3 weeks in, My review

[rklisch]

I'll keep it brief. Bottom line for my purchase is that it is the only long range affordable car right now. Let's face it. So what is there to compare to? I suppose a model 3 waiting in the wings. 5 years from now I surely would explore all the great options out there I know are coming. But I was ready for this as my Volt lease ended.

What I like:
Smooth, quiet, and zippy ride.
Love the regen features of the L drive and regen paddle. Do I even need brakes again?
Long range or course, and the fast DC charge
The visibility is awesome. I like higher sitting cars (sorry Tesla)
It is a good utility vehicle with the hatch and storage. They provide a rear hitch I plan to get for our bicycles. Perfect!
I ended up getting the full version, so all the lane detect, crash avoidance, cameras and so on are nice.
The entertainment system is good, although I presume any new car matches this these days.
It has some good instrumentation to monitor performance, but lacks some. See below.

What bothers me a bit:
While the handling is nice, one does feel the road bumps more. I suppose the nature of a small car, but maybe those low profile tires?
No garage door opener? I was shocked. How much can that cost?
Seats are manual, but I'm fine with that. Just that when you spend sooo much...
The utility upside is gets cancelled with the loss of sleekness. Parked next to the Volt, it is higher and short, maybe narrower. I sort of feel the
Volt is more car. Probably heavier since it's larger and the ICE. Volt still has utility, but visibility not so good. Volt just feels a bit more solid.
OK, big beef, they have this battery conditioning feature which I hope is useful. Is it under kind of national secrecy? Why can't they let us know
what it's doing? Show us the battery pack temperature. Allow us to set this temperature ourselves when charging so in the morning after a
-10 night the pack is at normal temp and hence normal range. Now that would be a seller, right? I can't seem to find much info when
searching.

Perhaps I will review again in months ahead. I do think we need a battery chemistry, or/and climate control to get more out of these cars in the cold on a MN winter.

Roger

 

[winterescape]

Nice review, interesting comparison to your Volt.
I too would like a temp display on the App, Car ambient temp, Battery pack temp, battery conditioning status, & power used over the last 24 hours? I agree with most of your likes / dislikes except the "road bumps" dislike. I prefer the Bolt suspension / tire tuning over my prior vehicle.

I might add that we have had some very slick roads the past couple of weeks, I am pleasantly surprised at how well the Bolt does with stock all season tires in snow / ice covered roads.

 

[scooter123]

Upgrade to Nokian WRG3's and your car will handle like a corvette.

 

[robbertPatrison]

What I like:
...
What bothers me a bit:
While the handling is nice, one does feel the road bumps more. I suppose the nature of a small car, but maybe those low profile tires?
OK, big beef, they have this battery conditioning feature which I hope is useful. Is it under kind of national secrecy? Why can't they let us know
what it's doing? Show us the battery pack temperature. Allow us to set this temperature ourselves when charging so in the morning after a
-10 night the pack is at normal temp and hence normal range. Now that would be a seller, right? I can't seem to find much info when
searching.

I agree with your list. After 4 months of ownership I love all the aspects mentioned: visibility, zippiness and large infotainment with CarPlay.

The bouncy ride is the main thing that bothers me as well. Every bump in the road shakes the occupants in all 3 dimensions, sometimes violently. My suspicion is that it is mainly due to the short wheelbase and smaller width in combination with the much higher seating position. And the primitive torsion bar rear suspension doesn't help either. More comfortable (but less energy efficient) tires might improve the ride.

Pre-heating the battery pack only helps a little in cold weather. You might try to use departure time based charging such that the charging stopped just before you leave. In that way the waste heat of the charging process heats battery a little. The bulk of the energy goes towards the 7.5kW cabin heater.

 

[rklisch]

Upgrade to Nokian WRG3's and your car will handle like a corvette.

That much difference? I'll wait until mine are worn and try. I'm ok losing some efficiency to get a smoother ride.

 

[EldRick]

Upgrade to Nokian WRG3's and your car will handle like a corvette.

No, it won't. It will handle like a short wheelbase car with tires that are stickier than the suspension is comfortable with. It will be just as stiff on bumps, and the body will still move around too much on the wheels when braking or cornering.

Will it be improved? Yes, but it's handling will still be a long way from that of any sports car.

 

[mchapmon]

I haven't had mine a week yet, but I am really liking the heated steering wheel.

I've been using the regen paddle on the steering wheel for the last couple days and I like it alot, but I tried the L position on this mornings commute. Wow, it's awesome! I only used the brake pedal once, out of force of habit.

I hope I don't wreck one of my other vehicles when I get back in one of them because I momentarily forget to use the brakes.

Now, if I could just program the car to unlock when I walk up to it, like my Prius did. So much to learn.

 

[IMAdolt]

Now, if I could just program the car to unlock when I walk up to it, like my Prius did. So much to learn.

You can through the infotainment centre, there are various ways to set up the fob/locking feature the vehicle personalization section, check your manual.

 

[EVHOO]

I occasionally drive my wife's BOLT, and I find that I can take trips through town, with 10 to 15 traffic lights, and by using the paddle, never use the foot brake. Like a previous poster, I do worry a bit that I will get in my Honda CRV, and be trying to use a paddle that's not there.

 

[BoltEV]

I occasionally drive my wife's BOLT, and I find that I can take trips through town, with 10 to 15 traffic lights, and by using the paddle, never use the foot brake. Like a previous poster, I do worry a bit that I will get in my Honda CRV, and be trying to use a paddle that's not there.

I occasionally drive in my Chrysler Sebring, hardtop convertible and i find that I can take trips on the freeways and do gas saving gestures that I learned from driving my Chevy Volt and now Bolt. I do worry a bit that I will get in this car and subconsciously drive in the HOV lane as a single occupant! hahahaha