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?
2013 Volt owner here with 206k miles in the rust belt. It’s now starting to show rust through the corner panels. No suspension rust or rocker rust though which is comforting. The flex joint in the exhaust is leaky, and the struts could be replaced. On a good day, the batt can go 32 miles. In winter, it’s closer to 20 miles. This has been a great car and I plan to run it into the ground. Total cost of ownership including maintenance and fuel has been $0.21/mile, excluding insurance and registration. Fantastic.
It’s also dang quick in an autocross. 😉
Altimas scare me in every way. But a hybrid Altima is truly terrifying. Who was the target demographic? The stuff of nightmares. I’ve heard bad things about those hybrids systems anyway. Volt seems to have a cult following I don’t trust gm but more then Nissan. I would rather be in the volt cult then the Altima gang.
Altima vs Volt? Wow…both shitboxes…both fake cars…gotta go Altima energy since I’d never buy a Volt since they’re more like an EV which are total trash like all EV’s/hybrids. I can’t believe I had to pick Altima + Hybrid + CVT= trash. Oh! The Altima is actually great for zombies since it’s usually going 90+ and can smash through all of them!
the right answer is the Volt, simply because I feel like once the gas is gone, it might be possible to use the electric only stuff for a bit….maybe. But the answer that most should take is the Altima, they are the cockroaches of the automotive world and as a result may survive us all in an apocalypse.
Definitely going with the Nissan here. Just based on what I’ve seen, Volts lend themselves to being driven in a very slow and cautious manner, which is not great during an apocalypse. Altimas, as we all know, immediately inspire the driver to go like a demented psycho, which is exactly what’s needed when you’re getting out of Dodge and purposefully running over every zombie you see.
After a year or so, whatever is left will be stale and the cars will run like crap anyway.
This is a plot hole in every post apocalyptic movie, and why the Mercedes was the correct choice yesterday. You would drive from fast-food joint to fast-food joint “refilling”. My personal choice would be a diesel of some kind, G wagon maybe? Although there is something to be said for a newer vehicle running on ethanol… But then again, large scale ethanol production means you own Bartertown and you never have to drive anywhere.
This week given the choices the plug in is the better one, as there are many ways to make electricity, but only one way to make gasoline.
I still say the occasional city vehicle converted to Natural Gas is the real correct choice here. That fuel does not degrade over time and technically the tanks are available at most warehouses and even inside cages at gas stations.
The Volt is a great car. I owned a 2014 for 5 years and sold it just before the 8 year Voltec system warranty was up. That said, anyone buying an 11 year old one is taking a big risk. That risk is that if the battery goes bad (and that means just one cell going bad) you can scrap it or replace the battery. The battery replacement will cost more than the car is worth. They don’t make new batteries for it, so any replacements are remanufactured batteries that are of a similar age. The car does not work without a functional EV battery.
Maybe convert the Volt to propane / methane ?
Propane never deteriorates, and you could capture methane at the well head and use it without refining it.
And (cough) there’s always wood gas.
A terrible idea at scale, but in a zombie apocalypse scenario maybe a poison gas would be fine.
It’s funny how the automobile came along just when the petroleum companies were wondering what to do with all that gasoline that was left over after producing useful stuff
Theoretically, could the Volt’s battery be jury-rigged to charge off solar panels? In a post-apocalyptic scenario that could be a real advantage.
I’m sure there are some doing that now. Wind too.
The answer is never Altima.
Lemme add the “never Jatco CVT” to that rule
I don’t think I like you much.
Altima SE-R with a manual transmission is actually a great choice…
So too is the two-door Altima coupe.
Their biggest fault is being front drive.
The Volt is likely a better daily driver. It gets my vote for being newer, having less mileage and getting better fuel economy.
My only issue with the Volt is that it’s a space-inefficient design. It only seats 4 and for a hatchback, it has a tiny trunk.
That’s not an issue for someone who has a 2nd larger/more spacious vehicle
But for me, I only have one car. So it does matter to me.
Now having said that, I would still pick it over the Altima. The Altima hybrid had a short production run and thus, there are some aspects to its parts and service that are likely to become difficult or expensive in the future.
The “trunk” isn’t actually all that small. The lift-over is a bit high, though. The second generation gives you a third seat in back, back…
According to Edmunds, it has 10.6 Cu ft. of trunk space with the seats up:
https://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/volt/2014/features-specs/
My comparison, my 2008 Honda Fit had 21.3 cu ft of trunk space with the seats up
https://www.edmunds.com/honda/fit/2008/features-specs/
The trunk in the Volt absolutely was tiny and too small for me… using the Honda Fit as a vehicle with ‘enough’ space for my purposes.
