Here's Why the Chevy Bolt is the Uncool Electric Car

This is a new Chevy Bolt that has a B like a boy band and not a Volt. I'm clarifying this because some people, even some car enthusiasts, have no idea this exists, although on paper it's amazing that it's a new

electric

car that will run 238 miles between charges, that's double the range of its flagships. Electric rivals, like the Nissan Leaf and the Ford Focus Electric and that Mitsubishi that looks like an egg-shaped golf cart, and more importantly, the

bolt

isn't that expensive compared to its rivals it starts with. Only thirty-seven thousand five hundred dollars or only thirty thousand dollars after the thirty-seven-five federal tax incentive to travel 238 miles those figures are unrivaled in the automobile industry, except for the new Tesla Model 3 which, reportedly , it will go 220 miles for 35,000.

Pretty similar numbers, and yet the Tesla Model 3 has been out of stock for years, people are obsessed with it. Tesla fans retweet every time Elon Musk sneezes, while the Bolt doesn't sell. Most people haven't heard of it and it's just not cool today. I'm going to find out why that is before I start. Here is some data to support my theory about lack of

bolt

cooling. Chevrolet recently announced that they are shutting down the plant that makes the bolt because inventories are too high. At what height exactly? Good. now listed on Auto Trader t

here

are 3599 volts for sale nationwide 35.99 you know how many Tesla model three are for sale on Auto Trader Zero it is true that the model three is not available yet, but the point remains that the Bolt has giant inventories while for the Model three people lined up for weeks beforehand to give Tesla a thousand dollar interest-free loan so that maybe they could have a chance to own a Model 3 at some point in the next few years, so Today I am going to try to discover what lightning does not have.

I borrowed this spoke from a viewer

here

in New Jersey and I'm going to show you all of its cool quirks and interesting features and then I'm going to take it out on the road and see how this thing drives and at the end I'll give it a dig score and to learn more For my thoughts on the bolt and the bolt experience, click the link below to go to autotrader.com. Now, let's move on to the peculiarities. Now, this car has a lot of cool quirks and features, so get ready. I'll start with the first thing you'll notice the moment you climb inside and that's the shifter.

For some reason

electric

and hybrid cars just have to have a The strange shifter and bolt are no different now when you first start the car it's in park and that makes sense okay but when you want to put reverse you have to press a small button on the side of the gear lever and then push it up and to the left to put it in reverse when you want to put it in gear, press the same button then pull it down and then you will be running and when you start it a never-before-seen l will appear for low range. appears on the shifter gives you a futuristic look when you want to go back into park you don't push it anywhere to park you just press the little button on the top of the shifter that says p and that puts you in park next.

I want to talk about the center screen of the Bolt. This is a giant central screen by modern car standards, although it is not at the level of Tesla, but it contains a huge amount of things, but right now I want to show. Some of the weird things I found while checking out this screen, the most interesting quirk is that there is a setting on this screen for literally every function on this car, for example it can alert you to let you know if your charging cable has been stolen, you are charging. They steal your cable and send you a note.

Hey, by the way, someone just stole your charging cable, but that's not my favorite weird setup. My favorite strange setting is the ringer volume. You can adjust the ringer volume. up and down in most cars is like low or high in this car it is organized with a two digit number and the lowest setting is 24 and the highest setting is 38. So there is a range of 14 numbers there, no I know why it's not like that. only from 1 to 14, I don't know why they chose 14 numbers, but you can go from 24 to 38 with the volume of your ringer.

Personally, I like my ringer volume at 32 30 if I'm trying to create a low-key sort of night. The city atmosphere below, the giant screen shows all the energy usage, which is common in most electric and hybrid cars, but this one really delves into the point where I don't even want to get into all this stuff . The only interesting thing is it gives you a score of how you are doing compared to how you could be or how you have been in the past. My score is not very high and then here is a feature that every car should have: there is a setting for maximum boot volume. for the radio, when you walk in, the last person who drove was listening to the music at full volume, there is a maximum level that the radio will start at, so even if the last person had it at 87, you can control it from not starting higher than 25, so when you get in the car on Monday morning at 7am after driving it all weekend, your eardrums don't explode with the crazy electronic music of those damn kids, and speaking of those damn kids Kids, this car even has a teen driver feature.

