![\"Detroit](\"http:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/c25c4abd3713afd6006fe511abcc3bb206804c41\/c=198-0-1825-1224&r=x513&c=680x510\/local\/-\/media\/2015\/10\/13\/DetroitNews\/DetroitNews\/635803360229471378-1b-Volt-payne.jpg\")
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I love car niche wars.<\/p>\n
Pickup wars, sports-car stand-offs, pony-car clashes. They are the automotive equivalent of division sports rivalries: Big Ten football, NBA East, AL Central.<\/p>\n
Lock the owners of a Ford F-150, RAM 1500, and Chevy Silverado in a room together and they may not come out alive. Invite the proud owners of a Chevy Corvette, Porsche 911 and Dodge Viper over for dinner and feel the temperature drop 20 degrees. Ask a bar-full of Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger drivers which is king and watch the stools fly. Typical niche owner conversation:<\/p>\n
\u201cMustangs suck!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCamaros are pieces of junk!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy grandmother\u2019s walker corners faster than a Challenger!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In the last decade a new niche scuffle has broken out in Autodom: The Green Wars featuring the Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.<\/p>\n Fans of these battery-powered gizmos, however, are a different lot. Contrary to the testosterone-fueled, brawling niches I\u2019m used to, these folks are more likely to share wine and hummus while complimenting each other on saving the planet. Typical green niche owner conversation:<\/p>\n \u201cCan I go for a ride in your Volt?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy first car was a Prius, too!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAl Gore autographed my Leaf!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Car manufacturers are horrified at this civility. Especially in a market where the Prius family outsells Volt and Leaf combined nearly 5-to-1. Time to take the gloves off. Or at least the mittens. With the all-new 2016 Chevy Volt, General Motors is coming out swinging with an ad campaign featuring real folks dissing the competition.<\/p>\n The campaign rightly touts the lithium-ion powered, plug-in Volt as the highest-tech, most practical green solution on the lot. Want a nickel-metal hydride-powered, gas-sucking Prius hybrid? Chevy scoffs that you must still listen to CDs and correspond by fax. Want a pure electric, 83-mile range Leaf? Hello, range anxiety.<\/p>\n Chevy\u2019s bold campaign finally explains to the public the Volt difference. An admitted late-comer to the green battlefield, GM had a lot of ground to make up on Prius \u2014 so its Volt solution was necessarily brilliant: An EV with range-extending gas engine.<\/p>\n Despite enormous expectations and the blessing of electric-car-skeptic, car-guy-legend Bob Lutz, however, the Volt hit the ground plodding. Its car shell was a miscalculation at a time when the market was crossing to crossovers. What\u2019s more, its styling caused an epidemic of yawns, the cabin-splitting battery limited seating to four, and it stickered at $40,000.<\/p>\n Cough. A $40K Chevy compact?<\/p>\n But an extended drive through Marin County north of San (AKA Greenville) Francisco in the Gen-two Volt is a reminder of plug-ins\u2019 ingenuity. With its T-shaped battery driving twin-motors up front, my torque-y, silver-metallic Volt took off up California Route 1 on full electric power like a Leaf or Tesla.<\/p>\n Unlike other EVs, however, I didn\u2019t sweat the trip\u2019s mileage or check if there was a supercharger en route. Whenever my 18.4-kilowatt-hour battery ran out of charge, the 1.5-liter gas engine \u2014 er, range extender \u2014 would kick in ensuring another 240 miles and Big Oil\u2019s limitless infrastructure should I need more gas.<\/p>\n Green meets practical. Is \u201cgreenical\u201d a word?<\/p>\n