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[DonTom]

The short version is because of hassles from  the HOA Nazis in a 22 year old area, I am selling one of my three houses. I  would not sell it otherwise. The one I am selling is around 18 miles north of here. This one.   The cheapest of the three and that house only has a two car garage.  My  other two each  have a three car garage.


So now I have seven motorcycles at this house here, my main home here in Reno. And it's going to stay that way, seven motorcycles will be kept here in the garage, which leaves little room for any cages. I doubt I will buy another house, but that is a possibility (as long as it is NOT in an HOA!). 


I decided I want to get rid of at least one of my ICE cars here, and replace it with a rather cheap BEV. It will never be garaged, it will be left outside all year. So used will be considered. It has to be battery only.


I really know nothing about non-Tesla EVs. I don't need a lot of range but I want it to have CCS/J-1772, no CHAdeMo. I already have Tesla Wall connectors, so I can use my Tesla-Taps for J-1772.


I know many in this forum have non-Tesla EV's cages, so I would like to hear what they like and don't like about theirs. I am trying to decide what battery only EV I should get.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[BigPoppa]

I have a 2020 Bolt in addition to my Model Y and Ribelle. Despite issues with the 2017-2019 Bolts, my 2020 has been trouble free (knock on wood) in the year+ I've owned it. I like it better for local and daily driving but then again, I prefer smaller cars in general...easier to zip around and park. Not to mention the amenities GM provides in the Premier version (360 degree camera, rear camera view in the rear view mirror, heated steering wheel, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto). From what I've seen, the redesigned 2022 Bolt now also offers a power driver seat, about the only thing I wish my 2020 Bolt had.

I've only DC charged my Bolt a couple of times (CCS like our Energicas) but 98%+ of my charging is at home unless I'm doing a road trip which is what my Tesla is primarily for. Even at work, I use Chargepoint J-1772 chargers since they're free.

GM has a history of routinely offering huge incentives on Bolts and I would imagine with the 2022 models due out very soon and the issues with the 60kw Bolts (2020 and newer Bolts have 66kw batteries), you can probably get a nice deal on a 2020 Bolt.

As for performance, it's a 200hp/266lb-ft motor and about a 6.5 sec 0-60 time...so... very zippy around town (if you replace the OEM tires which have poor grip).

[DonTom]

I have a 2020 Bolt in addition to my Model Y and Ribelle. Despite issues with the 2017-2019 Bolts, my 2020 has been trouble free (knock on wood) in the year+ I've owned it. I like it better for local and daily driving but then again, I prefer smaller cars in general...easier to zip around and park. Not to mention the amenities GM provides in the Premier version (360 degree camera, rear camera view in the rear view mirror, heated steering wheel, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto). From what I've seen, the redesigned 2022 Bolt now also offers a power driver seat, about the only thing I wish my 2020 Bolt had.

I've only DC charged my Bolt a couple of times (CCS like our Energicas) but 98%+ of my charging is at home unless I'm doing a road trip which is what my Tesla is primarily for. Even at work, I use Chargepoint J-1772 chargers since they're free.

GM has a history of routinely offering huge incentives on Bolts and I would imagine with the 2022 models due out very soon and the issues with the 60kw Bolts (2020 and newer Bolts have 66kw batteries), you can probably get a nice deal on a 2020 Bolt.

As for performance, it's a 200hp/266lb-ft motor and about a 6.5 sec 0-60 time...so... very zippy around town (if you replace the OEM tires which have poor grip).

What problems did the 2017-2019 Bolts have?

And can I buy a Bolt (or any other non-Tesla EV) that is AWD, motor front and rear, like my Tesla M3 (AWD, LR)?  That should be helpful when it snows here in Reno.

I can consider another Tesla, but I don't want too good of a car that will never be garaged. But I too would like a smaller car for the Reno area. It only needs enough range to go one way to Auburn (99.0 miles). That is for when the motorcycle season is over, but the car will mainly be here in Reno and my Tesla will mainly stay in Auburn.

