Bolt EUV to Blazer EV LT. I've got gripes!
My wife and I just leased a 2024 Blazer EV LT. It’s our first lease, since we’ve never considered leasing to be a financially savvy decision. We usually buy new when something has good incentives, then keep it 8-10 years. However, we qualified for four incentives on the Blazer EV that essentially made it a no-brainer. Our previous four purchases were a Cadillac, a Buick and two Chevys, so we’re very familiar with the GM family of vehicles. The last one was a new Bolt EUV in January 2023 which, for the most part, we absolutely love. Unfortunately with the Blazer EV: not so much. It's incredibly user-unfriendly (which, incidentally, has nothing to do with it being an EV). In hindsight, I’m very glad we leased it instead of purchasing. It seems like GM has changed a lot on the Blazer EV compared to the way they typically do things, most of which I hate.
GM, if you’re listening, please take notes. Here are my gripes with my Blazer EV (basically in order of what dislike the most to the least):
No interior light control switch. This is MADDENING. When I get home with sleeping kids I’d like to carry inside without waking them up, there is nothing to permanently keep the interior lights off. Even if I turn them off in the menu, every time I open another door, they come back on, and it requires a subsequent press (actually, two presses) of the interior light button on the touchscreen to turn them off again. Seriously stupid.
No physical headlight control. This is super annoying since I can’t start the car with the headlights off by holding the knob to the left. The way I park my car, the headlights aim right inside my neighbor’s living room, so on my other GM cars, I’ve been able to be courteous by holding the switch during startup so the lights stay off. On this one, I have to wait for the screen to boot up first.
Almost everything I want to do on the car is buried in sub-menus. Say my kids are getting rambunctious and start fiddling with the back windows on the highway. Window lockout takes me 1 swipe + 2 taps to engage. Want to disable TCS? 1 swipe + 5 clicks (and yes, I do this often in the winter because it kicks in too aggressively in the snow). Everything I want to use is buried and more difficult to access than on all my previous GM vehicles. All this stuff used to take 1 tap of a button. How is this progress?
The crazier thing is that there is enough room along the left side of the infotainment screen for 18 functions (3x6). Yet, GM decided to use the vast majority of it as dead space. Also, the buttons that are there “jump around” depending on what screen you’re in. Needless chaos on the user interface side and extremely poorly thought-out.
I’m really glad GM put the keyless entry buttons on the back door handles. These are really handy when I want to unlock the car and buckle my kid in the back before walking to the front. My Bolt doesn’t have them and I really wish it did. HOWEVER, the buttons on the back door seem to go into “sleep” mode and don’t even start working until the front ones are pressed once to “wake up” the system. Thus, they are essentially useless on this car. They worked flawlessly on all my other GM cars, so I don’t know what’s up.
Holding down the unlock button on the door doesn’t work to keep the doors unlocked. This is also a really nice feature that I use often on other GM vehicles.
Windows won’t all go down by holding the unlock key on the fob. All other GM vehicles I have owned have had this feature and I use it often in the summer.
Automatically accelerates in R, even in one-pedal mode; my Bolt doesn’t do this. All this does is generate confusion. If I expect to have to press the pedal to make it go forward, I also expect to have to press the pedal to go backward. No idea why they designed it this way.
Only shifts between D and R at 6 MPH or fewer (my Bolt does it at twice that speed). Honestly, I have no idea why this is limited on any EV, since there are no mechanically connecting parts; it just reverses the polarity of the motor. But if it must be limited so some dummy doesn’t switch from D to R on the highway, I’d probably utilize an allowable shift up to 20 MPH whipping in and out of my driveway, as even 12MPH seems too slow for me.
If I’m driving in the driveway with the driver door open, any time I come to stop, the parking brake immediately engages before I start moving again. It's downright unsafe, because I’ll press the accelerator pedal to start creeping forward again, but it doesn't move until the parking brake is released, then it lurches forward in an uncontrolled fashion. This is totally unnecessary with the “hold” function of the motor. My Bolt doesn’t have this feature and is much more safe to drive this way. On the Bolt, the parking brake only engages if I get out of my seat with it still in drive, which I’m ok with and, honestly, makes much more sense.
I don’t like not having a physical “ON” button for the car. I DO like that I’m able to hop in, throw my foot on the brake, put it into drive and go. However, I don’t like having to press a button to keep the car on (and the AC on) if I get out for a second. I would much rather have a large, conspicuous button that is a simple ON/OFF.
The liftgate takes way too long to open and if you accidentally hold the button too long, it doesn't open at all. Sometimes, with the key left in the car, which prevents the door from locking, the liftgate won't open, at which point I have to open a front door, press unlock (even though the car should already be unlocked), and only then will the liftgate open. The way the entire tail lamps blink while it's opening also assaults my eyes at night. MUCH brighter than the other GM vehicles I've owned. Only the outside (body-mounted) portion of the lamps should blink.
If I have cruise control set on the highway and the car thinks I’m going too fast for the curve, it automatically slows the car down a few MPH. I have no idea why. My Bolt does this, too. No gas car I’ve ever had did this. It does it even if I’m positioned perfectly between the lines, so I know it’s not a camera or radar-induced thing thinking there is a crash pending.
A few times on the highway, the Blazer thought I was able to crash into someone and slammed on the brakes. While I WAS approaching vehicles quickly during these braking events, in every instance, I had my blinker on and was changing lanes. Disabling forward collision braking fixed the issue, but I can say it’s definitely too aggressive for me, even with the gap set to minimum. One thing I’ve noticed that GM can’t seem to figure out is incorporating passing logic into the radar/collision braking system (Ex. If the car has its blinker on and is moving to the left or right of the vehicle it’s approaching, emergency braking should be disabled).
