My friend picked up his new Chevy Volt today.

[Cestode]

29. Here is the math.

The Volt: MSRP $31,645
MPG: 60
* Estimating MPG with this car is tricky, 60 is an approximation
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/11/chevy-volt-gets-equivalent-of-93-mpg-but/

The Cruze ECO: $19,500
MPG: 42

Difference in price between these two vehicles is $12,145

Lets assume gas costs 4$/gal
* I know prices won't stay at $4/gal over the years, which will work to the Volt's advantage,
However, the Volt requires premium fuel, which (in Canada is 15 cents more / Litre !!) more than makes up for it.

Driving 15000 miles in a year will cost a Volt owner $1000.00 (@ 60mpg)
The same amount of driving will cost a Cruze Eco owner $1428.60 (@ 42mpg)
This means the Volt owner, compared to the Cruze Eco's owner, saves $428.60/yr in fuel.

The Volt owner payed $12,145 more for his/her car so they would need to own the car (@15000 miles/yr)
for (12,145 / 428.60 = 28) Twenty Eight years in order to break even. Wow, that seems high.
Now this is all assuming 60mpg, which as I mentioned, is not easy to estimate with this car.

Chevrolet and the auto market are moving in the right direction with these cars. The prices of hybrids are dropping all across the board, making them more economically viable for the average buyer (example, the Inisght and Prius C). Unfortunately, the Volt is a bit of a beast in terms of cost and if you are looking to 'save' money, this is definitely the wrong car.