If not for the LEAF would you have considered a Nissan?

[TaylorSFGuy]

The Volt didn't make sense to me - either all electric or not and I couldn't justify the price premium for this inconsistency.

Nissan was the first one to market with something that had a typical sedan car design. They beat Tesla to market so Nissan got my business. If other manufacturers had a similiar car, I would likely NOT have purchased Nissan. I was quite happy with my Honda (my first Japanese brand car) and would have gone to them all things being equal (or close).

Nissan better not sit on their laurels because there will be choices from others when it is time to replace this one. As I've said before, there are lots of things about this car that indicate it was rushed to market and we continue to live with many of them now more than a year after they started to be delivered.

 

[evnow]

When I got my first Nissan - I considered Camry & Accord as well. But Maxima was the clear winner. That was more than a decade ago.

My next car will likely be Infiniti EV (unless Tesla supports CHAdeMO). If Nissan made a Plugin CUV, we'll get that instead of Energi.

 

[adric22]

I've driven hybrids since 2001, and since Nissan didn't have any hybrids in Texas (and still doesn't, to my knowledge) then I've never paid much attention to them.

If there were no EV's or PHEV's available, I'd probably have my eye on that Prius-C.

 

[GaslessInSeattle]

....
My next car will likely be Infiniti EV (unless Tesla supports CHAdeMO)...

"unless Tesla supports CHAdeMO" the phrase that is likely to start echoing around these parts, and I believe will prove to be a stumbling block for Tesla very soon as this region gets introduced to the first QC network.
the S won't even be a consideration for us until it has CHAdeMO, given the amazing expanse of DC QC's coming our way!

Wouldn't it be something if it turns out you could go further faster in a Leaf on a good QC network charging to 80% than an S with no CHadeMO!

 

[N1ghtrider]

I have owned a Honda Civic hybrid for 6 years (113,000 miles with overall combined fuel economy of 42.5 mpg and 50+ mpg on all highway trips at under 65 mph), so I would not likely have looked at Nissans if it was not for the Leaf.

 

[Pipcecil]

never been a loyalty to a car company. I did my research and bought whatever car fit my needs, budget, and received good reviews. As for the leaf, I wanted a pure EV, which is way I bypassed the volt. I probably could have waited for the market to even out with more choices, but the leaf just right since I wanted a hatchback larger style similar to the car I gave up (pontiac vibe). So I just jumped the gun a bit earlier because I was excited. My next car will definetely be another EV, with whom, only time will tell in about 10 years. Hopefully I can afford a Tesla then!

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Based on feedback from this admittedly self-selected group, the Leaf has cannibalized a grand total of one (1) Sentra sale, and the rest are new Nissan customers. :lol:

At least one positive note in the boardroom for a project that has got to be losing Nissan a lot of money to date.

 

[evnow]

Based on feedback from this admittedly self-selected group, the Leaf has cannibalized a grand total of one (1) Sentra sale, and the rest are new Nissan customers. :lol:

You missed my Maxima.

But neither of those would be considered cannibalized sale - they have actually made us spend more on a Nissan product - so they have "upsold" us.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Based on feedback from this admittedly self-selected group, the Leaf has cannibalized a grand total of one (1) Sentra sale, and the rest are new Nissan customers. :lol:

You missed my Maxima.

But neither of those would be considered cannibalized sale - they have actually made us spend more on a Nissan product - so they have "upsold" us.

Exactly, it didn't sound like you were headed back for another Maxima any time soon. Of all the responses I saw here, while there are some Nissans in people's history, only SharonaLA expressed a favorable bias towards Nissan products, the rest seemingly would not have bought a Nissan if it wasn't for the Leaf.

 

[KJD]

No I have never considered a Nissan until the Leaf came along. If there were no Leaf I would still be driving my home made EV.

http://www.evalbum.com/3175" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My wife has a 2006 Prius and that is also a good reliable car, the only problem with the Prius is that it only runs on gasoline. Last week I let her drive the Leaf for a few days and now she wants one of her own. Maybe someday we will be a 2 Leaf household.

KJD

 

[cwerdna]

Heh, I have no Leaf yet but have owned an 02 Maxima and 04 350Z. I got my mom into an a leftover 07 Altima Hybrid in 08.

I'm a Japanese car fan and tend to focus on Toyota and Nissan.

I admire Nissan and Carlos Ghosn for having the guts to make the investment to develop and manufacture the Leaf. I do wish Nissan were stronger in the hybrid front and had something that competed w/the Prius.

 

[redLEAF]

More than likely no ... this is my first Nissan, have owned 3 Toyota's (new and very old), a Scion, 3 Mazda's (2 Miata's and the Mazda3 I traded in for the LEAF), a smart, an Opel GT (first car), 4 VW's, a Pontiac, an MGB, a Fiat, a Ford, a Mercury, mostly older Chevy's and a few Dodges (minivans) and even 2 Isuzu Trooper II's. When I was in the market for the trip car a few years back, briefly thought about a Murano and now know a lot of folks who love their Rogue's. I've also been a bit impressed with the Infiniti G series coupes and sedans as well as fondly remember drives in my neighbor's first model year Datsun 240Z but never went to buy one.

I'm enjoying the LEAF very much but have to still be somewhat practical so unless they offered something for longer trips ... which will really need to be at least be a plug-in hybrid like a Ford C-Max or others ... I doubt I'll be getting another Nissan anytime soon. Now if they surprise us all and come out with something to compete with this new flood of combo drive train cars and crossovers would definitely consider it. Most of the fit and finish of the LEAF (despite the thin but beautiful paint) is quite good based against the '06 Mazda3 it replaced ... but remembering that this car lists at $37K I guess it should be (although if you subtract the $18K battery system is it really a $19K car with a very expensive drive train (btw, I don't think so)?