So when you hand your car over to your teen driver you can limit things like the stereo volume and speed, it requires entering a pin so your team can't go in and change it. Another interesting thing: this car has a rear end. The seat reminder feature can basically tell if before you get in and drive you open the back seat to put something behind it, presumably a child seat, and that way if you get out without opening the back door, it reminds you that you might want to look. back there so you don't forget your child in the back of the car, which is a very good idea, a little worse executed is the option to change the language, it says language so you can change the language, then in parentheses it also says language so you can change your language or your language in general motors now one of my favorite bolt plugs is the brake lights now, first of all, just the appearance of the brake lights when they're on is pretty cool futuristic looking, but The most interesting thing about the brake lights is that they are now mounted on the rear hatchback in the United States, brake lights and headlights cannot legally be mounted on a moving body part, in other words a hatchback or a hood , you can't put your brake lights there because if your hood is up or your hatchback is up, no one can see them, but Chevy figured out an interesting way to get around that that's also used by a couple other cars, namely when you open the hatchback, look down here, open it, the brake lights change instantly, suddenly they're gone.

More time on the hatchback they are down on the bumper which is a fixed piece of the body, when you close the hatch once again the brake lights go back to where they were before, it's an interesting solution to a strange problem due to regulations federal. Now, interestingly, turn signals fall under the same federal regulation and also cannot be on a moving body part. Chevy could have done the same thing with the turn signals, putting one set on the tailgate and then another second redundant set on the bumper. In case the tailgate ever opened but they just thought it wouldn't, bolt it on so there's just a set of turn signals on the bumper on a fixed piece of body where they don't have to worry about that regulation.

Another interesting quirk of this car. Take a look at the The situation back here with the reversing camera now, like most cars, the backup camera and this one is mounted on the tailgate right above the license plate and there are two, one is a backup camera. wide angle just for the normal reversing camera and the other one is for the 360 ​​degree camera, the third thing back there would be the washer jet for the cameras, in case they get dirty or dirty there is a washer separate that will spray liquid on them so they can stay clean.

I've reviewed a lot of cars, including a lot of really expensive cars, and I've never seen that feature before, but I have to admit it's cool since I'm around here. Another cool feature this car has, like a two-stage cargo area, has normal charging. area which is what most people see, but then if you lift it up, there's a second cargo area under the floor so you can hide things from anyone who hasn't seen this video. Another interesting feature on this car. Take a look at these seats. something strange how about the fact that the outside of the seats is white and the inside is gray?

The seats have asymmetrical colors. I'm not exactly sure why they did that but it gives it a cool look, it looks like the entire interior is trimmed in white while the center is gray to match the bits and pieces of the car's center console, another interesting quirk of the infotainment system is a feature called hilltop reserve. now hilltop reserve sounds like the kind of place i would try to film one of these videos. and getting thrown off by a guy driving a

chevy

silverado you can't film in the hilltop reserve but it's actually a cool feature on this car if you set the hilltop reserve to just load the car at 90 percent and that way if it's For example, if you live at the top of a hill, you can use regenerative braking to get the last 100 of charge when you're driving to work or wherever you're going.

The theory is that that way you don't have to waste any energy. created by regenerative braking, they really thought of everything now, one of the main reasons I suspect many Tesla owners will say they didn't buy a bolt is because it doesn't have all the technology you'll find in a Tesla. but you'd actually be surprised how much technology there is in this car, for example in addition to the normal rear view camera there is a 360 degree camera, there is also a lane keep assist feature that will get you back into your car. lane and will warn you of lane change to know.

