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The Gross Polluter is gone, and we are embracing our electrified future. (Bolt content within...)

11K views 148 replies 51 participants last post by  AZGolf 
#1 · (Edited)
Our 2012 TDI went back to the dealer last week. I present its replacement, a 2017 Chevy Bolt Premier:



We knew that an higher range EV made a ton of sense for a TDI replacement. Although we had also placed a deposit on a Model 3, Tesla's history of not delivering vehicles on time pushed us in the direction of the Bolt.

This car has both packages (infotainment and driver confidence). It's an interesting combination of a lot of nice features (wireless phone charging pocket, 4 heated seats, auto high beam, LTE hotspot) and some economy car interior materials (hard plastics on the door panels, etc). The steering wheel is nicely chunky, and the controls overall are very well designed.

The dash displays are very bright and easy to read, although entirely different than those offered in any other GM product. The IP display is very configurable, which is nice, and gives you a lot of information in real time about your range/regen/use depending on mode.



The driving experience is surprisingly good. It's quick (200hp/266 lb-ft of tq) and you never feel like it's out of breath even when 4 up. It handles surprisingly well, with the low center of gravity counteracting the tall profile. The ride is quite well judged, taught but never harsh like our old 2004 Prius was, and it disguises the relatively hefty weight well (3650lbs).

Interior packaging is excellent. There is plenty of room for 4 adults (it's far better than my Mk7 GTI in that respect), and the battery bump under the rear seat means you have theatre seating which is nice. There is more cargo room than I expected; there is a false floor that has about another 10-12" of space beneath (no spare tire though). Visibility is excellent overall, even to the rear which surprised me.

My only quibble is the comfort of the front seats. They are a space and weight saving design, which means they feel like a 'thin pad' coach seat on a domestic airline. Fine for short trips, but I found myself shifting around a bit after 2+ hours.

The big question: What about range? Is 238mi realistic? Well, we took it to Vancouver BC a couple of weekends ago, which is ~145mi from our house. On the drive up, we didn't use a lot of HVAC (nice day) and didn't hit any bad wind or weather. Even with a 30min wait at the border crossing, we arrived in Vancouver with 80mi range left; not bad given we were doing 70+ most of the way up with a bit of stop and go. On the way home, we had a stiff headwind, rain, were using HVAC/seat heaters/wipers/radio/lights, and doing 75+mph most of the way as we were a bit pressed for time. We also hit nasty stop and go traffic twice. We arrived home with just over 35mi of range left. That's without a charging stop up or back (but charging overnight at the hotel).

In daily use, it's been fine. You could go a week without charging if you wanted. We installed a JuiceBox EVSE at home for relatively quick charging.

My biggest issue is with the current DC Fast Charging infrastructure. It's meager at best, even in the EV-loving Pacific Northwest, and there are too many standards currently. This is where Tesla truly wins at the moment. But given this car's typical remit, we'll be fine with it for now.

Overall, I'm very impressed.
 
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#14 ·
LOL. The battery pack and EV electronics were designed in conjunction with LG, which is one of the largest manufacturers of packs in the world. They also drew heavily upon the EV system in the Volt when designing this system, and those cars have proven very reliable in service overall. This has less overall complexity (no gas genset) so I'm hoping we won't see many issues.

RE: The logo--I haven't looked at that...yet. :D
 
#10 ·
Awesome review and great write-up! I am very excited for this to come to the Phoenix market later this year. It would make an excellent HOV commuter for me if it leases out pretty well. :thumbup:
 
#20 ·
I present its replacement, a 2017 Chevy Bolt Premier
Congratulations!! I was wondering who was going to be the first on here - though not officially available for me yet, there's a dealer in the next state who will order me one. I just have been busy traveling. Part of that travel was in Los Angeles, and I rented one for 3 hours from GM's Maven service (which is pretty much just like ZipCar). Absolutely love it, and like you I will cancel my Model 3 reservation/deposit as soon as I order a Bolt. Not because I don't believe in the Model 3, but because if I get the Bolt I wouldn't plan to replace it in the near future. The Bolt was a fantastic drive, the user interface was good, and it just felt overall really great. The 'hard plastic' trope is a non-issue once you shut the doors and actually drive. In the next couple of weeks I may be back there and plan to take one on a drive through the Angeles Crest mountains :laugh:

I see you've discovered that the display backgrounds can be permanently set to 'dark mode' :thumbup: One photo request, if possible: can you post a pic of (4?) standard rollaboard bags in the back with the seats *not* folded? I think if they're standing upright and facing sideways that 4 will fit.
 
#28 ·
I see you've discovered that the display backgrounds can be permanently set to 'dark mode' :thumbup: One photo request, if possible: can you post a pic of (4?) standard rollaboard bags in the back with the seats *not* folded? I think if they're standing upright and facing sideways that 4 will fit.
Yep. My other half is a UX dev by training, and the 'dark mode' was the only option that was deemed acceptable. :D

We don't have four rollaboard bags, but I'll see what I can do on demoing luggage for you.
 
#30 · (Edited)
My partner got one two months ago in the same color, Premier, and nearly all options. Out the door MSRP (nobody is discounting this car unless it's on the dealer's lot in one of the more polarizing colors like orange) plus taxes and fees, etc. = $50K. (EDIT: this also includes an extended warranty, but don't forget then from that $50K you can start subtracting federal and state tax credits.)

I'm giving GM points for a generally well executed product that feels like an imported brand's product (for the most part) from a driving dynamics standpoint.

Our favorite feature is the 360-degree view on the infotainment when the rear camera is on. It's just awesome. Wish all cars had that.

