investigate…
Seems like not being seen in an Altima might be an advantage in this scenario.
I am on my third Volt, I’ve owned gen-1 and currently have a gen-2. That said, it’s getting really tough to find certain parts for them. There’s a ton of stuff that only the dealer can really diagnose or fix.
I personally wouldn’t buy an 11 year old example despite the fact that I know these cars are excellent because GM doesn’t give a rat’s ass about them anymore.
They are not compelled to sell parts beyond 10 years…..
One thing about the Volt is it doesn’t like being parked outside someplace that gets real winter. Opening the charge port when it’s below freezing is a crapshoot. I had to sell the one I bought new for that reason.
Not sure why I wrote “bought new”, I bought it used.
They fixed that with the 2nd gen. It’s just a push latch rather than a fancy electronic door.
Yeah my 2012 was weird about letting the door go sometimes but I’ve never had that problem with the ’17.
The mind boggles at why they made the Blazer EV’s charge charge door so complex.
Buy both, use Big Altima Energy to charge the Volt. Infinite energy hack.
I went with the Altima because in the apocalypse it’s probably better to let people assume you’re an unhinged maniac with nothing to lose and a 230 credit ratings.
Sure, you think credit ratings won’t matter, but clans will pop up all over the landscape, ranking and assigning people to social sects based on their last known credit ratings. If you show up in an Altima, it’s an immediate admittance into the lawless badass group that gets first dips on all the Hippo meat harvested from the zoo once their done bashing the Hippo to death with the Altima’s standard equipment/substantial lug wrench.
I will join my Altima brethren feasting on zoo Hippo steaks before heading back onto the roads to ensure no one goes un-tailgated.
Geez, what a way to start the day, being confronted with the imagery of animals being beaten to death. What the heck is going on with this website, what has its commentariat become? Yesterday there was that commenter who was making rape jokes, now this, especially since it actually got at least one like. Good grief. Might be a good idea to just go back to the policy of never reading the comments or even just not reading the website altogether.
The days after the apocalypse are brutal.
LOL.
If this all is upsetting well that sort of sucks.
But a discussion of the possible future to come is both enjoyable and informative.
And given the current situation, discussion of how to deal with shit to come seems pretty wise.
BTW I will need that Rhino meat to feed my six Huskies.
I voted Volt, but your like scenario about street-cred given an Altima driver in joining a group of unhinged, hippo-eating maniacs. Bravo on that extrapolation.
Failing to come up with a fun backstory for a likely Volt-accepting band here.
Trying to kill a hippo with a tire iron sounds more like a hippo-feeding strategy than a human-feeding strategy. They will eat meat in the wild if they get the chance. Now I can’t stop laughing at the mental image of a very well fed hippo surrounded by tire irons.
What you’d really need is an air-powered captive bolt pistol. Totally go Anton Chigurh on that damned hippo. No risk. No mess.
*TRIGGER WARNING FOR THE TEXT BELOW, DO NOT READ IF SQUEAMISH*
If you WANT a more brutal and messy outcome for the hippo, and a bit of risk to add to the fun factor, you COULD go Jason Torchinsky on it with a chainsaw instead and as a bonus there’s no risk of lead poisoning…
Or go all RFK and haul the body and head around in your wife’s minivan.
And to be honest it’s hard to see Torch eating a hippo.
Just imagine trying to build a grill big and strong enough to cook one of them things.
If the hippo meat gives you brain worms, it’s a bonus!
Thanks for the grin. Had forgotten that a zoo could be a food source.
As for the zombies my take is Bolt.
Zombies like crunchy brains over the standard issue ones.
Paris’ siege of 1870 is calling…
I voted Altima. When I show up with my Big Altima Energy, the smegma crazies and gayboy berzerkers will bow before the Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!
TO THE GATE!!!
Isn’t the Volt pretty much universally considered a good and reliable car? Combined with efficiency, it feels like a no-brainer for surviving amongst the no-brainers.
Anyone I knew that had one, wished they could have bought another one new. Good car, reliable, decent size for a commuter, useful form factor, etc…
GM’s standard process is, of course, to cancel good ideas.
