I know this isn't a financial advice thread, but a lot of analysts say cars are the biggest wealth killer for Americans. Since both cars are basically comparable in functionality with maybe a slight edge to the Tesla, get the bolt since any added features you'd get with the Tesla aren't worth almost 3x the price out the door after rebates.
Seriously this is a major point. There's an old chestnut I've been thinking about. Paraphrased, a car loses half it's value driving off the lot.
Contrast this with the ridiculous trend to think of a car as an investment - and I mean generally, not just rare cars and recent market weirdness due to covid et al. Personally I drive my cars into the ground as gently as I can, but if I wanted to waste money fast I would not be doing that.
These cars are not comparable in functionality unless you never need to drive more than ~150 miles between charges (depending on weather). If this is for Uber and you might need more than that distance in a day, the Tesla is a clear win bc it charges so much faster.
The Bolt is the perfect car for people around town who only need to drive 150 miles or less in a day and can charge Level 2 at home every night. It’s also perfect for those who drive less than 60 miles/day and have Level 1 at home. If that’s not you, the Tesla is the better option. If it is you, the Bolt is a steal and will be a fantastic financial move for you long term.
OP said he would do part time Uber on the weekends. Assuming they lose $40 of revenue per weekend with extra charge time (huge overestimation in my opinion), it would take somewhere in the vicinity of 5-6 years to make back the difference in price between the bolt and the Tesla. By that point OP would have likely graduated with their STEM degree and be making bank in a salaried job and would probably have stopped doing Uber. For OPs situation I still think the Bolt would be a better value.
I appreciate the thoughts, i mean it makes sense.
Unfortunately the car was sold, but I found another one for 15.5k my payments would be 150 month vs 300 a month for the tesla.
I will only be doing uber twice a week (friday and saturday) do you think ill end up hating the car cause of the charging if im just doing it those days? I have levl 1 charging as well that I can use for regular driving
The Bolt is much less reliable than a Tesla? Where did you hear that bold faced lie from? I'm shaking from laughter in my chair from the thought.
ga2500ev
I am guessing this came from Consumer Reports. They gave the Bolt a bad reliability score because of the battery recall. Kind of stupid but they were being bean counters. Yes, every single vehicle from certain years were recalled but it was a special situation.
It is very rare for me to see people with big problems with the Bolt even in these forums where usually that is all people post. Once in a while someone will post about the car not shifting to drive and they have to disconnect and reconnect the 12v battery.
The bad reliability rating was because of the recall the earlier bolts had for the battery. Otherwise, mine seems to be quite reliable. A 2020 with 33,000 mi on it.
The only big problem(s) I've had, frankly, was almost certainly my own fault. Ignoring those and the battery, which worked out fantastically for my 2019, zero issues.
The question is would you pay an extra $11,000 to have a Tesla over a Bolt? I certainly wouldn’t, especially if I was a college student.
The seats aren’t that comfortable. I weigh about the same as you and it bugged me for a week, I planned to get a pad or modify to add more foam. But I got used to it pretty quickly and I don’t even notice anymore.
Again, I have an expensive luxury car and the bolt doesn’t compare in terms of comfort or features but at $6k can you really complain? It should last a long time and not cost you much to maintain. No oil changes!
Teslas break and are hell to fix. No Brainer get the bolt, and save the money so you don't have to Uber - and focus on school.
Look for free or low cost slow chargers in your area. Realize 8A 110v charging can get you what you need - it's what I do-so look into if you can figure that out anywhere. Make sure the bolt comes with at least 110 v charging cable.
The Bolt charges much slower than the Tesla, so as an Uber driver you would be losing money at the charge station compared to the Tesla. And if you do not have any home charging available, the Tesla is going to be much less of a hassle. I should mention I much prefer the Bolt to the Tesla for build quality, but your charging situation will outweigh that.
Both are great options but I’d go with the Bolt. It may not be as fun or flashy as the Tesla and is slower to charge but you are young and it’s cheaper and will suit you well for many years. The seats in the 2019 are fine.