I’m not suggesting it’s not too small for you. Although I will offer that the volume compared to other cars is disputed: Volt Cargo Capacity Measurements — What Gives? | GM Volt Forum
FWIW… I have a Volt. And also an Outback. Despite the published figures… I would put money on the Outback not having over 3X more space with the seats folded up than the Volt.
GM loves to half-ass, so I don’t necessarily trust the Volt. They didn’t take electric seriously until Tesla got real popular, and the mandates, and the TDI cheat box scandal. I also really hate those tiny-ass windows and that stupid black strip under them. The interior quality is probably cheaper than the Altima as well.
If the Altima hybrid has the ECVT that Toyota hybrids use, then it is good stuff. It’s the shitty Jatco Xtronic CVT, then no. But I think it’s the ECVT, so it’s probably safe to buy.
Therefore, I voted Altima.
Also, too bad Fiat never used the TwinAir as a range extender. The straight twin would be awesome in an EREV.
Oddly, the Volt was not half-assed. It was so incredibly overengineered that you wouldn’t believe how good it was. The only problem I ever had with mine was a window regulator. There are no real known problems with these cars, other than the batteries aging or the engines if they get very high hours, but most Volts have incredibly low engine hours.
Hey, watch your mouth when you’re talking about me!
Volt without question.
I’ve owned 3 Volts, a Caddy ELR and a CT6 PHEV, so I’m a fan of the Voltec system!
What’s the parts and service situation on volts? I know that Corvairs will seemingly never die, but the Volt is a lot more complicated if GM abandons it.
I’d seriously consider getting one, but it seems like a risky bet for a forever car.
It’s getting tricky. I speak from the perspective of a gen-2 but there are certain “not if but when” repairs that have burned a lot of owners. Battery Engine Control Module failure, which bricks the car and requires service to drop the entire battery assembly. That one got me, thankfully it was a 2 week turn around and I had a loaner. But there were lots of shortages on that part for a time. Another one is the EGR valve, which we seem to be coming out of a major shortage of. Some people didn’t have their cars for 6 months. I haven’t been burned by that one and I almost hope I am before my warranty ends which is soon.
No Altima no Altima ever.
Volt. Had two and loved both. Absolute no-brainer over the Altima.
Volt.
I’d rather join the Z crowd than drive a CVT. Let’s go with the voltaic pile!
Volt hands down for me, I’m actually looking around at them because they’re getting to be reasonable prices now, I have a 3 mile commute every day, and all my cars currently take premium fuel, a Volt would save me a lot in fact. I always enjoyed the way they look and drive, I was impressed when I got a ride along at the auto show when they came out and I’ve always said I’d probably have one someday. They’re another cool oddity of 2000s GM.
Word of warning; if you are looking at 2011-2015 Volt the owners manual calls for premium. 2016-2019 did away with that. It will run on regular, yes, but I personally wouldn’t.
Good point, I did kind of forget about that. I don’t really mind the extra per gallon price, because of the higher mileage I’d get out of it, lately because of winter I’m getting about 10-13 around town in my daily, most of my daily driving would be done within the electric range of a Volt.
If this is purely an in-town commuter car you might want to look at the Bolt as well. Not as cheap as a 1st-gen Volt but if you qualify for the used ev tax credit you can get them pretty cheap. I have a ’17 Volt for longer trips and a ’19 Bolt for trips under 150 miles.
I do remember a lot of people liking the Bolt for a city vehicle, but I don’t have anything but a regular outlet to plug it into since I rent for housing, the range extender in a Volt makes it seem like a better option for my use case I feel like.
If you’re driving less than maybe 40 miles a day a regular outlet will more than meet your needs. I’m not trying to convince you of anything here, just chiming in as the owner of both to say if you have other gas cars, you don’t really need the hybrid aspect. It’s just hauling around an engine that largely won’t run. And any ’17-19 Bolt got a new battery as part of the recall which resets the 8 year/100k mile warranty back to zero. My battery’s warrantied until the end of 2029.
That’s fair, it’s something to consider for sure, I didn’t know how much slower it charges on a regular outlet. I do end up doing a lot of driving on longer trips occasionally, but I have other cars if need be, the all-around-ness of the Volt vs the more specific use of the Bolt is something to weigh for my needs for sure.
