Canadian Winter Bolt thoughts after two weeks of driving and over 2,000kms (1,300mi) with comparisons to a Gen1 Volt.
I love it, any gripes are just for general knowledge, I’m not nitpicking, as I love the car and none of it bothers me. It’s an amazing car, I’m impressed with the thought they put into a lot of the small details. Well done GM!
Range:
- Average Range in the winter: 260-300km (160-186mi) per charge. This is normal driving, some speeding, some stop and go, etc. Not driving it like I drove my Gen1 Volt. I speed more often, use heat, radio, all the gadgets, charge my phones. I’ll hit 450km (280mi) in the summer easily. It was warmer yesterday and I was tracking towards 330km (205mi)
- Heater is very efficient vs. my Gen1 Volt. I don’t feel bad using it. On a full charge the difference of heat vs. no heat is around 30km (19mi) I would say. The onboard display has been showing climate anywhere from 9-15% of battery usage when on.
- I have yet to see any battery conditioning while driving. I’m assuming it comes on below -10c (14f) and from what I’ve seen I think it will only come on IF you have no heat on.
- I’ve been using a tool from (www.fleetcarma.com) to record various data on the car. The Bolt goes through battery conditioning at night on the charger to keep the battery presumably warm. It’s around 1.4-1.5kwh of use to during these cycles and it looks like it does it twice a night or so.
Driving:
- The car is very quiet, as it should be.
- The windshield is large; I really like it. It gives you a feeling of being in a larger car.
- The seats are narrow, but they aren’t uncomfortable. I don’t find them an issue like some have been saying. I have been in them for 3 hours at a time with no fatigue.
- Driving in L and losing traction is interesting.. The regen modulates and compensates similar to ABS before you’re on the brakes. It’s very interesting and seems to be very well thought out.
- The suspension is stiffer than it should be. You feel the bumps more than the G1 Volt. It’s not a sports car, and it shouldn’t pretend to be.
- It might just be my car, but I find it pulls to the left or right quite a bit in certain conditions. I’ve been keeping my eyes on it, and I might take it into the dealer to check things out. Someone mentioned on here they had a similar issue with their Volt that they had reprogramed.
- I’m not a fan of the shifters pattern, but you get use to it. Why change decades of programing in your brain. If someone is borrowing the car, they will have to stare at it for a bit.
- You do hear the pedestrian noise inside the cabin at a stop. If you put the car into park it stops.
- Headlights are good, much improved over the G1 Volt
- Regen is strong and One Pedal Drive is wonderful.. it’s so good. Not hitting the brake in stop and go traffic turns off so much of your brain in traffic and makes it so much less stressful.
- The lane keep, and other safety features all work very well and are great to have!
I haven’t driven the car in ‘D’ yet
Some Misc stuff:
- Few glitches in the OS still. Bluetooth disconnects on and off sometimes on my iPhone, not on my Andriod
- The wiper blades froze up once when I was in rain and stopped going. It only lasted a few seconds and then they started going faster, almost as if catching up.
- I had a service park assist come up once, and went away
- It would be nice to be able to access the cameras when in park
- I have a problem with remote starting from the MyChev App. It only seems to work on my Android, my iPhone all the icons are greyed out.
**UPDATE: 02-14-17**
Today after a charge my cars steering wheel controls partially stopped working the whole right side controls + the lights on the left side. Very odd and I hope it will fix itself.
Saw a video for a feature "Rear Seat Reminder" online that reminds you if something is in your back seat. I don't have this in my menu. Not sure why GM Canada would pull this feature.
There is an issue with the car resetting features. When I set the heated seats to turn on when the car remote starts, it always defaults to "off" instead of "on" when I power cycle the car. Also proximity door locking turned itself off, so I walked away from the car and it didn't lock itself.. it took me a few days to notice, so thankfully nothing was even stolen!
I've emailed GM about these three items ^
I love it, any gripes are just for general knowledge, I’m not nitpicking, as I love the car and none of it bothers me. It’s an amazing car, I’m impressed with the thought they put into a lot of the small details. Well done GM!
Range:
- Average Range in the winter: 260-300km (160-186mi) per charge. This is normal driving, some speeding, some stop and go, etc. Not driving it like I drove my Gen1 Volt. I speed more often, use heat, radio, all the gadgets, charge my phones. I’ll hit 450km (280mi) in the summer easily. It was warmer yesterday and I was tracking towards 330km (205mi)
- Heater is very efficient vs. my Gen1 Volt. I don’t feel bad using it. On a full charge the difference of heat vs. no heat is around 30km (19mi) I would say. The onboard display has been showing climate anywhere from 9-15% of battery usage when on.
- I have yet to see any battery conditioning while driving. I’m assuming it comes on below -10c (14f) and from what I’ve seen I think it will only come on IF you have no heat on.
- I’ve been using a tool from (www.fleetcarma.com) to record various data on the car. The Bolt goes through battery conditioning at night on the charger to keep the battery presumably warm. It’s around 1.4-1.5kwh of use to during these cycles and it looks like it does it twice a night or so.
Driving:
- The car is very quiet, as it should be.
- The windshield is large; I really like it. It gives you a feeling of being in a larger car.
- The seats are narrow, but they aren’t uncomfortable. I don’t find them an issue like some have been saying. I have been in them for 3 hours at a time with no fatigue.
- Driving in L and losing traction is interesting.. The regen modulates and compensates similar to ABS before you’re on the brakes. It’s very interesting and seems to be very well thought out.
- The suspension is stiffer than it should be. You feel the bumps more than the G1 Volt. It’s not a sports car, and it shouldn’t pretend to be.
- It might just be my car, but I find it pulls to the left or right quite a bit in certain conditions. I’ve been keeping my eyes on it, and I might take it into the dealer to check things out. Someone mentioned on here they had a similar issue with their Volt that they had reprogramed.
- I’m not a fan of the shifters pattern, but you get use to it. Why change decades of programing in your brain. If someone is borrowing the car, they will have to stare at it for a bit.
- You do hear the pedestrian noise inside the cabin at a stop. If you put the car into park it stops.
- Headlights are good, much improved over the G1 Volt
- Regen is strong and One Pedal Drive is wonderful.. it’s so good. Not hitting the brake in stop and go traffic turns off so much of your brain in traffic and makes it so much less stressful.
- The lane keep, and other safety features all work very well and are great to have!
I haven’t driven the car in ‘D’ yet
Some Misc stuff:
- Few glitches in the OS still. Bluetooth disconnects on and off sometimes on my iPhone, not on my Andriod
- The wiper blades froze up once when I was in rain and stopped going. It only lasted a few seconds and then they started going faster, almost as if catching up.
- I had a service park assist come up once, and went away
- It would be nice to be able to access the cameras when in park
- I have a problem with remote starting from the MyChev App. It only seems to work on my Android, my iPhone all the icons are greyed out.
**UPDATE: 02-14-17**
Today after a charge my cars steering wheel controls partially stopped working the whole right side controls + the lights on the left side. Very odd and I hope it will fix itself.
Saw a video for a feature "Rear Seat Reminder" online that reminds you if something is in your back seat. I don't have this in my menu. Not sure why GM Canada would pull this feature.
There is an issue with the car resetting features. When I set the heated seats to turn on when the car remote starts, it always defaults to "off" instead of "on" when I power cycle the car. Also proximity door locking turned itself off, so I walked away from the car and it didn't lock itself.. it took me a few days to notice, so thankfully nothing was even stolen!
I've emailed GM about these three items ^
