Cars.com Bolt First Drive

[roundpeg]

https://www.cars.com/articles/2017-chevrolet-bolt-ev-review-first-drive-1420692448232/

They generally liked the car, but complained about the seats being too thin, and the video camera rear view mirror is tough on wearers of bifocals (good point, I hadn't thought of that). Also of interest is the photo, which appears to be four Bolts lined up at a dealership on the west side of Los Angeles (Beverly Hills or Santa Monica?). So somebody locally has them in inventory now.

 

[SeanNelson]

Also of interest is the photo, which appears to be four Bolts lined up at a dealership on the west side of Los Angeles (Beverly Hills or Santa Monica?). So somebody locally has them in inventory now.

That could easily have been the fleet of press cars that were being loaned out for the reviews, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

[roundpeg]

Could be, but this is the only review I've seen in the last few days at least. We'd heard that a dealer in Portland had a small Bolt inventory to sell already so I'm thinking the first few are dribbling out. Manufacturing did begin in October, right?

 

[DucRider]

Could be, but this is the only review I've seen in the last few days at least. We'd heard that a dealer in Portland had a small Bolt inventory to sell already so I'm thinking the first few are dribbling out. Manufacturing did begin in October, right?

Ron Tonkin Chevy did not have actual inventory. The #'s were their initial allocation. The new car manager was likely misquoted. They are not even close to the largest Chevy Spark EV/Volt dealer in Portland and it would have been very surprising for them to get the first cars into Oregon (or CA for that matter).

 

[SeanNelson]

We'd heard that a dealer in Portland had a small Bolt inventory to sell already so I'm thinking the first few are dribbling out.

If you're thinking about the one I think you're thinking about, that dealer said he'd been misquoted and that he didn't have any actual inventory yet. I suspect that the reporter confused allocations vs. actual inventory. To the best of my knowledge there have been no retail deliveries of Bolts yet, although I expect they'll start arriving in the next few weeks.

 

[roundpeg]

Okay, thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. I didn't see where the Portland dealer said they'd been misquoted.

 

[roundpeg]

In the interest of general obsessiveness, I found the location where the photo was taken for this article. It wasn't at a dealership, but on the forecourt of the Lowe's Santa Monica Beach Hotel on Ocean Avenue.

 

[SeanNelson]

In the interest of general obsessiveness, I found the location where the photo was taken for this article. It wasn't at a dealership, but on the forecourt of the Lowe's Santa Monica Beach Hotel on Ocean Avenue.

Yeah, that makes it seem more likely to me that it's a fleet of cars for reviewers.

The wait for actual production Bolts in the wild is an agonizing one, but it should nearly be over.

 

[roundpeg]

Yeah, that makes it seem more likely to me that it's a fleet of cars for reviewers.

The wait for actual production Bolts in the wild is an agonizing one, but it should nearly be over.

Pretty much absolutely certain. They showed at least four cars based on the photo, so we should see more write-ups in the local media over the next few days. I will keep an eye out in the LA Times.

Meanwhile, my TPW is still next week.

 

[carFlyer213]

The problem with the bifocal wearing people, is the visibility issue for Bolt only or is it a general issue with them?

 

[roundpeg]

The problem with the bifocal wearing people, is the visibility issue for Bolt only or is it a general issue with them?

Not sure what you are asking, but the problem as described in the review involves looking at the video rearview mirror with bifocals. Since it's up high, it requires looking through the top distance portion of the lens, which would be out of focus for that part of the lens. This isn't a problem for bifocal wearers with a conventional mirror, because the image you are seeing in the mirror is distant.

 

[oilerlord]

Reading the article, I found this amusing:

"The Bolt scaled the Malibu hills as effortlessly as any diesel-powered car — maybe more effortlessly, or at least it seems that way, because there's practically no sound, much less the clatter of a diesel."

I wasn't aware that the hills of Malibu were best scaled with a diesel powered car.

Looking forward to the day I can take one out for a drive. Pictures and reviews only go so far.

 

[roundpeg]

I wasn't aware that the hills of Malibu were best scaled with a diesel powered car.

Sure, but only if it's a BMW or Mercedes.

 

[JeffN]

I wasn't aware that the hills of Malibu were best scaled with a diesel powered car.

I thought the hills of Malibu were best scaled by a Malibu hybrid.