Good to know about the battery too, I wasn’t at the GM dealer anymore when that became a thing, I’m pretty sure. So I had no idea.
It was a 10 gallon fill-up once or twice a month when I was commuting 50 miles a day in my Volt. I question whether basing a car choice on the extra cost of $36 a year is sound advice.
Well, that isn’t what I said. The guy I replied to mentioned premium gas, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it up. I know exactly how this all works since I owned a 2012.
“It takes premium gas” was one of the many ways that the Volt was disparaged in the early days, and it touched a nerve with me. Seriously, with the amount of gas a Volt uses, why would someone care?
I don’t care, I bought two of them. It doesn’t make it any less of a fact.
We are both fans of the Volt. I also bought two. Like I said, it just touched a nerve.
Yeah, I think I used under 50 gallons of fuel a year when I had my Volt, so I didn’t care that I was buying premium. My 330e takes premium too, but I’m only filling up the 10 gallon tank about every 4-5 weeks.
Right I don’t see it as a big deal at all, it’s just one of those things that surprises some people.
I think the first gen takes premium, but not the second. Similar situation, I moved from a small commute to an isolated town where I work from home. I have a 2017 that I plug into the standard plug once in a while and drive nearly 100% on electricity. Be aware that months will go by without using the engine and at some point you’ve got to think about burning through the old gas, so plan some road trips.
Every other weekend we have to go out of state for one reason or another, roughly 120 miles each way, I have heard of the fuel being something to pay attention to as well.
Jatco CVT aside, I really like the Altima more as a car, but the Volt would be the superior choice for a post-apocalyptic future. If you put solar panels all over the roof, hatch, and hood, maybe a 250W array, you could even get upwards of a free 5 miles per day of driving at highway speeds, and 10+ miles a 25-30 mph, without access to grid electricity or fuel.
No Jatco in the hybrid. This is basically a Prius powertrain bolted to a Nissan engine.
EDIT: now I’m not so sure. The internet seems conflicted about this and I don’t have time to learn for sure right now.
You are correct is uses a Toyota “power split” eCVT.
Yes, Toyota licensed the eCVT to Nissan and Ford around this time period.
They sold eCVTs to Nissan and shared patents with Ford.
In that case, my vote still isn’t swayed. Now moving the Volt’s battery, drive system, and charger to the Altima, OTOH, would be an excellent configuration if I could get it to work…
Aisin ecvt. I’m not sure about the battery situation. I’ve heard they are a pain. But that could be that the Toyota system of that era is prolific so parts availability and knowledge is there. People seem to like Ford fusion hybrids of that era / little later.
Chiming in as a 2013 Volt owner here.
The Volt is an extremely reliable car, but it does have some shortcomings for a specifically post-apocalyptic environment:
It’s heavy. It’s about 3800lbs which means if it gets stuck off road, it will be that much harder to pull out.The fuel tank is small. This era of Volt has just under 9 gallons of fuel capacity. So you’re going to be using that hatch to carry a few canisters which will eat into your cargo.It has weak spots in the front, specifically around the charge port and the battery’s radiators. A hit there even in non-apocalyptic times tends to total these cars. Armor accordingly.What does it bring to the table though?
Torque. That powertrain is stout AF. The exact same powertrain was factory warrantied for over 200hp and 400lb-ft of torque in the Cadillac ELR, so it’s got a lot more to give. It’s frankly overbuilt for what it is. Some good frame welds and you could turn it into a local tractor for pulling stuff in your community.Energy conversion. A lot of post-apocalyptic settings are short on one specific energy type. It would really shine as a local generator if fuel was abundant but electricity was scarce. Or, if the other was true, it can do about 25-35 miles (assuming extra energy consumption due to wasteland modifications) on 10.5kWh of electron juice.You can sleep in it! A buddy of mine bought a Volt after driving mine (to my chagrin, we autocrossed them and I was slower) and he made a mattress for it the exact size and shape of the cargo space with the seats down and the butt rests taken out. It’s almost perfectly flat and if you’re hooked up to power you can run the A/C to make things nice and comfy. Who doesn’t love a Voltebago?
Conclusion: The Altima is for the bloodthirsty Immortan Joe raiders whereas the Volt is for the Vuvulani community.
Also, WTF editing system, I had this all laid out in a nice internet friendly numbered list and now it’s just a mush-wall of text ;_;
1. Buy Altima
2. Add pink fuzzy steering wheel cover
3. Harness the Big Altima energy to run over all the zombies
4. ???
5. Profit