Remembering as others had posted what others did you consider; I actually did think the Focus EV would beat the LEAF to Chicago, the Chevy Volt had a big presence (at last year's Chicago Auto Show) here but have absolutely no regrets that this was the right choice even if all three were available when I ordered so kudos to Nissan, another 'conquest' sale.

 

[brent]

I wouldn't have dreamed of another Nissan product if it were not for the Leaf. I even had a lot of second thoughts
about it. We had an Infinity SUV that was a nightmare for service that totally p'd us off. Will never touch another
Infinity. Got a Lexus and Toyota Highlander. Best 2 vehicles we owned in a long history. I'm 65 now so we've seen a few.

So far, so good with the Leaf

PS I will absolutely never have a Mazda. The ads with the smarmy young kid brainwashing our children that the most
important thing about cars is ZOOM ZOOM is morally and ethically bankrupt !

 

[planet4ever]

Nissan? What's that? I don't pay much attention to cars, and I really and truly didn't even know what a Nissan was. (Maybe some manufacturer's fancy version, like Acura?) Then, after I got interested in the LEAF, I started looking at vehicles on the streets and discovered there were lots of Nissans around. Where did they all come from when I wasn't looking? I finally learned that Nissan used to sell Datsuns, and I certainly did remember those from way back when.

So, no, I would never have considered a Nissan if not for the LEAF. If I had been forced to buy another non-electric car, it probably would have been a Honda or Toyota (and almost certainly a hybrid). If the LEAF had not been available last year, but the Volt had, I would have gotten a Volt. If the Mitsubishi "i" had been available a year ago I would have jumped at it in preference to either LEAF or Volt, despite my dislike of its jellybean shape. My grandson drives a Mitsubishi Mirage that I originally got secondhand for myself, and it has been very reliable, giving me a good opinion of that company.

Ray

 

[Aeolus]

This is our fifth Nissan, if you count the Datsun that my wife had in the 70's. A pickup that ran and ran until it was rammed in an LA high speed chase, a Sentra we bought for one of the kids, which was a reliable econobox, and a Maxima, which was a great car.

Our two experiments with buying American were both great disappointments. The Plymouth Voyager and the Ford Taurus required way too many repairs and had problems that we never had with any import.

 

[cwerdna]

I wouldn't have dreamed of another Nissan product if it were not for the Leaf. I even had a lot of second thoughts
about it. We had an Infinity SUV that was a nightmare for service that totally p'd us off. Will never touch another
Infinity.
...
PS I will absolutely never have a Mazda. The ads with the smarmy young kid brainwashing our children that the most
important thing about cars is ZOOM ZOOM is morally and ethically bankrupt !

Was it a QX56, by any chance?

As for Mazda, I'm not familiar with that ad but do know of their ZOOM ZOOM slogan. FWIW, Mazdas actually aren't really known for power but more for handling. Nissan in the past was the one that offered just a little more power than their competitors in the same class.

 

[AmpUpCO]

No, and I likely won't get a Nissan again unless they have an EV that is far superior to the LEAF.

+1

 

[downeykp]

I owned a 77 b210. It got 45 mpg on the highway. It was real boring but efficient.
There is really nothing that Nissan makes that I would consider buying now. They need more hybrids. Something like a Hylander Hybrid would be something I would be interested in. If they made one.

 

[walterbays]

I wouldn't have ruled out Nissan, based on reliability of a previous car. The new Ford broke down on a road trip (really broken, as in engine rebuild time), and the old 100,000 mile Nissan saved the day. But Nissan wouldn't have been in the top three brands I'd think of either, having nothing in particular to recommend it in performance, engineering, styling, etc. LEAF changed Nissan's image to me, to one of the top engineering companies in the business. And does carry over to how I think of their gasoline cars too. Just as they intended, no doubt.

 

[TonyWilliams]

LEAF changed Nissan's image to me, to one of the top engineering companies in the business. And does carry over to how I think of their gasoline cars too. Just as they intended, no doubt.

My image of modern day Nissan was the company that almost went BK and had to have outsiders save a Japanese company. Nothing they made, that I knew of, was class leading. I knew that their hybrid was just licensed from Toyota... so if I wanted a hybrid, I'd just buy a Prius. Basically, they were a Japanese GM.

But, when we went looking for a car (in addition to the upcoming LEAF), we actually looked at Infiniti, and bought a G37 conv. just one week before the LEAF arrived.

Two new Nissans in one week. Not too bad for a guy that never owned even one. My previous cars stretched the gamut of American IRON cars; Impala, Biscayne, Camaro (several), Corvette, Firebird Trans Am, Jeep, GM pickups (many), Suburban, Gran Prix, Cadillac.

The only previous exceptions were a BMW 330 conv, and an old Toyota pickup, plus newer (2010) Toyota minivan that we traded for the Infiniti. Oh, had a Chrysler minivan concurrent with the LEAF and Infiniti, but sold that a few months ago.

Next car might be a Tesla, Infiniti EV, Toyota Rav4 EV, or some surprise car that inspires (and doesn't burn oil). The Ford Focus EV is a crowded-in feeling car for a 6'2" guy, and I think there will be lots of bugs in a converted car that Ford didn't have much to do with (Magna, from Canada, designed it).