Tag: Used Chevy Bolt

Post #1944: Chevy Bolt one-month review

 

  • I bought a used car.
  • And to gas, au revoir.
  • This is favored, by far,
  • By the energy czar.
  • If the range is sub-par?
  • Well, I don’t travel far.
  • Not to Ulannbataar, or far-off Zanzibar,
  • Just my local bazaar.

[Thumpity-thump.]

  • So it’s no blazing star,
  • No de-luxe Ja-gu-ar.
  • I don’t know it from NASCAR
  • Or races stock-car.
  • So it’s not caviar
  • With a Cuban cigar.
  • It is more Hershey-bar.
  • Middle-class avatar.
  • But I set a low bar.
  • Been no glitches so far.
  • And it isn’t bizarre.
  • Like some daft minicar.

[Thumpity-thump.]

  • In mood most noire?
  • Yearn for God’s abattoir?
  • Then grab hold of the busbar.
  • Forsake CPR.
  • But for now, NPR
  • And some padding lumbar
  • Will together debar
  • Good Saint Pete, registrar.

In prose

Bought a 2020 Chevy Bolt about a month ago.  Just over 5K miles on it.  Just under $19K with taxes and tags, should end up under $15K after the tax rebate.

It’s the best used car I’ve ever bought.  But — trust me on this — that isn’t saying much.

Good:

  • About 5 miles per kilowatt-hour, as driven.  Much better than EPA, and almost on a par with my wife’s 2021 Prius Prime.
  • Low C02.  Where I live (and charge), driving 150 miles in this car produces about the same amount of C02 as burning one gallon of gasoline.  I have years, paying back the C02 that went into making all those batteries.  But in terms of operating C02 emissions, that’s quite low.
  • Comfortable:  Lot of front leg room, driver position is much higher off the ground than a Prius, which makes this easy to get into and out of, and gives good visibility (for a car, that is).  The driver’s seat fits my frame (6′) well.
  • Zippy.  Very zippy when you need to zip.  Lots of acceleration off-the-line.
  • Plugs right into the wall.  Level I (120-volt) charging works just fine.  An overnight charge at 12 amps adds maybe 75 miles of range.
  • Surprisingly nice sound system.  I have what I’m pretty sure is the stock radio, and the sound quality is very good.

The neutral:

  • Came with just one fob.  That’s really an issue with buying it used.  But, it was surprisingly easy to buy and in-the-car program some new fobs.
  • No spare or jack.  But, it was easy enough to locate and buy a jack and spare that should work with this car.
  • All told, a couple-hundred bucks fixed both issues.

The not-so-good:

  • Bumpy ride.  Short wheelbase and tight suspension give it a jittery ride.  I probably wouldn’t notice it but my own suspension isn’t all that tight, so I tend to jiggle more than I like, as I drive.
  • Have to pay attention.  This car has tight, responsive steering and a somewhat wide turning circle, both of which were a surprise, given how small the car is bumper-to-bumper.  (This is a foot-and-a-half shorter than my wife’s 2021 Prius Prime, but has a wider turning radius.)  Both of these mean that you can’t just rest a couple of fingers on the steering wheel, and cruise down the road.  You actually have to grab the wheel and steer the car.

Summary

All my life, when faced with a major energy-using investment, I’ve opted for the most efficient thing I could reasonably get.  And, so far, I’ve never been sorry I did that.

This car fits that pattern.  As long as it doesn’t fail prematurely, I am more than satisfied with it.  It’s all the car I need and it’s about as C02-efficient as a car will likely ever be in my lifetime.

I don’t think I’m going to look back, a few years from now, and say “oops”.  For a used car, that’s about all I can ask for.

Plus, I can now sneer at all those old-fashioned hybrid cars on the road.

Post #1922: Venn Diagram of Used Chevrolet Bolt Search.

A:   Not a salt-belt car.  Turns out, the majority of used Bolts for sale here in the DC area were sold new in the Northern U.S.  The cold isn’t the issue.  Multiple winters of driving on heavily-salted roads is the issue.  I don’t want a salt-belt car.

B:  No accidents, no obvious damage, no ludicrously excessive mileage.  I think the rationale there goes without saying.

C:  Dealer is not obviously a shithead.  And here, I’m not talking about the comments on Yelp (because those are always negative).  I’m just looking for a dealer where the majority of comments, on some mainstream site (e.g., cars.com), do not start off with some variation on “If I could give them negative stars … “.

As I sift through what’s listed within 25 miles of me, on Edmunds.com, this is how it shakes out.  This is what mathematicians call an over-determined system of equations.  Nothing satisfies all the constraints.  Or, the intersection of the areas is a null set.  Say it any way you like.

If I continue to pursue this, something’s going to have to give. At this point, I’m leaning toward buying a salt-belt refugee, from a seemingly decent dealer.  I mean, seriously, how much damage could three winters on salted roads cause?  Guess I may find out.

To be continued.

For the literal-minded of you, no, that’s not a proper Venn diagram of the situation. Some circles should overlap others, somewhere.  But it doesn’t look like a surprised face then, does it?  With the choice between literal mathematical correctness on a throw-away diagram, and some possible humor value, I went with attempted humor.  So sue me.  This is really more an expression of frustration over what ought to be a straightforward search for a commodity product.  But isn’t.