What's the thing you hate most about your Leaf?

[SalisburySam]

Laughable: horn

Disappointing: range decrease, steering wheel heater variability

Hate: nav head user interface, half decade old map data, useless (to me) voice controls

Abhor, detest, despise, disdain, loathe, revile: "Press OK to Accept"

 

[johnrhansen]

I just got back from China. After hearing what it sounds like when everybody blows their horn all the time, I wish all car's horns were as anemic as the one on my leaf... maybe they can build them even weaker!

Laughable: horn

Disappointing: range decrease, steering wheel heater variability

Hate: nav head user interface, half decade old map data, useless (to me) voice controls

Abhor, detest, despise, disdain, loathe, revile: "Press OK to Accept"

 

[TEG]

Dislike grabby brakes at low speeds. But they are good brakes. They stop the car well.

Dislike the look of the bulbous headlights from some angles.

Disliked the sound quality of XM radio. Never renewed the trial subscription.


Generally love the car. Smooth, quiet, easy to drive, etc. Perfect size for my needs too.

 

[asimba2]

I am new to the Leaf club, so perhaps I am still in the honeymoon phase, but I love this car. I did my research before I got one, so reduced winter range and eventual battery degradation won't take me by surprise. But two things that are disappointing are the horn, which is pathetic, and the stereo sounds tinny. The fact that my 70-year neighbor thinks my car is "cute" probably isn't a good thing. Hopefully gen2 will look a little better.

Otherwise, the Leaf makes even our new Acura feel a little archaic in some respects.

 

[Limey]

Think this is an S complaint only, but the lack of being able to program charging and heating for the weekends. I know Nissan pathetically "broke" the SV to make the S, but come on! It cost them more to break it (someone had to go in and change the code) than simply leave as is.

The setup menu (with the stupid square and circle buttons) how many times I have accidently hit the wrong one.

 

[RonDawg]

Nissan did not "break" the SV to make the S. The SV and SL's timer settings were done through the nav screen, and since the S specifically lacks this feature, Nissan had to come up with a workaround. Whether or not it's a great workaround is the issue.

I'm sure Nissan weighed the costs of changing the programming for the dash display vs. including the nav screen vs. adapting a regular radio's screen to allow you to program the settings that way.

 

[jlsoaz]

Hey gang!

It's always interesting to ask this question to owner's of a car I'm looking into buying. We all know that the Leaf is a great car and most owners love them.

What's the biggest disappointment you've had with your Leaf?
What's the thing you dislike most about it?

1. Very disappointed with battery size. Would gladly have paid $150 per month more for 10 more kWh.
2. The headlights I have on my 2012 have turned out to be a surprise disappointment, at the level of being a significant safety issue. When not set on bright they are totally inadequate for traveling straight down a country road and seeing far enough ahead. As to turning right or left, such as if I am traveling on a street with no overhead lamps and need to turn at an intersection, I can basically see nothing to the right or left. I love LED lights and have them throughout my house. I don't think the problem is that they are LEDs, I think the problem is they are poorly implemented.

 

[RonDawg]

The headlights I have on my 2012 have turned out to be a surprise disappointment, at the level of being a significant safety issue. When not set on bright they are totally inadequate for traveling straight down a country road and seeing far enough ahead. As to turning right or left, such as if I am traveling on a street with no overhead lamps and need to turn at an intersection, I can basically see nothing to the right or left. I love LED lights and have them throughout my house. I don't think the problem is that they are LEDs, I think the problem is they are poorly implemented.

While the headlight reflector design of the Leaf is not the greatest, a car's low beams are really not meant for long distance lighting. They are a compromise for not blinding oncoming drivers.

I find the low beams to be quite good actually, for low beams. While my area is not as rural as yours, there are some neighborhoods that I travel though where overhead street lighting is sparse or even non-existent.

What is terrible are the high beams. They are almost indistinguishable from the low beams. Only their slightly yellowish color (because Nissan cheaped out and put halogens instead of LEDs for the high beams) gives any hint that they are on, besides the blue warning light.

Also check the headlight adjustment switch on your 2012 model. It might have been inadvertently set to lower the headlights for when the car is fully loaded in the back. When the car is empty it would cause the headlights to shine too low.

As far as side to side illumination in low beam, I don't find it any worse than on my 2006 Audi, or any other car I've owned. It would be nice to get swiveling headlamps like the Citroen DS had, but that would cost even more money than LED bulbs for the high beams.

EDIT: just saw in your sig line that you already lost a bar in under a year. Ouch! but not surprising given your local climate. Good thing you leased.

 

[jlsoaz]

While the headlight reflector design of the Leaf is not the greatest, a car's low beams are really not meant for long distance lighting. They are a compromise for not blinding oncoming drivers.

Thanks. I guess with a compromise like this each car has its fine points, and Nissan didn't quite strike the right chord for me, but maybe I am meant to drive with the default being the high beams.

