Used 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Consumer Reviews
Used Bolt EV for sale
Fun to drive but unreliable and unrepairable.
Stuart Francis, 03/28/2018
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
10 of 16 people found this review helpful
It has an odd mix of premium and basic features. It does not have an adaptive cruise option. There is an excuse about having to change the braking system to add it but it seems like this was more of a cost saving option (on a 40k+ car). It only has resistive cabin heating. The good news is that it warms up fast, you get heat sooner than most gas engine cars. The bad news is that it can come close to cutting the range in half in cold weather. It’s fine for me since my commute is only about 10 miles but you need to factor that plus aging of the battery into your commute range. It does not have a navigation system option but It has Android auto and CarPlay both of which work OK for navigation. I kind of prefer this as there are no map updates to deal with. Also, this is a city car so it will mostly be driven in areas with cell coverage. Some interior design decisions were poor. The center touch screen can be partly obscured and difficult to reach for smaller drivers. A lot of space on the center console was wasted for the ‘shift lever’ which is a rather pointless item in an electric car. It seems like it could have been placed better or replace by buttons or some such. It even has an odd redundancy of having a shift to park button on a lever that can also be shifted to park. The cup holders are too close together as a result of using up space for the shifter. The cargo storage is in three ‘layers’ making it clumsy to get to the lower deck items. The car also does not come with or offer a spare tire which wouldn’t be so bad if OnStar would actually pick up when you have a problem. It didn’t work well for me. The Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning, Following Distance Indicator, and Front Pedestrian Braking features appear to be pointless. Lane keep assist does no adaptive steering or bump you back toward the lane, it just shows an icon on the screen if it thinks you are out of your lane which is the case almost everywhere (our road markings in town are bad). The following distance indicator show the number of seconds to the car in front of you but only when you are already too close at highway speeds. The pedestrian braking feature just shows an icon of a person when it sees someone on the side of the road. It didn’t see one that walked right out in front of the card. It also fails to actually brake. The sad part is that mine died after only 2200 miles and the dealer has been unable to diagnose the problem in close to a month. Apparently trouble logging and technical support are just not up to the task on this car yet. Maybe this will be a viable car in the future but for now I would avoid at all cost. There seem to be a number of online reports of similar issues.
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My best car ever!
Lindy, 12/20/2018
updated 06/25/2025
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV LT 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Edmunds asked me again for another update. It has now been 8 1/2 years since I bought my Bolt. I have had zero problems with it and have nothing to change in my review. It's still the best car ever! Zero maintenance, other than rotating tires. Edmunds has asked me for another update. It has now been 5 1/2 years since I bought my Bolt. I still love it. It has had absolutely no problems. Due to the battery recall, Chevy put a brand new battery in it a few months ago at no charge, so now I have a brand new battery with a 100,000 mile warranty, on a 5 year old car. Maybe this car will outlast me! Update: It now has been 4 and a half years since I bought my Bolt, and I still love it. Absolutely no problems, no maintenance, runs great, no rattles or squeaks, everything works great. Best car ever! I've had my Chevy Bolt for almost 2 years, and it is without question the best car I've ever had (I've been driving since 1964, so I've had quite a few cars in my lifetime). In 2017, I paid $38,000 for the car, minus $7000 trade-in for my Corolla. Then I had $10,000 in rebates ($7500 federal and $2500 California), so the car cost me $21,000; about $24,000 out the door with tax & license. Very affordable!! Some reviews of the Bolt criticize the interior comfort. I think it's the most comfortable vehicle I've ever had, after most recently owning a couple of Fords and a Toyota Corolla. The seats are plenty big for a normal-sized person. Here's what I love about my car: I sit up high and have fabulous visibility, especially with the big windshield that's like a picture window. For the first time, I have no blind spots. It's easy to get in and out of: not too high (like a pickup) or too low (like a sedan). It's really roomy inside: the hood area is very small since there's no gas motor, so