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47of74

(18,470 posts)
Tue Aug 28, 2018, 08:14 PM Aug 2018

Had my Chevy Bolt a whole year now.

A year ago today and 14,675 miles ago, at 5:30pm, I met my Chevy Bolt for the first time.





It's been a great vehicle. Very low maintenance. A couple tire rotations and replacing a plastic level that came off. That's been it so far.

5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Had my Chevy Bolt a whole year now. (Original Post) 47of74 Aug 2018 OP
Yup, low maintenance, that's why the dealers hate these itsrobert Aug 2018 #1
May we ask the price range, was there cost for electrical upgrade at home rurallib Aug 2018 #2
About 38k 47of74 Aug 2018 #3
Thanks much - always good to hear from a real user rurallib Aug 2018 #4
own a Bolt also natheo Jan 2019 #5

rurallib

(62,346 posts)
2. May we ask the price range, was there cost for electrical upgrade at home
Tue Aug 28, 2018, 08:41 PM
Aug 2018

and what about long trips? We have a daughter 350 miles away.

We may be thinking of a new car in a year or two and this would interest me a lot.

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
3. About 38k
Tue Aug 28, 2018, 09:01 PM
Aug 2018

It was about 38 grand. I had some extra options put on when I ordered mine, such as the DC fast charging and driver convenience packages.

I've had my Bolt up to the Twin Cities a couple times, about 270 miles each way. I usually have to stop along the way to charge up even in the summer in order to make it up there. Usually at the Hy-Vee in Rochester. Then when I come home the Fairfield in Decorah or Gunderson Hotel in LaCrosse both have level 2 chargers that will charge the battery to 100% overnight so I often stop overnight at either Decorah or LaCrosse on the way home from the Twin Cities. (Even before I bought the Bolt when I had to go up to the Twin Cities for a week I wouldn't be able to leave until late on Saturday so I often stopped along the way).

I've had the car up to Madison a couple times and they have a few fast chargers up there that will charge a battery up to 80% in about an hour. I'm probably going to head over to Chicago sometime in the near future as well for a day or two so I know I'll be set there.

Depending on the direction you're going there may be more fast charging by the time you're ready to buy. Minnesota is looking to put some more fast chargers in throughout the state as part of their VW settlement and one of the areas they're focusing on is Rochester so that will make the trip a bit faster.

You may also want to look at the Chevy Volt if you're making regular long trips or a Tesla Model 3. I probably would have gone with a Model 3 last year if I could have gotten one without the 1.5 year wait. The Bolt is a great car but Tesla has their great supercharging and they're getting those established everywhere. Even Dubuque has the superchargers now. If I could have afforded it in 2015 I would have probably bought a Model S because even at that point LaCrosse had a supercharger available which would make the trip doable. The generation 2 Chevy Volts are pretty nice. I might have gone with one of those if Chevy hadn't made the Bolt. The range is a lot more than the first generation vehicles and it still has the gas tank for longer trips.

If you go with the Bolt you may have to look around to find a dealer because not every Chevy dealer is able to sell them. They have to opt in to selling them, and then get the training and tools to service the Bolt. It's not cheap to do that. The dealers in Davenport, Cedar Rapids, Decorah, and East Dubuque are all Bolt dealers. I got mine through Runde in East Dubuque and I recommend them.

natheo

(83 posts)
5. own a Bolt also
Thu Jan 3, 2019, 09:37 PM
Jan 2019

Nice. I'm at 20k miles. Love every moment. I already changed the cabin air filter and did 2 tire rotations. I'm currently running Ecsta PS31's and so far I have no complaints. These kumho tires have a good grip and low road noise.

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