AP Photo

This is actually not as bad as I feared when Jack Shafer pointed me toward Niedermeyer's blast. Looks like a Prius? Meh. Requires premium gasoline? The whole point is that it doesn't use much gasoline in the first place (no one buys a Volt if they do a lot of long-distance driving), so meh again. Seats four people? That's a drawback, but not a big one for most people. And although headroom and legroom are indeed a bit less than the Cruze, reviewers mostly seem to think it's pretty adequate.

That leaves that $41,000 price tag. Which comes down to maybe $34,000 after the federal rebate and perhaps a bit less if your state also offers a rebate. Either way, it's still a whole lot more than $17,000,...