Ioniq vs Bolt: 124 miles or $9,280?

[oilerlord]

Now that pricing is out on the Ioniq Electric, I thought it would be interesting to get opinions based on a range vs MSRP perspective. A lot of us are still driving / making do with 80 mile cars.

Hyundai Ioniq Electric Limited (EPA Range: 124 miles / $32,500):

Chevy Bolt EV Premier (EPA Range: 238 miles / $41,780)

Do you grab the $9,280 savings and settle for 124 miles, or pony up the extra bucks for 238 miles?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Obviously it depends on your range needs. I'd be fine with 124 miles, and could even be ok with the current Leaf's 107 miles. What I don't like about the Ioniq, apart from it not being in showrooms here, is that it seems to be so bland: modest power, average handling, average ride. Still, if the seats are comfortable and you don't need more range or power, the Ioniq is clearly the better buy.

 

[phil0909]

Obviously it depends on your range needs.

Agree. The Bolt has enough range to last me all day, every day. The Ioniq would often need daytime recharging. Life is too short for range anxiety and twice-a-day charges. I would not consider Ioniq. I also agree the Bolt is much peppier and more fun to drive; range and cost are not the only important considerations. Ioniq is prettier, but that does me no good.

 

[SparkE]

I've been to the local Hyundai dealer (San Jose, CA) and they still don't have an electric available - they push me at the hybrid. So I tease : "Oh, great, you have the plug-in hybrid? Let's go for a test drive!". And I get the hang-dog "Oh, no ..... that's not available until next year."

(Yes, I can be mean.)

I have sat in the Ioniq hybrid, and it is rather nicely appointed. I would NOT call it "econobox quality or finish". I don't know if the EV will be similar or not.

Since I can't get one (yet), it doesn't much matter to me (for the moment).

What *I* will probably do is :

- buy a low-mileage 2013 LEAF with good batteries (for about $7500) in the next 12 months (just before I return my Spark).
- replace my ICE with a plug-in hybrid at some point (over the next 2-3 years)
- wait and see how all the different "over 115 mile" EVs shake out over the next few years : comfort, reliability, battery life, price-off-lease and buy a used one at some point over the next 3-6 years.

I want a plug-in hybrid with 30+ miles of EV range, and one that has low pollution when using the gasoline engine (NOT a high-polluting Range EXtender). High mpgE would be a plus. The plug-in for the person driving up-to-25 miles "around town" that day (OR longer highway trips), and the LEAF for the person driving 25-80 miles in the day.

I'd get a longer-range EV (120-160 miles) simply to make the EV the car of choice for up-to-90-minute trips (say, within the SF Bay Area, or down to Carmel and back). I'd be able to make a round-trip almost anywhere within the bay without having to charge before getting home (excepting the extreme northern counties) - and a single DCFC stop would get me anywhere and back. That is not the case with my 80mile-range EV today - I go up to SFO and Oakland in the EV, but only go further when going to spots I *know* and have multiple, over-lapping charging options (like the sister living near Martinez, who has over 10 (severely under-used) ChargePoint stations within 3 miles of her house, and multiple DCFCs along the route to/from). A range of 120+ would make those trips *completely* stress free, instead of *generally* stress-free.

 

[hodad66]

114 is not that much better than what has been available for some time.
Love my Bolt!!

 

[SparkE]

If I generally drove 100 miles a day (2000/mo), I'd get the Ioniq EV in a flash - on the "Unlimited+" lease (or whatever they call it). $275/mo, unlimited miles, maintenance wear items covered (tires, brakes) and electrical reimbursed (for the first 50K miles).

 

[SparkE]

114 is not that much better than what has been available for some time.
Love my Bolt!!

I think 114 is a typo - it should be 124.

And the question is valid : $37,500 (before rebates/taxcut) for 240 miles, or $29,500 for 125 miles? It may be 'not much better' than what was available 2-3 years ago, but still : 80-90 miles for $32-33k, or 124 miles for $29,500 ....