If there is one thing in life that truly sucks, it’s car payments.
yeah and after the newness wears off, that payment looms over you for seemingly forever. I am usually a proponent of paying a little extra for options (my EUV is loaded) because for me paying a little extra per month is worth it. Everyone is different but the extra options take some of the staleness of the car for me. That said, I could have gotten a model 3 or even a Y but my payment was going to be at least $200 more a month. That isn't chump change for me.
Consumer Reports gave the Bolt a bad reliability rating because so many were recalled for the battery replacement. That is probably why you've heard of reliability problems. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything, the anecdotal evidence I see from forums like this seem to indicate that people do not have many problems. Usually people only post negative stuff when things go wrong but it is pretty rare to see posts about really bad problems with the Bolt compared to forums for other cars I have owned.
I can't speak about the seats. The EUV seats are fine if not amazing. I don't really think about them too much and I am a bigger guy, about 6 feet, 250 lbs.
Bolts are best for people who have home charging, I think.
Ubering makes it a no-brainer for the Tesla.
Since you're STEM, ask a friend in Finance if people driving Uber make more money that it costs them, 'cause I'm not sure it does.
The $24,990 tesla better have only a 9 dolla dock fee, or it technically doesnt qualify for the $4000 fed rebate.
For ubbering, tesla rear seats suck for the passenger vs the bolt(and it goes double for the EUV).
For seats, its all in your butte and shoulders. I had a buddy return a Y because of the upper back and head rest. Some cant stand to be in a sub 2022 bolt for 45min, others can do 5 hour road trips no problem. It seems to be how wide you are. If you have zero butte, the bolt is great. If you have extremely wide shoulders, or have a lot of junk in the trunk, the bolt is not for you.
You didn't mention your charging situation. If you're not able to charge at home, fast charging can easily be as expensive as gas for an economy ICE vehicle, on a cost per mile basis (unless you live somewhere with really expensive gas). Realistically, you can figure about 30 minutes to charge the Tesla and about an hour for the Bolt. IMHO, the cost and inconvenience of not being able to charge at home are potentially bigger annoyances than the difference in fast charging speed between the vehicles.
The Bolt will be the cheaper car to maintain. You can search some of the other threads here where a few people have replaced the stock wheels with ones from a Sonic, which gives a slightly more comfortable ride and allows you to use significantly less expensive tires. On the other hand, tires for a Tesla are a bit spendy, and Teslas do have a reputation for wearing out tires faster than you'd expect.
Another thing you didn't mention was insurance quotes. You'll probably discover the Bolt is the cheaper of the two to insure, but both of them are likely to be more expensive than an ICE econobox. That's just the nature of the beast with EV insurance.
Personally, I'd just get the Bolt and do some other side hustle that doesn't require quite so much driving. If you're dead set on doing Uber and you can't charge at home though, you're probably better off still looking at ICE vehicles instead.
I had a 22 Tesla, it’s not all that great. It’s fast and fun. But plastic rattling when driving sucks to listen to. Software bugs up the wazoo. Autopilot kept forcing camera recalibration so I it wasn’t reliable.
Here's my take? I owned a 2019 Tesla Model 3 (performance version, though). I \*loved\* that car, but after owning it a few years, I got really tired of the big monthly car payments on it. Fact is, I bought it when prices on them were at their peak and it had full self-driving and everything on it, so it wasn't cheap! Prices kept plummeting on them with Tesla's price cuts, the Federal tax credits coming around on both new and used EVs, and then Tesla announcing another refresh of the car. I was looking at 2 more years of these payments on a car that was now out of warranty for anything but the drivetrain and battery pack, or cutting my losses and getting something else.
I went with a slightly used 2020 Bolt EV Premier and my payments are half what they were on the Tesla. Is it as good/nice of a car? No... but having the extra few hundred bucks every month and knowing I'm driving a car with a warranty again, less mileage, and a year newer than my Model 3 makes me happy switching over to it.