Yes. And no. We owned the first gen. For a beater/commuter car they’re great. For long trips? Fine. Unless you have lots of hills/mountain passes. Because what you’ve got is a 5,000 pound car and when the battery runs out you’ve got maybe 70 Horsepower to work with. We took it on a road trip from California to Oregon and on some mountain passes the car would barely make it to 45MPH with the gas engine almost screaming. When it got to the 11 year mark the traction battery was toast. It didn’t go all at once. The range simply kept getting lower and lower and the engine would kick in sooner and sooner to a point where the engine was running most of the time. The cost to replace it with a remanufactured battery, which came with improved cells was going to be $5,000. I was ok with that but my wife wanted a Subaru. So we traded it in. We now are leasing a Chevy Equinox EV and its been great. But if there are those looking at used Volts, especially the first gens, then depending on the age you’re probably looking at a $5,000 in the future.
As long as you have gallons of gasoline, the 6.0l will plow through zombies like anything. But thats a truck engine, so does not count.
Or better, the Buick 3.8 V6.
We own a 2016 Volt with 78,000 miles and beyond routine maintenance the only repairs ours has needed is a rear door solenoid, rear brakes and a shifter that was repaired N/C on a service bulletin. Probably the MOST reliable car we have ever owned and I’ve driven many since I got my license in 1966. Wish they would introduce a small SUV with the same drive train.
Isn’t Nissan already in the middle of its apocalypse? Going with the Volt even though it’s sort of the living dead itself, which, hopefully will make zombies ignore it.
I think that’s the best argument the Altima has in this showdown. Most of them are already driven and maintained like the end times have come, so we know they can handle it.
A vote for the Altima is a vote for team Zombie.
My brother in law has a volt and has been very happy with it, as were my dads former neighbours who had one. So based on that I’m choosing it.
Volt because it’s not an Altima.
Really though, if you live in a post-apocalypse world you’re going to run out of useable gasoline fast. Your scrappy band of survivors are far more likely to be able to cobble together some kind solar or wind/water generator to keep the Volt’s batteries charged than they are to get an oil refinery working again. The Volt will at least keep working in electric mode until you’ve worn out the last tires you could find for it. Realistically, you’ll have to switch to something that runs on grass and oats fairly soon if you want to keep ahead of the zombies.
Photovoltaics and semiconductors would be impossible to produce without modern industry. However, a mirror system designed to produce steam from sunlight and water, and use it to spin a turbine, is possible with hand-made components if the builder has access to a lathe and power tools. DIY wind turbines made from scrap materials would be relatively easy by comparison, and far more versatile with regard to location where they can be effectively deployed, with vertical-axis turbines giving more reliable power output, and horizontal axis turbines giving more overall energy output.
My son has a Volt and loves it. Loves it. And frankly so do I.
The Volt is supposedly no great shakes in acceleration, the 0-60 of 11 seconds is nothing to crow about but what they don’t tell you is that the 0-45 is like being sucked into an interdimensional wormhole. It is inexorable.
The back seat is frankly cramped. I’m of average height and my head is actually a tiny bit behind the bolster surrounding the glass of the rear hatch. I don’t like that. But if it’s just me driving around, the Volt is an easy win.
It’s classic GM to develop something that is well ahead of its time, abandon it for a decade, and then come scrambling back to catch up with everyone who has taken their concept and run with it.
Poor management. I hope Ms Mary goes away….
Volt. All the Altima driving zombies would be stealing parts, like the donut spare
For the Volt, expose the key holes or leave it unlocked. As far as starting, most them have a passive system that if you get the key close enough will start.
In past times, I would have chosen the Volt for pretty much all of the reasons, but in this post-apocalyptic scenario I’ll take the Altima. I feel it has less gizmos to go wrong and parts will be easier to find. At worst, it will just be carrying around a heavy useless battery. The Volt at worst will be a lawn ornament (or possibly a stationary abode?).
Chicken coop.
I’m not attractive or funny which means according to Hollywood I’ll be one of the first ones to be eaten so it probably doesn’t matter. However, being zombie kibble would still be preferable to Big Altima Energy. Volt it is.
I’ll go Volt because it feels like people driving Altimas will cause the apocalypse rather than save me from it.
And I went with the Altima to blend in. That and for better (non-engine) parts availability and less tech to fail overall.
Would skip both and get a Buick 3.8 v6.