I will probably end up with the Ioniq + a plug-in. The few times a year I'd drive > 120 miles (once a month?) we'd take the low-polluting hybrid. Most of the time we'd have two EVs, running electric all the time.

Personally, I think that 124 miles is a LOT better than 84 miles - it's 40 more miles of 'stress free' driving. If you are comfortable getting the battery reserve down to 20 miles, than it is 104 miles compared to 64 miles. - *almost* 70% more stress free range.

 

[drdiesel1]

Now that pricing is out on the Ioniq Electric, I thought it would be interesting to get opinions based on a range vs MSRP perspective. A lot of us are still driving / making do with 80 mile cars.

Hyundai Ioniq Electric Limited (EPA Range: 124 miles / $32,500):

Chevy Bolt EV Premier (EPA Range: 238 miles / $41,780)

Do you grab the $9,280 savings and settle for 124 miles, or pony up the extra bucks for 238 miles?

Don't forget about the loss of 82 horsepower too :mrgreen: Not to mention the loss of 100 plus miles :roll:

 

[SparkE]

Do you grab the $9,280 savings and settle for 124 miles, or pony up the extra bucks for 238 miles?

Don't forget about the loss of 82 horsepower too :mrgreen: Not to mention the loss of 100 plus miles :roll:

Well, he already mentioned the loss of 100 miles of range. And two other people mentioned the modest power and average handling.

So what is your opinion - would those two things (range, acceleration) enough for you to pay almost $9,000 more? (I think the question is academic in your case, as you already have a Bolt, right?)

 

[LeftieBiker]

What *I* will probably do is :

- buy a low-mileage 2013 LEAF with good batteries (for about $7500) in the next 12 months (just before I return my Spark).

OT, but mine has 16k miles on it, a few scratches and gouges on the nose, but otherwise looks and rides great. It has about 87% remaining capacity. I might, depending on NMAC buyout offers, be willing to sell it for $7k, leaving you $500 to ship it, if my friend in Delaware doesn't buy it first.

On-Topic: I wish to heck they'd get the Ioniq up here to at least test drive. Are Nissan and Tesla the only manufacturers who ever hold test drive tours...?

 

[oilerlord]

I think 114 is a typo - it should be 124.

And the question is valid : $37,500 (before rebates/taxcut) for 240 miles, or $29,500 for 125 miles? It may be 'not much better' than what was available 2-3 years ago, but still : 80-90 miles for $32-33k, or 124 miles for $29,500 ....

I will probably end up with the Ioniq + a plug-in. The few times a year I'd drive > 120 miles (once a month?) we'd take the low-polluting hybrid. Most of the time we'd have two EVs, running electric all the time.

Personally, I think that 124 miles is a LOT better than 84 miles - it's 40 more miles of 'stress free' driving. If you are comfortable getting the battery reserve down to 20 miles, than it is 104 miles compared to 64 miles. - *almost* 70% more stress free range.

I apologize for the confusing title...it wasn't a typo but I should have wrote 114 (more) miles. The Ioniq Electric is rated at 124 EPA miles. Spending another $9K gets you another 114 more miles of range for a total of 238 with the Bolt.

I haven't had "range anxiety" with my EV per se, but have had a few occasions (mostly in winter) where the time window was too short to charge the car and head out again. Even with the Bolt's 238 mile range; it still isn't quite enough for me to consider the Bolt a car I'd want to take on a road trip - but the lack of DCFC stations in my area plays a part in that too.

For these reasons, I'd take the $9K savings and "settle" for a car with 124 miles of range.

 

[SparkE]

I won't be buying for quite a while (prob beginning of next year), so I will pass on the LEAF. There are many, many currently around SF (over a hundred) - and I expect the price to drop a bunch when the new LEAF ships. (I expect a glut of LEAFs as well, due to Nissan's recent program allowing current lease-holders to extend their LEAF lease at the same rate with no extra fees {sometimes at lower cost} in order to keep them 'in the fold' for the Gen2 LEAF. A *bunch* of LEAFs should hit the market, all at once, in late 2017/early 2018.)

