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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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#74 ·
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).
So you charged 2/3 of the battery in an ~8? hour hotel stay? That seems impressive. My Volt has like a 16kwh battery and takes a good 8 hours to charge from flat. Seeing as your battery is 3 times the size. I would have thought it would take double the charge time to fill 2/3 of it back up. Either way, that is good news. Able to put roughly 160 miles of range into the battery over night.
 
#75 ·
Depends on what charging you have. On a 120V 15A outlet, you may get 1 to 1.5 kW, so it will take a long time to charge a Bolt, and a Volt will still take overnight or longer.

But if you have a 240V 40A outlet with a 7 kW EVSE plugged into it, you can charge a Bolt overnight and a Volt in a couple of hours at most.
 
#81 ·
I'm just shocked to hear this.

We drove an eGolf. Honestly, as big of a fan of the MQB platform as I am, it underwhelmed me. Even my non-car enthusiast spouse said, "Is there something wrong with this?" after mashing the pedal to the floor (it had plenty of charge). The chassis didn't feel as well sorted as even a base Golf.
 
#82 · (Edited)
Couple of photos contrasting the Bolt with the other economy hatch in our fleet. The Bolt is tall enough that I have a bit of difficulty reaching the center of the roof when washing it. (I'm 5'11".)

It's very different to jump from the GTI into the Bolt. You sir far higher and it almost feels like you are nearly sitting in the middle of the car.

 
#86 ·
It's very different to jump from the GTI into the Bolt. You sir far higher and it almost feels like you are nearly sitting in the middle of the car.
felt the same way, and had the same scenario to compare against a GTI... back when we owned a Toyota Matrix.
much taller overall.
higher, more chair like seating.
felt like sitting ON the car, not IN the car.
 
#89 ·
Have one as a loaner today while the Colorado is being serviced. Since they didn't finish (or if they did, they didn't bother to call me to pick it up), I had a chance to take it on a 70 mile round trip with highway and city driving. I really like the feel of it. It accelerates quite well in the city. It is especially nice when you see an opening to pass the car in front of you and you give it all the electrons. Feels like you've engaged the warp drive since there is no engine noise normally associated with accelerating in an internal combustion vehicle.

Frankly, if GM let Cadillac, Buick or even Chevy do a sedan or coupe version of the Bolt (rather than the tall crossover hatchback thing), I would probably get one to replace our BMW wagon.

The only cons I had with it on my drive is that I won't think the rear visibility is all that good and the Carplay was a bit glitchy.




 
#90 ·
The only cons I had with it on my drive is that I won't think the rear visibility is all that good and the Carplay was a bit glitchy.
The one pictured is not a Premium, so it doesn't have the camera/mirror and the 3-D top-down view on the main screen. While the rearward visibility isn't as bad as some other cars, those features make it a total non-issue in the Premium trim models.

The infotainment glitch issue has a software update to address it, the dealer may not have applied the update yet like they should.
 
#91 ·
After having the Volt for only a few months, I want a Bolt.

Sport mode with electrons is stupid fun, wringing 40mi out of this "old" system is great, glad the Bolt is working out well for you.

In for more news/updates.

:thumbup:
 
#101 ·
Same situation here. Leased a 17 Volt in November. Was thinking about swapping my lease, but my experience with GM financial has been pretty shifty thanks to their 90's-ass website. (Took them about 3 months to get direct deposit working, for example. And I'm thinking I'd like to get back to owning my car, once I have more faith in the electric technology.

That or just fill my urge for an old Maxima or LS400.
 
#108 ·
3300 mile update.

As you might expect, thus far it's been flawless. Only things I don't like are the seats (too thin/narrow), the hard, cheapish interior plastics, and the fact that Chevy didn't go all the way with full active cruise/safety braking. That's it, though.

I modded it:



The black badges are what this car should have come with from the factory.


We've taken it on multiple short road trips, including to Vancouver BC (roughly 130mi). We've found hotels that cater to EV drivers, offering free Level 2 charging, free parking, and free wifi during your stay...which can add up to $50-60off your bill per night.

We also did the longest trip in it to date--Seattle to 11mi south of Portland, for a total of 190+ miles on one charge:


Please note the estimated remaining range: 41 miles with 191 miles covered. The EPA range is legit, folks-at least if you don't have to run the heater.

This was a mix of stop and go congestion and 60-75mph driving with the AC on the entire time. The stretch of I-5 between Seattle and Portland has some significant hills, and we weren't hypermiling it at all.

Checked out the eclipse...first photo is 10:16am; next is 10:17am



Drove home, taking advantage of one free 25min Level 3 charging session at a GM dealer. All in, we did around 550mi in one weekend.

