[scrambler]

I am looking at used Spark EVs right now as a second car to our 2017 Volt.

I am looking at two below
2014 52k miles $7,800 Out of the door (incl regist, taxes and fees) power train warranty expire on July 18
2014 27k miles $10,300 Out of the door (incl regist, taxes and fees) power train warranty expire on Sept 18

On both the base 3 Years warranty is expired, so I was wondering if owners of Sparks with more than 50k miles could comment on any reliability / maintenance issues over this kind of mileage.

Thank you for your feedback

 

[Henry_FL]

Not a Spark owner, but $7800 is a steal.

 

[Raymondjram]

The Spark EV has little wear (except the tires) for that distance travelled, so go for the $7,800 model.

 

[CCIE]

I am looking at used Spark EVs right now as a second car to our 2017 Volt.

I am looking at two below
2014 52k miles $7,800 Out of the door (incl regist, taxes and fees) power train warranty expire on July 18
2014 27k miles $10,300 Out of the door (incl regist, taxes and fees) power train warranty expire on Sept 18

On both the base 3 Years warranty is expired, so I was wondering if owners of Sparks with more than 50k miles could comment on any reliability / maintenance issues over this kind of mileage.

Thank you for your feedback

You might want to check out the Spark EV forum (I doubt I can link to it here, but google is your friend). It's not very active since there weren't a lot of Spark EVs produced, but it's more active than the Spark EV sub-forums here.

I have a leftover 2015 Spark EV I bought six weeks ago and have been enjoying it. It's exceeded my winter range expectations. Only issue is the OEM tires are terrible, especially in snow. My mileage is low so I can't comment on long-term reliability.

I was in the same boat as you a couple months ago, and I think I looked at that 2014 with 52k miles. It's been on cargurus for a while now. I was a little concerned after seeing some battery degradation numbers for higher mileage 2014s. No one is exactly sure why GM changed battery suppliers and chemistry in 2015. It may just have been issues with A123 management. But, I would want to test drive a high mileage Spark EV for a couple days to see the true range I got from it. Or, if you know you only need 50-60 miles of range per day, don't worry about it.

Good luck!

 

[scrambler]

Thanks for all the feedback

 

[Norton]

All Li-Ion batteries will have degradation. Even unused there is still 'Shelf Life', which can be helped by not keeping the SOC at 100% if you don't need it.

Unlike the Volt, the Spark EV shows '% used' and 'kWh used' from the last full charge. This display gives the owner an opportunity to plot degradation, or it can provide a one time snap shot of current values.
I only use numbers with greater than 50% used. The 'Capacity Numbers' vary a little, so it should be plotted.
I have dozens of phone pics that I started putting in a spread sheet.

Mine is at 29.5k miles and has not hiccuped once. A much better record than the Volt I had.
The one minor glitch I see is, rarely, the climate control pop-down header does not show the changes made to the climate control knobs. A stop light reboot always gets it working properly.

 

[WopOnTour]

I've owned 2 of them
Never had a single issue other than the tendency to "light up" the front tires accelerating wear
Another minor annoyance is the fact the front and rear tires are different sizes, eliminating an ideal tire rotation process necessary to balance this wear.
Result? expect to replace your front tires every couple years

Other than that GREAT car, very fun and practical
HTH
WOT

 

[scrambler]

Well I took the jump on that $7800 2014 Spark

Love it so far.

Will wait to have a few full cycles on the battery with my personal driving conditions to evaluate if it looks to be in its original condition (keeping fingers crossed)

I do love the battery indicator they have with a min and max, and little dots showing you if your current driving is inching towards the min or the max. Very cool.

 

[Norton]

I have a new report about liability.
I have 27 days left on my 3 year - 36,000 mile Bumper to Bumper warranty.
And it looks like my car will get no love or attention from my local dealership during that period.

I was searching for something, anything.... I thought I had one TPMS sensor reading a little high,,, but I was wrong...