Why I Ordered a Chevrolet Bolt EUV

[lencap]

Greetings! Last year I sold my 2018 M3 LR RWD with the basic autopilot. I grew tired of the ride quality and road noise compared to my wife's BMW. I regret the decision, especially with the price of gas today. The long wait for a replacement M3 and the higher pricing made me look at alternatives.

I found a few Bolt EUV cars at the local dealer only to find that they were unable to be sold because of the recall on the original battery pack. I did get a chance to drive it, and found it meets my needs as a second car. High speed charging is clearly a weak point, but for around town use it's fine.

Clearly it's not a Tesla, and since it's a 2023 it will likely take until October or so to get delivery. Still, I look forward to having another EV, and it may fill the gap until my CyberTruck is built - hopefully before 2026!

The interior room is quite acceptable, the ride quality better than I expected, and at the new reduced price including some options the car is near $30K. At that price I see little risk.

 

[diverbelow72]

I bought a 2018 Chevy Bolt LT in 2018 since the Model 3 was not out yet. I also have a 2018 Tesla Model 3 I bought used last August, I am still waiting on GM to replace my battery pack.

Here are my experience with my Bolt:
The negative experience

• The 2018 Bolt seats are like sitting on top of a cardboard box and after driving for an hour they are so uncomfortable. (Premier seats may have been better)
• Have to shift to "L" mode to have one pedal driving. NOTE: not sure if GM changed that or not
• MyChevy app is not real time and have to refresh to see what battery percentage or press and hold to lock/unlock or start/stop (climate control) you have but most of the time, it times out.
• The On Star price went up
• Another thing to watch out for, is the door handles have a push button to unlock or lock the doors and after basic warranty (for me mileage was exceeded) the driver side quit working and a GM dealership wants $300 to replace the handle and the paint the door handle to match the color of the car.
• The sales rep said the Bolt will get OTA updates and there is an option to check for updates but to this day have not received one. Read that GM & GM dealership franchise have an agreement any software update needs to be done at the dealership. At the dealership they say it takes a half day but so far it has taken about 2 to 4 hours to be completed.
• The Android Auto my Bolt comes with is sluggish.
• The steering wheel radio station up/down work half the time
• Keyless entry does not work as advertised
• DC Fast charging speed, 2018 Bolt is 50KW
• Charging Network

The positive experience:

• The regen on demand button (behind the steering wheel) is nice
• Waze on Android Auto
• Has a Teen mode - Wish Tesla had something similar

 

[lencap]

Thanks for the info! There have been several changes for the EUV:

• There was a full exterior refresh on the 2022 model for both the EV and the EUV models, with MUCH better seats, including an option for heat/ventilation and a lot of other nice upgrades. I bought the power assist driver seat adjustment option along with heated seats.
• There is now a driver selectable full time "One Pedal Driving" mode - similar to the standard Tesla full regen mode. It can be changed on the fly. The additional regen button behind the steering wheel is still there - in effect you get 2 regen levels, user selectable.
• No experience with Chevy app, but I've heard some negative comments including the inability to use climate control without subscription.
• OnStar has lots of options including WiFi - package prices differ.
• Hopefully my door lock will hold up, but if I still have this when the CyberTruck is ready it won't matter - I'll trade up.
• OTA updates were affected by programming issues at GM. Not sure what the current status is, but they are well aware of the issue.
• I have an iPhone and it has wireless Apple Car Play along with a mini usb connector. My package also has wireless phone charging.
• I didn't check the audio features extensively, but everything seemed pretty snappy.
• DCFC is a major issue, but it's my second car and I don't expect to need it often. My longest round trips are about 400 miles for a family visit.
• Charging network other than Teslas are all terrible. What would concern me as a Tesla owner is the recent statement by Musk that the entire Tesla charging network will soon be open to ALL EV models. That's the main benefit of Tesla, and as an owner I wouldn't want to share it.

Some other comments:

• I ordered the $495 Driver confidence package - rear park assist, rear cross traffic, lane change alert with blind spot warning.
• I ordered the $895 Comfort package - 8 way power driver seat, heated front seats, heated leather wrapped steering wheel.
• I ordered the Silver Flare Metallic color - a no cost upgrade. The only other GM car with that color is the Corvette, kind of strange.

Some other items of note:

