I’m in the market for a new car. My current car is paid for. It is a lovely thing to have a car that is paid for…. well, it would be except that now that I have my car paid for, little things like signal lights, batteries, the back door latch – all those pesky little things you hate to deal with – keep cropping up and asking to be paid for. So, I’m in the market for a new car. A “new to me” car.

I have plenty to write but mostly I just want to express my love for the internet when it comes to searching for a car. If you check out CarGurus.com you can search for available cars and they even tell you whether the listed price is good or not. Of course, if you plan to trade in a car you’ll want to be armed with your trade in value, which is easy to find at Kelly Blue Book. I’m so glad I did that before ever setting foot in a dealership because today my trade in value magically hopped up $3,000 after I indicated that I knew exactly what my car was worth.

My problem is primarily that the car sales industry is just plane Ick. Ick with a capital ” I” – I’ve had dealership managers flat out LIE to me and scramble to remedy this situation as I left. I’ve had an asshat ask me if I would be (breathe deep ladies, this ones a doozy) having my husband “deal with the numbers side of things”. Ha!  Can you picture the scene? More on that another time.

Needless to say, I’ve researched and driven a number of cars. Right now my major problem is deciding which car I should purchase. Should I take the plunge and go for the Chevy Suburban, which would be a great carpool/road trip car, or perhaps the surprisingly nice ride in my garage at this moment, the Chevy Traverse, which is much smaller, drives more like a car and would likely require us to put a ski rack on the roof.

Honestly, the size matters quite a bit. Three kidlets, a dog, and ski gear take up a lot of room.

In any case, complicating matters is the fact that I accidentally got so pissed off at a particular dealer that I ran full speed straight into a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

Yes, you read that correctly! I know, I’m insane!

Guess what though? The Mercedes-Benz sales guy was nice, listened to me and asked me the right questions so that he knew enough not to waste my time on the wrong car. Alas, I do not think there is a wrong car with the Mercedes logo on it. It was like walking into a fluffly cloud of love…. even the used cars in my price range were sparkly and beautiful. Life in a Mercedes would be so, so, sooooo nice. Well, nice to drive around in, anyway!

What to do? What to do?

I’m so tired I can barely speak. How do I decide such a big thing? It’s like committing to a long term relationship with no way out – before you’ve really seen a person’s true colors!

What do you drive? Do you like it? What factors were important when deciding what car to purchase?

I’m in the market for a new car. My current car is paid for. It is a lovely thing to have a car that is paid for…. well, it would be except that now that I have my car paid for, little things like signal lights, batteries, the back door latch – all those pesky little things you hate to deal with – keep cropping up and asking to be paid for. So, I’m in the market for a new car. A “new to me” car.

I have plenty to write but mostly I just want to express my love for the internet when it comes to searching for a car. If you check out CarGurus.com you can search for available cars and they even tell you whether the listed price is good or not. Of course, if you plan to trade in a car you’ll want to be armed with your trade in value, which is easy to find at Kelly Blue Book. I’m so glad I did that before ever setting foot in a dealership because today my trade in value magically hopped up $3,000 after I indicated that I knew exactly what my car was worth.

My problem is primarily that the car sales industry is just plane Ick. Ick with a capital ” I” – I’ve had dealership managers flat out LIE to me and scramble to remedy this situation as I left. I’ve had an asshat ask me if I would be (breathe deep ladies, this ones a doozy) having my husband “deal with the numbers side of things”. Ha!  Can you picture the scene? More on that another time.

Needless to say, I’ve researched and driven a number of cars. Right now my major problem is deciding which car I should purchase. Should I take the plunge and go for the Chevy Suburban, which would be a great carpool/road trip car, or perhaps the surprisingly nice ride in my garage at this moment, the Chevy Traverse, which is much smaller, drives more like a car and would likely require us to put a ski rack on the roof.

Honestly, the size matters quite a bit. Three kidlets, a dog, and ski gear take up a lot of room.

