coolcat
Member
Just posting to say hello. We purchased our 2014 Spark EV used last May (5/23). It was originally a California car (and still has the stickers on the bumper, so ugly). It has a salvaged title and the PO told us that they bought it from one of those salvaged vehicle auction sites and repaired it, then used it for a short commute until moving out of the city too far for it's range to handle. It had 36k miles on the odo when we purchased, we're currently at 42k. Most of our miles have been from our son using it to commute to school which is about 16 miles each way. In the warmer weather it would claim a fully charged range of 70-74 miles and now that we're in the winter it has dropped to around 54 miles. I located a spare key in stock at a not-so-nearby dealership and made a road trip on my GoldWing to pick it up although I have not yet had it cut and programmed. I tried to take it to the nearest Chevy dealership last fall for the hood latch recall but those jerks kept the car all day and never touched it, then called me and tried to keep the car overnight and into the next day with no guarantee that they'd even get the work done even then. I'll never go back there again and since I was planning to try and have them cut the key that also left me without a plan for getting it cut. One of these days I'll get around to finding a more customer focused Chevy service department.
The car has been trouble free. In fact, we're currently dealing with the first real problem we've had but it's not even something specific to the Spark. I picked up something in the rear driver's side tire on Wednesday night. Used a portable tire inflator to get the car home and took the wheel off. Took it in to a tire shop today and they refused to fix it because of the location and size of the puncture. We might be stuck buying new tires which stinks because these tires look brand new still. Like I said though, that's nothing specific to the Spark, just bad luck.
I purchased one of those cheap dash mounted CarPlay screens to try and use. If I can figure out a mounting solution I think it'll work out ok (the included sticky mount won't stick to the dashboard). I had planned to use the Aux In on the stereo for the CarPlay audio but there's too much electrical interference causing a buzzing. The unit also has an FM transmitter built in which seems to work ok. Have any of you figured out a workable CarPlay solution? It's too bad that Chevy tied the charging system in to the radio so that it can't just be replaced with a more modern unit.
The car has been trouble free. In fact, we're currently dealing with the first real problem we've had but it's not even something specific to the Spark. I picked up something in the rear driver's side tire on Wednesday night. Used a portable tire inflator to get the car home and took the wheel off. Took it in to a tire shop today and they refused to fix it because of the location and size of the puncture. We might be stuck buying new tires which stinks because these tires look brand new still. Like I said though, that's nothing specific to the Spark, just bad luck.
I purchased one of those cheap dash mounted CarPlay screens to try and use. If I can figure out a mounting solution I think it'll work out ok (the included sticky mount won't stick to the dashboard). I had planned to use the Aux In on the stereo for the CarPlay audio but there's too much electrical interference causing a buzzing. The unit also has an FM transmitter built in which seems to work ok. Have any of you figured out a workable CarPlay solution? It's too bad that Chevy tied the charging system in to the radio so that it can't just be replaced with a more modern unit.