If you're starting to drift out of your lane, there's a feature that measures your following distance to the car in front and gives you a bit of green, yellow, and red depending on how far away you are. I've never seen that before and it's nice. Great, of course the car will beep like crazy at you if you get too close to a car in front of you, so you get forward collision warning and automatic forward collision braking. It has a blind spot monitoring system to warn you if someone is in your blind spot It has automatic high beams so you don't have to adjust them when you are on a dark road It turns them on and off when cars are coming behind It has heated rear seats and in the Front end has a heated steering wheel which is nice and one of my favorite party tricks is the fact that it has a remote start so you can turn it on before you get there in the morning, the strange thing is that I don't. you know how you know it's started it's an electric car so it doesn't make any noise but the benefit is that you can turn on the heater before you get in so the car is nice and warm when you want to get in, well it was like that I was curious to know how it worked.

How do you start an electric car remotely? Well, it turns out that you press the lock button and then hold the remote start button until the lights come on, since they only have the car itself. It's not a remote start, but the climate control comes on right now, the air conditioning is running, so it's nice and cool on this hot day. When I get in my car, I just press the start button and I'm ready to go, so this car has a lot of high-tech features and some cool little quirks that make it interesting, but like all cars, it has some drawbacks, one of them is that the seats are surprisingly narrow.

The owner warned me about this but they are narrower than I expected, I can barely fit my whole body in them and I'm not exactly a big person, also on the subject of seats, how about the fact that this is the Ultra high level bolt with all the features and options and not? They don't have power seats, they can do a reserve mode at the top of a hill, but they can't put power seats in that, it seems a little strange and then there's probably my least favorite thing about this car, something that most People would probably never notice, but I spend.

I spent a lot of time in cars and noticed things like this when you roll down the driver side or passenger side window,you can see the door panel expands to allow the window to go in, it's something most Bolt owners will probably never notice and probably won't notice if you have one, but I think it makes the car feel a little cheaper inside than it should be, so the bolt has some interesting things and it has some unusual things, but how does it do it? drive time to get it out on the road and discover that I'm actually a little excited about this.

I was excited when this car was announced and they said they could go 240 miles for 35 grand and I was like I don't know and then they released it and got 240 miles for 35 grand pretty good deal. The first thing I noticed with this car is it's quiet, obviously, all these electric cars, between the fact that there's no engine noise, the road noise is pretty quiet and there's not a lot of wind coming in and I'm going about 40. I love it. the center gauge cluster, uh, it's so funny because General Motors, when I grew up, General Motors made the worst gauge clusters, they were all terrible, well, the worst fonts and They were so ugly compared to the European ones and you could just look at them and say, well, this is one of the many reasons why General Motors can't make good cars, but this one now looks ultra-modern high-tech.

Awesome, there are some blank switches, there is some plastic, but that's also true on the test list, okay, I'm going to hit the floor here, I'm going to shoot the tires, that's really very fast, I can't believe it.yeah, I say this on the road and I say, oh, it's just a little egg-shaped electric car like the leaf it has, there's 16 to 11 seconds, well, no, this to 060 in 6.5 seconds, which is like which was a wrx a few years ago. No, I'm telling you, it's not like the Model S, the Model although it is more of a novelty, of course. because at the end of the day this car has a higher center of gravity and it's not going to be like that, it's just not going to handle and stay on the road like you know, some of these are like a tesla, but also other cars that go from 0 to 60 and 6.5 i. as in the range meter that shows me my potential maximum range and my potential minimum range.

It's a very good idea. He also gives me what his estimate is, which is 215, but he says it could go up to 253 if I'm good. or if I keep doing those things with my feet on the ground, it will be 176. The visibility in this car is really good. I think one of the problems people have with this car is that it has a sort of minivan behavior. in the sense that the front end just goes and goes and goes, like on a honda odyssey or whatever, and it feels like a mini man, especially the driving position, and I understand that, but the benefit of that is that Visibility is Excellent in all directions and you can really see everything the owner of this car has.

