Happy Leaf Reservation Day! (4/20)

I started this thread to celebrate (or lament) the fact that most of us plunked down $99 one year ago today for the privilege of waiting breathlessly for the mysterious Nissan Leaf. I remember where I was, at my desk at work, when this email dropped into my inbox. I read it, then immediately logged in and signed up...THEN I called my wife and nonchalantly checked to see how she felt about my choice, which I hadn't really discussed with her before then. In September, I got accepted into the EV Project, followed shortly by my RAQ. I hadn't found the forum yet, but managed to end up with Leon at Mossy by luck. Then the Drive Electric event came to town, and I and my wife got to see one and drive one, and she was finally interested in my prospective purchase.

December rolled in with the first Leaf delivered, leaving me thinking that since I ordered only a month behind the first that my car should only be a month away...oh, fickle Nissan! Of course, it wasn't a month away, and I'm still waiting...but soon! soon!

It's been a bumpy year, filled with uncertainty, and excitement. I'm hopeful my Leaf adventure will start in the not-too-distant future. Let's hear all of your reflections on the past year.

davewill said:

It's been a bumpy year, filled with uncertainty, and excitement. I'm hopeful my Leaf adventure will start in the not-too-distant future. Let's hear all of your reflections on the past year.

Click to expand...

dave.. my timing was similar to yours, but my wait is over. Picked up our LEAF yesterday. Now the fun begins.

In reflection, I didn't experience the same frustrations, anxiety, etc. as many folks on this forum. Probably because I really don't need another car at this time, but an EV has many of the features that appeal to me. Don't need to commute, my office is about 15 feet from my bed. Besides our 2002 Prius is fine for our driving needs. So timing was a minor issue for me.

Until last December, I didn't spend hardly any time thinking about the delivery of our LEAF, and consequently didn't have any of the anxiety pangs expressed in the MNL forum (maybe because I didn't start looking at the MNL forum until last December after I witnessed the delivery of the first LEAF to gudy in SF).

The forum is great for reading about other folks' LEAF experiences, and I have learned a lot about various aspects of EVs, charging docks, etc. Much of the information is practical, which was lacking in my professional career so its been great. Now I need to stop reading and get on with the actual EV driving experience, which so far consists of about 10 min drive of EV1 at GM and 6 mile drive of our LEAF.

Thanks everyone, and will continue to read about your LEAF experience.

Well....I would not have predicted that 12 months later, not only would I not have a LEAF, but that I would have absolutely no idea, and I mean NONE, when a LEAF might arrive.

With that observation, I will be leaving the forum.

I do wish you all the best and I hope you all get a LEAF as soon as possible. For me, it does my mental health no good at all to persist on visiting. Given my own car circumstances, and after spending over $2,000 in maintenance over the past 12 months, I am off to review the Prius in anticipation of having to pull the trigger soon.

I'll catch an EV on the Gen II or Gen II side.

davewill said:

I started this thread to celebrate (or lament) the fact that most of us plunked down $99 one year ago today for the privilege of waiting breathlessly for the mysterious Nissan Leaf. I remember where I was, at my desk at work, when this email dropped into my inbox. I read it, then immediately logged in and signed up...THEN I called my wife and nonchalantly checked to see how she felt about my choice, which I hadn't really discussed with her before then. In September, I got accepted into the EV Project, followed shortly by my RAQ. I hadn't found the forum yet, but managed to end up with Leon at Mossy by luck. Then the Drive Electric event came to town, and I and my wife got to see one and drive one, and she was finally interested in my prospective purchase.

December rolled in with the first Leaf delivered, leaving me thinking that since I ordered only a month behind the first that my car should only be a month away...oh, fickle Nissan! Of course, it wasn't a month away, and I'm still waiting...but soon! soon!

It's been a bumpy year, filled with uncertainty, and excitement. I'm hopeful my Leaf adventure will start in the not-too-distant future. Let's hear all of your reflections on the past year.

Click to expand...

+1 in pretty much every way! (although in my case, the wife will be primary driver)

Update at 1:30pm: Yes it is a very happy Earth day. #1304 is on lot now at South Bay Nissan. Paperwork and pick-up to commence at 2pm tomorrow afternoon.

sjfotos said:

Well....I would not have predicted that 12 months later, not only would I not have a LEAF, but that I would have absolutely no idea, and I mean NONE, when a LEAF might arrive.

With that observation, I will be leaving the forum.

I do wish you all the best and I hope you all get a LEAF as soon as possible. For me, it does my mental health no good at all to persist on visiting. Given my own car circumstances, and after spending over $2,000 in maintenance over the past 12 months, I am off to review the Prius in anticipation of having to pull the trigger soon.

I'll catch an EV on the Gen II or Gen II side.

Click to expand...

Sorry to see you go -- I do see you over on the Focus EV Forum but can also understand if you need the car now and with no likelihood of that happening any time soon it simply doesn't make much sense for you. Still no word for midwest either -- to be honest I've been through these new car launches a few times (starting with the Miata back in '89/'90) and if it's taught me anything at all its patience and knowing when/if its time to move on or not. I'm still very much interested in going with a LEAF but for me it depends on which 'affordable' EV makes it out my way first; I won't be gouged (like many Volt owners; including Consumer Reports!; got to love it) and the car should be made by a mfg. who can at least take care of things quickly (i.e., I think Nissan is doing well with the whole non-start/AC issue) so the current choices are quick limited -- with the one-year anniversary now happening I wonder how many others will ask for their deposits back?

