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See & Be Seen drives Chevy Volt to events

PITTSBURGH,None — The Chevrolet Volt is one of the most talked about cars on the road this year.

Jim Crivelli Chevrolet in McKees Rocks gave us the opportunity to try the car out for one week and take it to all of our See & Be Seen events.  How fun!

Before our week-long trial, mechanic and Volt specialist Jeff Brubaker got us plugged in on the cool car.

“Basically, it’s an electric car. It has a gas engine, but the gas engine will only start when the battery is depleted,” said Brubaker.

The Volt comes standard with a portable 120-volt charger that you plug into the wall and connect to the car.

“On a full charge and around Pittsburgh with all of the hills, running the air conditioning or heating, you’ll get about 31 miles on electric. Most people travel seven to ten miles to work, so you can go almost two days and the gas engine will never start. If you choose to always run it on electric, and charge it every night, you’ll never have the gas engine start,” said Brubaker.

Jeff was right. We took the Volt:

• 15 miles to and from the 50 Finest’s Little Black Dress Party at Villa on the South Side

• 10 miles to and from Light Up Night in downtown Pittsburgh

• 16 miles to and from the Penguins Pond on the South Side

• 18 miles to and from a holiday party at Bakery Square in East Liberty

• 10 miles to and from a Santa event at Ross Park Mall

We charged the car every night in between events and never dipped into the 12-gallon tank of gas.

While saving money on gas, we also enjoyed the smooth and super quiet ride and cool features like the rear camera.

A fully loaded Chevy Volt will cost you about $44,000 before the $7,500 federal tax credit. The retail price starts at about $40,000.

We enjoyed driving the Volt for a week. If you think you'd enjoy the car, it's actually available at Jim Crivelli Chevrolet. For more information, visit  Jim Crivelli.com.