Chevrolet Bolt & Bolt EUV

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LeftieBiker said:
I strongly suggest you get the DCFC port as well. Between the effect on resale value and the future convenience of fast charging (even if you have none locally now) I can almost guarantee you'd regret getting a Bolt that lacks it.

Leaving that out was just an an oversight on my part, I would want DCQC on any EV I purchase.
 
Watch a Bolt EV at a ChargePoint Express 250 charge at up to 55 kW
https://electricrevs.com/2018/07/17/watch-a-bolt-ev-at-a-chargepoint-express-250-charge-at-up-to-55-kw/

Has a time lapse video. I'm guessing this was at a DC FC that's in testing at ChargePoint's HQ that when I last checked was set to a bargain price (esp. for CA) of 6 cents (!!!) per kWh. My PG&E rate at home is about triple that in the cheapest time bands while on tier 1.
 
golfcart said:
One of the Chevy dealers near me has 2 2019 Bolt is stock so I stopped by after work yesterday to check them out and go for a test drive. One was an LT and one was a premier. I was upfront when I went in that I had no intention of buying in the next month but had the bolt on my short list and wanted to try one out.

Overall I thought it was a nice car. I liked the acceleration and range (obviously) but was also impressed with the infotainment system, large screen, roomy cabin, and responsive steering. It was a fun car to drive.

Some downsides to me were the weird white accents on the dashboard, the small trunk, the position of the charge port, and the price as both were $40k+ after dealer installed options and fees. There were also some nitpicky things about the user interface but those might just be that I wasn't used to it.

In comparing it to the new Leaf I definitely prefer the size of the Leaf, the exterior styling of the Leaf, the layout of the Leaf, and the price of the Leaf. For my particular needs I'd have a really hard spending the extra cash on the Bolt vs a 40kWh Leaf or even a comparably priced eplus. I know the battery is better on the Bolt but the Leaf just feels like a nicer car all around IMO

Despite me telling them I wouldn't buy one that day they insisted on running some numbers for me. They didn't really seem to want to deal or have any incentives right now which I thought was weird given that they are 6 weeks away from losing half the tax credit. The guy offered me standard financing rates and $1200 off MSRP which barely offset all of the dealer installed options they had put in there. I told him for that price I'm $3k from a Tesla...
I had a similar experience with a Chevy dealer last week test driving a '19 with LT trim. I'm able to take full advantage of the $7500 tax credit so figured I needed to test drive a Bolt this month. Just like your dealer, had 2 in stock (an LT and a Premier). Also told them upfront that I had absolutely no intention of buying but they ran numbers. Quoted similar, token discount off MSRP to basically cover bloat fees they would recover on the transaction and low-balled a trade quote on my '13 CRV about $2K under current auction/wholesale. They also quoted some crazy high lease rates and confirmed that GMAC ignores (i.e...pocket/keep) the $7500 Federal tax credit with their lease calculations. So I thanked them for their time and left. While all of this was happening, Tesla was announcing their $35K M3 availability which none of us knew about.

The next day, received a followup call. I reminded them I'm a long way from buying anybody's car and frankly told them we were about $10K apart from anything happening. Then, told them about Tesla's move and that the EV market pricing game likely changed significantly. They called me again the next morning (Saturday) to inform me Chevy is allocating a 14% discount (@$5600) as of March 1st. Not sure how truthful, or if just trying to get me back into their store.

I did like the Bolt a lot. Bolt has it's quirks, seats & ride comfort were OK, liked the on-board charge limit controls, and it had all 3 of the convenience packages. However, very odd they spec'd an extra L-1 120v. charge cord (pricey useless extra) and it lacked a DCFC port. In my case, the lack of a DCFC port is likely meaningless, but likely a huge problem with resale. Like many of the reviews, also felt the new LEAF is a more refined car overall.
 
Quoted similar, token discount off MSRP to basically cover bloat fees they would recover on the transaction and low-balled a trade quote on my '13 CRV about $2K under current auction/wholesale.

You probably know this and they gave you an unrequested trade-in value, but for the benefit of others: NEVER, EVER say that you have a trade, until you have a written price quote. Then, and only then, casually tell them you might have a trade, and ask for a trade-in value. With lower-valued cars especially, dealerships like to have you give them your trade for free, by doctoring the numbers. They can't do that if they don't know about the trade, so better still, show up in another car entirely.

