I Drove Bolt Today...

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iletric

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
172
Well, I drove Bolt today. It was the dealer unit, not for sale, basic LT version with cloth seats, and L3 charging port (they all have it, I was told). I didn't get to fiddle with it too much, but took it locally and freeway with my wife.

My observations:

When you sit down sideways to pivot the legs in, the edge of the seat is quite sharp, at least on the LT model. Perhaps leather will soften the "impact" of that.
Right of the bat, car feels narrow. Whether it's visual or not, I'm not sure at this point. I forgot to extend my right hand if I can reach the other side. Once seated, the seat feels narrow as you wedge your butt between those sharp edges, so no big butts need apply here--you won't be comfortable or even able to squeeze in. It holds you in tight if you fit, that's for sure.

I tried to let my wife in on the other side. I could not find lock/unlock button. It's on the door panel positioned vertically, forward, past the mirror adjustment set. No fahrvergnügen here. It's not a good spot, certainly not vetted by ergonomics Bolt crew (joking here). It's very odd and not readily accessible. Once locked, the knob drops flush into the door panel. I am concerned about this as a safety issue. If you fall into the river and your electrics are down there is NO way for you to mechanically open the door by pulling on the knob as it is not accessible. Imagine, your car is on the proverbial fire, the rescuer breaks the window, and now what? Can't open the door because not only the knob is inaccessible, the lock/unlock is hidden out of sight as well. Lawsuit just waiting to happen, Ms. Ibarra. You've been warned.

The center infotainment screen is slanted to about 50-60 degree angle, which looks odd. I didn't play with it at all, but I saw no space to support the palm when punching stuff; the climate buttons are butted up right to the screen bottom. Folks at GM, it is hard to punch stuff on screens while driving! But I'm sure you knew that, didn't you... No?

I saw no OFF button for the climate, unlike Leaf, Spark EV or Kia Soul EV. I could not be sure it was actually off.

The cruise control, my favorite perennial pet peeve. I can (somewhat) live with the fact GM loves it on the wrong side of the steering wheel. However, it's covered with this thick rubbery material that is too tough to push. It's for Russian fingertips (you know, bears and such). I drive/live by cruise, so this is one very important feature for me. GM, hey, look at '92 Accord for me to see what it's supposed to look like, will ya? For once do something right?

The shift knob. It's an improvement from Spark, but doesn't come close to the ease and comfort, yes, fahrvergnügen, of the Leaf. Leaf was crap, but had the BEST shift knob. Period. THE BEST. Anyway, Bolt's works best when switching between L and D, and it finally has a park button I loved using on my Leaf at the red light (because it was so easy to get back to D or L) -- not sure about Bolt in that regard, it was confusing. GM, you see, added the side button to the shifter you have to push to change to N or R, both of which should be REVERSED by the way (R is at the end of the run and to the left, while N is at the top. Seriously, this is not a gas car, GM! Things work differently in EVs, okay? I had a hard time putting car in R, had to make sure the button was pushed correctly. Also, there was a SLIGHT DELAY to get gear in R, so I found myself in N a few times. So, I still don't know what happens if you hit park and want to proceed on green if I have to push that side button to gen in gear or not. I certainly hope not. Something's not entirely okay there, I can attest to that, particularly with R. I mean, GM, how many times does one need to go to N? Like never? When being towed perhaps? Coasting down the hill? Nissan solved it wonderfully, Check it out and IMITATE, please. For your own good.

I engaged the paddle (max regen mode) at the 9 o'clock of the wheel a few times, but could not see anything on the cluster if it was on or off. (The dealer set up the cluster to plain Jane, and I had no chance to go through all the cluster options.) Strong regen though, super strong. And yes, I did manage to stop the car with no braking at all, as described by GM. Wow!

Car drives well, of course, mirrors are big and so on. It was road-noisier than I expected from a 40+ thousand dollar car, and certainly by far inferior to Soul EV which is super quiet. I find it disappointing. I did hear the engine whine at certain speeds as well, which is not good. I've had plenty of that in Leaf and there is none whatsoever with Soul or even, curiously enough, Spark. Weird or what?