I find the low beams to be quite good actually, for low beams. While my area is not as rural as yours, there are some neighborhoods that I travel though where overhead street lighting is sparse or even non-existent.

What is terrible are the high beams. They are almost indistinguishable from the low beams. Only their slightly yellowish color (because Nissan cheaped out and put halogens instead of LEDs for the high beams) gives any hint that they are on, besides the blue warning light.

We are simply not at all having the same experience here. Are we sure that the lights for the SL are the same as for the SV?

For me, the contrast between brights and non-brights is as dramatic as in any car I've ever owned.

I've never heard of any headlight adjustment until this moment, but I see it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xnyYGjNIA4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

so when I return to my car I'll check it. If that is the answer, then I would rescind what I said about the headlights straight ahead (if the non-brights then become nearly as helpful as the brights).

Also check the headlight adjustment switch on your 2012 model. It might have been inadvertently set to lower the headlights for when the car is fully loaded in the back. When the car is empty it would cause the headlights to shine too low.

As far as side to side illumination in low beam, I don't find it any worse than on my 2006 Audi, or any other car I've owned. It would be nice to get swiveling headlamps like the Citroen DS had, but that would cost even more money than LED bulbs for the high beams.

IMO it's past time for all the auto manufacturers to get going with allowing us to see more clearly to the right and left at night. IMO, it's a safety issue and therefore not something to take another 10-20 years fooling around offering it as some luxury car oddity. As to the Leaf, it may be my middle aged eyes, but I think the problem has been worse with it. Maybe it will clear up a bit once I adjust the low-beams as you helpfully pointed out I could.

EDIT: just saw in your sig line that you already lost a bar in under a year. Ouch! but not surprising given your local climate. Good thing you leased.

Yes, thanks, I'll take this point, I'm 15 months into a 39 month lease (I was not able to get anything shorter) and it's getting a bit dicey to get to some of my destination points, and that's even conceding driving at 45 instead of at gasoline car speeds. My predicted range at 100% charge has dropped from 100+ to about 70 or 80+, depending on the previous day's driving speed and HVAC use.

I'm probably going to have to take some sort of expensive action to get a gasoline or diesel vehicle (beyond the very occasional rental) to supplement my Leaf for the remainder of the lease.

I go back to my main issue - the 24 kWh battery is not what I wanted. Basically, what I wanted would have been something like the 40+ kWh battery in the RAV4 EV, but at the time that vehicle was to expensive (for me) and carried the additional hurdle of not being available locally.

Anyway, having waited 20+ years for an EV, I don't want to sound un-grateful to Nissan (I will be forever grateful on the basic point of finally offering me a high-quality BEV and lease terms that I could deal with), but this thread was designated to state top-gripe, so it seems appropriate to lay it out clearly.

 

[vrwl]

2. The headlights I have on my 2012 have turned out to be a surprise disappointment, at the level of being a significant safety issue. When not set on bright they are totally inadequate for traveling straight down a country road and seeing far enough ahead. As to turning right or left, such as if I am traveling on a street with no overhead lamps and need to turn at an intersection, I can basically see nothing to the right or left. I love LED lights and have them throughout my house. I don't think the problem is that they are LEDs, I think the problem is they are poorly implemented.

+1 I thought this problem was just me and my crappy eyesight, but I REALLY have a problem seeing at night with these headlights if there are no streetlights along the road. If I turn on the "brights", I can see just fine in the complete darkness, but these headlights definitely need assistance when you out in the middle of nowhere in the dark. They do not extend the beam far enough out and if I'm driving 50mph, I am essentially overdriving the headlights. I've tried the headlight adjustment feature of the car (rolling the knob up or down) and there isn't any position that cures the problem.

 

[mbender]

In general I love the car (I upgraded from an '87 biodiesel Benz), but her are a few of my pet peeves:

• I'd like more (driver's side) leg room. I'm not particularly tall, but have relatively long legs and find it more cramped than need be -- it seems that the driver's seat should be made to slide back a little more than the passenger side.
• Maybe I'm just a whiner or not used to how most new cars behave, but the incessant beeping when the front door is open (and I'm trying to talk to someone or listen to the radio). While stopped, that is. I can see the purpose if the car is moving!
• The climate control automatically resetting to fresh air and A/C on when I switch its "Mode". I think I've purposely not remembered the exact conditions when this happens, but I swear sometimes I have to hit three extra buttons just to get it to recycle with no A/C.
• Aside from pressing Ok at the start of each trip (which can be somewhat incorporated into the whole routine of getting going), answering superfluous questions in the Nav interface, like: 1.) do you really want to cancel the route? (no, I accidentally went three steps deep into this menu system), 2.) would you like to look for nearby charging stations? when I am a block or less from home, 3.) replacing what is on-screen with the radio interface when I merely turn it on. Maybe go there if AM/FM is pressed while the radio is already on?

