Ron Earp
Admin
I'm an owner of an electric car (well wife is) and a car enthusiast. On another forum I frequent I went through the purchasing process in dozens of posts with the folks on that forum. I'll report some of those here for those that might be considering an EV.
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Just got back from driving the Bolt and Volt, both top of the line models with all options. Color me impressed with both cars.
I found the Bolt fun to drive. It steers well, reasonably sprightly, and has strong acceleration. Lots of tech and well executed. The driver screen provides a lot of information, is configurable, while the center stack screen is intuitive. Apple Car Play works well here as does the phone projection. All good stuff. Climate controls well done. Top down cameras are among the best I’ve seen from Audi, BMW, and Ford. GM has that figured out. Lane keep assist very nice, as is the automatic stopping. ‘
I loved the regen drive mode. It will bring the car to a complete stop and I find it very easy to adapt to one foot driving, sorting out how far away from a stop sign to drop throttle and have the car stop without using the brake thus giving max battery regen. It’s a big go cart and is surprisingly interesting to drive and play the “how well am I doing” game using the energy feedback screen. It’s fun actually.
The Bolt is easy to see out of and the car can fit four easily. It’s tall. And, the Bolt’s interior, well, that’s definitely meh. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it wasn’t all that great either. The front seats are too flat, rear seats too flat, and there isn’t enough nice inside. On one hand it’s a $41k car so it needs an awesome interior. However GM spent the money on the tech instead which is really cool. But I would rather have a $46k Bolt with an awesome interior. So it goes.
Score for Bolt on 0-10; Ron 7 Julie 5. I liked it and I could have one as my daily for sure. Julie I’m not so sure.
The Volt was a different animal. It feels more car like straightaway as it is lower, although the visibility is less. Interior materials were definitely better. The Volt rear seats are awesome and the front seats are decent. It’s comfortable and more familiar to the driver.
The Volt has good tech too. The driver screen is again well done and shows more than you need to know in a logical fashion. The center stack screen is a bit smaller than the Bolt but it still has all the same features. Climate control again well done and standard good American stuff, not in Klingon like a BMW.
The Volt has lane assist, auto stopping, which the Bolt also had, but the Volt has a radar cruise control which the Bolt does not have as an option. Unfortunately, the Volt doesn’t have the kick ass top down camera stuff. Dammit. Instead it gets an automatic parking mode which works really well and is fast but we’d never use it. We would use the kick ass top down camera stuff though. Thanks GM.
The Volt drives well. I don’t think it was as sharp as the Bolt and it doesn’t accelerate as well due to the higher weight. But it’s more than adequate and in sport mode the extra current to the motor really delivers the power, but the Bolt has that too and wins the drag contests. I didn’t get to rage around in either car but will on my next test drive.
Julie liked the Volt quite a bit and felt it would be good replacement for the Acura. Compared to the Bolt she likes the fact the Volt has an onboard generator that can drive the car at an equivalent 47 MPG. If she needed to make multiple trips to Greensboro for aging parents it’d be no trouble to use the Volt with no charging. But, for 90% of her driving with the car she’d never come off battery power. Everything she does is under 50 miles a day. The Volt also rates your driving style, energy consumption, and allows you to play the “how far car I go game”.
We tried the Volt with the "generator" on and it is difficult to tell when it's running. We forced it on and off twice but it's just about undetectable. As far as driving there isn't any change there since the engine just charges the battery and all duties are still handled by the electric motor.
Both cars have a 100k 8 year warranty on the battery packs so I think that enough for our needs. One nice thing you notice about electrics is you get heat instantly. No waiting for that pesky engine to heat up, 85F air now for those cold natured folks like my wife. Both cars have heated seats (all four seats) and steering wheels since it’s more efficient to heat you that way instead of heating the cabin.
Score for Volt 0-10; Julie 8 Ron 8
Overall I was more impressed than I thought possible. I need to drive the cars more and spend time poking around the interior in more detail but GM is bringing some impressive tech to the market. And you feel like you're getting some cool technology that you can make use of during most of your driving time.
