I don’t think the sun has come out yet on me and my Bolt EV, but I’ve enjoyed motoring around in it anyway.

I’m used to adjusting to a new car every week, so this one is no different–except that it’s staying with me for three years. I got my phone hooked up at the dealership, so that was easy. Now, I’ve got my favorite FM and SiriusXM stations all set up on the audio screen. I’m using the little up/down paddles on the left side of the steering wheel to move between them. I’m a big fan of controls you can operate without looking. This is the best system I’ve had since Chrysler/Jeep/Fiat’s system on the back of the steering wheel.

That wheel in the Bolt, by the way, has controls all over it, as it should, and it’s nice and fat and the leather wrapping feels comfortable in my hands. Like some of the interior working areas, it’s dark gray, but the rest of the interior is light gray and white, so it’s airy and pleasant in there, even with rain outside.

I’ve charged the car up to full now. It read like this today, with the climate control turned off, getting about 10 more miles of range.

Of course, this is an approximation, but the range shows that with careful driving, achieving what the EPA got in its tests is a reasonable possibility. The Bolt EV shows the estimated range based on your driving (only 106 miles on my car so far, so not much to go on). The Max and Min are what’s possible. While driving home today, I had the Max up to 286 miles–thanks to some sloggy stop-and-go in the rain.

I’ve tried out all three of the versions of the instrument panel. This is the Enhanced one, with more information on the sides. There are two others, Classic and Modern. Classic has the least detail. The Modern one uses a little ball on the right side. Keeping it centered makes you drive more efficiently. The Enhanced panel shows if you’re using or regenerating power–a typical, and useful stat to have in an EV.

I’ve noticed that I’m comfortable in the tall, firm, seats, but they are a little firmer than most others I’ve experienced in my hundreds of test cars. Since the car has a firm suspension and the tires are highly inflated, it’s already a firm ride. But that makes the car feel responsive and sporty–up to a point. We’ll see how the chairs feel during longer trips–although I doubt if I’ll ever spend five hours straight in the car unless I know I can charge it up on the other end of that trip.

With all this rain, I’ve seen a lot of my wipers. They are the kind that are mounted on the outer ends of the windshield area and cross each other. This leaves a little “v” of uncleared window in the upper middle, but the mirror and the cameras take that up anyway. They clear almost to the windshield pillars, so that’s great. I’ve used them in the standard two settings and a variety of intermittent settings–and the occasional mist cycle. Totally standard.

I carried my upright bass in the car tonight. It worked perfectly, as I expected. I removed the feather-light cargo cover and flipped down the seats. With the hard panel in place in the back, I had a nice, flat surface for the bass. The scroll lay on the center armrest. Perfect. My fellow orchestra member has ordered her own Bolt EV–in the same color–so she was very excited to see mine tonight.

That’s all for now–but there’ll be much more. I’ve got more screens to view, for example (although I’ve already gotten to know about the Energy ones).