Are 2018 owners getting used to the instrumentation?

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webeleafowners

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
1,306
Location
Okanagan Valley British Columbia
Went In for the free battery check today and took a 2018 for a test drive. REALLY like the car and am looking forward to 2020 when we get our new long range SL. But the only thing I kinda didn’t like was the new instrumentation. Still not a fan of the analog speedometer and boxy look about the dash. I don’t think it will be a deal breaker but wondering how former Leaf owners are adapting. Comments welcome. Wonder if the long range version coming out in 2019 will have the same dash.

Oh and Leftie. Yah, really like the new red as well. Still love our Coulis Red but the new Red is pretty cool.
 
I really dislike having to gaze into the instrument well and read the analog speedo. Sure I did it most of my life, but 5 years of driving my 2013 showed me a better way. And then Nissan took it back. I'm going to try to implement a LeafSpy Eyebrow Display, with a medium sized dedicated smart phone that displays speed, time, outside temp and SOC, if possible.

I also find it hard to locate all of the displays in the maze of menus. At least they seem to stay put once you select them, but in order to read the temp I'll be giving up all the other readings. Although I think the pro Pilot and Cruise settings override the other displays.
 
There is a screen on the '18 Leaf for a digital speedo.
LeftieBiker said:
Although I think the pro Pilot and Cruise settings override the other displays.
But yeah, during my test drive, when I tried out ProPilot Assist, its screen takes over the area where the digital speed would be.
 
Is there really, truly no way to turn on just the adaptive (or not) cruise control with one button press? Jesus! Can it be done with several presses of the Pro Pilot button? If so, how many? I'm getting tired of trying to figure out this hash of menus and buttons. The manual had me thinking there is a cruise control button, but on my car that spot has the voice command button and that's it. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about getting the Tech Package. It seemed like a good deal for just $660 more, but I don't need the power seat, and the LED low beams are worse than the halogen low beams on my 2013. (The high beams are much better, happily.)

Oh, and I thought that the SL had automatic high beam dimming. Does it? Because mine isn't doing that. It does have automatic headlights, which I had in my 2013 and never used.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Is there really, truly no way to turn on just the adaptive (or not) cruise control with one button press? Jesus! Can it be done with several presses of the Pro Pilot button? If so, how many? I'm getting tired of trying to figure out this hash of menus and buttons. The manual had me thinking there is a cruise control button, but on my car that spot has the voice command button and that's it...
Take a look at pages 5-56 thru 5-58 of the '18 Leaf manual. I searched for pilot in the PDF.
 
No, that's for cars without pro Pilot. They have a dedicated switch for Cruise. The pro Pilot section starts on 5-81, and is confusing. At one point they seem to indicate that the Set button on the left side of the wheel activates cruise only, but that is not confirmed anywhere and I think it's wrong. I'm still rereading it, but it looks like there is no direct access to cruise control only.

EDIT: found it- finally! On page 5-108, it is revealed, after a brief hint on page 5-84: you have to hold the Pro Pilot button for more than 1.5 seconds to get conventional fixed speed cruise control. Damn. I'm not sure that you can get just ICC...no, that appears to be tied firmly to pro Pilot's other functions. I'll have to see what can be turned off in the other menus. I'd like to have the lane departure warning be an option, not tied to ICC...
 
^^^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O55Ca1zFkw may help. I watched it at high speed. At ~5:12 they talk about a steering assist disable button as well as a menu option.
 
The steering assist button is in plain sight in the lower left button cluster - that isn't the problem. I want to have ICC but not the lane departure warning, which is separate from steering assist. I don't think that this is possible, so I'll be choosing between Pro Pilot with ICC, and plain fixed speed cruise control. I'll adjust.

Another observation: the analog speedo is much, much easier to read at night than in the daytime, as the eye is drawn to it then.
 
They have been warning car drivers that use of the infotainment screen on cars can cause accidents...

I think that the Leaf is the first car where use of the dash instruments will cause accidents. There are too many menus and too much information to visually search for...

I would probably just leave the default screen alone...
 
LeftieBiker said:
The steering assist button is in plain sight in the lower left button cluster - that isn't the problem. I want to have ICC but not the lane departure warning, which is separate from steering assist. I don't think that this is possible, so I'll be choosing between Pro Pilot with ICC, and plain fixed speed cruise control. I'll adjust.

Another observation: the analog speedo is much, much easier to read at night than in the daytime, as the eye is drawn to it then.

I got my 2018 Leaf last week (a SV with the Cold Weather and Tech packages, in green), and spent quite a while playing with the different menus. It is possible to turn on and off all the different features of ProPilot, if you want. I don’t have my car menu right in front of me, but I believe if you go to the second screen of the ProPilot display (press the down arrow while on the main screen) you get to a screen showing the “active safety” systems. Press “OK” on that screen, and you get to a menu where you can turn the individual features on and off.
 
I was hoping that was possible, but couldn't seem to get to selecting individual features. Thanks. I'd really like to be able to leave the PP options alone and select Intelligent Cruise Control by itself, but that doesn't seem possible.
 
OK, I've got Pro Pilot configured more or less as I want it, and know how to turn on just DCC (Dumb Cruise Control). Now I'd like to stop the car from locking me in, and also locking the doors as I drive. I know I fixed this issue early on with my 2013, but don't remember how, except that it may involve holding down the master Lock button. Before I take another Deep Dive into the manual, does anyone know this one?

EDIT: I looked quite a bit, and I don't think this one is in the manual. Can LeafSpy Pro change the locking behavior...?
 
LeftieBiker said:
Now I'd like to stop the car from locking me in, and also locking the doors as I drive. I know I fixed this issue early on with my 2013, but don't remember how, except that it may involve holding down the master Lock button. Before I take another Deep Dive into the manual, does anyone know this one?

EDIT: I looked quite a bit, and I don't think this one is in the manual. Can LeafSpy Pro change the locking behavior...?
Yes, it could on '11 to '17 Leafs. You need to enable the service menu in settings.
 
Page 3-6 of the '18 Leaf manual also has this section
AUTOMATIC DOOR LOCKS
• All doors lock automatically when the vehicle
speed reaches 15 mph (24 km/h).
NOTE:
The automatic door unlock function can
be changed using the “Vehicle Settings”
of the vehicle information display. For
additional information refer to “Vehicle
information display” in the “Instruments
and controls” section of this manual.
 
Yup, I saw that. Alas, it's deceptive: it's referring only to the selective door lock feature, and to enabling/disabling the outside door lock request button. You can't change the speed-related locking behaviors.
 
We are using digital speedometer screen all the time and there is a menu setting to disable ProPilot to take over it. You can still see smaller ProPilot icons on the right.
 
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