Ms. Barra's '18 Bolt to-do list

[Fargoneandout]

Dunno if it has been said but I would like to see a small light on the inside of the onboard charging housing. I park underground at work and the lighting is pretty dim, and for an old duffer like me it can be hard to line up the charging handle with the onboard charging receptacle. A little light that would illuminate the charging housing when the charging door is open would be a nice touch that would cost MaryB about a buck.

 

[DaV8or]

Actually, despite its looks, Soul is quite agile in weaving through congested traffic. But ultimately, for me at this stage, the most important thing is getting safely and comfortably from A to B, in a way that I don't reach my destination frazzled and exhausted.

So, yeah, boring is in.

The best way to arrive not frazzled and exhausted is don't go weaving through traffic. It's also the safest way. Seriously, there needs to be more Zen drivers that use cruise control and less wound up, impatient Nintendo drivers weaving their way through traffic. I wish all the drivers out there that learned how to drive on Super Mario Cart would just crash on a turtle, spin off the track and let the rest of us just get to work.

 

[DaV8or]

All Mrs. Barra has to do for 2018 is green light the SS version of the Bolt with RWD, or AWD and more HP and tuned suspension for better cornering. On second thought, forget I said that. I will have had my Bolt only a year or so and if they did that, I'd be bitter!

 

[DaveInAvl]

Seriously, there needs to be more Zen drivers...

In anticipation of getting a Bolt later this year (I'm in NC), I've begun rereading my copy of the book "Zen Driving"

 

[GetOffYourGas]

All Mrs. Barra has to do for 2018 is green light the SS version of the Bolt with RWD, or AWD and more HP and tuned suspension for better cornering. On second thought, forget I said that. I will have had my Bolt only a year or so and if they did that, I'd be bitter!

Even if she did green-light a Bolt SS today, we wouldn't see it in 2018. I do wish she would, though. That would be a car worth comparing to a Tesla.

 

[Airbesar]

To add to the to-do list

I love the 360 view - makes parallel parking a snap. But backing in a larger parking area, what's shown is just a bunch of concrete that's relatively close. Makes me wish the display had a button that would allow the area covered to be doubled.

 

[iletric]

Re: lousy front seats;

I have an appointment with Teeters and Schacht in Novato to fix them. It's gonna set me back for up to 900 bucks for 2 seats. I called around, $500 is what looks like a pro price per seat.

The owner, sorta big guy sat down in my Bolt and screamed, then pointed at the lumbar sides that dug into his love handles.

He'll be adding material into the seat center, thinning into those crazy bolsters and also into the lower back that feels like a tub.

Sad (I had to say that). :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

I agree about those seats. I don't have the "premiere" version. The cloth seats are surprisingly uncomfortable. When I speak lovingly about my new Bolt, I mention the seats as the one drawback.

In addition, to Ms. Barra's list, I'd add a way to completely turn the infotainment screen off. It is so bright at night, even if I turn it low.

 

[RTMxp]

i would like 2 things...

-option/ default for infotainment system to NOT start when starting bolt ev. i only need the top information bar (like in nissan)

-option/default for bolt ev to start up in L drive mode. the one i use most of the time

 

[user 124]

Re: lousy front seats;

I have an appointment with Teeters and Schacht in Novato to fix them. It's gonna set me back for up to 900 bucks for 2 seats. I called around, $500 is what looks like a pro price per seat.

The owner, sorta big guy sat down in my Bolt and screamed, then pointed at the lumbar sides that dug into his love handles.

He'll be adding material into the seat center, thinning into those crazy bolsters and also into the lower back that feels like a tub.

Sad (I had to say that). :twisted:

Sounds like a good solution. Is this an LT - cloth seats? Please let us know how it works out.

 

[Anonymous]

Add to the list for me the sunvisors.

Why are there no extensions that slide out for the half of the side windows that the short sunvisors don't cover?


Grrrr.....

 

[Anonymous]

I've got another one....

My wife's Mazda head unit allows the Sirius to be paused & rewound. Just like a DVR.


I went to jump back 30 seconds the other day and discovered I couldn't.


Also - how come I can only have 15 favorites?

 

[devbolt]

I've got another one....

My wife's Mazda head unit allows the Sirius to be paused & rewound. Just like a DVR.


I went to jump back 30 seconds the other day and discovered I couldn't.