In any case, complicating matters is the fact that I accidentally got so pissed off at a particular dealer that I ran full speed straight into a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

Yes, you read that correctly! I know, I’m insane!

Guess what though? The Mercedes-Benz sales guy was nice, listened to me and asked me the right questions so that he knew enough not to waste my time on the wrong car. Alas, I do not think there is a wrong car with the Mercedes logo on it. It was like walking into a fluffly cloud of love…. even the used cars in my price range were sparkly and beautiful. Life in a Mercedes would be so, so, sooooo nice. Well, nice to drive around in, anyway!

What to do? What to do?

I’m so tired I can barely speak. How do I decide such a big thing? It’s like committing to a long term relationship with no way out – before you’ve really seen a person’s true colors!

What do you drive? Do you like it? What factors were important when deciding what car to purchase?

Why yes, that was moi you saw behind the wheel of the new Chevy Volt this morning. And yes, that was my big geeky grin that blinded you as we drove by!

I actually drove the Volt. I can’t believe I’m typing it, but I drove the Chevy Volt this morning! I drove it down Colorado Boulevard, through my neighborhood, and on I-70!

I was tooling around on twitter last night and my bud Christopher Barger dm’d me on twitter. If you don’t follow @cbarger you are missing out; this guy is real peeps that “gets it”, and you know how I love my folk that keep it real!

Here’s what he wrote:

Hi there! Late notice, but are you doing anything tomorrow morning? Might have head of GM mktg in Denver tmrw AM, if so he should meet you.

Well, of course he should me! Right? If you are driving through Denver in a Chevy #Volt2LA you should meet me! Especially if you are the head of marketing for one of the worlds largest automobile manufacturers… just sayin’. I was flattered and really excited, not just to see Volt again, but to meet with the people making it happen. When you look at what automobile manufacturers have weathered in the current economy, you can’t help but cheer for the people moving things forward at a company like GM. So, the geeky marketing stalker in me got a kick out of the whole thang.

You might remember how excited I was this summer after riding in the back seat of the Chevy Volt at an event GM hosted at Blue Hill at Stone Farms in Pocantico Hills, NY. The Volt crew was an impressive team and they were really excited about their product. My whole view of GM flipped big time that day… but I digress…

Have I mentioned how much I love the GM marketing/pr people? I love their energy, I love how much they believe in what they are doing. Forget that their newest product has world changing implications, these people are fun! My new friend Joel let me drive his personal Volt and, apart from an unfortunate parking incident that may have included a run in with the curb and a near miss with a lovely light pole, the Marriott is still standing. And yes, his car is still in tact!

The Volt is an incredibly nice ride. Obviously an electric engine runs much quieter and more smooth than a traditional gas engine but I didn’t expect to get a “luxury” feel while driving it. Back in the day, before 3 kidlets sucked my wallet dry and I didn’t need a car to haul a soccer team around, I owned a Lexus RX300. It was a smooth ride and had that “luxury” feel; driving that car was dreamy. Calm and dreamy – of course, the fact that I didn’t have three kids chucking half eaten Chipotle burritos across the car probably had something to do with that.

The Volt even has that calm and dreamy feel on the highway. It doesn’t rev and strain before acceleration, it just goes. There are three different drive modes: normal (which is the most energy efficient), sport, and mountain. The Volt guys were heading up “the hill” into the mountains today so we had it in mountain mode, but even then I perceived the acceleration to be very smooth and quiet. The Volt doesn’t need that revving sound to prove it is man enough to handle the road, it just does it.

I’ve been following renewable energy and vehicle electrification for years. Electric vehicles have been around for a long time but GM is the first to deliver a palatable solution to the general public. Some might say that Nissan’s LEAF really got there first with a 100% electric vehicle, but it only travels 100 miles on a charge and has that “look at me I’m driving the quirky looking car because I’m green” look. The Volt is unassuming and looks just like any other car on the road today, except that it happens to run on electricity. Technically the Volt is a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) or as GM calls it, an “extended range electric vehicle”.  You’ll be able to drive 40 emission-free miles before a small gasoline engine kicks in to power a generator that delivers electricity to the car’s motor. So, not only does the Volt have a nice cushy feel and look good, it will go 340 miles on a charge.