Who could have predicted the events that have occured?

But even if there had been no disruption I would still be waiting at this point.

originally i thought here in Va I would be taking delivery about now (april may 2011)
so about a year

Now that its one year , and I have one more year to wait (in my estimation for us on tier 2)

I am looking at other alternatives, mostly maybe a hybrid CT200h or prius (our other car is a Camry hybrid)

I see ford moving very slowly, and news from other manufactures is not much .

so I will stick it out . but I think many will drop out at this point , its just to long to wait

then you see the news story on 10000 usa sales by end of the year

it gives you some hope.... but hard to believe at this point, and I dont even know if 10,000 sales gets me a car this year or not?

Aaaaaah yes. It seems just like yesterday, I was watching the Deep Water Horizon burn into the sea while frantically pounding my refresh button into pulp.

Yep.. been a long wait. And now I feel like I'm one of those dogs on a cartoon that is chasing a steak that is always moving. My delivery date keeps changing from march to pending, to april, back to pending, to may, back to pending, etc.

I have spent the last year trying to get my hands on a new Leaf and all I got for my effort was this stupid T-shirt.....with the wrong message on it!

Let's all hope they arrive soon!

I can sympathize (sp?) with those who look on this anniversary date for reserving ruefully and have either given up or become resigned to waiting even longer.
I put down a $500 deposit on an Aptera 2h (hybrid model) in the spring of 2008, and just recently got it posted back to my credit card (thank goodness!). I thought maybe 18 months for the first Aptera 2e (all electric) and perhaps another 12 months for the hybrid to appear would be a reasonable timeline. Now it looks like the Aptera of any flavor for public consumption has morphed into pure vaporware. Maybe it was all a scam and never meant to be, or it has been aborted by "Detroit pirates" who moved in on the original creators and screwed it up. The specs and performance seem beyond the capabilities of the present company. Maybe, just maybe, it will progress beyond legend and the automotive historians who will classify it with the Tucker and many others.
In the light of that experience, plunking down $99 (refundable) for only 14 months or so (I hope!) doesn't seem half bad, particularly since I spent a bit of yesterday afternoon riding around in my friend's 3 week old LEAF!
Gregg
Order date 10/29
SL+QC white #1597

redLEAF said:

Sorry to see you go -- I do see you over on the Focus EV Forum ..

Click to expand...

I had to take my 10 year old Focus to the shop as the driver side power window died yesterday. $380 to get fixed. Yay.

But I got a rental.. .and it was another Ford Focus... man that car was ... sorry really cheap and crummy compared to my 2001 ZX3.

It looks like the new Focus is better though... because the current model BLOWS.

cdub said:

redLEAF said:

Sorry to see you go -- I do see you over on the Focus EV Forum ..

Click to expand...

I had to take my 10 year old Focus to the shop as the driver side power window died yesterday. $380 to get fixed. Yay.

But I got a rental.. .and it was another Ford Focus... man that car was ... sorry really cheap and crummy compared to my 2001 ZX3.

It looks like the new Focus is better though... because the current model BLOWS.

Click to expand...

Yes, the '12 Focus is the Euro-version which will now be worldwide -- big difference with the '11 (assume that's what they gave you as a rental), most Ford dealers are trying to still unload any '11's as I have yet to see one other than at the car shows (have seen the new Fiesta's which have a similar front-end). I've also owned a few Ford products in the past, some good and some bad, the early reviews of the '12 have been pretty positive and Ford has been doing very well among the big-3 so we'll see ...

I really have nothing to complain about as pretty much everything that I thought would happen did.

As for others still waiting. I k.ow it sucks. I still have waited longer than I have owned but I c no other options out there getting here before your much delayed Leaf and Nissan is just now getting to the point. Where they are really starting to fill orders.

Might want to hang out a another month or so to see how well they start meeting the pent up demand

Yeah the 2001 Focus ZX3 was awesome... it's been a great car but has been falling apart this year. Can't really blame it - it's 10 years old.

But man that 2011 Focus felt horribly cheap.

I didn't hear about the registration until June.

In fact, I didn't know much about the LEAF until I got the e-mail.

I don't remember how I got it, but before then I was looking around at pluginamerica.com and other sites. I was lucky to sign up when I did.
Had I waiting much longer I would have been shut out.

I have been sitting next to the phone now for close to 11 months waiting for the (We got your Leaf in ) A month ago I got a email that it was do April 6th then the 12th, Hmm its the 20th now..

I guess you have to wait a year, so it will officialy come May 26th

I celebrated Reservation Day by seeing two Teslas on my way to have dinner (one on the side of the freeway and one a couple blocks from where news trucks were hanging around after Obama's Facebook visit). Then when I parked in downtown Palo Alto I saw a black Leaf parked nearby, and after dinner there was a Volt parked across the street. That's only the second Leaf and third Volt I've ever seen in the wild, and all within a few hours?