New spark owner with already a couple modifications.

[robpow13]

Hi,

Well I picked up my spark on June 20, 2013 on just a spur the moment decision. I saw the great review on yahoos homepage and decided to go give it a test drive. The dealer only had the one and long story short i drove it home that night. Its a pearl black with 2lt interior. When I got it it had 115 miles on it that Gm put on it. The 115 miles and that it was black where the only things i didnt like so they knocked off a couple thousand off the price.
Now, I really like the black, yea its harder to keep clean but i think it looks awesome. My miles on it right now are a little over 500 and my total commute to work it 33 miles.
I am all done with all the hoops to jump through for the 240v charger less $500 through GM so that only cost me $12, my rebate form the state, and the paper work to get my HOV stickers.

So the modifications I have done basically the first weekend I got it was I got all the windows tinted, removed the front lic. plate bracket, and blacked out the Bow Ties front and back. So for the most part is black and chrome. I am debating removing the green ev badge on the back too.

Great car so far and I am very happy with it.

My only input to others is I find the best and most efficient way to drive the car is to always drive in LOW. There is no down side to this only positive. I say this because you basically dont have to use the brakes at all and let the batt. regen. a lot faster. I especially love this in traffic, I can go almost the entire time without having to use the brake pedal.

Here is a pic as it sits now

 

[scotte]

There is one downside to driving in "L" that people might not be aware of - anytime you aren't accelerating your brake lights are on. I think this can cause some confusion for people behind you in traffic if your brake lights are constantly cycling (obviously, this depends on how you feather the skinny pedal). Because regeneration on the Spark is so good I also don't think you are actually gaining anything overall anyway...

 

[robpow13]

actually from what i have noticed the brake lights only come on when you fully let off the accelerator. Which only happens to me when i actually would be braking anyways so there wouldnt be any difference. When I am in traffic is am just release a certian percentage of the gas pedal which slows the vehicle like braking but doesnt apply the brake lights. I dont know how you wouldnt gain extra regen. Instead of wasting what could be additional power going into the battery you are just waisting it by applying the brake. Let the motor do the work. Not to mention prolonging the life of the brake pads. Seems like a no brainer to me.

On another side note. The other day I took the Spark all the way up to 90 MPH. Ill tell you they limited the speed because it pull hard till the 90 mph where it just shuts down.

 

[scotte]

Actually, the Spark has two braking systems - a regenerative charging one, and a conventional system. When you hit the brakes you are actually regenerating energy, just like you would when coasting in "L" - and you can see this if you set the dash display to the mode that shows Kw (instead of the spinny green thingy).

I suppose someone could try a long term test in both modes under similar conditions to be sure, but I'd be really surprised if either mode has a significant energy advantage - I think it comes down more to driver preference than anything.

 

[robpow13]

Good point. My thing is why use the brake when i can just use the motor. I fast traffic i love being able to just a little bit off the accelerator to slow down in L. I have gotten really good a judging distance and when to and how much to let off to keep the distance from the car in front. The L mode honestly is one of my favorite things about the car. I dont see myself needing to replace brake pads before lease end.

 

[scotte]

Makes sense, and sorry when I re-read what I wrote above I meant that for people not familiar with the Spark, since obviously you know all that as an owner.

 

[Sparkler]

Good point. My thing is why use the brake when i can just use the motor. I fast traffic i love being able to just a little bit off the accelerator to slow down in L. I have gotten really good a judging distance and when to and how much to let off to keep the distance from the car in front. The L mode honestly is one of my favorite things about the car. I don't see myself needing to replace brake pads before lease end.

An important benefit of driving in L is reaction time. If you ever do need to hit the brakes quickly, L gives you a split second of slowing before you can shift your foot to the brake pedal. My wife has been driving her Volt in L for 2 years now, and always reminds me to put it in L when I'm driving it...

Just saw this: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?65506-Driving-in-L-Avoided-Collision

With our Volt, I'd be surprised if it needed brake pads before 10 years. It's been more than 2 years, and the rear rotors still have the cross-hatch honing marks on them. It was a solid year before the marks on the front rotors finally went away. (Normal cars lose those marks in a few weeks, maybe a month!)

Part of brake life also is the special Nitride coating on the rotors. While I was at the dealer last week I saw a Camaro out front with rusted rotors. Sales guy said all the '14's come with the coating, and that the Camaro was a '13...
So no pad wear due to scraping rust off the rotors anymore!