I will probably never even use the CCS with the car I am going to get, so just J-1772 would be good enough, but I doubt that make any BEVs like that these days.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Richard230]

Your home looks nice and is really selling for a low price, Don. In 2018 My daughter bought the home that she was renting, which is located in the town of Fairfax in Marin County. It is a 3 bed, 2 bath home built 60 years ago and was a fixer-upper that they have been repairing since it was purchased. ($80K to repair the foundation and $50K for a new roof.) When Zero recalled her 2012 S and gave her $6K+ for the bike the entire amount went toward the loan fees. What you want for your home is what she paid for her home's down-payment.    The cost of motorcycles seem pretty reasonable, compared with the price of real estate. 

[BigPoppa]

What problems did the 2017-2019 Bolts have?

And can I buy a Bolt (or any other non-Tesla EV) that is AWD, motor front and rear, like my Tesla M3 (AWD, LR)?  That should be helpful when it snows here in Reno.

2017-2019 Chevy Bolts have been going through a series of recalls and occasional buybacks due to battery pack fires. All of those Bolts use a 60kw battery pack. From 2020 onward, the Bolt uses a different 66kw battery pack that so far hasn't exhibited the same issues as with the 60kw battery pack. Even with the recall, the actual number of Bolts that have caught fire is relatively low.

All Bolts are FWD only. No AWD option is currently available. Oh, and the EPA rated range on the 2020 and newer Bolts is 259 miles.

[Crissa]

What's the HOA issue?  I'm more interested in that

Bolts are very competent EVs, especially for their price.  Just avoid the ones with the foreign batteries.  Kia had to replace all their batteries, and so will GM.  Kia has a good option, but they're harder to find and not as deeply discounted.  Leafs are fine, as long as you don't want to be using them for long trips - or rare trips that need more than one DC charge per day.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

Your home looks nice and is really selling for a low price, Don. In 2018 My daughter bought the home that she was renting, which is located in the town of Fairfax in Marin County. It is a 3 bed, 2 bath home built 60 years ago and was a fixer-upper that they have been repairing since it was purchased. ($80K to repair the foundation and $50K for a new roof.) When Zero recalled her 2012 S and gave her $6K+ for the bike the entire amount went toward the loan fees. What you want for your home is what she paid for her home's down-payment.    The cost of motorcycles seem pretty reasonable, compared with the price of real estate. 

You really cannot even get a good guess from the asking price. Many tricks are played. For one example, in  your area,  homes are usually VERY hot. They ask a LOW asking price. Yeah, low. The idea is to get many people to look and to bid, well knowing they will go well over the asking price. In reality, in a hot area, the for sale sign should say "for sale, only two cents!"  And then expect it to sell at the usual 1.5 million or so in the SF area. No doubt you also get those cards in the mail that says "asking price was $750,000, but we sold it for more than a million!!!". That probably really means they sold it for LESS than they expected.

This world runs on BS and real estate is no exception.

I will know what it is worth when it sells. The market here has  been hot, but I think it's now cooling off. Most houses here sell in the springtime.

BTW, I am in the house I am selling right now. It's being sold with 90% of the stuff left inside,  many thousands of dollars worth, fully furnished and much more. Also a lot of worthless junk mixed in.

BTW, the decision to sell this house was made 20 seconds after I received a note from the HOA.

I first went to a realtor website and posted all the info they wanted about this house. Less than five seconds after I summit it, my phone rings with Dan The Realtor who  put this house up for sale. He decided what the asking price should be, but with my okay.

I really don't know what to do with a spare several hundred thousand bucks more, other than pay a lot of capital gains tax. I had no intension of selling before that.

-Don-  Cold Springs Valley, NV

[Crissa]

You occupying one less home is one more home on the market for some kid entering the market.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

What's the HOA issue?  I'm more interested in that

Bolts are very competent EVs, especially for their price.  Just avoid the ones with the foreign batteries.  Kia had to replace all their batteries, and so will GM.  Kia has a good option, but they're harder to find and not as deeply discounted.  Leafs are fine, as long as you don't want to be using them for long trips - or rare trips that need more than one DC charge per day.