What are we going to do? Not too sure. GM does offer an educator discount for teachers and professors so that’s a nice incentive we can take advantage of, plus the $7500 tax credit. That said I think we could go for a Volt but we’ve got to do more research and testing.
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Just got back from driving the Bolt and Volt, both top of the line models with all options. Color me impressed with both cars.
I found the Bolt fun to drive. It steers well, reasonably sprightly, and has strong acceleration. Lots of tech and well executed. The driver screen provides a lot of information, is configurable, while the center stack screen is intuitive. Apple Car Play works well here as does the phone projection. All good stuff. Climate controls well done. Top down cameras are among the best I’ve seen from Audi, BMW, and Ford. GM has that figured out. Lane keep assist very nice, as is the automatic stopping. ‘
I loved the regen drive mode. It will bring the car to a complete stop and I find it very easy to adapt to one foot driving, sorting out how far away from a stop sign to drop throttle and have the car stop without using the brake thus giving max battery regen. It’s a big go cart and is surprisingly interesting to drive and play the “how well am I doing” game using the energy feedback screen. It’s fun actually.
The Bolt is easy to see out of and the car can fit four easily. It’s tall. And, the Bolt’s interior, well, that’s definitely meh. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it wasn’t all that great either. The front seats are too flat, rear seats too flat, and there isn’t enough nice inside. On one hand it’s a $41k car so it needs an awesome interior. However GM spent the money on the tech instead which is really cool. But I would rather have a $46k Bolt with an awesome interior. So it goes.
Score for Bolt on 0-10; Ron 7 Julie 5. I liked it and I could have one as my daily for sure. Julie I’m not so sure.
The Volt was a different animal. It feels more car like straightaway as it is lower, although the visibility is less. Interior materials were definitely better. The Volt rear seats are awesome and the front seats are decent. It’s comfortable and more familiar to the driver.
The Volt has good tech too. The driver screen is again well done and shows more than you need to know in a logical fashion. The center stack screen is a bit smaller than the Bolt but it still has all the same features. Climate control again well done and standard good American stuff, not in Klingon like a BMW.
The Volt has lane assist, auto stopping, which the Bolt also had, but the Volt has a radar cruise control which the Bolt does not have as an option. Unfortunately, the Volt doesn’t have the kick ass top down camera stuff. Dammit. Instead it gets an automatic parking mode which works really well and is fast but we’d never use it. We would use the kick ass top down camera stuff though. Thanks GM.
The Volt drives well. I don’t think it was as sharp as the Bolt and it doesn’t accelerate as well due to the higher weight. But it’s more than adequate and in sport mode the extra current to the motor really delivers the power, but the Bolt has that too and wins the drag contests. I didn’t get to rage around in either car but will on my next test drive.
Julie liked the Volt quite a bit and felt it would be good replacement for the Acura. Compared to the Bolt she likes the fact the Volt has an onboard generator that can drive the car at an equivalent 47 MPG. If she needed to make multiple trips to Greensboro for aging parents it’d be no trouble to use the Volt with no charging. But, for 90% of her driving with the car she’d never come off battery power. Everything she does is under 50 miles a day. The Volt also rates your driving style, energy consumption, and allows you to play the “how far car I go game”.
We tried the Volt with the "generator" on and it is difficult to tell when it's running. We forced it on and off twice but it's just about undetectable. As far as driving there isn't any change there since the engine just charges the battery and all duties are still handled by the electric motor.
Both cars have a 100k 8 year warranty on the battery packs so I think that enough for our needs. One nice thing you notice about electrics is you get heat instantly. No waiting for that pesky engine to heat up, 85F air now for those cold natured folks like my wife. Both cars have heated seats (all four seats) and steering wheels since it’s more efficient to heat you that way instead of heating the cabin.
Score for Volt 0-10; Julie 8 Ron 8
Overall I was more impressed than I thought possible. I need to drive the cars more and spend time poking around the interior in more detail but GM is bringing some impressive tech to the market. And you feel like you're getting some cool technology that you can make use of during most of your driving time.
What are we going to do? Not too sure. GM does offer an educator discount for teachers and professors so that’s a nice incentive we can take advantage of, plus the $7500 tax credit. That said I think we could go for a Volt but we’ve got to do more research and testing.