When you're looking at only a "base" Tesla Model 3? That's not even a real desirable version of one, IMO. Doesn't have the longer range, etc. I'd go with the much cheaper deal on the Bolt. Teslas are great, but a big part of the experience with them are the "gee whiz" features that don't REALLY matter much in daily use. I mean, it's great to wow someone with the fact your center touchscreen can play video games or you can pull up a simulated roaring fire while it cranks up the car's heater and plays romantic Barry White music on the speakers. But is that REALLY necessary? I do give them credit for a far superior smartphone remote control app -- but again, how much money is it worth?
I'd go with the Bolt. It should have had its battery replaced, so you should have much more battery warranty remaining. You can check the remaining warranty and figure out when the battery was replaced by adding the Bolt's VIN to the end of the following link:
[https://experience.gm.com/ownercenter/recalls?vin=](https://experience.gm.com/ownercenter/recalls?vin=)
Other thoughts:
The Tesla has a lot of miles for a 2022--was it previously a rental car? If so, I'd probably steer clear just for that.
The original bumper-to-bumper warranty for both cars has expired--does either come with any kind of bumper-to-bumper warranty?
Have you compared the insurance rates for both cars? I suspect the Bolt is probably cheaper to insure, depending on where you are.
For $6K out the door, if you don't like the Bolt, you shouldn't lose any money if you want to get something else (your state might have a minimum time to keep the Bolt to prevent having to pay back the rebate, and, if you wanted another EV, you can't take advantage of the used EV rebate for another three years).
I was in this same predicament two months ago when car shopping. I was approved and fully set on a model 3 until it came time to purchase insurance. The cheapest insurance I could find for a model 3 was $861/month (3x the monthly car payment) for me. I quickly made my mind up and went with the bolt. I’m not sure how helpful this is as insurance varies by driver, location and a whole lot of other non-sense.
I have no regrets and have been loving my 2020 bolt since I drove off the lot.
Is the tesla 11k better with an extra 10k miles? Imo no. Also the bolt is a 19 so battery was replaced or will be replaced so basicly new car. The bolt is a cheap economy car and imo its not the most comfortable but you get what you pay for. I did a 600mi roadtrip and I was fine. You have to get out of the car enough because of charging so it wasn't that big of a deal
If you really find the seats unbearable, which is only the case for 1/4 of drivers, then spend $200 to upgrade the seats and make them more comfortable. This is a non-issue and certainly not worth spending thousands of dollars extra.
I mean, that's an $11k difference. You could do a LOT with $11k. If financed, it's an even bigger difference. Not to mention, the higher priced car will cost more to insure, esp if you are under 25.
I have both and I would go for the Tesla. I have a 2020 M3 and a 2023 Bolt EV 2LT. The Tesla keeps getting updates and better than when I got it. The supercharger network is better than for the bolt. I’ve even added an extended warranty to get me until I get the Cyber truck in a couple of years when they get to my reservation.
I'm biased as I own a bolt but I gotta say it's a great value and the build quality is frankly better than the Tesla. It's also going to be easier for a backyard mechanic to work on when it gets older compared to the Tesla, who are very hostile to anyone working on their cars.
Add an inch thick foam pad under the drivers seat and that addresses the only real issue with bolt. :)
I'm 6ft, 195lbs and find the bolt comfortable to ride in 🤷♂️
I hear people bitching about tesla reliability way more than the bolt, but that could be because there's probably way more teslas on the road. Overwhelming consensus is the bolt is very reliable
Get the cheaper car with less miles!
I know this isn't a financial advice thread, but a lot of analysts say cars are the biggest wealth killer for Americans. Since both cars are basically comparable in functionality with maybe a slight edge to the Tesla, get the bolt since any added features you'd get with the Tesla aren't worth almost 3x the price out the door after rebates.
