ENIAC
Well-known member
I thought we could each provide a few tips and tricks we have picked up to help out those just picking up their LEAFs. Here would be mine.
After you get your LEAF home, use a moist microfiber or cotton towel (not a paper towel which can scratch your cars surface) and check the body and windows for oily residue. If you find that on your car, hand wash it with a quality automobile soap ASAP. My dealership claimed my LEAF had been detailed and it did look nice. But I cleaned the windshield and noticed black oil on the towel. I then noticed oil spots on the car I quickly figured out the car was covered in a thin film of soot from all those ships going in and out of the port. My LEAF, as well as many others, sat at the port for many weeks. I suspect the dealership simply rinsed the car but didn't soap it down.
When you pick up your LEAF make sure you have the tech at the dealership setup your Carwings (bring your login password from your Carwings registration), Bluetooth phone, and Homelink (garage door, gate, etc). These things are only set up once and they can be tricky. The staff at the dealership have all been trained how to set this stuff up and can do it very quickly. By the way, the Homelink buttons, which are under the rear view mirror, take a bit of pressure to activate. So much so that you will keep knocking the mirror out of whack. So simply place your four fingers behind the mirror, to stabilize it, and press the desired button on the front of the mirror with your thumb.
Setting up radio stations is simple. Tune to a station you like and press and hold, for a few seconds, one of the six available preset channel slots on the right. The XM1, XM2, XM3, for example, doesn't mean frequencies it mean groups of six preset stations. So with XM you have 18. You could have a strategy for example where XM1 is all rock stations, XM2 is Jazz, and XM is comedy and talk. You can get the complete XM channel guide, as well as all your local radio station frequencies, from the Internet. That can save you time when setting up your stations.
The default on the NAV map is oriented to the direction you are traveling. I prefer to see a map oriented to north with an arrow indicating my direction. To set it up the NAV map to be oriented north – press the menu button <settings> <navigation> <map view> <map settings> <map orientation> <North up>.
I set my headlights to “auto”. When I arrive home and park in the garage, the LED headlights stay on (default is 45 seconds but according to the manual you can increase that up to 3 minutes) long enough to clearly see to connect the EVSE and to make my way into the house.
After you get your LEAF home, use a moist microfiber or cotton towel (not a paper towel which can scratch your cars surface) and check the body and windows for oily residue. If you find that on your car, hand wash it with a quality automobile soap ASAP. My dealership claimed my LEAF had been detailed and it did look nice. But I cleaned the windshield and noticed black oil on the towel. I then noticed oil spots on the car I quickly figured out the car was covered in a thin film of soot from all those ships going in and out of the port. My LEAF, as well as many others, sat at the port for many weeks. I suspect the dealership simply rinsed the car but didn't soap it down.
When you pick up your LEAF make sure you have the tech at the dealership setup your Carwings (bring your login password from your Carwings registration), Bluetooth phone, and Homelink (garage door, gate, etc). These things are only set up once and they can be tricky. The staff at the dealership have all been trained how to set this stuff up and can do it very quickly. By the way, the Homelink buttons, which are under the rear view mirror, take a bit of pressure to activate. So much so that you will keep knocking the mirror out of whack. So simply place your four fingers behind the mirror, to stabilize it, and press the desired button on the front of the mirror with your thumb.
Setting up radio stations is simple. Tune to a station you like and press and hold, for a few seconds, one of the six available preset channel slots on the right. The XM1, XM2, XM3, for example, doesn't mean frequencies it mean groups of six preset stations. So with XM you have 18. You could have a strategy for example where XM1 is all rock stations, XM2 is Jazz, and XM is comedy and talk. You can get the complete XM channel guide, as well as all your local radio station frequencies, from the Internet. That can save you time when setting up your stations.
The default on the NAV map is oriented to the direction you are traveling. I prefer to see a map oriented to north with an arrow indicating my direction. To set it up the NAV map to be oriented north – press the menu button <settings> <navigation> <map view> <map settings> <map orientation> <North up>.
I set my headlights to “auto”. When I arrive home and park in the garage, the LED headlights stay on (default is 45 seconds but according to the manual you can increase that up to 3 minutes) long enough to clearly see to connect the EVSE and to make my way into the house.