This reviewer was clearly smoking something

[ScooterCT]

https://electrek.co/2017/01/27/the-electrek-review-2017-chevy-bolt-ev-is-the-first-plug-in-for-everyone/

"for my money, the best car of any kind on the roads right now at its price point"

That was at the start of the review, and had me ROTFL before I was 100 words into this absolute joke of a review. Seriously, I think GM smoked up a bunch of "journalists" at this media event, and now they're all spouting these glowing reviews of the Bolt all over the Web. I guess that's the modern world. You go to the press junket, and if you want to be invited back for the next one, you'd better vomit glowing praise all over your blog.

I dare anyone on this forum to tell me that the Chevy Bolt is the best car of any kind on the roads right now at $40,000. Or let's indulge your taxpayer-funded price fantasies, and call it $25,000. Seriously? Better than the Mazda 3 Grand Touring, into which you could hop and cross the country in coddled comfort?

Excuse me. I have to go roll on the floor some more, lost in belly-cramping laughter. I blame this stuff on an entire generation of barely functional imbeciles graduating out of a school system that practices social promotion and participation awards.

 

[michael]

In this regard, "best" is probably a personal judgement. I'd actually probably agree with the reviewer, since I'm going to be plunking down my money, and the Bolt is the choice that I have made. It's best for me. I don't want the Mazda, even if they gave me one for $10k. I literally don't want it.

So for me, too, the Bolt is the best car for $40K. If I had $100K, I'd get a Tesla...it's better!

 

[floamis]

https://electrek.co/2017/01/27/the-electrek-review-2017-chevy-bolt-ev-is-the-first-plug-in-for-everyone/

"for my money, the best car of any kind on the roads right now at its price point"

That was at the start of the review, and had me ROTFL before I was 100 words into this absolute joke of a review. Seriously, I think GM smoked up a bunch of "journalists" at this media event, and now they're all spouting these glowing reviews of the Bolt all over the Web. I guess that's the modern world. You go to the press junket, and if you want to be invited back for the next one, you'd better vomit glowing praise all over your blog.

I dare anyone on this forum to tell me that the Chevy Bolt is the best car of any kind on the roads right now at $40,000. Or let's indulge your taxpayer-funded price fantasies, and call it $25,000. Seriously? Better than the Mazda 3 Grand Touring, into which you could hop and cross the country in coddled comfort?

Excuse me. I have to go roll on the floor some more, lost in belly-cramping laughter. I blame this stuff on an entire generation of barely functional imbeciles graduating out of a school system that practices social promotion and participation awards.

Well, the reviewer did state that "for my money, the best car of any kind on the roads right now at its price point." So it is for his money, it is the "best" car. Also, the site is an EV enthusiast site (and from my experience, Electrek has been very pro-Tesla), so what do you expect. Personally, I agree with him. I honestly believe any electric car is better than any gas car counterpart. So I do believe that it is "better" than the Mazda. Your post is more confounding to me, if you took the whole review in context, it's not that ridiculous...

 

[ScooterCT]

Fair enough. And the reviewer is from an electric blog, so in his opinion it probably is the best car ever.

It's just that I've never seen a review come out of these press junkets that says anything remotely bad about the car in question. I sometimes think these events are planned by psychologists to leave attendees with glowing love for the maker and car. You can always tell a junket review. The honest guys will divulge at the start that they were flown, wined and dined by the manufacturer. The less honest ones tend to leave that out.

I like the Bolt. I think it's a great step forward towards an EV future. I guess I just dislike all this business about how the Bolt descended to Earth from GM Heaven. Well, maybe from LG heaven, since they made the important parts.

s

 

[floamis]

Gotcha. It is strangely reminiscent of all of the reviews for the Model S when it first came out. Hopefully all these glowing reviews are because EVs are simply enjoyable. I know the first time I drove an EV, I immediately loved it, warts and all.

 

[ScooterCT]

I kind of recant what I said earlier about it being a biased review. I must not have read the whole thing, or I must have read a first draft. I just went back there and he added a section about the "gotchas".

I recant. Shame. Shame. Shame.

 

[Jychevyvolt]

Never trust these online reviews.

 

[JupiterMoon]

https://electrek.co/2017/01/27/the-electrek-review-2017-chevy-bolt-ev-is-the-first-plug-in-for-everyone/

"for my money, the best car of any kind on the roads right now at its price point"

That was at the start of the review, and had me ROTFL before I was 100 words into this absolute joke of a review. Seriously, I think GM smoked up a bunch of "journalists" at this media event, and now they're all spouting these glowing reviews of the Bolt all over the Web. I guess that's the modern world. You go to the press junket, and if you want to be invited back for the next one, you'd better vomit glowing praise all over your blog.

I dare anyone on this forum to tell me that the Chevy Bolt is the best car of any kind on the roads right now at $40,000. Or let's indulge your taxpayer-funded price fantasies, and call it $25,000. Seriously? Better than the Mazda 3 Grand Touring, into which you could hop and cross the country in coddled comfort?

Excuse me. I have to go roll on the floor some more, lost in belly-cramping laughter. I blame this stuff on an entire generation of barely functional imbeciles graduating out of a school system that practices social promotion and participation awards.

I think a couple of people here would actually drink this kool-aid. Don't put it past a few here.

