Welcome to the forum, @sunflower100 — and congrats on the Volt!
What you’ve described — the uneventful part of the commute — is exactly what this car does so well! No range anxiety, no thinking/switching on the driver’s behalf. Just seamless, efficient transportation. Now, to answer some of your questions:
– As far as I know, the system will default to using the cell phone over OnStar. Try pressing the “phone” button on the mirror to make a call using the built-in OnStar cell. Or un-pair your phone.
– I’m not familiar with your region first-hand, but I’d get the 240 charger asap. It makes the charging process that much faster and more enjoyable.
– I wouldn’t be of much help in regards to the TOU metering, but I wonder if SDGE would charge you for installing the second meter, though.
– The hood should latch after being “let go” from about 6-8 inches in the air. Weird that it wouldn’t for you… perhaps it was a one-time thing? I’d give it another try.
– Download the OnStar RemoteLink app from the Apple App Store (I’m assuming you’re using the iPhone). It gives you info about the volt (range, charge status, trip A/B information, oil life, etc.) as well as the ability to remote-start, lock/unlock doors, and to activate horn/lights. The app also gives you the ability to send a destination to the car from the phone (lookup or address book destination) and have the route guidance start automatically when you start the Volt.
Here’s some more info:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/08/onstar-adds-navigation-component-to-remotelink-app/
The RemoteLink app is all you need. There’s also the MyVolt website that I personally haven’t used, but it just replicates what’s available on the app.
– The high-pitched whine is definitely not normal. I’d have that checked out asap.
PS: oh man — those dealer quotes are awesome! I recently heard this one, albeit not from a dealer: “You can’t even put a gun rack into the Volt.” I’m sure you know the source of that one
:))