As for the extra charging cable: that happened a lot early on: the options/packages showed the cable with a check box and price, so dealers and some prospective buyers assumed that it was an option. In fact, the check box is for an extra cable.
 
rogersleaf said:
They called me again the next morning (Saturday) to inform me Chevy is allocating a 14% discount (@$5600) as of March 1st. Not sure how truthful, or if just trying to get me back into their store.
...
also felt the new LEAF is a more refined car overall.
FWiW, incentives change all the time.

When I was in the market in Jan 2019, https://www.chevroletoffremont.com/VehicleSearchResults?search=new&make=Chevrolet&model=Bolt%20EV was openly advertising $5K off MSRP. It became $5500 in Feb. On March 1st, it looked like it became $4500 but then I learned elsewhere about 0% APR financing. Now, they're showing about $4K to ~$4329 and 0% APR financing.

Sure enough https://www.chevrolet.com/current-deals#?filterby=all&requestedPostalcode=95136&postalcode=95136&open-panel=bolt-ev:bolt-ev, shows 0% financing for 72 months. I'm 95% sure that were no loan specials on Bolt when I was in the market. I looked.

That 0% APR is very attractive. If I were in the market, I would jump on that even if the cash incentive is lower. I can earn a fair amount of interest over 6 years by socking away that $ into CDs (e.g. https://www.ally.com/bank/high-yield-cd/). I'd paid cash (check) for my Bolt in its entirety due to lack of good financing deals.

That's too bad you your dealer had 2 in stock. My dealer allegedly has 164 of them. It was past 200 when I was in the market. And, yes, there was plenty of selection but I didn't go counting all their cars and didn't know where all their inventory was.

Agree about Leaf vs. Bolt refinement.
 
cwerdna said:
That's too bad you your dealer had 2 in stock. My dealer allegedly has 164 of them. It was past 200 when I was in the market. And, yes, there was plenty of selection but I didn't go counting all their cars and didn't know where all their inventory was.

Agree about Leaf vs. Bolt refinement.
Welcome to Ohio... not surprised, the state is in the middle of arguing over gas taxes. The new Governor (R) is recommending an 18 cent/gal gas tax increase along with annual license fees on hibrid and EV’s because hibrid owners don’t buy enough gas and those damn Tesla owners don’t buy any. Last I checked was about $75/yr for a hibrid and $250+ for an EV. Keep in mind this is a state that doesn’t subsidize, provides nothing for charging infrastructure and basically charges sales tax on the Federal tax rebates. Not surprised dealers won’t stock these until this is resolved. These truly do factor into the operating cost equation that is already marginal at best.
 
^^^
CA has the https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng/eligible-vehicles but my income's too high so I'm not eligible. ZEVs here will supposedly get hit with a $100 annual fee (https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1109824_even-california-imposes-new-fee-on-electric-cars-in-lieu-of-gas-taxes).

Yeah, what you mention about hitting hybrids w/additional fees isn't unique to your state but is really lame. If it were me, all gas taxes show up go up, instead of punishing people w/efficient vehicles. Of course, raising taxes is politically unpopular, so the politicians figure they'll stick to the tiny minority since non-plugin hybrid take rate is only about 2% in the US.
 
Someone in a Bolt FB group I'm in pointed to https://www.criswellchevrolet.com/V...olet+2019&exactSearch=true&sort=salePrice|asc last night. Dealer's in MD. They're currently showing over $10K off MSRP which is REALLY good. If they're legit, I overpaid for mine.

If the deal and dealer were legit and I didn't have a Bolt already, I'd have flown across the country from CA to MD to get one of these and get it shipped to CA.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I assume that you bought yours locally? There is something to be said for having your local dealership thinking of you as a "customer" as opposed to a "PITA."
Yes on the former... sorta. It's unlikely I'd be returning to Fremont Chevrolet for service given that there are several closer and more logical dealers for me to go to for service. They're 30 miles away from home vs. the closet being 7 miles away.
 
cwerdna said:
Someone in a Bolt FB group I'm in pointed to https://www.criswellchevrolet.com/V...olet+2019&exactSearch=true&sort=salePrice|asc last night. Dealer's in MD. They're currently showing over $10K off MSRP which is REALLY good. If they're legit, I overpaid for mine.