Ride and handling are very good overall with my ride gripe being that despite being slightly nose-heavy on paper (it's still not a 50/50 weight distribution), it actually feels like there's people sitting in the back and a full load in the trunk *all the time*. The back end seems a tad under-damped and so the car has a slight fore-aft rocking see-saw motion over bumps that is more perceptible than other cars do as if there is an imaginary axis running through halfway up both B-pillars around which the car rocks. GM can probably can put stiffer shocks in back.

As for defects, the infotainment has occasionally froze on startup and unless it dumps and reboots after a few minutes on its own, the only way to get it going again is to stop the car, turn the car off, and open the driver's door (which is the only way to fully kill power to the infotainment AFAIK). The infotainment also is not as responsive as it could be (for example, we have a lot of trouble having our softkey-press on "return to Chevrolet" from inside Android Auto to respond). The driver's sunvisor clip also feels like it's about to break and come out (whereas the passenger one is solid).

We got the light interior (I forget what it's called) and the biggest issue there is the carpets and carpeted mats are also just as light. BIG mistake on GM's part - need to have black carpets. The first step in at the dealer left awful footprints everywhere. Definitely get the optional rubber black mats. Even so, the front mats are stupid-short (they are almost square like a rear mat) and need to go farther up into the footwell towards the firewall, but they help a lot.

We understand the cost-cutting on the inside that enabled GM to get a robust battery and range while keeping the price down, but yet they have odd ways of doing it. Despite being the Premier model, the front seats are entirely manual, have flimsy-feeling levers, and no extra adjustable lumbar support. No Homelink mirror available at all either, which is odd given that this car seems to otherwise be an electronic tech showcase. Yet they go and make the mirror have an optional display that uses the rear camera to give a panoramic view of what is behind you - go figure. It's sort of a cool feature but not that necessary either and we would rather just have had a self-dimming mirror with Homelink. Heated seats all around I guess are nice, but I would have made the rear one a standalone option (how many people really have rear passengers enough to really warrant it?). I would also like to have seen the infotainment have Mirrorlink (don't other GMs have it?) to try out (it does have AA and Carplay though).

Driving-wise the dual-modes are handy, but I don't understand why I can't switch from L (largely one-pedal driving) to D (like a normal car). IIRC I can go from L to D but not D to L without going past D to N first and then back into D. Seems rather dangerous actually.

We are also finding that around town, L is the way to go not only for the one-pedal driving, but the regeneration is so good that we run a few errands around town and arrive home with an indicated full battery again. When it comes to range, it's freeway driving w/o much regeneration opportunities that drink up the juice, but around town the thing is nearly 100% self sufficient.

All in all we love it, but it does have some quirks as to the functionality and features that make us scratch our heads as to why GM did what they did.
 
#31 ·
My only quibble is the comfort of the front seats. They are a space and weight saving design, which means they feel like a 'thin pad' coach seat on a domestic airline. Fine for short trips, but I found myself shifting around a bit after 2+ hours.
There is this thread on a Bolt-specific forum about adding more padding under the original padding to raise the middle of the seat bottom, making it less sporty but less bothersome for people who may not fit as well between the side bolsters: http://www.mychevybolt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6157
 
#33 ·
We dipped our toes in the EV waters with a used 2015 Nissan LEAF. It has been fantastic over the 3,000 miles we have put on it since December 15. The silent torque is just hard to describe or believe until you experience it. My wife drives it on her daily commute of 11 miles round trip. Obviously no issues with range. I really like the Bolt and am anxiously awaiting a chance to drive one. A Bolt and a LEAF would be a great garage for us. Please do updates as time and miles go by.:thumbup:
 
#40 ·
I really want to drive one of these, however, there aren't any around me yet. Having had a taste of electric propulsion in our Lincoln, I am really intrigued by going all electric with my daily driver, however, I am not sure if I am quite ready to give up my Focus to do it. Perhaps in a few years.
 
#61 ·
Like ~125 means nothing.

I'm a fan of the Golf, but c'mon. That's night and frickin' day.

I'm sure my next vehicle will be electric, 2020 will probably have some interesting options, and possibly 2nd generation developments in cell-tech trickling into consumers' hands.
 
#62 ·
Congrats on the Bolt and don't forget to sign the EV registry. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...ic-Vehicle-Registry!/page8&highlight=registry

Of course we're getting into springtime now, but I'll be very interested to see what kind of range penalty there is for the Bolt in winter. The Focus loses about 25 miles in slightly below freezing temps. Will the Bolt also lose about that many miles, or will it be a similar percentage (~35%) instead?
 
#72 ·
Of course we're getting into springtime now, but I'll be very interested to see what kind of range penalty there is for the Bolt in winter. The Focus loses about 25 miles in slightly below freezing temps. Will the Bolt also lose about that many miles, or will it be a similar percentage (~35%) instead?
Probably the amount lost depends on whether you use the heater or are fine with the heated seats.
 
#71 ·
California has a law on the books which states that if an automaker sells 60,000 or more cars in California in a year, a certain percentage of them must be classified as clean air cars, which can be hydrogen, full electric, or EREV like the Prius Prime or Chevy Volt. All automakers selling over 60,000/year in California must comply, thus automakers who only sell the minimum number of electric cars per year in California are considered makers of only compliance cars. That's always the tip-off: if the car is only sold in California, it's only being sold for legal compliance. Honda's FCV and Fit EV are great examples as purely compliance cars. Toyota's RAV4 EV was the same, as is the case with many others.
 
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