• The EUV package comes with a 40AMP wall outlet including installation! If you have a workable EVSE you'll get a $500 credit for Electrify America charging.
• There is a standard dual power charging connector for 120 or 240 volt outlets. With the free wall outlet you don't need an EVSE.
• You can order "Super Cruise" essentially with the same features as the standard autopilot from Tesla. It will keep you in your lane, turn, slow/speed up and come to a full stop when needed. Unlike the Tesla the car uses LIDAR and there is a camera facing the driver. If it can't make eye contact it begins to slow down and eventually stop. While annoying it eliminates the need to tug on the steering wheel every 2 minutes, like my Tesla did. Super Cruise will continue working as long as you are looking forward and the camera can see your eye. It works with sunglasses. The charge for this is about $2650, and after 3 years there is a monthly subscription fee that varies depending upon the package you buy. Expect about $25/month. Exact prices for the 2023 EUV aren't available yet.
• Build quality is Chevy "price point", but compared to the earlier versions it's much improved. It's comparable to similar cars, but not stellar. It's FAR better than my Leaf and rides at least as well as either of my BMW i3 models (EV and REX). Interior is a visual upgrade and the materials also seem better. Seat are definitely better. Rear seat room in the EUV is surprisingly good.
• For 2023 it appears as if there are different trim levels - essentially a the base LT1 that I ordered, with the ability to add extra packages, or the fully loaded Premier model (names may be different). The upgraded package has a lot of nice features including all the options I bought, leather interior with heated/ventilated seats, rear park assist, Automatic cruise control, heated steering wheel, "rear camera mirror" which converts the interior rear view mirror to a camera view to the rear of the car. You can adjust it for width, brightness, etc. Really nice feature because you don't see the headrests in your mirror any longer. Lots of other toys included as well. Fully setup, with sunroof, every option and Super Cruise the car is less than $40K out the door. No tax incentives, but a lot of car.

For all of the above, plus a long list of standard features the list price for 2023 is about $29,595 before dealer add ons, taxes and fees. 32K out the door. Hard to beat for a car with legit 247 mile range and the form factor of a small SUV.

Doug DeMuro has an interesting review here of the 2022 model:

. The 2023 is identical, but prices are almost $6K lower.

 

[tm1v2]

@lencap Did you test drive a new Model 3? If so how'd its NHV and refinement compare to your 2018, or to the Bolt EUV you tested?

I borrowed Bolts a couple times for errands around town, years ago. I thought it was a good car for that, drove better than I expected from its looks. But, yeah, it's no Model 3...not even close. With the Bolt price cut, combined with Model 3 price increases, I do see the Bolt having a worthwhile place in the EV market again though.

 

[lencap]

Hi - I did drive a new Model 3 and Y. The new 3 is better than my 2018 model, but still not as responsive or quiet as my wife's BMW 330e. The road noise is improved a bit, but still loud. Tire/road noise is still too high from Tesla. I had installed after market sound sealing around the 2018 doors/roof. That makes it similar to the newer cars, but they are all still behind the competition, at least from my perspective.

Compared to the newest Model 3 the Bolt EUV is a step behind in comfort, materials and "feel". The far higher weight of the M3 gives it "road presence" that the Bolt lacks. Having said that, in my brief trial run the EUV had less tire noise and the cabin was quiet without apparent window wind noise. Unlike the Tesla the BOLT has full window frames which seem to seal a bit better.

I agree about Bolt's pricing strategy. It's hard to beat with or without incentives. If you haven't seen the 2022 and newer models take a look - the interior is a big upgrade. Yes, it's still a price point car, but noticeably better interior. Seats are really like night and day to the previous car. Still not as comfortable as the LR Tesla, but no longer a torture rack.

My BMW i3s were ideal city cars in terms of size - they fit anywhere and were easy to drive/maneuver. The Bolt is a lot like that car. The i3 was 7.3 to 60, but very quick from 30-50. The Bolt is like that - very quick 30-50, and even a bit faster 0-60. The i3 without all the features of the Bolt EUV listed for $54,350 in the trim I bought pre tax credit. It reminds me of how computer prices plunged after a few years.

I think the Bolt will be a big seller - as you said it's a lot of car for the money, and unlike other EVs you can buy one without a $5K markup and get it delivered before the 2024 models come out.

 

[E90alex]

Honestly if the Bolt EUV had AWD available I would have gone that route instead of Model 3 LR.

The Model 3 is overkill for my daily driving needs but it was the actually cheapest way to get an AWD EV back when I ordered in March.

 

[lencap]

Just a few other thoughts about the EUV. This is a clip from the Doug DeMuro review. His "claim to fame" is a "Doug Score" that he assigned every car. There are 2 categories, weekend and daily use, which combine to give the total final score. In this case the Tesla scored 59/100, the Bolt 47/100.

Another thing I failed to mention, but which initially was nearly a deal breaker, was Chevy's rear brake light design. The NTSB rules require that brake lights must be mounted on a permanent non-movable part of the car. The Bolt hatchback doesn't qualify. So the brake lights and turn signals are on the bumper! This seems like an open invitation to being rear ended! I was ready to walk out after I saw that. What convinced me to stay is the placement of the rear third window brake light. Chevy must have realized the problem and the large wide/bright LED tail brake light is mounted high in the rear portion of the rear window - just about the perfect eye height for a following driver. Even in heavy city bumper to bumper traffic you can't miss that light. Can it be a problem at an intersection? Maybe, but it didn't seem to be as big an issue.

Other cars have this problem as well, but I don't understand why Chevy didn't at least make the far ends of the rear light section in two parts. One could float up/down with the rear hatch, the second would be eye level and fixed to the rear quarter panel. Very odd, but after having my wife follow me in her car on the test drive I was comfortable that Chevy's solution works.