Initial Bolt EV Impression

4786 Views 18 Replies 13 Participants Last post by wainair, Mar 9, 2017

Belgin

Discussion Starter · Mar 7, 2017

A friend of mine got a new Bolt- he got $3200 off at Dublin Chevrolet. He gave me the fob and told me to take it out for a spin.

Impressions: really fast car- I was surprised how quick it was. the extra 50Hp over the Volt is really noticed.
Interior- seems awfully cheap for this price point. It may be that they chose to use a white color plastic around the dash. If this were a darker color it would look much richer. It does not have the look or feel of either Gen Volt's. Overall this seems where the cost cutting was done.

Exterior- good quality and paint ( he got the premium in orange). The look is very much like a Honda Fit. Not the most dynamic looking car.

It's a good electric car. LG did a good job. The styling leaves a lot to be desired. I hope they put the drive train into something that is better looking. Right now the look undermines the drive train. Nothing about it currently makes me want one.

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

viking79

· #2 · Mar 7, 2017 (Edited)

Everything related to driving dynamics was designed by GM. It is a GM car, not LG. I doubt LG has any interest in making cars, they want the infotainment systems and maybe some other electronics.

It has been stated several times here that inverter and motor are of GM design even if manufactured by LG, and GM did chassis development, bodywork, etc.

Qinsp

· #3 · Mar 7, 2017

Only the Teslas are quicker EVs. Some of what you're buying is performance. I would love to see if a Tesla Model S could defeat a Bolt at AutoX. I know the MS that was running at the last event was matching my Volt time, but that was before I put tires on it.

llninja

· #4 · Mar 8, 2017

Belgin said:
A er. It does not have the look or feel of either Gen Volt's. Overall this seems where the cost cutting was done.
Exterior- good quality and paint ( he got the premium in orange). The look is very much like a Honda Fit. Not the most dynamic looking car.

It's a good electric car. LG did a good job. The styling leaves a lot to be desired. I hope they put the drive train into something that is better looking. Right now the look undermines the drive train. Nothing about it currently makes me want one.

All they need to do is put a corvette body on the drivetrain, add another motor for AWD, and who cares if the range drops from 200+ to 100+. That would be my choice to smoke a Model S on the drag strip.

samotlietuvis

· #5 · Mar 8, 2017

Agreed - mechanically and electrically very sound car, but Chevy forgot to add an "architect" to the design team (car "architect" is somebody who shapes cars to be good looking).
Still, if the price comes down $3k more, to $6k under MSRP, I will consider it. Since I am not getting any of the federal rebate on Model 3, the Bolt could be almost 2X cheaper ($32k-$11k rebates = $21k, vs Model 3 at $35k+ with no rebates)

Belgin said:
It's a good electric car. LG did a good job. The styling leaves a lot to be desired. I hope they put the drive train into something that is better looking. Right now the look undermines the drive train. Nothing about it currently makes me want one.

Neromanceres

· #6 · Mar 8, 2017 (Edited)

Qinsp said:
Only the Teslas are quicker EVs. Some of what you're buying is performance. I would love to see if a Tesla Model S could defeat a Bolt at AutoX. I know the MS that was running at the last event was matching my Volt time, but that was before I put tires on it.

Actually in theory the Bolt EV could be faster on a track than a Tesla. The Model S/X does not have liquid cooled motors and after a couple of hot laps the Model S motor will be heat soaked and power limited. The Bolt EV shouldn't suffer the same fate.

Ladogaboy

· #7 · Mar 8, 2017

Wouldn't it be ironic if GM actually splurged on the interior, and it was actually one of the areas that pushed the cost up? I don't know why, but the only people I've heard lament the interior are people who went in already knowing what the car was. Without fail, everyone I've let in (people who were saying, "What's a Bolt?" just minutes before) thought the interior was very nice. And I have an LT with cloth interior.

Then again, I just had someone tell me that the Ioniq EV's interior was nicer than luxury cars, so maybe these things are all just up to personal opinion.

Bacardi

· #8 · Mar 8, 2017

Belgin said:
A friend of mine got a new Bolt- he got $3200 off at Dublin Chevrolet. He gave me the fob and told me to take it out for a spin.

Impressions: really fast car- I was surprised how quick it was. the extra 50Hp over the Volt is really noticed.
Interior- seems awfully cheap for this price point. It may be that they chose to use a white color plastic around the dash. If this were a darker color it would look much richer. It does not have the look or feel of either Gen Volt's. Overall this seems where the cost cutting was done.

Exterior- good quality and paint ( he got the premium in orange). The look is very much like a Honda Fit. Not the most dynamic looking car.

It's a good electric car. LG did a good job. The styling leaves a lot to be desired. I hope they put the drive train into something that is better looking. Right now the look undermines the drive train. Nothing about it currently makes me want one.

