Piston Slap: Justification for Voltification?

Jeremy writes:

Sajeev,

Since you asked so nicely I decided to upgrade myself from long time listener to first time caller. Maybe the Best and Brightest will have Words of Wisdom. Maybe? Definitely!

Let’s say a year from now I really should be getting a new set of wheels. Could be sooner but I’ll probably put it off as long as possible. The ’98 Grand Caravan with 140,000 miles (and AWD!) just sort of scrapes by. I know its problems and manage them accordingly. Hopefully with no surprises. I’ve had it for a couple years so it wasn’t me that put on all those miles.

Anyway, the driving that I do is torture on an engine: very short trips. In the morning I run the kids over to day care. Residential streets, two stop signs. There and back home is 2 miles and usually less than 15 minutes. Park in the garage, pretend to work all day, repeat the routine to go pick up the kids. When I have a meeting, it’s usually just another 2 mile round trip. I can go for over three weeks and not stop for gas. Iowa winters may not be as cold as some but it’s still an ice cold engine that hardly ever warms up. When the weather is nice I’ll ride my bicycle to meetings (comin’ through!!) but that doesn’t work so well with the kid shuttle. Grocery runs are maybe a 10 mile round trip but there are other errands along the way. Grandparents are 200 miles away so a few times a year we do get out.

Someday the van is just going to give up. The more I think about it the *gasp* Volt would be perfect. I would rarely need gas! I’m not torturing the engine! But that price is not so perfect. I’m sure it’s a very nice car but if I wanted a $35,000 Cavalier I’d go shop for a Cimarron. Back in my young and cool (I wish) days I always had my sights on certain cars. Now it just has to have wheels and I’ll drive it. Oh, what to do.

Well, crap. Maybe this was more of a “New or Used” topic. No matter, thanks for listening!

Sajeev writes:

The Volt is one of those fantastic machines that’s hard not to appreciate, even if you’d never consider it for your garage. Then there’s the eye watering sticker price to knock you back to reality, much like the truth behind the delusional poster above. Political considerations aside, the Volt’s technology is so damn cool for you: short trips and a gas engine for emergencies. And since Iowa winters “may not be as cold as some”, there’s no excuse not to fill up every month at Ye Olde Gas Station. Even with $10,000 off these days, will you recover the Volt’s price difference compared to an incentivized Chevy Cruze, or similar 4-cyl machine?

You have no justification for Voltification.

Especially considering the age of your current vehicle and your tone of general indifference to owning a new car! And while the Prius is much cheaper, in New or Used terms, any $10,000-20,000 used car is a far better use of your resources.