Nissan Leaf Test Drive Tour Reports (Oct 1-3)

[mwalsh]

Crowd is manageable right now, but it's gotten a fair bit busier as the day has moved on. It looks like it will be pretty crazy on the weekends.

No hard disk in the nav system.

I'm told that there is negligible draw from the pack for standard ancillaries - about 1%. One thing I did hear (but I don't know how true it is, and it is contrary to stuff we've already heard) is that the 12v battery is really for getting you "booted up" and storing anything you have pre-set rather than running the ancillaries.

Nissan has plenty of bodies here. Some are real knowledgeable, others not so much.

Got to find the right person to ask about charging.

No more details on the battery warranty other than what has already been released.

 

[hill]

wow, the pearl in the white picture really doesnt show up ... perhaps its the angle? ... camera? ... clouds? even so, thanks for posting. can hardly wait for O.C. in just a few days!

 

[mwalsh]

This is interesting. Difference in range with pretty much everything turned on and then everything turned off, except the wipers (thought that was a bit of an obnoxious thing to do) - lights, AC, hazards. stereo:

 

[mwalsh]

OK, if that's all for now, I think I'm going to head back to the OC, before the traffic gets bad. Will post more thoughts once I get home. Even though my drive was fairly short, I got to crawl around the car pretty good, and I leave completely impressed. Even the few things I could find to fault, I can see past those to know I'll enjoy owning one.

Oh, BTW....these things are REALLY quiet with the pedestrian warning system turned off (which they've done permanently for the event) - I almost got mowed over by one in the parking lot. So now I've been on the receiving end, I've had a complete change of mind about it being a necessary evil. LOL!

 

[Skywagon]

Here is the white. I'm actually more pleased with it than I thought I would be. Yes, it's pearlescent, but not as wildly so as I would have expected. I've even seen this color before on the Murano, but it looks better than I remembered it.

Thank you very much! Those of us here in AZ do not get to see those cars until December. It will be interesting to see how well they are doing as far as wear and such after the events they will have been to before here.

If you or anyone has any more or larger images of the white I know that those of us ordering that color would appreciate them.

As with the prototype car that toured the first part of the year, you really had to shoot the images at the right lighting/angle/exposure to capture the pearlescence of that particular car's paint.

Most people think of that car as this color (or close):

When in the morning light it looked like this:

If that would have been the production color I would have went it hands down... but that show car has several layers of pearl coat and a lot of special attention. That was one of the topics I discussed with Paul Hossen when they were here in January of this year.

 

[sproqitman]

Seeing these pics of the energy monitor immediately made me think of the scene in "Apollo 13" where Gary Sinese is trying to work out the power-up sequence for the command module.

 

[sparky]

Thanks mwalsh. Good report. I was there to drive at 9am so I'll add a few additional thoughts.
1) I wish I had more time to spend (had to get to work by 11a). There's also ride & drives for Volts. Would have been a great side by side compare.
2) Plugged in my iPhone (brought my USB connector) and played some Bob Marley through the stereo using the steering wheel & panel controls etc... works great.
3) I really liked all the colors except silver (sorry Silverleaf). It just seemed kinda flat, like a VW Jetta silver.
4) For those folks who ordered red. Red looks very good IMO. Very similar to the online color. In case you want to check with an actual car on a lot. I saw a red LEAF next to a parked red new Lexus hybrid and could not tell the difference.
5) Turning radius is tight. As mentioned, steering feel is light, not fun... except in parking lots. Interior picks up every speck of dirt. I'd like to see a "before and after" of this event.
6) I spent some time talking to other riders, drivers etc. Since they're at this event, I expected they be well informed but many seemed to have little knowledge of the EVSE assessment, RAQ, delivery process. Two had been getting all their info from the local dealer and gotten some bad info. I pointed them here but it just goes to show that Nissan has their work cut out for them to get to the 20,000 LEAF mark.
7) Loved the car. Looks well built. If it's as reliable as it promises, Nissan is gonna own the EV space. I am so glad I'm getting one. Nissan came off as a class act at this event I think.
8) Saw the Coda, and sat in it... looks cheap, kinda sad. At $44k, they're gonna get killed. Sat in the Focus EV... no thanks. I guess it's at the "Versa mule" stage but I really didn't want to drive that version.
Sat in the Think. Cute, very small inside but supposedly a blast to drive according to someone there who drove one. Wish I could have tried it.

 

[Frank]

mwalsh stated that there is not a hard drive in the audio system. But has anyone confirmed that the Leaf's Bluetooth capabilities include A2DP music streaming from compatible mobile phones? A few have posted that they thought that the Leaf does have A2DP but I'm wondering if the test drive event reps would be able to confirm this?

 

[malloryk]

Are they allowing you to bring people along on your test rides?