The regen paddle design is terrible. If you press it anywhere other than the very outer edge, it does nothing (It’s really just a glorified button that looks like a paddle). The one on my Bolt is actually a paddle and is far easier and more ergonomic to operate. Never any confusion about whether I'm engaging it or not.
Powered charge access door. This is definitely going to freeze shut in the winter and is needless over-engineering. The manual door on my Bolt is MUCH faster to open and close and less finicky. (‘24-’25 WINTER UPDATE: Yes, it does freeze over and/or catch ice inside, preventing it from either opening or closing properly.) The one upside I've found is that, if I start driving and have forgotten to close it, it will close itself...that's not all bad, I guess. Still, I’d much prefer that GM used the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) method.
The apps I download on the Android system on the car won’t sync with the apps on my phone. This is really frustrating when using something like Waze, since it doesn’t have any of my stored locations.
Speaking of Waze, the inability to use apps while driving is also maddening. When my wife and I are driving somewhere, even she can’t enter a destination to navigate. We have to physically stop the car from moving, at which point, I just pull out my phone myself and do it while driving. GM, limiting functionality of your apps while driving is NOT safer. It just promotes circumvention (using a phone instead).
Speaking of not using features while driving, GM can't even make up its mind about what "driving" means. For Waze, the error message is: "Feature not available while driving." The car just has to be not moving to enter a destination, but can still be in gear. For charging settings, the error message is: "Charging controls unavailable while driving". However, the car actually has to be in park to change settings. Then, the displayed "OK" button does nothing when you press it. Why even have a feedback button?? It's just more evidence of lack of standardization.
No owners' manual included. At a minimum, they should have included the fuse locations in the book that comes with it. I’ve wanted this a few times now.
The seat belt is hard to reach. I’ve never struggled on another car like I do on this one.
I understand that electronic shifters can be placed anywhere and designed in any configuration, which I’m ok with. However, I really don’t like how neutral is triggered on the Blazer. On most GM cars built over the last few decades, pulling the RH stalk toward you triggers the windshield washer. Thus, I’ve put my car into N a few times while trying to wash the windshield.
Speaking of the windshield washers, the sprayer sprays WAY too far outboard. It shoots washer fluid a solid 2 feet off the windshield on either side.
Pedestrian alert triggers when the car is off and I'm walking behind it in my driveway...even with the car turned off and even after I turned off pedestrian alert. (EDIT: I figured out that the bicycle alert was triggering this; after turning that off, the issue is fixed. However, I still have no idea why it was triggering/beeping with the car off.)
The blue color they used on the blower setting isn't high contrast, so if the screen is too dim (like at night), it's extremely difficult to see what the fan setting is and what I’m changing it to.
The dash slopes downward toward the passenger side for no reason. Every other GM car I’ve owned has a much flatter dash that I use to set my coffee cup on as I’m getting situated to drive. I tried it once on my Blazer and it slid to the right, spilling my mug of coffee all over the passenger footwell. I obviously won’t make that mistake again, but it seems to be another example of form over function.
Rocker panel trim piece ledge you see when opening the back door is large enough that it looks like a step to my kids. It’s definitely going to get broken off at some point.
Poor packaging/massive amount of wasted space all over the car.
The 12V plug is buried way too deep inside the center console. I use this and want it to be more accessible.
Poor rear visibility/belt line is too high all around.
The headrests are bent too far forward/push my head down. To be fair, I feel this way about most new vehicles and I just end up bending them back in a vice or flip them around myself. You need a pick or sharp flathead screwdriver to get the spring-pins out in order to get the headrests off, but it's doable. Funnily enough, they make that process even more difficult on this car.
Steering wheel is ridiculously thick. I have larger-than-average male hands and it’s awkwardly large for me. The thinner steering wheels on the other equipment I operate are far more conducive to easy maneuvering.
There is a rough whooshing sound when alternating between power and regen in one-pedal mode; my Bolt is much quieter.
When the washer fluid reads low, the reservoir doesn't take a full gallon. Well...it might, but the reservoir is designed with a kind of air pocket in it that you can't fill, leaving you with a few ounces behind in the bottle you bought. I've never had a car that doesn't take a full gallon before. Who wants to buy a gallon of fluid and have to leave a few ounces setting around in the garage? Answer: No one.
Often, when I turn the car on, the temperature is set to 76° and the fan is on full blast, no matter what my previous settings were.
Blinker sound is inverted. Traditionally, with a relay-driven blinker, the arrow/light is "on" with the lower tone and "off" on the higher tone. Might sound stupid, but it bothers me, haha.
Wiper blades don't move in a smooth, continuous motion. They stop for a moment when reaching their upper position.
If you put it on a level 2 charger overnight, one of the screens will tell you it will finish in the AM; the other screen the exact same time in PM (Ex. Charging will complete at 5:30am and 5:30pm depending on what screen you're looking at).
If you have the car set to fold the side mirrors in, it will only do so if you let it self-lock while walking away. If you press the lock button as you’re getting out then shut the door, they won’t fold in.
All of that said, here’s what I like: 1. Superb handling/chassis.
Braking regen in one-pedal mode, as in other GM EVs, is spot-on. I also like how you can set “levels” (high, normal, off). Unless you have problems with pedal control, I don’t know why you would drive it in any mode other than “high”, but I guess it’s nice to have an option.
The large, flat surface at the top of the door trim panel. It’s a really nice place to rest your arm.
OVERALL: I’m happy to lease this car at the price I’m paying, but I’ll be glad to get into something different once the lease is up. I certainly would never consider purchasing one. It’s just too much less user-friendly than every other GM vehicle I’ve ever owned, including my other electric one.