Concerning the Ioniq EV - Hyundai has been blowing it big time. They have been talking about it, getting articles published right and left ... and no product. The EV is ONLY available in CA for now - and currently only present in the L.A. area. The hybrid is available across the country (so they say), and the plug-in won't even be available until 2018.

Rumors are circulating that the 2018 Ioniq EV will have a range greater than 125 miles - or at least an option to get greater range (unclear at the moment - all we have are rumors).

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I would take the extra 114 miles for $9,280. It's the difference between a local car (which my degraded-battery 60-mile Leaf already pretty much covers) and an inter-city regional car. I drive 250-300 miles one-way about twice a month. A Bolt can do that with a quick pit stop at a DCQC in Albany each way. The Ioniq won't even get me to Albany.

 

[oilerlord]

I would take the extra 114 miles for $9,280. It's the difference between a local car (which my degraded-battery 60-mile Leaf already pretty much covers) and an inter-city regional car. I drive 250-300 miles one-way about twice a month. A Bolt can do that with a quick pit stop at a DCQC in Albany each way. The Ioniq won't even get me to Albany.

That's a lot of miles.

If I was in your shoes (and wanted one car that does it all), I'd probably do what Michael did and opt for a Volt. The Bolt is a 238 mile car, but not in a New York winter. I get you have access DCFC, but I don't necessarily refer to it as "quick" when you compare filling up a gas tank in 3 minutes or less. DCFC isn't that cheap either...another guy quoted EVGO at 12 bucks for 40 miles of range.

That said, I'm sure you'd make it work as "GetOffYourGas" is no doubt worth the small sacrifices for you to achieve it.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

The range is a difference - and the interior space is another important difference.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

I would take the extra 114 miles for $9,280. It's the difference between a local car (which my degraded-battery 60-mile Leaf already pretty much covers) and an inter-city regional car. I drive 250-300 miles one-way about twice a month. A Bolt can do that with a quick pit stop at a DCQC in Albany each way. The Ioniq won't even get me to Albany.

That's a lot of miles.

If I was in your shoes (and wanted one car that does it all), I'd probably do what Michael did and opt for a Volt. The Bolt is a 238 mile car, but not in a New York winter. I get you have access DCFC, but I don't necessarily refer to it as "quick" when you compare filling up a gas tank in 3 minutes or less. DCFC isn't that cheap either...another guy quoted EVGO at 12 bucks for 40 miles of range.

That said, I'm sure you'd make it work as "GetOffYourGas" is no doubt worth the small sacrifices for you to achieve it.

Yes, it's a lot of miles. My wife and I both have short commutes, so our driving really is "bipolar" - either really short or really long. In the end, it evens out to about a typical number of miles per year.

As much as I love the Volt, it is too small for my family of 4. That's why I have a CMax Energi instead. My wife's commute is less than 5 miles round-trip, which is well within the Energi's range. So for us it is almost as electric as a Volt would be.

My long-term goal is to get off gas completely. But it is going in stages. Right now we are 100% electric for our commutes / local errands. When we go farther, the CMax operates as an efficient hybrid. As a bonus, our local driving near the destination is also electric.

The Leaf was a nice experiment, and I have learned a ton from owning it. But it wreaks of first-generation quirks. As a car, it's not quite "there" yet, but the Bolt sure seems to be. I hope to soon replace the Leaf with a longer-range EV that can handle the above trips in fair weather. You are right, I wouldn't want to travel 300 miles in a New York winter with a Bolt. But a New York summer? No problem. By replacing the Leaf, a Bolt would allow for some - not all - of our trips to be electric. The CMax will still do the winter drives.

