Impression of Bolt at the auto show

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nikwax

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Apr 26, 2015
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Birch Bay, Washington
The Frau and I attended the Portland International Auto Show this past weekend, mainly to have a good look at the Bolt. There were a few of them there and we spent a fair amount of time with one, sitting in it and doing a close examination. I thought I'd share my impressions for discussion.


The big surprise for me is size. It doesn't look all that large on the outside, but inside there is a great deal of room. I'm 6'3", and with the front passenger seat all the way back, I couldn't touch the firewall with my feet, and I had about 4 inches of headroom. Back seat was very roomy for two average sized adults. We couldn't open the hatch of any of the cars, so couldn't really get a sense of how much stowage is available. I did notice that the rear seat is a 60/40 split, which I think is useful.



Frau liked the instrument cluster much better than either of our current vehicles. Much more sense of purpose built to be a modern car, rather then an adapted 20th century car. No power so we couldn't see what the displays look like.


Really short hood, again, looks like it was designed to be an EV rather than an adapted gasser. By comparison, the Golf EV looks like a gas car that had an electric drive train dropped into it, complete with long hood and lots of empty space in the engine compartment.




What was disappointing: I wasn't prepared to be disappointed, so I was caught off guard by my overall impression of the vehicle, which is: way overpriced. We were in the high spec version with options, and the sticker was $45k. That is a LOT of money for a car, and in my mind it should be reflected in the vehicle's overall presence. I found the seats narrow and very uncomfortable (my back hurt for hours after), the controls seems cheap (much cheaper feeling than the Spark), the leather seats are manually adjusted. It comes across as a $25k vehicle. I was looking at an i3 parked next to it and said, OK, that's $45k, but it's bristling with leading edge technology, a beautiful interior, and a cachet that is undeniable. It looks and acts the part of a $45k vehicle. (Sidebar: reminds me of when we owned a gen 4 Outback. With a 4 cylinder motor, woefully underpowered. With a 6 cylinder, power is fine, but it was $38k in 2010, and for that kind of money there were far better cars out there).



OK, so what happened to the "under $30k" Bolt? Well, it's $37,500, if you want a car that lacks basics like heated seats, DCFC, and the now common forward warning and lane departure technologies that you really want to have. The high zoot car is the one you're going to want. It's like the "under $30k" car is that car in the newspaper ad at the attractive price, and when you go to the dealer to look at it, it's not there, but they'll happily show you something else.


I do hope that the Bolt finds a market. Chevy was doing nothing with it at the auto show.
 
Thanks for the report. My wife and I were hoping to get to the Portland Auto Show this year to check out the EVs, but we were out of town this last weekend. Next EV will be a Tesla (Model 3), but still like to see what's going on with the other guys.
 
telero said:
Thanks for the report. My wife and I were hoping to get to the Portland Auto Show this year to check out the EVs, but we were out of town this last weekend. Next EV will be a Tesla (Model 3), but still like to see what's going on with the other guys.

So you're not getting a new EV until 2-3 years from now? Or do you already have an early reservation (less than # 50,000)?
 
SparkE said:
telero said:
Thanks for the report. My wife and I were hoping to get to the Portland Auto Show this year to check out the EVs, but we were out of town this last weekend. Next EV will be a Tesla (Model 3), but still like to see what's going on with the other guys.

So you're not getting a new EV until 2-3 years from now? Or do you already have an early reservation (less than # 50,000)?

Yes, less than 50,000. Stood in line day 1.
 
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