Originally Posted By: Just A Troll

Pretty peppy off the line. Actually very quick off a red light. Surprisingly good handling although the steering felt a bit "loose". That regen button on the left of the steering is a good idea but I can see it getting annoying after a while. I think there's a way to put it in "tesla mode" which is regen as soon as you lift off the throttle. The sales guy and I just couldn't find the setting in the menu.

The displays are pretty good but a bit clutered. They're trying to show too much info all at once. And I can do without the animations of the Bolt spinning around when going in-out of the menu.

One very cool feature is the rear-view mirror. In normal mode it's like any other auto-dimming rearview. But flip the switch below it and it switches to the rear camera which gives you a very good view of what's behind. You can see angles to the sides which you just can see with the normal mirrors. But you do see even wider angles with the back-up camera which you can leave on. It also has a top-down 360 view. Just cameras under the side mirrors and another one in the front which can be used separately when parking.

Visibility is pretty good but you need to use all those cameras to overcome the very narrow view out the back.

Interior room is pretty good. Far better than the Volt for example. Tall drivers and rear passengers will have no problems. It did fell a bit narrow. The rear seats are very upright and put you in a "stadium" seating position so you can see over the front passengers.

Rear cargo, with seats up, is typical of what you'd get with a subcompact. And there's no spare tire so there's a movable shelf instead.

In the end it's still just a Chevy spark. It's slightly taller than the spark, slightly longer than the spark and almost the same width. They say it's a "mini crossover" but no. Not even close! It's just a subcompact wagon.

The one I tried was a white Premier model with all the driver assists (lane keep, scross traffic etc.). They're asking $50k (before incentives and taxes).

Verdict: I'll leave my deposit with Tesla for a model 3. Sure the bolt might beat the tesla in range (slightly) and probably in price too. But from what I've seen and heard, the 3 will probably be more like a $50K car than just an expensive econo-car.

To me, it's a big expensive for a small car to just drive around town. Save yourself a lot of money and get the Spark, or a Honda fit. There's not enough gas savings to justify the up-front costs of the Bolt. I'll sit down and do the math to compare. Chevy's website says: "$1600 savings/year in gas". But I doubt those figures are accurate to begin with and if they are, it'll take you well over 10 years to make up the difference.

It's a good attempt, much better than the Volt but Chevy isn't quite there yet. If you're looking for value-for-money, there are better options. But if you want a decent range electric car and insist on being full electric, the Bolt is a better choice than say, the Nissan Leaf.

Interesting review, thanks.

As far as gas savings, my rule of thumb is for a car doing 10L/100 or so, a fully electric is about 1/4 of the cost with electricity charging off peak.

So if you get 400 km on a tank and it costs you $40, the electric will get you 400km on $10. The fraction becomes smaller as the more inefficient the gas car is, etc.