I think the dashboard must have been pushed forward into that space, giving the car much more interior room while not increasing overall car length. For example, it is MUCH roomier than my Corolla was. It has a high ceiling and lots of head room, in addition to lots of leg room. My husband, who is 6'2", finds it the roomiest of any car he's had too. I love the dashboard layout and the computer screen set-up, which is integrated into the dash and doesn't stick out like on the Tesla Model 3 (which I think looks hokey, like it was stuck there as an after-thought). The car is peppy and powerful and really fun to drive. It handles curves like a sports car (probably due to the low center of gravity with the battery underneath the body). It has a regenerative braking lever on the steering wheel that you can use to slow down or stop; I hardly ever use the brakes. It charges up mountains as if we were on flat ground, with no loss of power going uphill or in the altitude (at Lake Tahoe, 6000 ft elevation). And coming home, going downhill, you watch the range increase as energy is restored to the battery. It maneuvers really well in tight spots. It gets great range: in good weather, I get over 250 miles/charge driving around town, including some short-distance (up to 1/2 hour) freeway driving. On road trips, it gets over 200 miles, driving at 80 mph with the A/C on full blast. I charge it at home in my garage (using the energy from my solar panels) and only need to charge it once or twice a month, unless I take a road trip. It requires zero maintenance. It costs me nothing. It has great cargo space. It's stylish and cute. It's really solidly made and the overall quality looks good to me. It has no rattles or squeaks. I can find absolutely nothing critical to say of this car (for the first time in my life). Buying it was the best thing I ever did!
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Previous SUV owner
Julie G, 11/12/2017
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I love this car! It is fun it is zippy. My last car was a Ford Explorer sport. So far I find this car more comfortable than any vehicle i have owned. It is more fun to drive. And basically I am the happiest person to never go to a gas station again
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New Bolt--Love it! Updated at 50k and 130k!
PB, 12/31/2017
updated 01/09/2023
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Now 130k update-the Bolt continues to amaze. This is the best car I have ever owned by far. Essentially zero maintenance costs, except for tires and wiper blades, and, at 130k, it drives as brand new. It is silent-no rattles, noises. The infotainment and instrument clusters continue to feel ahead of their time, even at 6 years old. I want to drive this to 300k and beyond. Relative to other EVs and with restored federal incentives, the Bolt offers a reasonable point of entry to EV ownership--when I bought mine I had federal and state incentives. Also, you can buy through Costco Auto Program and save more money. 50000 mile update-car is perfect. Love it more every day. Zero problems. It is the best! More people should drive these to save money and time. This car is amazing. With no more range anxiety, it makes driving an electric vehicle in a rural setting an easy reality. There are so many fantastic features on this car including active safety, heated seats and steering wheel and so many others. When I drive the Bolt, I feel like I am driving millions of dollars of R&D--because I am!! And it is awesome. It is also just plain fun!! We love this car. We have had the car more than one year, have driven 24000 miles with ZERO problems. The car looks, feels, and drives as if brand new. I would buy this car again and again. It is the best I have ever owned.
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Back to the Future
Mic T, 01/02/2018
updated 01/03/2019
2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV LT 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
The car is amazing! First I’d like to say to new owners, use the instrumentation screen to select Immediate Charging and 12 Amps. Took me 3 days to figure out this is the way to charge the car. Everything with this car from ride quality, acceleration, features is perfect. The car has sport mode and traction stability controls. I have beat mustangs and several 300 horse power cars off the line with my bolt. Instant transmission of power to the wheels. When the car slows down and brakes, it recieves energy in the form of miles back on the car. I have been able to drive several miles without Losing charge because of Regeneration. The driver and passenger seats heat up so I don’t need to blast the heater in this winter temperatures. I’m never going back to gasoline again. If you research google, there is probably a fast charging station near your home as there are 8 vehicle charging stations in my small town.
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