In my opinion, some of us tend to trip over ourselves to be as “green” as possible and in the process we miss opportunities to just be better.  I think it is great that “Eco Joe” wants to live in an underground solar paneled home made of recycled Pop-Tarts, but it isn’t practical, nor is it necessary for our society to live that way. Today’s Volt is a step in the right direction and I have no doubt that this is only the beginning.

One of the highlights of my trip to the east coast for Blogher ’10 was attending an event GM hosted at Blue Hill at Stone Farms in Pocantico Hills, NY. The purpose of the #chevyblogher event was to showcase Chevrolet’s new fully electric car scheduled for release in 2011, the Chevy Volt. Planning the event at a working four-season farm and educational center (with FABulous kitchens and restaurant) 25-30 miles north of New York City was nothing short of brilliant. Learning about our food and how we farm in conjunction with learning about one of the most exciting developments in vehicle electrification made for a perfect day!

We departed from the NYC Hilton in teams of two, driving the 2011 Cruze. My fearless partner, Courtney Velasquez of Detroit Mommies, took the wheel and we actually arrived in once piece, no thanks to my navigation skills. The Cruze is a spacious and comfortable ride, and should you begin heading onto a highway in the wrong direction… well, let’s just say, that baby corners on a dime.

We were introduced to Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture by the adorable and knowledgeable, Jack, he’s the head agriculture guy.  The Center is a non-profit farm and education center and operates an 80-acre four-season farm. Their mission includes working on broader initiatives to create a healthy and sustainable food system. Their goal is to improve the way we Americans eat and farm by providing a Growing Farmers Initiative, children’s education programs, and other public awareness programs. They even apprentice young farmers, and by young Jack means farmers in their 20′s and 30′s… I really liked Jack’s sense of age.

Truth be told, I may be a hardy Colorado hiker chick, but my farming experience stops at the earth box on my brick patio. Listening to Jack speak was very inspiring. His passion for what he does was evident in the ways he described the land and what they were doing at Stone Barns. When he told us about the planned growing and soil preparation and then looked out over the field and described the landscape as a mosaic, well… I think I fell in love.  Uh, with the land that is.

Next, we headed to the kitchens and had a blast making raspberry preserves with Adam; although, I think he was a bit freaked out by all of us with our iPhones and cameras. In fact, if you look through my tweet stream you can see that he actually tried to provide us a safe place to put our tech-appendages down…

We all were all sort of, “huh?” Needless to say we cleared things up and moved on… (I’m saving lunch for another post!)

Driving the Chevy 2011 Volt

If you follow some of the conversations I’ve been involved in around the social media-sphere you’ll know that I am a huge proponent of renewable energy, in particular vehicle electrification. (Disclosure: it also happens to be the industry my husband is involved in…) I had lots of questions…. many that they could/would not answer, but in all fairness they are protecting quite a bit of new science with the release of this car.

Size Matters

The main thing I have heard people in the Mommy-verse gripe about is the size. We all need our carpool capable cars in order to make our worlds work. The way I see it, no family needs two gas guzzlers, so having one smaller more eco-friendly car in the household makes complete sense.  I’m a proponent of moving in the right direction, waiting for perfection will never relieve the U.S. of our dependence on foreign oil, nor will it help us achieve our environmental goals. That said, this car was extraordinarily comfy with 4 bucket seats – I sat in the back seat and found it to be rather pleasant. This isn’t some eco-bare-bones-crunchy car, the Volt is actually a normal sized car with pretty sleek styling.

The Basics

The Volt uses electricity as it’s primary energy source, so it will produce no emissions for up to 40 miles of driving in turn, saving approximately 500 gallons of gasoline a year (compared to similar vehicles that average 30 mpg).