 

[Boourns]

[*]The climate control automatically resetting to fresh air and A/C on when I switch its "Mode". I think I've purposely not remembered the exact conditions when this happens, but I swear sometimes I have to hit three extra buttons just to get it to recycle with no A/C.

I think this is because you are cycling through a defrost mode. The car turns on the AC and pulls in fresh air to get the right humidity.

 

[mbender]

Simple fix: either wait for a few seconds before "locking" into the fresh air + A/C, and/or return to the previous Mode when leaving the defrost mode. If I'm in the room + foot mode, recirculating with no a/c, and want to go to just room by cycling through to that Mode, I shouldn't have to tell it that I'm not interested in fresh air or a/c.

Same with the menu issues, simple fix.

 

[RonDawg]

I find the low beams to be quite good actually, for low beams. While my area is not as rural as yours, there are some neighborhoods that I travel though where overhead street lighting is sparse or even non-existent.

What is terrible are the high beams. They are almost indistinguishable from the low beams. Only their slightly yellowish color (because Nissan cheaped out and put halogens instead of LEDs for the high beams) gives any hint that they are on, besides the blue warning light.

We are simply not at all having the same experience here. Are we sure that the lights for the SL are the same as for the SV?

For me, the contrast between brights and non-brights is as dramatic as in any car I've ever owned.

Yes, the headlights are the same. LED low beams, halogen high beams. For 2013 Nissan cheaped out even more and went all halogen standard for the S and SV. You have to get the SL, or the SV+QC/LED, to get the same headlights as the older cars.

When I drive down a very dark road, when I flick on the high beams, they don't seem significantly brighter than the low beams. Yes the beam is higher, but also more yellowish. The same roads at night with my Audi, and the Altima I had before that, were illuminated much better, and those cars have halogen headlamps.

 

[jlsoaz]

I find the low beams to be quite good actually, for low beams. While my area is not as rural as yours, there are some neighborhoods that I travel though where overhead street lighting is sparse or even non-existent.

What is terrible are the high beams. They are almost indistinguishable from the low beams. Only their slightly yellowish color (because Nissan cheaped out and put halogens instead of LEDs for the high beams) gives any hint that they are on, besides the blue warning light.

We are simply not at all having the same experience here. Are we sure that the lights for the SL are the same as for the SV?

For me, the contrast between brights and non-brights is as dramatic as in any car I've ever owned.

Yes, the headlights are the same. LED low beams, halogen high beams. For 2013 Nissan cheaped out even more and went all halogen standard for the S and SV. You have to get the SL, or the SV+QC/LED, to get the same headlights as the older cars.

When I drive down a very dark road, when I flick on the high beams, they don't seem significantly brighter than the low beams. Yes the beam is higher, but also more yellowish. The same roads at night with my Audi, and the Altima I had before that, were illuminated much better, and those cars have halogen headlamps.

Thanks for the clarification points Ron. After your posts, I thought it seemed a fair theory that I was just being dense for the last 15 months and failing to adjust the headlights properly However, Vicki's post seems to counter this a bit - she has had the same experience I have had, and this includes trying to adjust the low beams using the adjusting knob. So, I'm not sure what's going on. Am away from my car for a few days, can't test some of this right away.

 

[N1ghtrider]

I previously criticized the windshield washer nozzle. My other beef is the lack of a driver handgrip at the top of the left passenger window. Other models of Nissans have them, so don't tell me it is a "safety" issue.

 

[ttweed]

Battery degradation is the worst, definitely. I pretty much love everything else about it.

+1. All the little things about the car that are annoying are just that--mere annoyances. The only thing I hate is that the battery pack has not lived up to the specs for degradation that Nissan promised in the beginning. I just hope now that I lose 4 bars before the 60K-mile/5-year cutoff of the new capacity warranty and they have a chance to make it right. Or if I miss that deadline by a few months or a few thousand miles, that they STILL make it right. I thought I was buying an 8-year/100K-mile pack, not a 5-year/60K pack.

TT

 

[JPWhite]

It really bugs me the door lock/unlock buttons are not lit at night. Of course the side mirror adjustment is lit, but not the locks. WTF?

Dropping someone off at night, especially someone who does not ride in the Leaf means they are trapped until I can fumble enough to let them out.

 

[rw86347]

They try and make it drive like a gas car. I would like more extreme regenerative braking and I hate the creep forward when not giving it gas. It is electric! There is no reason for this.

 

[cwerdna]

I hate the creep forward when not giving it gas. It is electric! There is no reason for this.

There is a reason. Read http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2003-05-15/html/03-12051.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; re: directional cueing.

Also see what I overheard at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=348698#p348698" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, after I and others test drove the i3, which has no creep. And, there was a comment afterward about the strong regen.