And one more gripe: once I looked in the rear view mirror I could not believe my eyes how prominent the defrost wires were; they must be triple gauge of normal defrost wiring with 3 extras going down slope as well. The setup looks like a prison cell bars. VERY BIZARRE and awful. I have never seen the like of it and have no idea what's GM doing in that regard. It's SUPER INTRUSIVE and ANNOYING to look at those wires embedded in the rear window. It's crazy. One would be hard pressed to avoid it all together and rely on the camera-based rear view mirror that comes with the Premier.

I sat in the back for the second half, my wife drove. I hit my head but good going in, but was okay at 6" riding in the back seat.

That's all in a nutshell. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble (mine for sure). I had high hopes for Bolt. I'm going in again tomorrow to look at VOLT, folks. I am not spending 47 grand on this vehicle.
 
For the record, the car is not 47 grand. It only gets there after taxes and only if you've gone for the Premier trim level with all the goodies.

I agree the gear shift is a bit funky, but it didn't take long for me to get used to it. It does seem to be a combination of a traditional manual transmission (reverse being up and to the left) and that of an automatic transmission. The reason I surmise for this is to appeal to a broader number of buyers who want to see something a bit more traditional in design. For example, the gear shift in the Highlander Hybrid is also setup like a traditional gated automatic transmission even though it's heritage is the Prius with its gear selector that always returns to a home position and is just software selecting the appropriate mode. Again, broader appeal.

The car doors will unlock once you pull on the handle to exit even if they are locked. There's a mechanical path in case of electrical failure, which seems to be standard on every car I've owned in the past 25 years.

I question why you would ever put the car in park while stopped at a stop light. It goes counter to the training I was given. You always keep the car in gear in case you need to suddenly move.

I found it easy to turn off the climate control system. At the bottom of the central touch screen in the middle is the climate control off/on button. It's always present, no matter what is on the display (phone, radio, energy screen, etc).

You can reconfigure the instrument cluster to show how much regen you are producing. It sounds like the dealer had the display in simplified mode.

My test drive just reinforced the desire to get the car. Whatever minor quirks presented themselves I just chalked up to learning how a new car operates. I've driven enough different cars with different setups such that I can easily adapt to the changes. I'm sorry to hear that you aren't as flexible, or weren't able to spend enough time with the car to figure out its quirks. It sounds like the car isn't for you and the test drive did what it was supposed to do: determine if the car would work for you. Sadly the result is that it won't, but it will work for others.
 
Sounds like a "bad trip"? I am glad I have a small butt!!! Lol! I will stick to all the other rave reviews, and "look at the source".
 
For those of you that have driven it, what is the forward visibility like? I test drove a Volt (the plug-in hybrid) and liked everything about it except the very narrow front windshield which was a dealbreaker for me. Do you get better forward visibility in the Bolt?
 
iletric said:
Well, I drove Bolt today. It was the dealer unit, not for sale, basic LT version with cloth seats, and L3 charging port (they all have it, I was told). I didn't get to fiddle with it too much, but took it locally and freeway with my wife.

My observations:

When you sit down sideways to pivot the legs in, the edge of the seat is quite sharp, at least on the LT model. Perhaps leather will soften the "impact" of that.
Right of the bat, car feels narrow. Whether it's visual or not, I'm not sure at this point. I forgot to extend my right hand if I can reach the other side. Once seated, the seat feels narrow as you wedge your butt between those sharp edges, so no big butts need apply here--you won't be comfortable or even able to squeeze in. It holds you in tight if you fit, that's for sure.

I tried to let my wife in on the other side. I could not find lock/unlock button. It's on the door panel positioned vertically, forward, past the mirror adjustment set. No fahrvergnügen here. It's not a good spot, certainly not vetted by ergonomics Bolt crew (joking here). It's very odd and not readily accessible. Once locked, the knob drops flush into the door panel. I am concerned about this as a safety issue. If you fall into the river and your electrics are down there is NO way for you to mechanically open the door by pulling on the knob as it is not accessible. Imagine, your car is on the proverbial fire, the rescuer breaks the window, and now what? Can't open the door because not only the knob is inaccessible, the lock/unlock is hidden out of sight as well. Lawsuit just waiting to happen, Ms. Ibarra. You've been warned.