 

[JupiterMoon]

Fair enough. And the reviewer is from an electric blog, so in his opinion it probably is the best car ever.

It's just that I've never seen a review come out of these press junkets that says anything remotely bad about the car in question. I sometimes think these events are planned by psychologists to leave attendees with glowing love for the maker and car. You can always tell a junket review. The honest guys will divulge at the start that they were flown, wined and dined by the manufacturer. The less honest ones tend to leave that out.

I like the Bolt. I think it's a great step forward towards an EV future. I guess I just dislike all this business about how the Bolt descended to Earth from GM Heaven. Well, maybe from LG heaven, since they made the important parts.

s

If you want an honest review, even though it'll be quite flat and boring, is from some guy called Alex on Autos. His reviews are very detailed and not all about slalom, 0-60, etc....he actually reviews the car. Not sure if he's done a Bolt review though.

 

[ScooterCT]

I've seen Alex on Autos. Agree he does a great review. Isn't he Canadian? Aren't Canadians always honest and boring? I sometimes think all the "be nice" karma somehow leaked through a semipermeable membrane from the USA to Canada. And all the "be mean" karma leaked the other way.

I'll bet I'm going to regret writing that...

 

[JupiterMoon]

I've seen Alex on Autos. Agree he does a great review. Isn't he Canadian? Aren't Canadians always honest and boring? I sometimes think all the "be nice" karma somehow leaked through a semipermeable membrane from the USA to Canada. And all the "be mean" karma leaked the other way.

I'll bet I'm going to regret writing that...

I don't think he's Canadian. He test drives his cars here I believe but not sure. I won't comment on high nice or not nice Canadians are but my own experience has been they are perhaps the most passive aggressive people I've ever met this side of the UK.

 

[bro19991]

Electrek is extremely pro-Tesla and in particular have published many anti-GM/Bolt "articles", so for them to post an article saying the Bolt is the best car you can buy for less than $40k speaks volumes as to how I impressive the Bolt was to them.

 

[Posatronic]

Best car for the 70% of people driving 12-15k ahhh maybe.
I have I bigger issue....it's ROFL.
Not a big issue but it bothers me as much as you have a problem with the review.

 

[oilerlord]

Scoot, there are a lot of over-the-top / overly positive car reviews on the Internet. This one is no different. Why? It's spelled out in the first paragraph of the article:

"Note: The lovely folks at Chevy paid for our travel, hotel and fed us quite nicely."

If you want to get invited back to the GM buffet, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. Period. Unfortunately for some, the going price for their integrity is about the same as a continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express.

 

[Nagorak]

Having done it, I can tell you that driving cross country is pretty crappy in just about any car, so in reality it's probably something that many people will never do. In that case the Bolt could very well be the best car for some people.

Driving cross country does give you a better sense of how far this country is though.

 

[oilerlord]

Having done it, I can tell you that driving cross country is pretty crappy in just about any car, so in reality it's probably something that many people will never do.

To the contrary, I highly recommend it. A lot of us tend to miss a lot of the country strapped in at 40,000 feet.

I wouldn't even consider making a cross country trip in my B250e (or a Bolt for that matter), but my "other" car makes our annual 4000 mile round-trip to Arizona a pleasure. It was made for highway miles. Utah to Vegas to Phoenix, at 75 MPH, on one 5-minute, $38 fill up, with plenty of fuel to spare. Every time I see an EV range discussion, I smile and think of my other car.

 

[WetEV]

To the contrary, I highly recommend it. A lot of us tend to miss a lot of the country strapped in at 40,000 feet.

Slower and in some ways nicer, try Amtrak. Not as many trips destinations, car renting isn't always reasonable, not always for those in a hurry.

When I was traveling between Portland OR and Seattle WA, I found that Amtrak was usually faster than driving while I5 was under construction. I'm not sure if it still would be faster, however, Amtrak is nicer than driving. I could get out of my seat and get a coffee or a snack, and I would often work.

 

[michael]

Having done it, I can tell you that driving cross country is pretty crappy in just about any car, so in reality it's probably something that many people will never do.

To the contrary, I highly recommend it. A lot of us tend to miss a lot of the country strapped in at 40,000 feet.

I wouldn't even consider making a cross country trip in my B250e (or a Bolt for that matter), but my "other" car makes our annual 4000 mile round-trip to Arizona a pleasure. It was made for highway miles. Utah to Vegas to Phoenix, at 75 MPH, on one 5-minute, $38 fill up, with plenty of fuel to spare. Every time I see an EV range discussion, I smile and think of my other car.

I agree. The Bolt is great but when I expect to exceed its range I will take my Volt instead

 

[SeanNelson]

Having done it, I can tell you that driving cross country is pretty crappy in just about any car, so in reality it's probably something that many people will never do.

What, you've never heard of a "road trip"? The secret is to make the drive itself the purpose, not the destination. When you do it with that mindset a whole new world opens up. A few months ago I spent 7 weeks driving from the Pacific Northwest to Florida and back, and I don't regret it in the slightest.

 

[ArthurL]

For my money, it suits all my wants and needs. Most of all it's friggin fun.

That aside .... on cross country. Do a google of Bolt Across Canada. Begins 1July...Canada day. Live blogging. Should be educational no matter their view point on the money.