Ordered a Bolt But Bought a Leaf!

Pepperoni · May 5, 2023

Hello,
My name is Tom Liberatore, I have MS and am very much of a special needs cat. Seeking to avoid getting hand controls, I drove a friend’s Chevy Bolt and found it super easy to drive plus the entry/exit was excellent. Seeing this as the way forward, I ordered a 1LT last December and began the wait. This week I got a little antsy and started looking online at used Bolts when I stumbled upon a 2022 Leaf SL Plus w/ 3,400 miles at the local Mazda dealer. I saw it last November when they had it listed for $44K but now they were asking about the same amount as a new 1LT Bolt. They also had a Bolt on the lot and I got to drive both the Leaf and Bolt back to back with the surprise being how superior the Leaf was to the Bolt, it is much more refined especially in regard to the one pedal drive system. For me, it was way easier to modulate plus the leaf had all the features that I couldn’t afford to put on the Bolt. I was able to get it for $28,500 plus fees and now it sits in my all electric garage. I feel fortunate that things took an unexpected lucky turn. My wife named it “Firefly” after the TV series/movie and it really is a little robot spaceship. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Learjet · May 5, 2023

congratulations on your Leaf.

Pepperoni · May 21, 2023

Now that I've had a chance to drive the leaf a bit, I absolutely love it. What a wonderful machine it is, I'm constantly impressed with how well it works, the controller is absolutely magic, very smooth and I can stop the car wherever I want by just lifting my foot at the right time. It was sure easy to get used to how quiet it is. It will take a while to learn all the features, there are a bunch of them.

DougWantsALeaf · May 21, 2023

Many of us really enjoy the Leaf and don't find it's limitations so bad.

Enjoy

DougWantsALeaf · May 24, 2023

Rented a Bolt this week as it was the only EV available in the price class I was renting at Hertz.

Overall, I find the new Bolt pretty impressive. Acceleration is good, it's small so great at maneuvering and parking in tight garages. Efficiency has been very good (Baltimore area), and even with 70% freeway on the 695 at 55-70mph mixed with some local driving, I am getting 4.9 miles/kWh for a couple hundred miles. It feels at least as efficienct as my Leaf with 16" tires, if not even more so, with minimal efforts to hypermile. Very curious to see qhat a hypermiled Bolt trip might look like. Range is very good with car showing over 200 miles at 80% SoC. I think with some careful driving, 250 gentle freeway miles might be doable in a charge. Regen paddle is a very nice ad hoc e pedal.

The negatives are that the car is narrower, so you feel a bit more squished with your shotgun passenger. The battery display doesn't show %..which when watching the DC charger and the car realized that the fuel Guage read out isn't exactly linear to %. It yookThe CCS port is flimsy and has a lot of movement which makes me worry about a charger sticking or the plastic breaking all together. It took 52 minutes to go from 35% to 81%, 29 kWh at the charger charged (for comparison on last Kansas trip, i charged 36kWh in 49 minutes). Rear storage not nearly as usable as the Leaf. It's fine for 1 rollerbag and a backpack...but that's it. Or maybe 4 paper grocery bags. I know rear legroom is better than the Leaf though. Lane centering is very passive.

UI and screen are ok, neutral. Stats and options a bit different, but enough.

Side comment on DC charging with CCS. This is my first time using CCS. Literally every charger I have tried so far (4-5??) Has either not worked, errored or faulting during a charging session. I am starting to see the issues that some video bloggers report on with CCS. (Thankfully my Chademo experience has been more consistent). Every place I have stopped so far on this trip (by convenience) has had equal ccs and Chademo handles. The gen2 Chademo handles are pretty much the same size now as the ccs.

SageBrush · May 24, 2023

Pepperoni said:
I saw it last November when they had it listed for $44K but now they were asking about the same amount as a new 1LT Bolt.

Glad you like the car, and welcome.

Was the Bolt LT1 price similarity to the LEAF after you took the Fed EV tax credit into account ?

Pepperoni · May 24, 2023

I don’t qualify for the tax credit due to low income but I was hoping to get the California Clean Vehicle Credit ($4,500) on the Bolt. PG&E has a low income used EV credit ($4,000) available that I am applying for. I got the Leaf for about $1,000 less than I was going to pay for the Bolt.