The center infotainment screen is slanted to about 50-60 degree angle, which looks odd. I didn't play with it at all, but I saw no space to support the palm when punching stuff; the climate buttons are butted up right to the screen bottom. Folks at GM, it is hard to punch stuff on screens while driving! But I'm sure you knew that, didn't you... No?

I saw no OFF button for the climate, unlike Leaf, Spark EV or Kia Soul EV. I could not be sure it was actually off.

The cruise control, my favorite perennial pet peeve. I can (somewhat) live with the fact GM loves it on the wrong side of the steering wheel. However, it's covered with this thick rubbery material that is too tough to push. It's for Russian fingertips (you know, bears and such). I drive/live by cruise, so this is one very important feature for me. GM, hey, look at '92 Accord for me to see what it's supposed to look like, will ya? For once do something right?

The shift knob. It's an improvement from Spark, but doesn't come close to the ease and comfort, yes, fahrvergnügen, of the Leaf. Leaf was crap, but had the BEST shift knob. Period. THE BEST. Anyway, Bolt's works best when switching between L and D, and it finally has a park button I loved using on my Leaf at the red light (because it was so easy to get back to D or L) -- not sure about Bolt in that regard, it was confusing. GM, you see, added the side button to the shifter you have to push to change to N or R, both of which should be REVERSED by the way (R is at the end of the run and to the left, while N is at the top. Seriously, this is not a gas car, GM! Things work differently in EVs, okay? I had a hard time putting car in R, had to make sure the button was pushed correctly. Also, there was a SLIGHT DELAY to get gear in R, so I found myself in N a few times. So, I still don't know what happens if you hit park and want to proceed on green if I have to push that side button to gen in gear or not. I certainly hope not. Something's not entirely okay there, I can attest to that, particularly with R. I mean, GM, how many times does one need to go to N? Like never? When being towed perhaps? Coasting down the hill? Nissan solved it wonderfully, Check it out and IMITATE, please. For your own good.

I engaged the paddle (max regen mode) at the 9 o'clock of the wheel a few times, but could not see anything on the cluster if it was on or off. (The dealer set up the cluster to plain Jane, and I had no chance to go through all the cluster options.) Strong regen though, super strong. And yes, I did manage to stop the car with no braking at all, as described by GM. Wow!

Car drives well, of course, mirrors are big and so on. It was road-noisier than I expected from a 40+ thousand dollar car, and certainly by far inferior to Soul EV which is super quiet. I find it disappointing. I did hear the engine whine at certain speeds as well, which is not good. I've had plenty of that in Leaf and there is none whatsoever with Soul or even, curiously enough, Spark. Weird or what?

And one more gripe: once I looked in the rear view mirror I could not believe my eyes how prominent the defrost wires were; they must be triple gauge of normal defrost wiring with 3 extras going down slope as well. The setup looks like a prison cell bars. VERY BIZARRE and awful. I have never seen the like of it and have no idea what's GM doing in that regard. It's SUPER INTRUSIVE and ANNOYING to look at those wires embedded in the rear window. It's crazy. One would be hard pressed to avoid it all together and rely on the camera-based rear view mirror that comes with the Premier.

I sat in the back for the second half, my wife drove. I hit my head but good going in, but was okay at 6" riding in the back seat.

That's all in a nutshell. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble (mine for sure). I had high hopes for Bolt. I'm going in again tomorrow to look at VOLT, folks. I am not spending 47 grand on this vehicle.

A gentleman does not get in the car and then looks for a button to let in his wife. You open her door first.
But I guess most guys forget that as soon as they get a marriage license
 
Thanks for posting your review. I too will be giving the Bolt a thorough assessment I can see one in person. For my part I am willing to overlook many of the features you dislike. I prize good handling, good acceleration, and efficiency and I will be disappointed only if the Bolt does not deliver. My first order of business if I do buy one? Ditching those wretched tires which probably deserve all of the scorn heaped upon thrm.
 
