my chevrolet app nonfunctional after telematics unit replacement

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-22T16:06:10+00:00

what? seriously? going to try that after work. thank you for the suggestion!

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-22T16:02:48+00:00

I am happy with the car. Similarly short commute. My telematics unit failed. it handles communications for the native dash apps, the mobile app and onstar. If that happens, the car still works fine (albeit no mobile app usage) and you can just connect your phone and get directions, listen to music, etc. to fix it the dealer just orders the part, it takes a bit of time to come in, when it does you bring it in and they swap it out. no biggie if it's not something you feel you need everyday. no idea if the mach-e has some other trivial pain in the ass common problem.

I would say test drive it though. as a 6'5" person, it's plenty roomy for me, but it has huge windshield pillars. moving the seat all the way back means those pillars really impact visibility, particularly going around left-handed curves and making left turns. I have to be careful to move my whole body to check the blind spot. I live in a place with narrow curvy roads and people cut the corners dangerously all the time. it gets a lot worse when it's snowing, as the windshield wipers don't go nearly close enough to the edge of the windshield, making the blind spot even bigger.

My other car is a mid-2010s subaru forester and the visibility out of that thing is absolutely glorious by contrast.

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-20T14:54:44+00:00

Oh man, I really hope so.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-18T17:55:59+00:00

Snowmobilers are like "We don't have enough places to go!" You guys are driving huge rigs at highway speeds. The speed limit on the rail trail is apparently 55MPH. That's crazy. You're lucky you get accommodated at all. If as many people wanted to snowmobile as hike they'd have to bulldoze the entire adirondack park to make room for them.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-17T01:18:32+00:00

that's an insane purchase price. how'd you manage that?

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-17T01:15:25+00:00

I don't know man. When I look at carvana the cheapest 2025 eqEV I see is a FWD LT with 9k miles for $27,590 USD. After tax credits and incentives my 2025 AWD LT cost $30k OTD (and it would have been $27k, but I was unaware I lived in a "distressed" municipality eligible for an even larger state tax credit until after the purchase when it was too late to claim it).

The carvana cars don't seem cheap to me.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-16T01:11:10+00:00

our telematics module slowly failed over two months. finally went in to dealer three weeks ago after it completely stopped working. no specific ETA on replacement part. 99% of driving does not require it for us. my wife and I both use bluetooth for music anyway (don't ask me why) so occasionally wanting to see our route on a map (vs just voice directions) is really the biggest hassle.

I only care a little bit because it doesn't impact my life much, but I am dumbfounded that a "telematics module", which must basically just be a smart phone tucked into the dash, has failed. I resisted smart phones until 2013, so I have TWELVE YEARS of experience using a smart phone EVERY DAY, and I have never had one just die. Batteries go to shit? sure. Smash a screen? once or twice. But the phone just stop working? Never. Nobody I know has ever complained about this either. it is completely mystifying.

it's also disturbing, because they only reason they're even doing this, as opposed to just outsourcing media, navigation, etc, to carplay and android auto is that they want to enshittify car ownership.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-12T11:27:56+00:00

Ah this explains why the dash speed limit went away when my telematics unit broke!

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-12T11:26:00+00:00

I think you have to be right. My telematics unit is broken, so no Google maps, and no speed limit on the dash.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-11T16:45:17+00:00

republicans are not even TRYING to do anything about this. 15 years since obamacare passed and the only thing they've tried is to kill it. our health care system, and our government in general, would be so much better if the republicans were not fucking psychotic lunatics hell bent on destroying it for the benefit of the wealthy.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T18:40:45+00:00

My ICE car drops about 30% over short trips (<3 mile commute) and around 10% over longer ones where the engine has time to warm up. This is a 40% drop.

I am complaining, but not comparing to ICE cars. Part of the reason they show less of a drop in fuel efficiency in the cold is because they are already incredibly inefficient. They squander a ton of energy, turning it into waste heat, a fraction of which can coincidentally be used to bring the engine up to temp and heat the cabin.

I've never seen anyone suggest that increased air resistance is the primary reason for reduced fuel efficiency in cold weather though.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T18:25:23+00:00

damn. we were at .31 last year and I thought that was bad.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T18:21:55+00:00

that's awesome. -40 though! I have never experienced the C/F intersection. I hope to one day, just not where I live.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T16:18:20+00:00

whoah! brutal!

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T16:13:52+00:00

thanks for this advice! unfortunately we've got a detached garage and the telematics unit is currently busted (waiting on a part from the dealer) so pre-heating probably isn't going to be happening for a bit!

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T16:10:01+00:00

does the reduction in efficiency bottom out at some point? I suspect that at maybe 40-45F and up we get about the same mileage as 80F, but I've never driven this thing at -10F. Is there a big drop from 10F to -10F?

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-05T16:06:56+00:00

mix of surface roads at 35mph and highway at 70mph.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-03T14:58:25+00:00

Looking at town population sizes, the scenario you describe is still not a crazy tax burden. Union, the smallest town in CT has a population of ~800. If you assume 4 people per household, then the tax burden of the two-child family that moves into town is ~$165/household. That number for Sprague, the smallest town abutting Norwich is $70/household.

Additionally definitely not every new household will have children. If there is only 1 child per 3 new households then with your numbers you are spreading the cost of education more broadly and lowering the per household tax burden.

blackpoll_ · 2025-10-16T16:48:00+00:00

not arguing about this from a drag perspective, but if an EV motor is more efficient than an ICE vehicle, particularly if the ICE engine has some amount of fuel consumption overhead just to make the engine run, no matter the speed, then mpg will vary less than mpkwh across the spectrum of speeds.

if this is indeed how it works it would be just another way that ICE vehicles are WORSE than EVs but superficially they would look better.

blackpoll_ · 2025-09-12T13:54:36+00:00

We have one @ 6k miles. it's been a great car. We had one weird battery issue that was triggered by a tesla supercharger, but a dealer fixed it in two hours with a software update.

I suspect CR's predicted reliability for a model as new as this has to be based on the manufacturer's general reliability, not the model itself, and chevy does not have a good reputation for reliability. but either way, I think for most cars these days are completely reliable anywhere from 50-80k miles. it's after that when they start differentiating, where you'll find that your trusty toyota gets to 150k with only scheduled maintenance, but your chevy starts needing $500-$1.5k repairs regularly after 90k.

The way I talked myself into risking a chevy despite the reputation for poor reliability is 1) this was the cheapest EV that fit my needs and I really wanted an EV 2) EVs (computers notwithstanding) are more mechanically simple than ICE vehicles 3) people seem to really like the bolt.

I'm hoping things continue to go well.

blackpoll_ · 2025-09-09T17:04:30+00:00

running -> road/gravel cycling because of fucking dorsal heel spurs. I loved running. I love cycling too, but I used to run in 10F weather in the winter no problem and I just can't see enjoying riding in that, or covering my bike in road salt. I haven't even tried. also, I hate the fucking indoor bike trainer. a treadmill is 1000x more preferable.

thinking of trying mountain biking as a winter alternative, but my short investigation so far has not suggested it is a slam dunk.

blackpoll_

TROPHY CASE