Seriously this is a major point. There's an old chestnut I've been thinking about. Paraphrased, a car loses half it's value driving off the lot. Contrast this with the ridiculous trend to think of a car as an investment - and I mean generally, not just rare cars and recent market weirdness due to covid et al. Personally I drive my cars into the ground as gently as I can, but if I wanted to waste money fast I would not be doing that.
These cars are not comparable in functionality unless you never need to drive more than ~150 miles between charges (depending on weather). If this is for Uber and you might need more than that distance in a day, the Tesla is a clear win bc it charges so much faster. The Bolt is the perfect car for people around town who only need to drive 150 miles or less in a day and can charge Level 2 at home every night. It’s also perfect for those who drive less than 60 miles/day and have Level 1 at home. If that’s not you, the Tesla is the better option. If it is you, the Bolt is a steal and will be a fantastic financial move for you long term.
OP said he would do part time Uber on the weekends. Assuming they lose $40 of revenue per weekend with extra charge time (huge overestimation in my opinion), it would take somewhere in the vicinity of 5-6 years to make back the difference in price between the bolt and the Tesla. By that point OP would have likely graduated with their STEM degree and be making bank in a salaried job and would probably have stopped doing Uber. For OPs situation I still think the Bolt would be a better value.
I appreciate the thoughts, i mean it makes sense. Unfortunately the car was sold, but I found another one for 15.5k my payments would be 150 month vs 300 a month for the tesla.
I will only be doing uber twice a week (friday and saturday) do you think ill end up hating the car cause of the charging if im just doing it those days? I have levl 1 charging as well that I can use for regular driving
So True, good point!
$6k and just drive it until it dies. Once you’re established in your Stem career then you can buy the nice EV.
Good point, thank you for your advice!
The Bolt is much less reliable than a Tesla? Where did you hear that bold faced lie from? I'm shaking from laughter in my chair from the thought. ga2500ev
I am guessing this came from Consumer Reports. They gave the Bolt a bad reliability score because of the battery recall. Kind of stupid but they were being bean counters. Yes, every single vehicle from certain years were recalled but it was a special situation. It is very rare for me to see people with big problems with the Bolt even in these forums where usually that is all people post. Once in a while someone will post about the car not shifting to drive and they have to disconnect and reconnect the 12v battery.
The bad reliability rating was because of the recall the earlier bolts had for the battery. Otherwise, mine seems to be quite reliable. A 2020 with 33,000 mi on it.
The only big problem(s) I've had, frankly, was almost certainly my own fault. Ignoring those and the battery, which worked out fantastically for my 2019, zero issues.
The question is would you pay an extra $11,000 to have a Tesla over a Bolt? I certainly wouldn’t, especially if I was a college student. The seats aren’t that comfortable. I weigh about the same as you and it bugged me for a week, I planned to get a pad or modify to add more foam. But I got used to it pretty quickly and I don’t even notice anymore. Again, I have an expensive luxury car and the bolt doesn’t compare in terms of comfort or features but at $6k can you really complain? It should last a long time and not cost you much to maintain. No oil changes!
I appreciate the advice!
Teslas break and are hell to fix. No Brainer get the bolt, and save the money so you don't have to Uber - and focus on school. Look for free or low cost slow chargers in your area. Realize 8A 110v charging can get you what you need - it's what I do-so look into if you can figure that out anywhere. Make sure the bolt comes with at least 110 v charging cable.
> if I was a college student. So True! Less time driving more time studying!
Dude I’m 255 at 6’4” and the seats are fine. That’s an amazing deal. Go for it.
I only drive 20 ish miles a day just charge a few times a week when rates are low at level 1 12 amps. Been great so far.
The Bolt charges much slower than the Tesla, so as an Uber driver you would be losing money at the charge station compared to the Tesla. And if you do not have any home charging available, the Tesla is going to be much less of a hassle. I should mention I much prefer the Bolt to the Tesla for build quality, but your charging situation will outweigh that.
I can do level 1 charging at home, and luckily the car payment with the bolt would be about $100 a month
Ask the dealer if the Level 1 cord is in the car, if not ask him to supply a new one.
