GM CEO Dan Akerson labels the Toyota Prius as a Geek mobile he'd wouldn't be caught dead in.

Why should anyone pay a premium salary for the fraud that is "Chevy Volt"?

No spare tire? No run flat tires? Yikes. Hopefully it at least has free roadside assistance...

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Currently GM is fitting the Chevy Volt with Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max (TM) which are good low rolling resistant tires but since the Volt has no spare tire I believe GM should fit the Chevy Volt with run flat radial tires like the Goodyear Eagle NCT5(TM)

GM's OnStar is currently an option for the Chevy Volt but in my humble opinion I think it or some other kind of roadside assistance (AAA maybe?) is necessary. The Chevy Volt design still needs work.

OnStar won't work when the batteries fail....

Huh? You can't press the OnStar button if the battery is completely dead, but can certainly call them just like AAA or any other roadside assistance plan.

As stated.

, but can certainly call them just like AAA or any other roadside

Since you have a cell phone, why do you need OnStar?

I, personally, don't need OnStar nor do I have it. But, they can do things like unlock your car if it gets locked accidentally (hard to do in modern cars like my Prius) and they get notified of airbag deployment, etc. I also know people who use it to ask for restaurant recommendations and things like that. It is not worth it to me, but others disagree. Regardless, my only point was that it is not useless if your battery is dead.

So, pray tell, how does it work when your car battery is dead?

How does your cell phone work when its battery is dead?

I carry a spare, user-replaceable battery. "Not available on iToy."

You call them on the phone (800 number) just like any other roadside assistance plan.

The problem with the last several posts in this part of the thread is no one has differentiated between the HV/traction battery and the 12V battery. The Prius only allows between 40 and 80% SOC for the HV battery and the Volt is between 30 and 100 % IIRC with "mountain mode" raising the lower limit. If you run out of fuel and discharge the HV battery too far by continuing to drive on electric (like an idiot) you still have the 12V to power the Onstar stuff in the Volt.

Possibly, though this assumes the Volt's "OS" and/or management computers haven't cratered and inflicted collateral damage on ancillaries -- as often occurs.

I'd like to find out just what gas mileage a Volt makes when driven on a long trip on the Interstate at 70-80 mph.

When driven in battery mode it gets about 2 miles per kwh charge (35 miles range) In gasoline mode(Mountain mode) the Volt gets about 35 mpg

When the Volt was being test driven in Washington DC, the GM engineer who was supervising the test drive was constantly switching the Volt back and forth from EV mode to Mountain mode because the dealership did not have a battery recharger station there. While doing this low speed circuit test drive which never went over 40 mph - the Volt multiple function console was displaying 65 mpg ( on sunny saturdday in Maryland at about 68 degree fahrenheit temperature ).