 

[evnow]

Yes - I want one of those in Dec/Jan.

 

[DeaneG]

mwalsh stated that there is not a hard drive in the audio system...

You can plug a 32GB flash drive in to the console jack. I thought I saw an SD card slot behind the nav screen too - wonder if it will accept a flash card with music? It would be better than leaving a flash drive sticking out of the console.

 

[Stoaty]

I agree with the assessment of mwalsh. A couple of things to add:

--The turn signals sound totally normal, not the high-pitched annoying sound we heard on the youtube video
--you don't have to hold the "on" button down for a couple of seconds like you do with the Prius; comes on very quickly, which is a definite plus
--seats were reasonably comfortable; not as good as my 2002 Toyota Camry (but I haven't found anything else I think is really great). About on par with Prius for comfort for my back (which is perfectly acceptable for up to a 100 mile drive)
--interior upholstery was better quality than I expected; not like some of the Honda Civics I checked out a few years ago
--steering is light, but not a deal breaker (definitely less work in a closed in parking lot, though)
--There is a 2 block section where I was able to push the Leaf fairly hard. It just took off without the engine sound I am used to hearing when I step on the accelerator in a gas car. Just quiet and fast. Beautiful!
--I agree the build quality was good, better than I expected
--The front headlights DO look kinda weird; just an observation, don't care one way or the other
--very professional setup for the test drive that must have cost some serious money
--after the test drive a guy from channel 7 asked me a few questions on camera (I'm the one in the frog shirt, in case they play any of my comments later)
--DWP was there with some info about prices for TOU meter. Around 8.5 cents per KWH in low season 9.5 cents per KWH in high season, if I remember correctly. That is including the 2.5 cent discount for off-peak EV charging. Unfortunately, they didn't have a copy for me to take, but I am sure I can find it on their web site.
--the AV charger looked better than I expected. Would be perfectly fine if they didn't charge so damn much for installation

All in all, the Leaf came in above my expectations. Feels really solid when you are checking it out, feels solid when you are driving it. My level of excitement about buying the car went up a couple more notches.

 

[DeaneG]

3) I really liked all the colors except silver (sorry Silverleaf). It just seemed kinda flat, like a VW Jetta silver.

Did the white car look better than silver? Maybe I'll need to modify my order. I was going to order white (my usual color), but saw a nonmetallic white Versa in a parking lot and it looked kinda pathetic, so I went with silver.

 

[garygid]

I thought that one could "load" the contents of several CDs into "memory", instead of having a multi-disc CD-changer.

So, maybe not a Hard Drive for Nav, but perhaps a Flash memory for Audio? The "SD slot", if it exists?

Or, maybe that was some other car?

 

[evnow]

I thought I saw an SD card slot behind the nav screen too - wonder if it will accept a flash card with music? It would be better than leaving a flash drive sticking out of the console.

Yes, that would be a question for anyone going to the drive ...

 

[sparky]

Did the white car look better than silver? Maybe I'll need to modify my order. I was going to order white (my usual color), but saw a nonmetallic white Versa in a parking lot and it looked kinda pathetic, so I went with silver.

I thought the white looked elegant, a little better than mwalsh's nice photo. I've ordered black because I couldn't tell enough about the white and red colors. These were just my impressions but I registered each car mentally as they drove through the cones and from up close; with each color I thought "nice!" except the silver. YMMV.

btw, I saw the Blue LEAF at the tour last year and this is definitely a different, darker shade.

 

[Ready2plugin]

3) I really liked all the colors except silver (sorry Silverleaf). It just seemed kinda flat, like a VW Jetta silver.

I think Silverleaf is actually ordering a red one. As for Silver, I saw it here at Boardwalk Nissan and it didn't look flat to me. I wish I could have compared all the colors side-by-side before ordering. Would probably gotten the Blue one now that it's a little darker.

 

[ruimegas]

I thought I saw an SD card slot behind the nav screen too - wonder if it will accept a flash card with music? It would be better than leaving a flash drive sticking out of the console.

Yes, that would be a question for anyone going to the drive ...

When I did my test drive I checked that there are two sd card slots behind the nav screen, one is for the maps of the navigation system the other must be to put some music.

 

[SilverLeaf]

sparky wrote:3) I really liked all the colors except silver (sorry Silverleaf). It just seemed kinda flat, like a VW Jetta silver.

Actually I (SilverLeaf) ordered Cayenne Red. It's a fantastic shade of Red.

 

[mwalsh]

2) Plugged in my iPhone (brought my USB connector) and played some Bob Marley through the stereo using the steering wheel & panel controls etc... works great.

That was you? That was me sitting next to you in the passenger seat! :lol:

I just got home, but still have "new Leaf smell" on my body. Sexxxxxy!