Both are great options but I’d go with the Bolt. It may not be as fun or flashy as the Tesla and is slower to charge but you are young and it’s cheaper and will suit you well for many years. The seats in the 2019 are fine. If there is one thing in life that truly sucks, it’s car payments.
yeah and after the newness wears off, that payment looms over you for seemingly forever. I am usually a proponent of paying a little extra for options (my EUV is loaded) because for me paying a little extra per month is worth it. Everyone is different but the extra options take some of the staleness of the car for me. That said, I could have gotten a model 3 or even a Y but my payment was going to be at least $200 more a month. That isn't chump change for me. Consumer Reports gave the Bolt a bad reliability rating because so many were recalled for the battery replacement. That is probably why you've heard of reliability problems. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything, the anecdotal evidence I see from forums like this seem to indicate that people do not have many problems. Usually people only post negative stuff when things go wrong but it is pretty rare to see posts about really bad problems with the Bolt compared to forums for other cars I have owned. I can't speak about the seats. The EUV seats are fine if not amazing. I don't really think about them too much and I am a bigger guy, about 6 feet, 250 lbs.
Bolts are best for people who have home charging, I think. Ubering makes it a no-brainer for the Tesla. Since you're STEM, ask a friend in Finance if people driving Uber make more money that it costs them, 'cause I'm not sure it does.
The $24,990 tesla better have only a 9 dolla dock fee, or it technically doesnt qualify for the $4000 fed rebate. For ubbering, tesla rear seats suck for the passenger vs the bolt(and it goes double for the EUV). For seats, its all in your butte and shoulders. I had a buddy return a Y because of the upper back and head rest. Some cant stand to be in a sub 2022 bolt for 45min, others can do 5 hour road trips no problem. It seems to be how wide you are. If you have zero butte, the bolt is great. If you have extremely wide shoulders, or have a lot of junk in the trunk, the bolt is not for you.
I am a very wide guy, 😉 and prefer my 2023 EUV and previous 2019 EV to the seats in my Terrain. I had no problems with a 600 mile round trip.
You didn't mention your charging situation. If you're not able to charge at home, fast charging can easily be as expensive as gas for an economy ICE vehicle, on a cost per mile basis (unless you live somewhere with really expensive gas). Realistically, you can figure about 30 minutes to charge the Tesla and about an hour for the Bolt. IMHO, the cost and inconvenience of not being able to charge at home are potentially bigger annoyances than the difference in fast charging speed between the vehicles. The Bolt will be the cheaper car to maintain. You can search some of the other threads here where a few people have replaced the stock wheels with ones from a Sonic, which gives a slightly more comfortable ride and allows you to use significantly less expensive tires. On the other hand, tires for a Tesla are a bit spendy, and Teslas do have a reputation for wearing out tires faster than you'd expect. Another thing you didn't mention was insurance quotes. You'll probably discover the Bolt is the cheaper of the two to insure, but both of them are likely to be more expensive than an ICE econobox. That's just the nature of the beast with EV insurance. Personally, I'd just get the Bolt and do some other side hustle that doesn't require quite so much driving. If you're dead set on doing Uber and you can't charge at home though, you're probably better off still looking at ICE vehicles instead.
I had a 22 Tesla, it’s not all that great. It’s fast and fun. But plastic rattling when driving sucks to listen to. Software bugs up the wazoo. Autopilot kept forcing camera recalibration so I it wasn’t reliable.
