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Jay Leno admired the Volt long before he actually owned one. (Jay Leno's Garage photo)


When I visited Jay Leno's set in Los Angeles, the famous 1955 Buick
Roadmaster (the car he courted his wife with) was parked in his private parking
spot. But now it's back at the Big Dog Garage, because Jay has a new love: the
Chevy Volt.


The $41,000 Volt, whose gas engine is mostly there to act as
a generator for the electric motor, is a bold departure for General Motors, and
it's finally gone beyond the talking stage to deliveries around the country.
Jeff Kaffee, a retired airline pilot and the first customer to take delivery,
was overwhelmed by TV camera crews, some from as far away as Japan. "I never
thought I'd be participating in the rollout," he told me. "It was a thrill."
Kaffee trained on 757s, and he says the Volt's cockpit reminds him of the
driver's seat in big-league planes.


Obviously, Leno took delivery in a blaze of cameras, too. Since
picking up his Volt at Rydell Chevrolet in Northridge, California late last
week, he told me he's been spending as much time as he can behind the wheel,
covering 248 miles in commutes to the studio as of Tuesday afternoon. And he's
wildly enthusiastic.


"I'm impressed from a quality point of view," Leno said in a
telephone interview. "I had a club date that was 60 miles away the other night,
and the car just switched to gas when the electric was depleted, with no range
anxiety, no problems -- the Volt just becomes a regular car, without any
compromises. I really like the regenerative braking, too."

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Jay Leno Loves His New Chevrolet Volt was originally published by thedailygreen.com blog post feed. Read the full story by clicking here.