-Crissa

It all started with an HOA  violation from the lawn dying and the irrigation system here needs parts that are NLA.  I don't like to use such systems anyway, because of their very poor design with water pressure on them at all times, even when not being used (except in winter when the water is all the way off).


So I ask the HOA if I can install artificial grass. Just to ask them, it costs $35.00. They reply several weeks later just to ask me whet type of fake grass will be used. In the mean time, I get an estimate for the small lawn here (1,350SF).   $14,750.00!  And that was with the cheap stuff.


I felt that was a bit much, so I ask them if I can convert to rock. The same type of rock other houses around here were purchased with when new. The HOA  then askes me for several  pages of info., naming the species and size of every plant around or within the rocks as the very first item of the several  pages of info they requested. Needed to be professionally done, of course.


So I decided I don't like being told what I can and cannot do with my own house. They make it VERY difficult to change anything in this 22 year old area. The dumpiest, cheapest oldest house of my three by far, but with the most strict HOA.


Of course, I could have had the irrigation system completely rebuilt, but I do not  trust them. Here the water PSI is well over 120 and there is no way for me to adjust it.


At my Auburn house, I wired in a water valve so there is only water pressure when the system is actually on.  It was handy to live next door to a plumber. I ran wires from relays from the control box to open the water valve only when the system is trying to water something. The way they all should be designed.


One time when I was in SSF, the anti-Siphon valve at this house broke. That was in the middle of August around ten years ago. It flooded the entire neighborhood  before somebody finally figured out how to turn the water off.


-Don-  Cold Springs Valley, NV

[Crissa]

That's how my system works; it drains to the stair garden when it's done watering everything.  That lets me have a little lush island down by the car.

Man, that's a terrible HOA.

-Crissa

[Richard230]

It sounds like you have the real estate game figured out, Don.     But I have to agree that your HOA seems to have a swelled head that is about to explode.  There is enough bureaucracy in the country without having to deal with another self-important regulatory layer. 

[DonTom]

That's how my system works;

Are you saying it has NO water pressure in the pipes at all, when nothing is being watered? If you break the pipe at the anti-siphon valve, no water?


All home irrigation systems  I have seen have the FULL water pressure 24/7, except in winter when the water is  turned off via the manual water pipe valve.  Industrial ones are often designed better. And that is how my Auburn house is. But I had to design it myself.


It can leak  for 20 minutes per day, which is a lot better than non-stop as are all other home irrigation systems I have seen.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[DonTom]

You occupying one less home is one more home on the market for some kid entering the market.

-Crissa

But somebody else with ten motorcycles could need it too!


-Don- Reno, NV

[Crissa]

Are you saying it has NO water pressure in the pipes at all, when nothing is being watered? If you break the pipe at the anti-siphon valve, no water?

Well, the anti-siphon is pressurized, because I put it above the branch instead of below so I could use a single anti-siphon at each house spout.

It goes:
Valve -> Antisiphon -> Branch (spigot, hose, hose, irrigation timer)
Irrigation is a pipe that leads vertically on the hill that pressurizes only while watering, with a branch at each level cross-hill (about 8' in elevation) from the roof, back garden, patio, first tier, second, bottom... And then the last.  Each branch has its own pressure regulator and valve for when we plant stuff there.  When the irrigation timer shuts off, all the irrigation pipes drain to the bottom most tier, emptying the system.  (and watering what would be the driest point in the summer)

I could put antisiphons on each of the pipes, but I just use one.  I guess it would solve the problem of the metal antisiphons coughing water sometimes, but that's what, another $60 of brass to save a few ounces of water a day?

-Crissa

[DonTom]

Well, the anti-siphon is pressurized,

And there is the poor design issue. Water pressure to that valve 24/7, unlike my home in Auburn where if only has pressure when something is being watered. But my 24VAC water solenoid is at the very beginning of the irrigation system. I do not mind going on a long RV trip with that system, but I had to design it myself, using one of these at the very start of the irrigation system.


-Don-  Reno, NV