While driving around town in the futuristic-looking Chevy Volt, people rolled down their window to ask, “how do you like that car?” I really enjoyed driving this vehicle with its two gorgeous computer displays. I felt like I was on a cartoon episode of the Jetsons, with my fancy car with touch-screen, great music and navigational aids. We enjoyed the opportunity to drive it for the weekend courtesy of Chevrolet and Klout Perks. I interviewed my friend, Doran Toledano, an avid car enthusiast, about the Volt. In his words:
The steering felt nice, the suspension was smooth, the interior was comfortable and roomy, especially as I am 6 foot 2. The driver’s side and the navigation screen have good quality and are well positioned. High enough to see while driving, the older Chevy cars has the screen too low for easy viewing. The acceleration the car has for being electric was pretty strong and worked well. If you need to cut someone off, it is not a problem. The one problem is behind the back driver door there is a blind spot because of the pillar. For four seats, it is really spacious especially the trunk. Everything about the car is clean– not too much sloppy plastic, the joints are good, not like a Mercedes but it is good. The steering is nice and smooth compared to BMW, which is a bit, more rough. This car has really smooth steering.
From the paperwork about the car, for $45,000 I think it should have electric seats. The warranty is really good on the car. It has a futuristic look with all the screens and I liked it. I would recommend it for someone who mainly drives less than 36 miles a day. The electric part does not work more than 36 miles. It is good if you drive locally to a friend’s house or the supermarket but not for driving across country. I think for $45,000 to save $5 it is not worth it. The Honda Accord is $23,000 and that car gets about 32mpg highway and you have to figure out how much you are saving.
I could get you a 2005 Civic for $5000 and save you $40,000. The car could be worth the money if you use for the right reasons. It is a great car. Chevy has really improved in the last few years and is developing in a great way.
Doran helped me think about the positives and negatives of this vehicle. He recently sold both of our cars as we are headed abroad for a year. If you want help buying or selling a car, please contact him at Doran Toledano on Facebook.
I did have a few 21st century problems with the car. I knew that I could not charge the car from my condo as that would require an extension cord and the car must be plugged directly into an electric socket. My husband had the idea to use a socket by the condo complex pool so we plugged in the car and went for a walk. When we got back, we found a note on our car that said, “If you charge your car here again, it will be towed.” Several residents had complained to the HOA president that we were stealing electricity. A friend suggested that we park the car in an electrical charging spot at a local garage, but the outlet there didn’t fit the Volt. Long story short, driving an electric car entails a certain amount of inconvenience!
I enjoyed driving the Volt and appreciated Chevrolet giving me the opportunity to test-drive it for the weekend. Enjoy all your journeys!
Lisa Ellen Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries and six continents. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she worked on cruise ships for seven years and backpacked for three years in Asia. She is the founder of the website WeSaidGoTravel which is read in 235 countries and was named #3 on Rise Global’s top 1,000 Travel Blogs. Niver is a speaker at the Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Dallas Travel and Adventure Shows for 2023. Her podcast, “Make Your Own Map,” has been watched in more than 11 countries on 4 continents. Niver is represented by Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary, Inc. Look for her memoir in Fall 2023 from Post Hill Press/Simon and Schuster.
You can find Lisa Niver talking travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, Satellite Media Tours, The Jet Set TV and Orbitz travel webisodes as well as her YouTube channel, where her WeSaidGoTravel videos have nearly 2 million views.
With more than 150,000 followers across social media, she has hosted Facebook Live for USA Today 10best, is verified on Twitter and listed on IMDb, and is the Social Media Manager for the Los Angeles Press Club.
As a journalist, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors and been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. She has been a judge for the Gracie Awards for the Alliance of Women in Media, and has run 15 travel competitions on her website, publishing over 2,500 writers and photographers from 75 countries.
For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty times.
Niver has published more than 2000 articles, in more than three dozen magazines and journals
including National Geographic, Wired, Teen Vogue, HuffPost Personal, POPSUGAR, Ms. Magazine, Luxury Magazine, Smithsonian, Sierra Club, Saturday Evening Post, AARP, AAA Explorer Magazine, American Airways, Delta Sky, enRoute (Air Canada), Hemispheres, Jewish Journal, Myanmar Times, BuzzFeed, Robb Report, Scuba Diver Life, Ski Utah, Trivago, Undomesticated, USA Today, TODAY, Wharton Magazine, and Yahoo.
https://bit.ly/m/lisaniver
Awards
National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards
2021 Winner: Book Critic: Ms. Magazine “Untamed: Brave Means Living From the Inside Out”
2019 Winner: Soft News Feature for Film/TV: KTLA TV “Oscars Countdown to Gold with Lisa Niver”
2019 Finalist for: Soft News, Business/Music/Tech/Art
Southern California Journalism Awards
2022 Finalist: Book Criticism
2021 Winner: Technology Reporting
2021 Finalist: Book Criticism
2020 Winner: Print Magazine Feature: Hemispheres Magazine, “Painter by the Numbers, Rembrandt”
2020 Finalist: Online Journalist of the Year, Activism Journalism, Educational Reporting, Broadcast Lifestyle Feature
2019 Finalist: Broadcast Television Lifestyle Segment for “Ogden Ski Getaway”
2018 Finalist: Science/Technology Reporting, Travel Reporting, Personality Profile
2017 Winner: Print Column “A Journey to Freedom over Three Passovers”
Social Media Presence
YouTube Channel: We Said Go Travel (1.7 million views)
Short form video:TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts
Twitter: lisaniver (90,000 followers)
Instagram: lisaniver (24,000 followers)
Pinterest: We Said Go Travel (20,000 followers and over 70,000 monthly views)
Facebook: lisa.niver (5,000 followers); We Said Go Travel (3,000 followers)
LinkedIn: lisaellenniver (9000 contacts)
While driving around town in the futuristic-looking Chevy Volt, people rolled down their window to ask, “how do you like that car?” I really enjoyed driving this vehicle with its two gorgeous computer displays. I felt like I was on a cartoon episode of the Jetsons, with my fancy car with touch-screen, great music and navigational aids. We enjoyed the opportunity to drive it for the weekend courtesy of Chevrolet and Klout Perks.
I interviewed my friend, Doran Toledano, an avid car enthusiast, about the Volt. In his words: