Really want a Bolt - Tell me about yours

[Porsche]

Hi All, not a Bolt owner but hope to be soon. About 7 months ago, I bought a 2015 Spark EV for my son. Now I'm hooked. The systems are just amazing. The efficiency is just amazing. The driving dynamics are just amazing. It's a pocket rocket. For myself, I need a car with greater range and the Bolt sounds perfect. With the current battery problems, I can't buy one or even test drive one at a dealer. I've read some reviews, but would love to hear from some owners. I have a ton of questions and comments, but for now, I'll just ask what your overall impressions are. Also, if anyone can compare the actual driving experience to that of a Spark, I'd love to hear. Thanks.

[theothertom]

The Bolt is a great car for the money. The electronics are great, better than Tesla IMO. Some people don't like the seats but I didn't have a problem. To me, suspension seems a little stiff. It's a great commuter car. It's a capable road trip car, but fast charging is not all that fast compared to today's standard, so if you take a road trip, you'll be spending more time at a charger than newer cars.

[Porsche]

The Bolt is a great car for the money. The electronics are great, better than Tesla IMO. Some people don't like the seats but I didn't have a problem. To me, suspension seems a little stiff. It's a great commuter car. It's a capable road trip car, but fast charging is not all that fast compared to today's standard, so if you take a road trip, you'll be spending more time at a charger than newer cars.

Thanks for the reply. What year and trim is your Bolt? What options? Funny you mention Tesla. OK, I don't really have much personal experience with Teslas, but from what I've read, I actually believe that my 2015 Spark's systems are considerably more sophisticated and better engineered, at least prior to Tesla's 2022 models. And, of course, for what I paid for my like-new, low mileage Spark, I could buy ten of them for the price of a Tesla.

When you say the suspension is a little stiff, do you mean, like a European performance/sports sedan? or like a 20 year old pickup truck with blown-out shocks? I am truly amazed by the sports-car-like performance of my Spark and was hoping for a similar experience from the Bolt.

[theothertom]

'19LT with confidence 1 and II packages. DCFC also.
Stiff suspension means you feel the bumps in the road...kinda like a harsh ride but not mushy like a 20 year old pickup with blown shocks. It's not all that bad but it's not a plush ride, at least to me. Hope this helps.
Edit: Tesla does not offer blind spot monitoring or cross traffic alert like the Bolt does.

[Porsche]

Do you ever use the lane assist? Does it work well? Does it allow you to take your hands off the wheel? I rented a Hyundai Sonata, and the combination of lane assist and adaptive cruise control really did "auto-drive". Well, sort of. It wasn't very reliable. With good lane markings and the gentlest of turns on the highway, it worked pretty well, but you couldn't trust it for long. Also, if you took your hands off the wheel for maybe 30 seconds, it would complain. Also, I understand the Bolt does not have adaptive cruise control at all? at least, not until the 2022 version. It's a shame that such a state of the art car would be missing something available for years now. I know the Chevy SuperCruise does a lot, but I'm curious about the capabilities of the confidence packages without it.

My Spark has very sophisticated battery temperature control compared to most other EVs. The driving experience in "drive" is very close to a conventional ICE car. The blended braking is near perfect. I imagine the Bolt is the same? And as for Tesla, one thing that I find, well, unbelievable: as I understand it, there is no conventional drive mode. You can only drive "one pedal" style in a Tesla. The brake pedal only actuates the friction brakes, period. Plus, with the rear wheel drive models, you can't really get much regenerative braking. Very inefficient.

[theothertom]

Never used lane assist or adaptive cruise...not even sure the car has it.
The Bolt has two drive modes, "D" and "L". To me, regen for D is practically non existent, but L is aggressive. There's also a regen paddle behind the left of the steering wheel that when pulled, makes regen even more aggressive. I like the aggressive regen on the Bolt...only used mechanical brakes for an emergency situation, like when an animal darted out in front of me.
i don't know about Tesla drive mode or regen settings.

[BoltEV]

OK: I am a BIG fan of the Chevy Bolt EV:

I was the first one off the lot at my local dealer in January, 2017 with a 3 year lease and I purchased a new one in August, 2019, both fully loaded. I turned in my leased one when the 45,000 mileage ran out in September 2019.

The Tesla 300 was much more expensive for a fully loaded one back then and I assume now, too.

I love "one-pedal" driving by always driving in L and using the paddle as necessary. When I drove full time Uber before the Pandemic it made driving much less stressful here in Los Angeles.

I do not have ACC (adaptive cruise control; was it implemented in 2020 or 2021?) and I do guess that it would be an improvement, but honestly I am not much of a cruise control type of driver except on long Interstate drives.

I have experimented with the lane assist and actually used it to drive hands free once or twice late at night (no traffic) on the freeway BUT it is not completely reliable for that purpose and it is NOT intended for hands free driving.

What it does is give you a bit of a jerk on the steering wheel when you slide across the lanes without a signal light blinking, to let you know to check your swerving.

Interestingly, my 2017 model supposedly had that feature but never really worked; I just did not realize what I was missing at that time.

Be sure to get the DCFC fast charging port, because some buyers made that mistake not realizing they are still (criminally) optional!

[summit]

we have a 2017 LT+DCFC and another 2017 Premier, also a 2016 Tesla 90D. The DCFC is a must in my opinion. One Bolt is approaching 90Kmiles and the other in the 80Kmiles. It's too bad there is no pre-owned Bolt for sale currently, awesome deals could be had. The Tesla is great for long distance travel, given the supercharge network at 100kw starting charge rate. The Bolt max charge rate is 50kw, more less the terminating rate for the Tesla. The Bolts are way easier to park and handles much better in a city.

The Bolt regen is better, especially with the paddle and L-mode. The lane-keeping and adaptive cruise in the Bolt are a joke, it ping-pongs between the lines. Telsa's implementation just works. The Bolt, having no tail pipe, and a hatch-back, can carry stuffs sticking out. We also can also power a few critical loads during power outage with the Bolt, it's a no-no on the Telsa.

Yeah, love our Bolts

[summit]

tried to attach some photos, not sure if it worked

[BoltEV]

tried to attach some photos, not sure if it worked

For some reason this Forum only allows linking to photos that are online and has no capability to allow us to upload photo(s) for posting.