They knew I needed a car and had me by the balls because there are 10 buyers if I backed out. So at this stage it's full retail and no haggling. We got Premier, Package II white,
We decided to lease at 10,000 miles so as to make the lease as cheap as possible and purchase 3 years down the road if we liked the car. That depends on what happens in 3 years, the state of competition, and to avoid mile penalty via purchase.
We put down 5 grand even, the white stickers were automatically ordered by the dealer (Novato, Ca) at a cost of about 20 bucks. The resulting payments are in the neighborhood of $460.
Here is my gripe: GM is stealing large part of my federal 7,500 rebate discount. I received a price offset of only 2,500 and GM kept the 5,000 of the tax rebate. GM, of course, is also the leasing company. The last time I leased - Kia Soul - the 7,500 was taken off the total cost and lease was based on the remainder. Lease should have been calculated from the base price of roughly about 35,000, not 40,000. Something nefarious is going on here.
We have not driven the car since yesterday, but I am already noticing things. One that struck out right away was the fan speed. There are 6 or 7 bars, which is great, but the lowest level blows way too hard for our taste, I think it's a quirk that needs to be addressed. We actually switched the fan to defrost so that only the side vents blew air. Second, I had to call my daughter to help me figure out where the tone adjustment was hiding. It's not where you'll be looking for. It's not intuitive. Sorry. The other is the weird front view camera I don't need to stay on until I hit 5 mph. I don't think I can turn it off. It's annoying. There should be a setting to do so.
I do like the anti-gangsta low front door sills reminiscent of 80s cars. They offer nice side view. Also like large side mirrors. Plenty of real estate for the small blind spot mirror. All my cars have that. Those save our asses daily. Also, the leather seats are alright. No more issues with that metal bar I felt with the LT cloth seats. Thank god they are one solid (gray) color, none of that zebra nonsense. The seams pull and crease at the corner areas of seating. It will stretch and loosen up eventually. No big deal. But I did notice it. Jag this is not.
Oh, yeah, that TV rear view mirror. Hurts the eyes. You have to grossly adjust the eye lens, and it's not comfortable, at least for the older eyes. I never expected that, it's a new experience. I don't think I'll be using it, beside the fact it renders a sort of narrowed view of the scene behind you. It's a relief for the eyes to switch back to a normal rear view and those lovely defrost prison wires I described in my other missive.
Yeah. I recommend leasing. Better cars are coming down the pipe in 2-3 years. I'm just being critical, not ungrateful. Ultimately, the Earth benefits and that's the main reason we leased Bolt.
We decided to lease at 10,000 miles so as to make the lease as cheap as possible and purchase 3 years down the road if we liked the car. That depends on what happens in 3 years, the state of competition, and to avoid mile penalty via purchase.
We put down 5 grand even, the white stickers were automatically ordered by the dealer (Novato, Ca) at a cost of about 20 bucks. The resulting payments are in the neighborhood of $460.
Here is my gripe: GM is stealing large part of my federal 7,500 rebate discount. I received a price offset of only 2,500 and GM kept the 5,000 of the tax rebate. GM, of course, is also the leasing company. The last time I leased - Kia Soul - the 7,500 was taken off the total cost and lease was based on the remainder. Lease should have been calculated from the base price of roughly about 35,000, not 40,000. Something nefarious is going on here.
We have not driven the car since yesterday, but I am already noticing things. One that struck out right away was the fan speed. There are 6 or 7 bars, which is great, but the lowest level blows way too hard for our taste, I think it's a quirk that needs to be addressed. We actually switched the fan to defrost so that only the side vents blew air. Second, I had to call my daughter to help me figure out where the tone adjustment was hiding. It's not where you'll be looking for. It's not intuitive. Sorry. The other is the weird front view camera I don't need to stay on until I hit 5 mph. I don't think I can turn it off. It's annoying. There should be a setting to do so.
I do like the anti-gangsta low front door sills reminiscent of 80s cars. They offer nice side view. Also like large side mirrors. Plenty of real estate for the small blind spot mirror. All my cars have that. Those save our asses daily. Also, the leather seats are alright. No more issues with that metal bar I felt with the LT cloth seats. Thank god they are one solid (gray) color, none of that zebra nonsense. The seams pull and crease at the corner areas of seating. It will stretch and loosen up eventually. No big deal. But I did notice it. Jag this is not.
Oh, yeah, that TV rear view mirror. Hurts the eyes. You have to grossly adjust the eye lens, and it's not comfortable, at least for the older eyes. I never expected that, it's a new experience. I don't think I'll be using it, beside the fact it renders a sort of narrowed view of the scene behind you. It's a relief for the eyes to switch back to a normal rear view and those lovely defrost prison wires I described in my other missive.
Yeah. I recommend leasing. Better cars are coming down the pipe in 2-3 years. I'm just being critical, not ungrateful. Ultimately, the Earth benefits and that's the main reason we leased Bolt.