My end game is to let the CMax run its course (it's a 2015 model, I'm hoping it lasts 10+ years, with no plans to replace it until it needs replacing). Then it will be replaced by a BEV with a 300+ mile range. Seeing as we are now talking 2025-2030, I think that is entirely reasonable to expect.

 

[michael]

For what it's worth, I briefly considered the BEV Ioniq vs the Bolt. I found that I could lease a top-of-the-line Bolt for less than a comparably equipped Ioniq. They do offer a roughly 4 cents/mile incentive toward electricity which, if you have workplace charging, is actually money in your pocket. In my case, at 1800 miles/month, that's about $70 which in turn makes the IONIQ less expensive.

In the end, the 124 mile range was a deal killer for me, simply not interested in dealing with that sort of thing again. As noted elsewhere, I eventually selected Volt over Bolt due to comfort. From a range standpoint, the Bolt would have been more than adequate for me.

 

[drdiesel1]

Do you grab the $9,280 savings and settle for 124 miles, or pony up the extra bucks for 238 miles?

Don't forget about the loss of 82 horsepower too :mrgreen: Not to mention the loss of 100 plus miles :roll:

Well, he already mentioned the loss of 100 miles of range. And two other people mentioned the modest power and average handling.

So what is your opinion - would those two things (range, acceleration) enough for you to pay almost $9,000 more? (I think the question is academic in your case, as you already have a Bolt, right?)

Yes, I do! IMO, the iRonic is an ugly Korean POS :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Now that pricing is out on the Ioniq Electric, I thought it would be interesting to get opinions based on a range vs MSRP perspective. A lot of us are still driving / making do with 80 mile cars.

Do you grab the $9,280 savings and settle for 124 miles, or pony up the extra bucks for 238 miles?

After thinking it over I'm pretty sure I would take the Ioniq. I've never owned a Chevy or Hyundai product so I not biased or loyal to either car. Here are my thoughts on why I chose the Ioniq.

I've test driven both the Volt and Bolt and although I like the way they drive, I can't stand their interior. They both have this cheap black plastic look inside. Their sister model, Malibu, also has this look even with the top of the line Trim. I really wanted to like these cars, especially the Volt, but I couldn't get past the crappy interior. Chevy isn't a luxury brand but that doesn't mean that their cars have to look cheap. Hyundai on the other hand has a better approach to their interior style that (To Me) is very noticeable. The Bolt has a black accented interior like the Ioniq but the Bolt's styling lacks any elegance and styling that the Ioniq has.

The second thing about the Bolt that turns me off is it's shape. It looks like a Leaf which looks like BMW i3 which looks like a mitsubishi i-miev which looks like the Kia Soul which looks like the Ford Focus EV. Lets not forget the Fiat 500e or Mercede's EV car. As far as EV/ PHEV cars go, the Ioniq and Tesla are the only cars that look like real cars to me. It's a personal choice, but I like sedan looking cars. I abhor the box-like look of the Bolt and other cars mentioned above. Prius is another car to bring up. They're even worst looking compared to a Bolt. I'd gladly take a Bolt over one of those Toyota pieces of junk.

Now lets talk about miles. Yeah the Bolt does about 120 miles more than the Ioniq. I guess Hyundai could have done the same but decided to keep consumer costs down by putting in a smaller battery. If you need that extra 100 miles and you're ok paying almost 10k more, go for it! Unfortunately EV cars depreciate badly so paying 40k+ (before incentives) for a car that will be worth 10k in 3-4 years seems like a bad investment to me.

124 mile range is plenty for most families. If you're married, it obviously makes sense that the commuter could use an Ioniq with it's limited range whle the other has some type of ICE car for family road trips. If your single then having the Bolt might be a better choice. After all, It's all about one's preferences in the end...

 

[LeftieBiker]

Keep in mind that the Ioniq is due for a big range boost next year, so they should have some good clearance prices right at the end of 2017. Better than GM dumping Bolts, even. ;-)