He is married and has a son. This is a family car for him, so it's usable in that sense too. I mean, I don't think he can swallow it. three kids and you know, parents and strollers and all that, but since it works for a small family, the handling is fine, uh, it's especially fine for a kind of tall hatchback like the kia soul, in the end it doesn't handle that well, This car is actually very competent and I'm not just saying that I really think it's like a well put together car I think it has a great interior it has a lot of technology it's fast it's fun I like the cool screens uh it's comfortable inside good visibility I mean, This is a really good effort in an electric car and I can get 238 EPA miles depending on the car, more like 270 miles if I really keep my foot out of it, so that's the bolt Chevy, it's a cool car. with some amazing numbers, its range is incredible, especially considering its price, it has a lot of interesting features and new technology, it drives reasonably well and is quite fast, which brings us back to our main point: why this car is not brilliant?

Bolt achieves the celebrity status that the Tesla Model 3 has. One could argue that styling plays a big role. Bolt looks more like a standard hatchback or perhaps even a minivan while the Model 3 looks more futuristic. Model 3 fans would probably point out in terms of performance as well, but get this, the Bolt does 0-60 in 6.5 seconds, that's really impressive and it's just 0.9 seconds behind the Model 3's 0 to 60 out of 5, 6 seconds for context, the egg-shaped Mitsubishi electric car does 0-60 in 13 seconds and a normal car like, say, a Honda Civic does it in just under eight, so this isn't that slow. , but still, although I haven't driven a model three, I admit that the bolt is a little slower and probably won't.

Corner is fine too, I'll give the model 3 that too, but what else does the

chevy

bolt have with a longer reach than the entry level model 3 tesla? With dealer discounts, it's definitely cheaper, has a lot of cool tech and new features, and most importantly, it's available today. You could buy one of these today instead of shelling out over a thousand dollars just so you can tell your friends that yes, you drive a Dodge Neon now, but in two years you'll have that cool Tesla. I've been hearing about it, it's true, I think the Model 3 is great too, I really do and I can't wait to drive one, but I think the truth is we all know why the Model 3 has been so hyped and the bolt has fallen out and that.

The simple truth here is that Chevy is not as cool as Tesla and although many Tesla owners claim that they do it for the environment and want the electric car to save the planet, the truth is that I think many of them just want the new car. and attractiveness of the new car company, which is fine, but if you want an electric car with great numbers and a reasonable price that is available right now and you don't want to wait for your car to be delivered on Tesla's standard schedule, here There's your alternative, now it's time for Doug's score, starting with the weekend categories and the style in which the bolt is okay.

It has some interesting details, but it's not exactly exciting, which is why it gets a 5 out of 10. Bolt acceleration is 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds for an electric car, but not for Doug's score, where it gets a 3 out of 10. Bolt handling is okay, but not exceptional, especially in the company of the cars I've tested, so it gets a 4 out of 10. The cool factor is debatable as always, but at this point it's still a cool new car, at least I think so, which is why it gets a 6 out of 10. Finally, the importance is clearly an important car for General Motors, an important vehicle in its lineup and for its future as electric cars begin To be more common, it gets a 7 out of 10.

That brings the total weekend score to just 25 out of 50, which makes sense, this is not a car you want to drive in on the weekends, as for the daily rating, I suspect things will be a little different, starting with the features the Bolt does well, it's very well equipped with a lot of desirable modern technology, but it's also missing a few things, which is why it gets a 7 out of 10. The luxury measures comfort and the bolt is okay, not great but not horrible, it's just about average so it gets a 5 out of 10. Measurements of quality, materials and reliability are decent, maybe a little above average, but reliability is unknown and there is always a fear of buying a car, especially a A car like this with a new powertrain so early in its model year, which is why it gets a 5 out of 10.

For practical reasons, the 56.6 The Bolt's cubic feet of cargo volume would give it an 8, but this category also takes gas mileage into account and that goes up easily. the bolt at a 9 out of 10. Note that I also reviewed the practical scores of a few other cars to keep the ultimately dug score consistent for value. Bolt pricing is solid, especially since Chevy dealers are probably offering great deals due to excess inventory. It gets an 8 out of 10, bringing the total daily score to 34 out of 50, right near the top, which makes sense since this is more of a daily car than most things I test.

Add it all up and the bolt's dig score is 59. Out of 100 it's a good solid car, an excellent effort, it may not be as cool as a Tesla but if you want an electric car this should be near the top of your list Shopping.