If the deal and dealer were legit and I didn't have a Bolt already, I'd have flown across the country from CA to MD to get one of these and get it shipped to CA.

NE seems to be the location for best deals on Bolt a lot
 
cwerdna said:
Someone in a Bolt FB group I'm in pointed to https://www.criswellchevrolet.com/V...olet+2019&exactSearch=true&sort=salePrice|asc last night. Dealer's in MD. They're currently showing over $10K off MSRP which is REALLY good. If they're legit, I overpaid for mine.

If the deal and dealer were legit and I didn't have a Bolt already, I'd have flown across the country from CA to MD to get one of these and get it shipped to CA.
The "ePrice" appears to include federal and state tax credits of $10,500.

"The New Vehicle Internet Sale Price (ePrice) includes rebates, incentives and dealer discounts. Customers may not qualify for all incentives. Freight, sales tax, tags, wheel locks and a $300 processing charge are additional. "

https://mde.maryland.gov/marylandgreen/Documents/EV_dealershipflyer_online.pdf

I don't think you overpaid at all.
 
KeiJidosha said:
cwerdna said:
Someone in a Bolt FB group I'm in pointed to https://www.criswellchevrolet.com/V...olet+2019&exactSearch=true&sort=salePrice|asc last night. Dealer's in MD. They're currently showing over $10K off MSRP which is REALLY good. If they're legit, I overpaid for mine.

If the deal and dealer were legit and I didn't have a Bolt already, I'd have flown across the country from CA to MD to get one of these and get it shipped to CA.
The "ePrice" appears to include federal and state tax credits of $10,500.

"The New Vehicle Internet Sale Price (ePrice) includes rebates, incentives and dealer discounts. Customers may not qualify for all incentives. Freight, sales tax, tags, wheel locks and a $300 processing charge are additional. "

https://mde.maryland.gov/marylandgreen/Documents/EV_dealershipflyer_online.pdf

I don't think you overpaid at all.
Woah! That would be disappointing if they included the $7500 Federal tax credit. I guess I could see them including that MD specific excise tax credit.

When I shopped around online at over a dozen Bay Area Chevy dealers, at least on their web site, they'd list out details on the dealer discounts and each of the incentive(s). Some of them included an incentive for those currently leasing a GM vehicle (I wasn't) and one was crazy enough to include a discount if you traded in a vehicle of a certain model year or newer. One dealer listed a price that was only applicable if you financed with a not very low interest rate that were you supposed to keep open for 3 months (IIRC). They didn't disclose this on their web site. I had to contact them. Another gave me a quote online (via Edmunds, I think) that included that GM lessee credit.

FWIW, others on a Bolt FB group said good things about that dealer (will point to the thread later) and someone else on another non-EV forum said good things about them. (shrug)
 
According to the Chevy website they are offering 14% off MSRP right now on the 2019 Bolt. They also have 0% financing for 72 months on the 2019 Bolt and 0% financing for 72 months + $1500 APR cash on the 2018. It doesn't look like you can use the savings plus the financing though, you need to choose one or the other.

Current Bolt Offers

They are also giving away Volts near me right now. 2018 LTs with heated seats are advertised at $25k before tax incentives...
 
OrientExpress said:
Here is my take on the 2019 Chevy Bolt. Once the Darling of the BEV scene it is now struggling to stay relevant. But because of its day-old-bread status, it is an outstanding bargain.

http://www.cleanfleetreport.com/road-test-2019-chevrolet-bolt-ev

Saying it was ever a Darling anything is stretching it a bit. It was and still is an econobox with a big battery. Betting half of you here have one due to huge price cuts and nothing wrong with that. 2 of my 4 LEAFs were also deeply discounted but lets not make the car something it isn't.
 
When the Bolt was introduced in 2017, it was absolutely the darling of the BEV scene because it set a new standard in range for an under $40K vehicle. That shine wore off as soon as everyone grew tired of its dreadful ergonomics and everything else with the car. Good difference with the LEAF, who has excellent reliability and, does everything very well, but nothing really outstanding. The Bolt does range very well, but everything else is just mediocre.
 
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