And for the record, BMW's rolling out the door at over 100 grand use the same type of shifter setup. My 2014 328i has a button on the left you have to press to engage any gear and then pushes forward for reverse and backwards for drive.
 
iletric said:
Once locked, the knob drops flush into the door panel. I am concerned about this as a safety issue. If you fall into the river and your electrics are down there is NO way for you to mechanically open the door by pulling on the knob as it is not accessible. Imagine, your car is on the proverbial fire, the rescuer breaks the window, and now what? Can't open the door because not only the knob is inaccessible, the lock/unlock is hidden out of sight as well. Lawsuit just waiting to happen, Ms. Ibarra. You've been warned.
The doors are mechanically opened from the inside by pulling the door handle, regardless of whether the lock button is up or down, or whether power is available or not.
 
pdxbolt said:
A gentleman does not get in the car and then looks for a button to let in his wife. You open her door first.
But I guess most guys forget that as soon as they get a marriage license
HA! Well said!
 
BarnacleBill said:
I will stick to all the other rave reviews, and "look at the source".

I'm always amazed why some people can't accept the good with the bad. Is the Bolt a great EV? Yes. Can it be improved upon? Yes.

The car has it's share of rave reviews, but reviewers have also been critical in some areas. This is nothing different than the review that ilectric has posted. He's driving a Soul EV which is a terrific car, and is expecting the Bolt to be even more so, but found a few things about the car he didn't like. GM NEEDS feedback like this so that they can address issues, and continue to make the car better. Isn't that what we all want? No car is perfect, and the Bolt is no exception. Here are a few quotes from Car & Driver:

"The driving experience is painless, in much the same way local anesthesia is."

"The lateral-grip limits are similarly modest, with excess speed in slower corners causing the Bolt to understeer like a puppy on a freshly waxed floor." (I thought that imagery was really quite clever on that one).

"The Korean-penned styling had both fans and haters, but the most-asked ­question was why GM chose to launch its brave new electric architecture in the guise of a geeky hatchback"

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/chevrolet-bolt-2017-10best-cars-feature
 
I thank you for you review, always good to get different perspectives on an issue. I have test driven a Bolt LT, and found it a delight to drive, good handling and excellent acceleration, comparing it with my Miata. I found the seats firm but I would not call them uncomfortable. The visibility is great to answer one poster's question. I will be test driving the car again and will look more closely at the items you mentioned.

The Bolt is replacing an SUV in our household, although it is a tad smaller. Having taken careful measurements at the test drive, it will be able to carry the bulky items we move on a regular basis just fine, including our 85 pound yellow lab.
 
You are not the only one finding the front seats to be an issue and in many cases a deal breaker. It will be interesting to see how much this affects the sale of the Bolt, along with the uncertainty of the federal tax credit under the Trump administration.

Thanks for your review.
 
oilerlord said:
BarnacleBill said:
Here are a few quotes from Car & Driver:

....but the most-asked ­question was why GM chose to launch its brave new electric architecture in the guise of a geeky hatchback"
Because GM is smart enough to know that they'll sell more Bolts if they're not competing in the same market segment as the Tesla Model 3?

Really, what is it with the "geeky hatchback" comments? Hatchbacks are utilitarian, and popular because of it.
 
Thanks for the honest, first-person review. I always like hearing both positive and negative reviews. And as many as possible. And I'll remember them when I do my own test drive, because a five minute test drive is not enough time to discover all the rights and wrongs about a car. But if somebody alerts you to a "wrong", then you can pay extra attention to it when you get in the car with a salesman distracting you.

I remember being hot for the Honda HRV when it came out. On that forum, you would have flame wars over a negative review, and I never got it. A review is valid whether or not it confirms your preferred narrative. It's how one person reacted to a car.

Oh, and the comments on him essentially being a Neanderthal because he didn't open the door. Any proper feminist would slap those commentators silly. It's incredibly sexist to treat women like they can't open a car door for themselves. It's a sexist attitude, not a gentlemanly affectation. Repeat and learn. Women are absolutely equal to men. They're not delicate little creatures that need you to open a door for them. Oh, and they vote now too, just in case you guys didn't catch that in the news.
 
ScooterCT said:
Oh, and the comments on him essentially being a Neanderthal because he didn't open the door. Any proper feminist would slap those commentators silly. It's incredibly sexist to treat women like they can't open a car door for themselves. It's a sexist attitude, not a gentlemanly affectation. Repeat and learn. Women are absolutely equal to men. They're not delicate little creatures that need you to open a door for them. Oh, and they vote now too, just in case you guys didn't catch that in the news.