Also - how come I can only have 15 favorites?

From what I have been able to determine, the ability to rewind/pause satellite radio has to do with whether you have a Sirius branded radio or an XM branded radio. The Bolt appears to have an XM branded radio, which doesn't support pause/rewind. My wife's old Countryman had a Sirius branded radio and it allowed pause/rewind. We also have a couple of Toyota's with XM branded radios and neither allows pause/rewind. Dunno if it's an issue with the type of technology that the Sirius satellites uses as opposed to the XM side of the company or merely a feature set in the radio. There are some Sirius-branded radios that don't support pause/rewind, but I have yet to see an XM radio that supports pause/rewind.

As to only 15 presets, who knows? I was hard pressed to fill all 15. Our Highlander has 36 presets available, we've only used about 10 of them.

 

[electricbolt]

For what its worth I asked a sales consultant here in Canada about the 2018 Bolt and how I wanted to wait until it comes out to see if there is any changes or improvements to the 2017 version and he told me its pretty much confirmed there will not be any changes to the car other than some new colours.

 

[iletric]

They lie. They are under pressure to move metal, and nothing else. And, dealerships either play it dumb or quite possibly are the last to find out just what's what with new cars.

Their single mission is to sell a car today -- and nothing else. To them tomorrow is a big bird on the roof.

Furthermore, GM has received plenty of feedback (right, Mary?) to fix some of the issues, and if they're any smart, they will, because 2018 is bringing a whole lot of competition their way, and that Bolt just may not shine they'd like it to as compared to all the others.

 

[devbolt]

They lie. They are under pressure to move metal, and nothing else. And, dealerships either play it dumb or quite possibly are the last to find out just what's what with new cars.

Their single mission is to sell a car today -- and nothing else. To them tomorrow is a big bird on the roof.

Furthermore, GM has received plenty of feedback (right, Mary?) to fix some of the issues, and if they're any smart, they will, because 2018 is bringing a whole lot of competition their way, and that Bolt just may not shine they'd like it to as compared to all the others.

You won't see major changes until 2020 or 2022. Maybe some software fixes for the Infotainment system, or some content changes, or some options becoming standard or even maybe wireless CarPlay/AndroidAuto. But the seats and suspension, forget about it.

 

[ScooterCT]

There are two types of changes that happen in any manufacturing plant. Those that are marketed as new features, and those that are quietly rolled into production as invisible engineering changes.

I'd be really shocked if the latter weren't already happening on a monthly basis. The former, I'd have to agree you're not likely to see a lot of drama for the 2018 model year. Traditionally, automakers who introduce a car really late in the model year (like late December) let it go the whole next year without major changes. That's not a law or anything, but it seems to be the trend.

I'm really dubious, when the seats are fixed, that GM will publicly announce "Our Bolt seats were defective and we fixed them". I suspect it'll be one of those silent engineering changes. And maybe there will be a dealers-only TSB telling them a seat swap is available for complaining customers. I'd really be shocked if a TSB weren't on it's way at some point.

 

[iletric]

What's TSB?

 

[devbolt]

What's TSB?

Technical Service Bulletin.

It's usually something that the manufacturer issues to it's dealers to resolve known issues with a car that is not a safety issue. Safety issues get a recall. Examples of TSBs for the Bolt are the Infotainment software update that was issued a while ago for cars manufactured before a certain date. Another TSB is the one that deals with the key not being detected in the car, the automatic temperature control not working properly, or the blind-zone detection system showing false positives.

Over on the GM-Volt website, there's a list of some of the TSBs for the Bolt:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?625-Bolt-Service-Bulletins-Campaigns-and-Recalls

Who knows, they may issue a TSB for the seats. That would be really nice for the people who are having problems with the seats.

 

[Anonymous]

Just leased a Bolt 3 days ago, realized on the drive home that my seat padding is defective. Feels like they put the lumbar support between my shoulder blades, among other problems. Completely intolerable. Really put a damper on my new car enthusiasm. Although adding a backrest cushion would render my heated leather seats useless, it had to be done if I was to use my new car. Found a great memory foam backrest cushion online, then realized that all of us modifying our backrest with enough padding to mitigate the defective shape/padding problem are at risk of severe whiplash if in an accident, because we are now too far forward for the headrest to prevent neck hyperextension.