We were show two different drive settings, so if you really want quick acceleration it is an option, although you’ll be using more energy.

At 10 cents per kilowatt hour, Chevrolet estimates that an electrically driven mile in a Volt will cost about one-sixth compared to a conventional gasoline vehicle. It is estimated that it will cost about two cents per mile to drive electrically vs. 12 cents using gasoline priced at $3.60 per gallon.

Cost

At $41,000 this isn’t an economy car. Joel Ewanick, vice president of U.S. marketing for General Motors, says “The The Chevrolet Volt will be the best vehicle in its class…because it’s in a class by itself.” After having driven in the car, I have to agree. The Volt isn’t intended to be a luxury vehicle, or an economy car. It is intended to fill a niche. We can complain all we want about the environment and oil wars, but the fact is we don’t want to give up our comfy rides. Well, folks, that’s gonna cost you and the Volt is just one solution. So if you want to complain about the price, get behind the technology and start supporting renewable energy efforts and gradually the costs will come down.  That’s about all I have to say about that.

The Blonde’s Take

I’m a car snob. I grew up with a Dad in the automotive industry. I know more about injection molding, interior acoustic textiles, and the inner mechanics of an automobile than a gal with a Master’s Degree in Music with a concentration in Violin Performance, should know. The best part of it all is that I can negotiate with a car dealer ’til he cries and just begs me to leave. I can’t believe I’m writing this but my day with the Chevrolet Volt team, completely changed how I view GM. They are clearly proud of their car and what it means for the future of electric transportation. They aren’t going to save the earth or end oil consumption, they are simply providing a vehicle that moves us in the right direction. And they are pretty darn excited about it.

Will I buy the 2011 Chevrolet Volt? I transport way too many kidlets and their gear around on a daily basis. However, if I were in the market for a new car, the Volt would definitely be on my list of automobiles to consider.

Check out our Whrrl Story!

*All meals, tolls, automobile gas (and trust me when we got lost on the way home… we could have used a battery or two…) were provided by GM. The opinions written above are my own based on my experiences.

**Stone Barns is open to the public year-round, Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Walk through the gardens and pastures, sign up for a public program or tour, and enjoy a meal at partner restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns or at Blue Hill Café.

Here I sit, sleep deprived, glistening in the humid glow of the un-air-conditioned upper east-side apartment of my in-laws. I brought Kelly (@childhood) home to meet the fam and being a Phoenix native, the only thing missing in the experience for her is a desert cactus.  Me? I’m just thoroughly enjoying nature’s 90+ degree Insanity Facial – correction Body-cial. There’s sweat coming from areas of my body I had no idea actually had sweat glands, the middle of my fingers, heck, I think the lobes of my ears just may be exhibiting a bit of condensation.

Sweet Kat is lying here next to me, the humidity has formed the most adorable tight ring curls in her hair, just like mine always was growing up on the east cost. It’s a right of passage for the Denver born children in our family to visit the healthy, open-air, summer sweat-lodge, Chez Bryan.  Kat will be hitting the city streets hard with Grandma while I’m doing the Blogher thang. Let me tell you this much, you won’t ever read any complaints about troublesome mother-in-laws from me.  I am so thrilled that Kat will be able to spend some special time with them over the next few days. I always enjoy my in-laws, and there’s nothing like a home-cooked “Grandma Meal”, so it was nice to come in a day early and spend the night here. This family likes it’s open windows year round and, while I’m feeling slightly delirious at the moment, I wouldn’t trade a night with my hubby’s parents for all the air-conditioning in Manhattan.

I’ll be showerin’ up in a few moments and heading over to The Hilton New York, where I’m excited to meet up with General Motors for the Chevy Drive Event.   We’ll spend the day at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York. Don’t be too jealous but I’ll not only partake in one of New York’s most renowned culinary “experiences” (just wait until I explain in a future post), I will have the opportunity to learn more about and take a ride in ….. THE CHEVY VOLT!!

What’s on your schedule for today?