Really? It's sexist to go out of your way to help your wife? Any woman who is offended by this has some serious insecurities she needs to work on. This is an act of a man serving a woman. Tell me again how that implies that women are not equal to men? You can't because it doesn't.
 
IMG_0264.JPGI test drove a Bolt EV yesterday.
I loved everything about it except... the seats.
I measured. They are 15" wide. To compare, seats in my Silverado 2500HD pick up are 22" wide.

Good luck with "aftermarket" seat replacements.
There is probably less than 18" between the door and the center console.

The padding as reported is thin also.
I'm thinking about sitting on a $20 pillow to be the simplest and most effective work around here.
Annoying also that all the seat adjustments are manual and I found them somewhat difficult to maneuver.

Other than that I loved the car.
Windshield is huge. Visibility is great.
Side windows are large as well.
Drived great. Was totally fun to drive.
Felt solid. Felt large but the dang seats are too narrow. Left arm rest lacking.

Acceleration in normal mode great.
Acceleration in sport mode "insane".

Regen coasting in D ~ 15 kw.
Regen coasting in L ~ 40 kw.
Regen coasting in L plus paddle ~ 55 kw.

You can get 1-60 kw of regen in either D or L using the brake pedal. I see little use for the paddle. Maybe I will find use for it over time.

I love you can coast to a stop in L with no pedal press and the car holds steady without a brake pedal press even on modest hills.

I love you can switch between D and L modes (which really only changed coast down modes) by a knob press vs. software toggle (aka Tesla).

Seats, lacking.
Everything else I found excellent.
I will be buying (or leasing) one soon.
 
Interesting thread (even with the random off-topic meanderings).

Test drives are never, ever enough. The last two cars I bought I made a point of renting for a week before buying. That's the only bulletproof way of knowing if you can live with their inevitable quirks. I wish I could do the same with the Bolt, but no dice on that obviously.

So far, the seating is the single most mentioned issue. I'm not too worried about that feature since I am used to firm, narrow seats. They work for me since I am not at all, ahem, wide. Of course your backside will vary. If they are at all like my Mini sport seats I will be happy.
 
pdxbolt said:
A gentleman does not get in the car and then looks for a button to let in his wife. You open her door first.
But I guess most guys forget that as soon as they get a marriage license
Here is the sequence to allay your fears I'm a licensed rube:
Dealer clicked the door, went off to unplug the Bolt.
Wife said: "You drive."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
The other door remained locked, so the gentleman here could not lead his precious wife to the passenger door and open it for her like the real gentleman since dealer was out of sight, unkinking the J1772 cord and hanging it up.
I proceeded to sit down in the driver's seat, as per her wish, and quickly leaned toward the passenger door to unlock it and let her in.
Alas! The knob was sunk in.
"Shit," thought I and immediately started looking for the lock/unlock button. It was impossible to find (see review).
After about 10 frantic seconds, knowing there HAD TO BE a lock/unlock button I located it tucked away, thank you GM, on that most unexpected place on the door panel, and unlocked the door for my precious wife. She seemed okay. No drama, no trauma. Totally fine. I promise.

Yes, I do write film scripts.
 
On our 3-series BMW the all-door unlock is located above the radio, in a cluster with the emergency flashers and the traction control override. Because those are ergonomically-connection functions. The trunk release is thoughtfully located in the driver's side footwell. Because that's where you'd naturally look for it. The window controls on the driver's armrest are situated such that I am constantly opening the rear windows instead of the front ones.

None of this stuff is standardized. Maybe it should be, but it never will be, and every manufacturer is going to have their own ideas.
 
SeanNelson said:
Because GM is smart enough to know that they'll sell more Bolts if they're not competing in the same market segment as the Tesla Model 3?

Really, what is it with the "geeky hatchback" comments? Hatchbacks are utilitarian, and popular because of it.

I didn't call it a "geeky hatchback" - Car & Driver reviewers did. A car doesn't need to be geeky to be utilitarian, and you don't have to work for Car & Driver to appreciate a beautiful car when you see one.

News flash, Sean: GM is competing in the same market segment as the Tesla Model 3.
 
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