It's far more than 50 extra PEAK hp...
Volt's lead engineer, Andrew Farrah, primary vehicle, a Saturn Vue hybrid...Focused on the 0-30 (30-60 is far more usable)...
Bolt's lead engineer, Josh Tavel, owns a Chevy Bolt, Spark, Yukon. A Spec Racer Ford, and 1970 Datsun 240Z E-Production SCCA race car. I'm starting [to build] a Corvair—a highly modified Corvair. And I also have two Corvettes in the garage
http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a31929/chevy-bolt-lead-engineer-gearhead/ Clearly I'm sure he had little to do with the Bolt EVs segment and who knows, perhaps in 5-10 years he'll break his silence and we'll find out why the Bolt EVs powertrain wasn't put in a different platform...

Qinsp said:
Only the Teslas are quicker EVs. Some of what you're buying is performance. I would love to see if a Tesla Model S could defeat a Bolt at AutoX. I know the MS that was running at the last event was matching my Volt time, but that was before I put tires on it.

There are SCCA Telsa records...Perhaps a fun experience would be YOU driving one of the quickest production vehicles, a P100DL, and see what PR you could get?

llninja said:
All they need to do is put a corvette body on the drivetrain, add another motor for AWD, and who cares if the range drops from 200+ to 100+. That would be my choice to smoke a Model S on the drag strip.

There's little to be gained from a Corvette body; a second motor, unless it's 1000hp+ isn't enough...Four Bolt EV motors in each corner along with super sticky tires is probably the easiest way (yet may not be enough) to beat a MS in a drag race...Yet we have to be fair, what if we put four Tesla motors in a model S...

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VoltenRock

· #9 · Mar 8, 2017

I saw my first Bolt this week and agree that the exterior is... errr, underwhelming. But it is sorta growing on me. I think GM knew it wasn't going to "out-Tesla" Tesla in terms of looks. Its particular body style is very "in" right now. Just look around. The "SUV-lite" style (or crossover or whatever) is selling in droves. Lots of people like it. I'm not one of them. However, Maybe GM marketing said that yet another (expensive) sedan in a declining, competitive, and saturated sedan market (that will also compete with the Volt) is not a good idea. Time will tell whether they got it right. Certainly going more "generic" on the Gen 2 Volt seems to have paid off.

Ladogaboy

· #10 · Mar 8, 2017

Bacardi said:
Clearly I'm sure he had little to do with the Bolt EVs segment and who knows, perhaps in 5-10 years he'll break his silence and we'll find out why the Bolt EVs powertrain wasn't put in a different platform...

I think it was Tavel, or maybe another GM rep, who was justifying the decision to go FWD instead of RWD. They spoke about it being just as good as RWD for performance purposes, but I find that a hard pill to swallow. I would much rather they just said, "Look, we would have loved to make the Bolt EV RWD, but we need this to be a car for everyone."

Qinsp

· #11 · Mar 8, 2017

Bacardi said:
...
There are SCCA Telsa records...Perhaps a fun experience would be YOU driving one of the quickest production vehicles, a P100DL, and see what PR you could get?...

It would be a step backwards, white truck is me about a decade ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6sm0lFKmXU

Bacardi

· #12 · Mar 8, 2017

Ladogaboy said:
I think it was Tavel, or maybe another GM rep, who was justifying the decision to go FWD instead of RWD. They spoke about it being just as good as RWD for performance purposes, but I find that a hard pill to swallow. I would much rather they just said, "Look, we would have loved to make the Bolt EV RWD, but we need this to be a car for everyone."

I know many get upset when they see the "Bolt" and the "sonic" in the same sentence but remember the Bolt EV started it's life on the Gen1 Sonic platform and while it evolved into it's own new platform, GM confirmed the ICE Gen2 Sonic will use the Bolt's platform...GM took the ICE Spark and EVed it, someone greenlighted the FWD ICE Sonic to "EV", I don't know who did but would guess Tavel wasn't happy with it...If this so called Vette E-Ray comes out, I'd take a vegas bet that Tavel would be the lead engineer again and we'll hear him gushing over it...

bro1999

· #13 · Mar 8, 2017

VoltenRock said:
I saw my first Bolt this week and agree that the exterior is... errr, underwhelming. But it is sorta growing on me. I think GM knew it wasn't going to "out-Tesla" Tesla in terms of looks. Its particular body style is very "in" right now. Just look around. The "SUV-lite" style (or crossover or whatever) is selling in droves. Lots of people like it. I'm not one of them. However, Maybe GM marketing said that yet another (expensive) sedan in a declining, competitive, and saturated sedan market (that will also compete with the Volt) is not a good idea. Time will tell whether they got it right. Certainly going more "generic" on the Gen 2 Volt seems to have paid off.

