I'd like to take a crack at this one, since I own a 2010 Prius and commute 39.6 round trip miles daily and my brother in law {Alan} owns a 2012 Volt and commutes ~ 64 round trip miles daily.
By driving conservatively in the Prius, my usual mpg range is between 51 and 55 mpg. Our annual road trip to Dallas this year {775 miles each way} netted just over 46 mpg. That's at 73 mph interstate and when possible following big trucks with a 1 & 1/2 second following distance, just far enough back to see the trucks mirrors.
After about a year of ownership, Alan started driving more conservatively in a sort of competition with my sister to see who could squeeze the most AER out of the Volt. In no-heater-operation weather, he manages about 52 miles AER and running the heat, range drops to as low as 25 miles on occasion.
If I drove a Volt (and excluding my road trip), I could commute about 45 weeks out of the year gas free. The worst days, I'd have to fuel the Volt (he gets right at 40 mpg of Premium gas} for maybe 15 miles of my commute. As far as the road trip, I'd drop from ~ 46 mpg of regular gas to ~40 mpg of premium gas, but that would in no way make up for the tremendous amount of money I'd save the rest of the time. Our electric rates are ~ $0.12 per kWh and I'd go through ~ $1.56 in electric daily. At present gas prices, $1.53/gallon this morning, I'd lose money compared to the Prius.
With all that said, if I needed a replacement car today, a late model used Volt would be at the very top of my list. I can't help it, the Volt is just so quick and so nice a car.
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