Has the Leaf inspired you to drive more Zen like?

[sdbonez]

I implored my highly-refined hypermiling skills today for the 1st leg of my commute. 25.5 miles one way, mostly freeway, medium to light traffic. Eco mode, no a/c, slightly cracked windows, pulsing/gliding/drafting, hi-speed turns, no cruise, a few slightly run lights. (it was yellow, I swear!)

Car read 98 miles of range when I started. Car read 90 miles of range when I arrived after driving 25.5 miles !!! The best was drafting the oil tanker at 55mph for a solid 10miles down the freeway.

On the way home, I decided to have fun. 90 miles of range became 54 miles of range when I pulled in (after going the same 25.5 miles..though a bit more uphill driving for sure - but still no A/C).

Edit: Just realized I *wasn't* in Eco mode. now I'm really surprised.

 

[EricH]

I've had the Leaf for a week, and tried Eco mode once. Unless I want to demonstrate it to somebody, or I have a real range-anxiety trip planned, I doubt I'll use it again... there is a point at which Zen turns to Xanax, and Eco mode did a pretty good job of it.

Would like to be able to activate the 3-dot regenerative braking without capping the acceleration at 3 dots (maybe an Eco-brake mode?).

What I find amazing is the Power-Dot feedback has made me much more conscious of wasting fuel, so even on short trips where I know I can recharge fully, I tend to be a little more smooth and accelerate more slowly. Haven't driven my ICE in a week, but I expect I will get better mileage from that simply from better habits.

 

[hill]

The Leaf was the Johnny come lately for our inspiration. Our inspiration began in 2004 ... the Gen II Prius. Best mpg over an entire tank of gas was just a bit over 75 mpg (over 700 miles on a single tank of gas). Over 100,000 miles of practice lead us to a life time average of almost 56mpg. On the Leaf, we have less that 300 miles, and we're averaging 5 miles per kWH. Maybe within a few monts we'll be able to hit 7 miles per kWh.

 

[santamonicajane]

i've only had my leaf 4 days, but i too, am driving much less aggressively. i thought it was new car caution but i really think it makes me want to slow down and smell the roses....

 

[LEAFfan]

Car read 98 miles of range when I started. Car read 90 miles of range when I arrived after driving 25.5 miles !!!

Was this after the software/A/C upgrade?

 

[IBELEAF]

I'be been driving grandma style, hoping it will go away.

 

[tailgate1234]

While I've been very careful with my Leaf driving, I've been compensating by driving more aggressively in my other car, an M3. I'm hoping the two balance out.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been driving very "spirited" in the Leaf. It's just too much fun! There's just something unique about its driving style that I can't (and don't want to) resist.

Since I'm not at all worried about range (for our typical use) and the electricity use is significantly less than gas anyway, I figure the most aggressive driving in the Leaf is still better than the most conservative driving in my Murano.

Forget driving like grandma, I want to have FUN!