Just picked up my 2018 Bolt yesterday, 2-20-2018

This car is primarily for my wife, but I'm always going to be in it when she's not!

She drove a RAV 4 EV for three years until Labor Day 2017. We were tempted to buy the RAV 4 at the end of the 36 month lease, but with the 100 mile limited range and the promise of a Tesla 3 with a 250 mile range for a base price of $35,000 it hardly seemed worth it. We made a Tesla 3 Reservation on April 1, 2016 just a week after the reservation announcement, it seemed like a short wait for a January to March promised delivery, but the dates keep slipping, even with the Premium Build configuration selected.

So I've kept the T3 Reservation just to let it play out and who knows, we may become a dual EV Household!

We love the Bolt in spite of a few amenity omissions like Home Link and more robust hands-free telephony and look forward to learning more about this car from all you more experienced owners here. Best to all,

mtv

Welcome and congratulations on a fine purchase? What color? Trim package? Where are you from?

SmokingRubber said:

Welcome and congratulations on a fine purchase? What color? Trim package? Where are you from?

Click to expand...

Thanks for welcoming me to the Forum!

The 2018 Bolt is Cajun Red, Premier with Confidence II and Fast Charge. We live in Ventura, CA

Cajun Red was the only color we wanted and none of the local dealers had it and none of the out of town dealers who did would trade for it. So we ended up making the 60 mile drive to Keyes Chevrolet in Van Nuys and closing the deal with them.

All Dealers are always amazing when make a sale and Keyes was no exception. So far we are very happy.

Way to go! Very good move. Hopefully you will be a duel EV family! You will find that having more than one EV is similar to compounding money.

Price of gas in CA is highest of the lower 48 states. And CA has the best public charging network.

It’s a total win going EV in CA.

I have never viewed my Bolt EV as a disadvantage.
I have never left it home and taken something else.
I’ve gone on four trips over 425 miles one-way.
With a fast charge in the middle during meal time, it’s no inconvienence at all.
We are a 1 EV, 1 Hybrid, 1 ICE household.

The ICE is a pickup truck for toy hauling and is rotting away due to lack of use.

I have owned my Cajun Red for over 1 year.
I am just shy of 15,000 miles.

Evoforce said:

Hopefully you will be a duel EV family!

Click to expand...

Oh dear, I certainly hope their EV's don't duel!

Cajun Red was my color of choice as well. I just didn't have the patience to wait for one to pop up locally. I was also tempted to drive down to Van Nuys (why do they get all the cars?) but I'm a little farther away than you are.

I found a grey Premier right around the corner from me, and it looked pretty good so I snagged it. I probably should have waited, but I leased it just because I think the battery technology is going to make a couple leaps in 3 years. My next Bolt will be Red (or orange).

I'd like to see pics of a Cajun Red Bolt with tinted windows. Are you going to tint your windows or do any other mods?

Mine's tinted @ 20% fyi

SeanNelson said:

Evoforce said:

Hopefully you will be a duel EV family!

Click to expand...

Oh dear, I certainly hope their EV's don't duel!

Click to expand...

:lol:


Drag strip time!

Nice lookin car Smokin R!

Not sure about window tint yet, but HomeLink is an absolute necessity for me. Already ordered it.

Mod fever was my demise with the 2003 50 Year Anniversary Corvette. It’s a Garage Queen with all of 27,000 miles in 15 years. What a fun Canyon Carver she is️

MTV said:

We love the Bolt in spite of a few amenity omissions like ...a more robust hands-free telephony
mtv

Click to expand...

Welcome and hope that you enjoy your new Bolt! Hands free works great for me with a bluetooth connected phone and a long press of the steering wheel mic button. "call wife on cell" "text wife and say HI" etc...

winterescape said:

MTV said:

We love the Bolt in spite of a few amenity omissions like ...a more robust hands-free telephony
mtv

Click to expand...

Welcome and hope that you enjoy your new Bolt! Hands free works great for me with a bluetooth connected phone and a long press of the steering wheel mic button. "call wife on cell" "text wife and say HI" etc...

Click to expand...

Sure, that works fine and you’re right. . Voice Navigation is more of what I was referring g to.

MTV said:

winterescape said:

MTV said:

We love the Bolt in spite of a few amenity omissions like ...a more robust hands-free telephony
mtv

Click to expand...

Welcome and hope that you enjoy your new Bolt! Hands free works great for me with a bluetooth connected phone and a long press of the steering wheel mic button. "call wife on cell" "text wife and say HI" etc...

Click to expand...

Sure, that works fine and you’re right. . Voice Navigation is more of what I was referring g to.

Click to expand...

Google maps with Android Auto?

winterescape said:

MTV said:

winterescape said:

Welcome and hope that you enjoy your new Bolt! Hands free works great for me with a bluetooth connected phone and a long press of the steering wheel mic button. "call wife on cell" "text wife and say HI" etc...

Click to expand...

Sure, that works fine and you’re right. . Voice Navigation is more of what I was referring g to.

Click to expand...

Google maps with Android Auto?

Click to expand...

We use iPhones, and Gmap should work with auto play, so maybe that will work.

My customary procedure in a Lexus is to just say “address” then the city, street and number. Never had to use GMap for that purpose with built in map and Nav. Had to pay the Lexus dealer for map and Nav upgrades every few years, but with Autoplay, it’s auto update . . . . Until GMap demands an annual subscription like so many others.

Thanks for that tip!

SmokingRubber said:

Cajun Red was my color of choice as well. I just didn't have the patience to wait for one to pop up locally. I was also tempted to drive down to Van Nuys (why do they get all the cars?) but I'm a little farther away than you are.

I found a grey Premier right around the corner from me, and it looked pretty good so I snagged it. I probably should have waited, but I leased it just because I think the battery technology is going to make a couple leaps in 3 years. My next Bolt will be Red (or orange).

I'd like to see pics of a Cajun Red Bolt with tinted windows. Are you going to tint your windows or do any other mods?

Mine's tinted @ 20% fyi

Click to expand...

Very Clean Looking Bolt!

Did you remove the GM decals before tinting and did you use the lifetime (8 Yr+) ceramic tint? I'm actually considering it?

MTV said:

Very Clean Looking Bolt!

Did you remove the GM decals before tinting and did you use the lifetime (8 Yr+) ceramic tint? I'm actually considering it?

Click to expand...

Thank you. I personally didn't remove any decals (from the inside of the windows?) but the tint shop likely did. There are none on there today, so someone did. I actually didn't even notice they were gone until you mentioned it.

I didn't go ceramic. I went one level (costwise) below that. I went with "color-stabilized" 3M tint. It looks great and matches the body color quite well. I'm leasing so I am a little concerned they'll ding me when I turn it in (if I don't purchase it). The ceramic tint is all the rage because of the UV it blocks, but it wasn't mandatory IMO. I went to Velocity Tint in Grover Beach, if you're curious. http://www.velocitytint.com/