garyd9
Member
Good evening,
I'm very seriously considering purchasing a 2019 Leaf SL (non-plus) and hope I could ask a few questions to help me make this decision... In no particular order, as they pop into my head:
First, I'd be changing from a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (which my wife is taking and I'll use her car as a trade.) Moving from a "CUV" to a compact (sub compact?) car seems like it'd be a large adjustment. How is the leaf's comfort for an almost 6 foot tall man who is a bit overweight? I've test driven the leaf, but often times a test drive doesn't reveal some comfort issues that might be experienced driving every day.
I've read (in this forum) that some people seem to have a major problem with the leather trim seats in the Leaf. However, I can't seem to find reference to any specific problems. Is it a poor quality leather, too thin, or... what? I know that some people (who wear shorts often) don't like leather because it gets hot/cold, but that's really not a concern for me.
How long could I expect to own the car in Western PA (Pittsburgh area) before the 40 KWh battery degrades by 50%? Nissan will replace the battery if it gets "below 9 out of 12 bars" in 8 yrs/100k miles, but I'm not sure what that really means. For all I know, their battery "bars" are as meaningless as signal strength "bars" on a mobile phone.
My daily commute (at the current time) is 32 miles a day (round trip) so I expect the non-plus will be plenty even on colder days even if I can only top of the battery with a level 1 charge at night (and for longer periods over the weekend if needed.)
Eventually, I'd wire a 220 jack/charger in my garage, but probably NOT the 220v, 50amps that the nissan supplied cable expects. Am I correct that if I use a different EVSE that's designed for lower amperage, that it'd actually supply less amperage to the car?
How does the car handle in snow/ice?
How does the car handle and feel on a highway going 65-75 MPH? Obviously, the "engine" wouldn't be noisy, but is there much wind noise? Is the drive smooth? (No dealership wants to let me drive their car on a highway to test this myself.)
In testing, I noticed that the car has nice pick-up. Does that change when the battery is lower than full? (The reason for asking is that in the toyota hybrid I have now, the battery supplies less power as it's charge gets lower and the ICE kicks in sooner.)
Every car make/model/trim has issues that most owners know about. For example, my RAV4 has the upgraded JBL amp/stereo/speakers that's actually a major downgrade. Often times, owners don't find out about these things until AFTER they've signed on the dotted line. What are the issues I should expect to see from the '19 Leaf SL (with tech package)?
As someone who's never before owned (or leased) an EV, is there anything else I should know? (Please don't use acronyms without defining them. I've seen GOM, SOH, Ahr, and a few others that I'm still not sure what they mean...)
Thank you
Gary
I'm very seriously considering purchasing a 2019 Leaf SL (non-plus) and hope I could ask a few questions to help me make this decision... In no particular order, as they pop into my head:
First, I'd be changing from a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (which my wife is taking and I'll use her car as a trade.) Moving from a "CUV" to a compact (sub compact?) car seems like it'd be a large adjustment. How is the leaf's comfort for an almost 6 foot tall man who is a bit overweight? I've test driven the leaf, but often times a test drive doesn't reveal some comfort issues that might be experienced driving every day.
I've read (in this forum) that some people seem to have a major problem with the leather trim seats in the Leaf. However, I can't seem to find reference to any specific problems. Is it a poor quality leather, too thin, or... what? I know that some people (who wear shorts often) don't like leather because it gets hot/cold, but that's really not a concern for me.
How long could I expect to own the car in Western PA (Pittsburgh area) before the 40 KWh battery degrades by 50%? Nissan will replace the battery if it gets "below 9 out of 12 bars" in 8 yrs/100k miles, but I'm not sure what that really means. For all I know, their battery "bars" are as meaningless as signal strength "bars" on a mobile phone.
My daily commute (at the current time) is 32 miles a day (round trip) so I expect the non-plus will be plenty even on colder days even if I can only top of the battery with a level 1 charge at night (and for longer periods over the weekend if needed.)
Eventually, I'd wire a 220 jack/charger in my garage, but probably NOT the 220v, 50amps that the nissan supplied cable expects. Am I correct that if I use a different EVSE that's designed for lower amperage, that it'd actually supply less amperage to the car?
How does the car handle in snow/ice?
How does the car handle and feel on a highway going 65-75 MPH? Obviously, the "engine" wouldn't be noisy, but is there much wind noise? Is the drive smooth? (No dealership wants to let me drive their car on a highway to test this myself.)
In testing, I noticed that the car has nice pick-up. Does that change when the battery is lower than full? (The reason for asking is that in the toyota hybrid I have now, the battery supplies less power as it's charge gets lower and the ICE kicks in sooner.)
Every car make/model/trim has issues that most owners know about. For example, my RAV4 has the upgraded JBL amp/stereo/speakers that's actually a major downgrade. Often times, owners don't find out about these things until AFTER they've signed on the dotted line. What are the issues I should expect to see from the '19 Leaf SL (with tech package)?
As someone who's never before owned (or leased) an EV, is there anything else I should know? (Please don't use acronyms without defining them. I've seen GOM, SOH, Ahr, and a few others that I'm still not sure what they mean...)
Thank you
Gary