 

[iletric]

We have been driving the Leaf for over 2 years now so L is like Eco mode in Leaf except is it much more agressive. Since we always drive in Eco, L is it for us (or me that is). We just drove the car for the first time freeway speed, did 20 miles and droped only 10 from the GOM (Leafspeak for guess-o-meter). Cool! I have a feeling I can do close to 100 miles in L.

Now the problems:
1- Placing the call via blutooth - press phone, make the call. After the call is finished and I hang up, the screen stays on the phone, does not return to radio or USB. It does return though if I receive a call and hang up. But not if I make the call. I have to hit "home" and "infotainment" (or whatever it's called) to get back to my radio screen.

2- Music via thumb drive-USB. Shows folders of music (CDs). I open the the CD, it shows the tracks list. Tracks play one by one. Fine so far. Once it reaches the last song (say track #10), and moves down the list to track #11, the screen does not scroll down. Plays track #11 withhout showing the track title and requires manual scroll down to see it.

3- Cannot turn off auto lock upon putting the lever in D or R or L. That's according to the Chevy advisor I called up. Lame! I don't want to be locked it! I live in a good neighborhood and no one can help me if I have a heart attack inside the vehicle without breaking the frickin' window first.

The good news - it's a lease. I am hoping for updates SOON! Chevy are you listening???

 

[robpow13]

Good posts guys glad to see others driving in L as well.

 

[Electricbowtie]

We just surpassed 700 miles on our Spark and over 15k in our Volt and 100% of our driving is in L. Love driving without using the brakes

 

[hodad66]

"L" is the way to go for sure. My Volt is always in L.
Sure hope that the Spark will be available in Florida
by September 2014 when my lease ends......

 

[tmac4418]

Quick question:

For the front and back Chevy logos (bow ties) what did you use to black them out? Did you buy them online somewhere or use plasti-dip etc? If you did purchase online can you post a url of the site.

Thanks

 

[NORTON]

With the Spark EV you have the option of adopting this new '1 Foot' driving method of driving in L.
The BMW i3 and the Tesla demand you adopt the 1 Foot Method. Their brake pedal is strictly an old school friction brake pedal. Easy engineering on their part by not having the brake pedal blend the braking duties.

I like to be able to take my foot off the go pedal and scratch my n... leg.
You get 'Coast' when you drive in D. You don't have to think about what coast is. You don't have to have your foot planted on that Go pedal for the entire trip.

To each his own.
Just don't claim there is any performance benefit to driving in L. The brake pedal provides even more regen without friction braking than L does.

To me the best thing about L is it can be used with Cruise Control. You have a two mode Cruise Control.
D allows the car to overshoot the Set Speed on down hills.
L uses regen to maintain the Set Speed on down hills.

 

[Jedi2155]

There is a big downside to driving in L, that most people fail to take into account. Coasting is always better than regen because regenerative breaking is not 100% efficient (it actually varies from around 60% to 94% at the motor level). Then when you take into account conversion losses associated with the AC to DC conversion, and battery losses, then you realize its much better just to drive in D, then switch to L in certain scenarios (in my case: going down hill, or to maximize regen when you aren't sure how much to brake force you need before kicking in the mechanical brakes).

 

[Dusty]

I've modified mine, too, with this decal:

Don't ask me how to get that decal - according to the manufacturer it was a mistake.

About driving in L, I'm also a big fan. The whole process dovetails nicely with my past experience using engine compression to decelerate a vehicle with a manual transmission. It just feels natural to me.

Which is more efficient? Well, I have a regular commute to the same place via the same route and sometimes Li'l Sparky is in L and others it's in D. Over the first 2000 miles, it seems like a draw with maybe the edge going to D. That said, traffic has been light due to kids out of school and people on vacation. Perhaps when the cars hit the road in another month, and traffic gets more jammed, the edge might go back to L. We're only talking about a couple miles per charge either way.

I have some thoughts on the frequent brake light controversy and indications there are multiple tiers of regenerative braking, but research is in early stages and it's really hard to pay too much attention when driving the car is so much fun!

 

[tmac4418]

Hi,


So the modifications I have done basically the first weekend I got it was I got all the windows tinted, removed the front lic. plate bracket, and blacked out the Bow Ties front and back. So for the most part is black and chrome. I am debating removing the green ev badge on the back too.

Quick question:

For the front and back Chevy logos (bow ties) what did you use to black them out? Did you buy them online somewhere or use plasti-dip etc? If you did purchase online can you post a url of the site.

 

[EldRitch]

Don't forget to black out the yellow bowtie on the wheels...

 

[Taxman]

Don't ask me how to get that decal - according to the manufacturer it was a mistake.

They could save on waste disposal costs if they just put all the decal material in the package after cutting and let you choose which parts to use.