New Spark EV Owner in DFW

[WadeTyhon]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new owner of a Spark EV in Addison, TX - a Northern suburb of Dallas.

I had been looking for several months now into either the Spark EV, Chevy Volt or Nissan Leaf. The spark made perfect sense to me - I have about a 6 mile commute to work, my fiance has an 8 mile drive to her college campus. Both of which have Level 2 chargers on site or nearby. We are also less than 15 miles from Downtown Dallas, and everywhere else we go on a regular basis has a charging option, or is close enough for it to not be an issue.

The local Chevy dealer did not want to be bothered trying to find me a used or new Spark EV and instead kept trying to insist on the Volt - which seems like a fantastic car, but did not make financial sense for me personally. So instead I went to CarMax who was extremely helpful, and got a beautiful 2014 Spark with only 2000 miles on it for 15K with warranty. They said they are able to service the vehicles on site should anything come up.

After only a few days I am extremely happy with the purchase! The flatness of Dallas and the dense, frequent stop signs, and low speed streets in the Addison area seem to be great for the cars efficiency - only charged once after the first day since we were driving it around town showing family and friends who were extremely interested in it. And I wanted to thank the users of this forum - despite you not knowing anything about me, I have been lurking here for several months and have learned a lot about what to expect from the vehicle - good and bad.

 

[NORTON]

.... They said they are able to service the vehicles on site should anything come up...

How are they going to do warranty work 'should anything come up'?
I hope you didn't fall for the oldest trick in the book. A car salesman talking to you..... :lol:

Good luck and congrats!!!

You should be able to find a local Chevy dealer to service it. And hopefully all you'll need are SW updates, if they ever come along !
Routine maintenance is few and far between.

 

[Dusty]

Well… I'm impressed you weren't discouraged at the Chevy dealer. The second dealer I went to tried to sell me a Cruz diesel. The first one stopped responding after I mentioned TrueCar. It's like a gauntlet set up for people wanting a Spark EV; a test of our dedication. But you hung in there. Nice going!

 

[WadeTyhon]

How are they going to do warranty work 'should anything come up'?
I hope you didn't fall for the oldest trick in the book. A car salesman talking to you..... :lol:

Haha! Yeah, that's definitely true! The Chevy dealer will service it, they just wanted to sell me a Volt not find me a Spark EV heh.

And thanks for the congrats, we are very happy with the purchase. Looking forward to less routine maintenance for sure.

It's like a gauntlet set up for people wanting a Spark EV; a test of our dedication. But you hung in there. Nice going!

Hah! That must be what it is!

 

[jsca72]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new owner of a Spark EV in Addison, TX - a Northern suburb of Dallas.

Congratulations on your new Spark! Sounds like the perfect match for you and your fiancé! Good for CarMax for coming through for you so well.

 

[WadeTyhon]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new owner of a Spark EV in Addison, TX - a Northern suburb of Dallas.

Congratulations on your new Spark! Sounds like the perfect match for you and your fiancé! Good for CarMax for coming through for you so well.

Thanks! Yes, we think it will be the perfect car for us! A year or two from now - If we have a good experience with the Spark, then she would like to get rid of her SUV for a Volt as our longer range vehicle.

Yeah, CarMax made it very easy... I just had to be patient!

 

[Nashco]

Good for you going out of your way to get what you want, rather than just taking the easy way out and buying what the locals want to sell you. You shouldn't need much service, but if you do you should report out how that goes. For some reason people act like the boogy man comes out if you have warranty on a car that wasn't sold locally, but so far we haven't heard of any warranty repairs being denied with the Spark EV; if you have any issues and it's all taken care of like it would be with a Volt or similar, that would be great information. I'm confident that GM won't botch the "out of state" warranty service like other OEMs have (Toyota has been particularly bad), but the proof is in the pudding!

Thanks for the update, enjoy the car.

Bryce

 

[MrDRMorgan]

Hey everyone! I am a brand new owner of a Spark EV in Addison, TX - a Northern suburb of Dallas.

Congratulations on your new Spark! Sounds like the perfect match for you and your fiancé! Good for CarMax for coming through for you so well.

Thanks! Yes, we think it will be the perfect car for us! A year or two from now - If we have a good experience with the Spark, then she would like to get rid of her SUV for a Volt as our longer range vehicle.

Yeah, CarMax made it very easy... I just had to be patient!

Wade,
Let me add my congratulations too! I too purchased a used 2014 Spark EV 2LT with 1500 miles on it and the in-town performance has been exceptional. It is great on the highway too. I think you are going to really love the experience driving this car and it is exciting to see people going to extremes to find, truck-in, tow, push, etc. a Spark EV back to a home state in which the Spark EV is not sold just so they can have one. In my opinion, once you start driving an EV you will NOT want to ever go back to an ICE powered vehicle!

Dennis

 

[WadeTyhon]

We are already convinced that EV is the way to go! We are setting schedules over who gets to drive the Spark and who is stuck with the Jeep Liberty. :lol: And yes, the lengths people will go to indicates to me that Chevy has a quality vehicle on it's hands that should have had a proper 50 state roll-out!

@Dennis:
Thank you for the congrats! And i'm glad you're enjoying it also! While I have only driven it on the highway once, the small size and fast acceleration was greatfor merging with traffic.

@Nashco
Thanks! I will absolutely post my experience on warranty repairs if/when they are necessary. But it's good to know that so far, GM has been taking care of warranty service out of state.

Now I need to get those California HOV stickers off of the car without leaving any residue on the vehicle...

 

[KingUltra]

Now I need to get those California HOV stickers off of the car without leaving any residue on the vehicle...

Does Texas have any HOV benefit for EV's ? I use the carpools a lot now by myself

 

[NORTON]

....Now I need to get those California HOV stickers off of the car without leaving any residue on the vehicle...

A hair dryer will soften the sticker making it easier to peal off.
Any left behind adhesive can be removed with an 'adhesive remover' product that is safe for paint. Any auto parts store should have this product.

Hey ! Try to keep the stickers in good shape and sell them on ebay !!!! (don't use your real name...)

 

[WadeTyhon]

A hair dryer will soften the sticker making it easier to peal off.
Any left behind adhesive can be removed with an 'adhesive remover' product that is safe for paint. Any auto parts store should have this product.

Thanks for the tip! I will give that a shot this weekend and try to remove them. I don't know about trying to sell 'em on eBay though... :lol:

Does Texas have any HOV benefit for EV's ? I use the carpools a lot now by myself

I wish! Dallas has HOV lanes on the major highways and tollroads, but there is no option that I'm aware of for EV's with single drivers. That would be a great incentive if they ever did!