Extended Test Drive -- Suggestions?

[jpa2825]

Picking up a '12 Leaf from the dealer I have been working with today at lunch. He says "bring it back tomorrow or Wed." He allowed me to do an overnight a coupla months ago, but the wife didn't get to drive or even see it.

Anything I definitely SHOULD or SHOULD NOT do to put the LEAF through its paces? 26 mile each way commute with currently no opportunity for charge at work (but working on that), so I will pick up at 100% SOC and probably charge to 100% via L1 overnight. May just charge to 80% on TUE evening after the full commute that day since dealer is close to my work.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Stanton]

where/what city are you in? we've got to get people to complete their profiles.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

drive the car like you normally would. testing it in ways that you normally would not do is a waste of time. what you really want is to see how well the car fits your needs.

do your normal thing. when you get home, then decide

1) can i do sidetrips that are common in my life.

2) do i have enough left over range to do an errand or two on the way home?

3) does the family fit?

4) (the biggest one for me...) am i willing to make enough space in the garage for the LEAF?

 

[tps]

If you're in a part of the country which experiences cold weather, the range will be less during the cold months. But I think RT of 52 miles will probably work OK, even in the cold. You might try both "D" and "ECO"; I prefer "D" and never use "ECO".

 

[garsh]

26 mile each way commute with currently no opportunity for charge at work (but working on that), so I will pick up at 100% SOC and probably charge to 100% via L1 overnight.

I have a 30 mile each way commute. In the summer, I charge to only 80% and have no problems making the round trip, so you might want to give that a try.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Sorry, can't suggest anything without knowing the temps and terrain.

So, at a minimum, where will you be driving from and to?

 

[jpa2825]

Sorry for the inadequate information. Here is add'l info:

Home - 41075 (Fort Thomas, KY) (Cincinnati, OH area)
Work - 45069 (West Chester, OH)
Dealer - w/i 2 miles of Work
Terrain - no major, sustained elevation changes (start 850, end 629 according to LEAF Energy App)
Route - mostly urban freeway

At 60 mph, LEAF Energy App says each way = 6.7 kWh of 21.1 kWh (100% charge, no degradation)


I was thinking more about what displays should I pay attention to / use? How should I run the climate control? Any quirks w/ bluetooth or audio? What should I try with Carwings? I will use Navigation. No QC and very few L2 chargers, so I won't get to test those. Other things I should try whilst I have it for this extended test drive.

 

[Stanton]

I was thinking more about what displays should I pay attention to / use? How should I run the climate control? Any quirks w/ bluetooth or audio? What should I try with Carwings? I will use Navigation. No QC and very few L2 chargers, so I won't get to test those. Other things I should try whilst I have it for this extended test drive.

Now we're getting somewhere; heat shouldn't be a problem for you, but you may not be able to get a full charge on L1, so I wouldn't try going much beyond your normal commute (50+ miles) and keep it under 60 mph on the highway. When you have your own car and L2 (at home), you can get more adventurous.

You can't use CarWings until you OWN a Leaf (this was news to me) and the Nav will work much like other cars (although it's cool). Definitely checkout the different audio connections: BT, wired (iPod), aux jack (this was a big deal for me since I'd never had a car w/BT). It will take awhile to get tired of the "energy use" screen, and I would stick with "auto" on the climate control (trying to get too fancy is confusing at first). Oh, and don't forget to roll the windows down and just enjoy the QUIET ride!

 

[jpa2825]

Didn't pay a lot of attention to commute home last night. Drove in ECO the entire way. Traffic on urban freeway (55 mph) was heavier than usual and I started with 100% SOC from dealer. Drove around town a bit. Plugged in to L1 around 2100, hit timer override, noticed 1 solid and middle blinking and retired for the evening.

This AM, no lights on dash meant 100% SOC (or something had gone wrong -- no way to know without App). Unplugged, put the EVSE in the trunk and turned it on. 12 bars. Good to go.

Decided to do commute to work in D rather than ECO. Also decided to set cruise at 60 and not exceed unless traffic flow mandated (merging, etc.). Although the commute is mostly interstate, only 2 miles of it is 65 mph, so I am less of an obstacle in the far right lane than others might be.

Approx.
5 miles - 11 bars
11.5 miles - 10 bars
18 miles - 9 bars
25 miles - 8 bars
arrived at work at 26 miles

Reset the energy info. when I picked up the car. Currently showing avg. 4.3 kWh in my driving.

Was able to quickly & easily pair my iPhone w/ the BT and use it.

Used navigation w/o any problems. (Once there is any charging infrastructure in my area, it may come in handy, but GPS nav in a 35 mile circle around my home where I have lived for 25 years and already know where everything is is not very useful to me.)

Assume you have to have some special tool or App to get the GIDs people are discussing in other threads.

Anything else I should try?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Assume you have to have some special tool or App to get the GIDs people are discussing in other threads.

Anything else I should try?

Yes, the Gid tools are hardware. There are two known ways to get a Gid readout in your LEAF; buy a kit and assemble it or buy a ready made one (several choices on the horizon).

 

[jpa2825]

Commute home yesterday was without incident. Drove home with 60 mph max (although traffic kept me under 90% of the time anyway) in ECO. Used another 4 bars and had 4 bars showing when I got home (~35 miles left on GOM).

Climate control at 72 was comfortable on hot day.

Since I am returning to dealer today, decided to try timed charging & 80%. Easy to set up Timer 1 on the car. Set it to start at 2100 and end at 0700 next morning (I usually leave around 0645.) Car said 12 hrs. to charge to 80%. Checked it at 2115 and 1 solid blue and middle blue was blinking.

When I got in around 0645 this AM, all lights were out. Turned on and 10 bars. Obviously, it charged faster than the car said it might (not a big surprise, but pleasant).

Didn't like that I have to re-connect the iPhone to BT every time I get in the car. Not sure if that changes with ownership.

Overall, a very good experience.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

having to reconnect your i phone is an apple thing. my i phones connect automatically (when i let it, i carry a droid)

 

[garsh]

Drove home with 60 mph max in ECO.

Note that ECO doesn't make too much of a difference in highway driving. Unless you find yourself having to slow down often, in which case the added "default regen" when you lift off the throttle is nice since you don't have to move your foot to the brake pedal as often.

My Android phone automatically connects & starts playing music (if the Leaf is set for BT audio as the current audio source). It's nice not even having to remove my phone from my pocket.

 

[Deleted member 3147]

having to reconnect your i phone is an apple thing. my i phones connect automatically (when i let it, i carry a droid)

My Iphone 4 reconnects automatically 99% of the time. I have no idea why the OP is having trouble.