That's the longest drive we typically make, so it's proven itself.
 
#114 ·
There is no navigation at all on this car (not available). It's Android Auto and Apple CarPlay or whatever you can muster up with your smartphone.

Best bet is to plan your trip and use a good app that aggregates all the various networks (EVgo, Chargepoint, etc.) into one app and pick a charger during your trip based on estimating your required trip range, what's on the way and not too far off your route, and you navigate there as opposed to your final destination first. After you charge up, then go to your destination.
 
#124 ·
Love the license plate. Who were the ad wizards who came up with bolt vs volt?

Does the Bolt track nicely on the highway? I feel like my Volt floats all over. Otherwise I really like its driving characteristics. Frankly it has all the power I really need per se. (Or it would, if I put tires that actually stick to the ground on it)
 
#130 ·
Love the license plate. Who were the ad wizards who came up with bolt vs volt?
Right? It's idiocy. The license plate was borne out of way too many conversations that include, "...no, with a *B*."

Does the Bolt track nicely on the highway? I feel like my Volt floats all over. Otherwise I really like its driving characteristics. Frankly it has all the power I really need per se. (Or it would, if I put tires that actually stick to the ground on it)
I haven't experienced that issue with the Bolt at all. The LRR tires squeal at the slightest bit of provocation, but they seem to track well. I wonder if the Bolt's battery pack placement has something to do with its stability.
 
#131 · (Edited)
Just over the one year mark update:

Not much to report, really. Put about 2mW of power into it via our home charger, saving us ~$250 in fuel costs. All in, we have about 6500mi on it so far.

Only persistent issue we've encountered is with the infotainment control system. It has two bad habits: 1) It likes to play the radio anytime you turn the vehicle on, which is annoying and can't be shut off (the hack is to set it to XM channel 0); and it likes to disconnect from CarPlay randomly, dropping you into FM radio. We're hoping that a recent OS update will solve for at least the latter issue.

It's been on multiple out of town trips during our first year, to Vancouver BC, the Washington coast, down into OR. We've driven as far as 191mi on a single charge and the car indicated it still had 39mi to go.

There is a definite range penalty in winter, though. Seattle-Portland would not be a zero-stop trip in the months where you are both conditioning the battery pack and running the cabin heater continuously. (A/C seems to impact range negligibly in comparison to the cabin heater.)

I'm still not thrilled with the front seat comfort--they are quite narrow and the bottom cushions are thinly padded. (Think of a domestic economy class seat and you'd be close.)

Otherwise, it's fun to drive (until the LRR tires and aggressive stability control ruin the fun), reasonably quick around town, has great visibility, and offers a lot of utility.

Showing off it’s sole ‘mod’ - black bow ties:

 
#132 ·
It's been on multiple out of town trips during our first year, to Vancouver BC, the Washington coast, down into OR. We've driven as far as 191mi on a single charge and the car indicated it still had 39mi to go.
encouraging

There is a definite range penalty in winter, though. Seattle-Portland would not be a zero-stop trip in the months where you are both conditioning the battery pack and running the cabin heater continuously. (A/C seems to impact range negligibly in comparison to the cabin heater.)
Less encouraging (but expected)



GFs moms house is about 190 away, we always took my TDIs in the past but having turned them in we usually take her sentra now (~50% better mpg than my allroad). She's thinking about something electric but trips like that are a concern. We would still have my cars so not make or break. But glad to see this real world experience come up as she is starting to consider one so I can relay it to her.
 
#134 ·
The range issue is something to think about--it's either a big deal or not depending on how many Level 3 chargers are along your typical routes. I'm a bit surprised at how few there are between Seattle and Portland; however there is one at a GM dealer that's free for GM EV owners, so that's nice.
 
#135 ·
For her daily use it would be perfect, even free level 2 I think employee charging at the place she is interviewing. And we take PA turnpike large chunk of the trip tonher mom's (where it can sit slowly charging for the weekend). Not sure if the turnpike has charges yet but I'm sure it's coming.

She seems interested in EV or nothing (keeps Sentra) hybrids aren't enough to get her to switch volt gets a meh from her. She's afraid of getting a new job and rolling in with an i3 even if a used on is 20k.. but the bolt she seems to really like.
 
#148 ·
They are narrow with firm side bolsters, so wider people may find them too confining. There is a video on the web describing how to shove extra foam into the seat bottom to raise it so that the seat is flatter (less sporty, but less confining).

For those who want more or differently shaped padding in the backrest, there is a different video on the web describing how to do that (but more difficult and time consuming than shoving the foam in the seat bottom).
 
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