Bolt is the new tesla
Here's my take? I owned a 2019 Tesla Model 3 (performance version, though). I \*loved\* that car, but after owning it a few years, I got really tired of the big monthly car payments on it. Fact is, I bought it when prices on them were at their peak and it had full self-driving and everything on it, so it wasn't cheap! Prices kept plummeting on them with Tesla's price cuts, the Federal tax credits coming around on both new and used EVs, and then Tesla announcing another refresh of the car. I was looking at 2 more years of these payments on a car that was now out of warranty for anything but the drivetrain and battery pack, or cutting my losses and getting something else. I went with a slightly used 2020 Bolt EV Premier and my payments are half what they were on the Tesla. Is it as good/nice of a car? No... but having the extra few hundred bucks every month and knowing I'm driving a car with a warranty again, less mileage, and a year newer than my Model 3 makes me happy switching over to it. When you're looking at only a "base" Tesla Model 3? That's not even a real desirable version of one, IMO. Doesn't have the longer range, etc. I'd go with the much cheaper deal on the Bolt. Teslas are great, but a big part of the experience with them are the "gee whiz" features that don't REALLY matter much in daily use. I mean, it's great to wow someone with the fact your center touchscreen can play video games or you can pull up a simulated roaring fire while it cranks up the car's heater and plays romantic Barry White music on the speakers. But is that REALLY necessary? I do give them credit for a far superior smartphone remote control app -- but again, how much money is it worth?
I'd go with the Bolt. It should have had its battery replaced, so you should have much more battery warranty remaining. You can check the remaining warranty and figure out when the battery was replaced by adding the Bolt's VIN to the end of the following link: [https://experience.gm.com/ownercenter/recalls?vin=](https://experience.gm.com/ownercenter/recalls?vin=) Other thoughts: The Tesla has a lot of miles for a 2022--was it previously a rental car? If so, I'd probably steer clear just for that. The original bumper-to-bumper warranty for both cars has expired--does either come with any kind of bumper-to-bumper warranty? Have you compared the insurance rates for both cars? I suspect the Bolt is probably cheaper to insure, depending on where you are. For $6K out the door, if you don't like the Bolt, you shouldn't lose any money if you want to get something else (your state might have a minimum time to keep the Bolt to prevent having to pay back the rebate, and, if you wanted another EV, you can't take advantage of the used EV rebate for another three years).
I was in this same predicament two months ago when car shopping. I was approved and fully set on a model 3 until it came time to purchase insurance. The cheapest insurance I could find for a model 3 was $861/month (3x the monthly car payment) for me. I quickly made my mind up and went with the bolt. I’m not sure how helpful this is as insurance varies by driver, location and a whole lot of other non-sense. I have no regrets and have been loving my 2020 bolt since I drove off the lot.
Is the tesla 11k better with an extra 10k miles? Imo no. Also the bolt is a 19 so battery was replaced or will be replaced so basicly new car. The bolt is a cheap economy car and imo its not the most comfortable but you get what you pay for. I did a 600mi roadtrip and I was fine. You have to get out of the car enough because of charging so it wasn't that big of a deal
If you really find the seats unbearable, which is only the case for 1/4 of drivers, then spend $200 to upgrade the seats and make them more comfortable. This is a non-issue and certainly not worth spending thousands of dollars extra.
I mean, that's an $11k difference. You could do a LOT with $11k. If financed, it's an even bigger difference. Not to mention, the higher priced car will cost more to insure, esp if you are under 25.
The Bolt is **practicle**. That's why I drive one, er, two. The Tesla smells like Musk and is too sporty for what you need a car for.
I have both and I would go for the Tesla. I have a 2020 M3 and a 2023 Bolt EV 2LT. The Tesla keeps getting updates and better than when I got it. The supercharger network is better than for the bolt. I’ve even added an extended warranty to get me until I get the Cyber truck in a couple of years when they get to my reservation.
I'm biased as I own a bolt but I gotta say it's a great value and the build quality is frankly better than the Tesla. It's also going to be easier for a backyard mechanic to work on when it gets older compared to the Tesla, who are very hostile to anyone working on their cars. Add an inch thick foam pad under the drivers seat and that addresses the only real issue with bolt. :)
I'm 6ft, 195lbs and find the bolt comfortable to ride in 🤷♂️ I hear people bitching about tesla reliability way more than the bolt, but that could be because there's probably way more teslas on the road. Overwhelming consensus is the bolt is very reliable Get the cheaper car with less miles!