I actually prefer my Bolt "blending in" with the rest of the crowd. I hear that some Model X owners get gawkers and question every single time they open their FWD. You can imagine how annoying that would be after the 50th time someone stops you and goes "What's THAT?!?". I still get questions....mainly from other EV owners though.

Mary Barra has said the Bolt's platform will be used for a "huge range of vehicles", so I think the sporty version lots of people are wanting is in the works somewhere. Unless Trump succeeds in disemboweling the EPA and CA's ZEV mandates, that is. =/

Qinsp

· #14 · Mar 8, 2017

Bacardi said:
I know many get upset when they see the "Bolt" and the "sonic" in the same sentence but remember the Bolt EV started it's life on the Gen1 Sonic platform and while it evolved into it's own new platform, GM confirmed the ICE Gen2 Sonic will use the Bolt's platform...GM took the ICE Spark and EVed it, someone greenlighted the FWD ICE Sonic to "EV", I don't know who did but would guess Tavel wasn't happy with it...If this so called Vette E-Ray comes out, I'd take a vegas bet that Tavel would be the lead engineer again and we'll hear him gushing over it...

If Chevy did not use an existing chassis to develop the driveline, they would have to wait until the chassis was done, and delayed the project. This is pretty standard in the auto industry.

flyingsherpa

· #15 · Mar 8, 2017

Neromanceres said:
Actually in theory the Bolt EV could be faster on a track than a Tesla. The Model S/X does not have liquid cooled motors and after a couple of hot laps the Model S motor will be heat soaked and power limited. The Bolt EV shouldn't suffer the same fate.

All Tesla models have liquid cooled motors. It's true that they tend to overheat with heavy track usage (though it's unclear what's actually overheating... it could be motor, battery, and/or power electronics), but to be fair they weren't designed for that. Odds are that Bolt would have similar heat issues on the track, but I'm not aware of anyone trying it yet.

Qinsp

· #16 · Mar 8, 2017

flyingsherpa said:
All Tesla models have liquid cooled motors. It's true that they tend to overheat with heavy track usage (though it's unclear what's actually overheating... it could be motor, battery, and/or power electronics), but to be fair they weren't designed for that. Odds are that Bolt would have similar heat issues on the track, but I'm not aware of anyone trying it yet.

Neither the Teslas, nor the Bolt are designed to handle road racing. But then again, that's true for most cars.

However, Autocross is a time trial through a tight segment of track with max speeds of about 65mph. The ability to rapidly change directions is what counts. Heavy, wide cars are at a disadvantage. This most closely mimics the handling and braking traits required for emergencies on publics roads.

Power isn't a huge factor, it helps, but not as much as road racing.

Jeff N

· #17 · Mar 8, 2017

Bacardi said:
I know many get upset when they see the "Bolt" and the "sonic" in the same sentence but remember the Bolt EV started it's life on the Gen1 Sonic platform and while it evolved into it's own new platform, GM confirmed the ICE Gen2 Sonic will use the Bolt's platform...

I have not heard that and I'm doubting that it is true. The Bolt has a different platform because of the unique structural needs introduced by the large and heavy bolt-on battery pack.

Do you have a link to an article that says the next generation ICE Sonic will adopt the Bolt's platform?

Ladogaboy

· #18 · Mar 9, 2017

Jeff N said:
I have not heard that and I'm doubting that it is true. The Bolt has a different platform because of the unique structural needs introduced by the large and heavy bolt-on battery pack.

Do you have a link to an article that says the next generation ICE Sonic will adopt the Bolt's platform?

Either way, I don't know whether it means much. If true, at the end of the day, Sonic owners came up (a high-strength, low-weight steel chassis that is not normally found on that segment of cars).

wainair

· #19 · Mar 9, 2017

Jeff N said:
I have not heard that and I'm doubting that it is true. The Bolt has a different platform because of the unique structural needs introduced by the large and heavy bolt-on battery pack.

Do you have a link to an article that says the next generation ICE Sonic will adopt the Bolt's platform?

"will share the same Gamma platform as the next-generation Chevrolet Sonic (Gamma G2SC platform)"
http://www.mychevybolt.com/chevy-bolt-ev-specifications/

I have since read that they modified the platform enough that they consider the Bolt to have it's own platform. I'm always reminded of the Acura Integra of the late 80's when I hear stories like this. The Integra was based on the Honda Civic but they were totally different cars in shape and size. They may have used some internal components like A pillar structure or front suspension structure but the cars were not the same in any noticeable way to the driver. Most cars today are made to maximize commonality in parts and components. It doesn't mean they just slapped a battery in the Sonic!

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

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