electricfuture
Well-known member
I attended the "Drive Tour" and delivery event for the 2nd Leaf here in San Diego - here is what I learned/observed. First this is an excellent car – do not let my comments sway you otherwise.
Interior (the only thing that wears out!):There will only be the light gray cloth offered until the 2012 model. (This is the same color that is on the interior roof of the Versa.)
The cloth door handle will be dirty your first day of use unless you wear white driving gloves! All display models had dirty handles.
They did not offer a leather interior option because Nissan wanted to stick with all recycled materials. I plan on replacing the interior with leather as it is easier to clean and will last much longer.
The black very shiny dash panels look very rich - but will show cleaning scratches in short order. I plan on replacing all black panels with aftermarket wood grain panels when available. This will increase the "warmth" of a very high tech interior. (Wife will be driving too!)
Interior chrome hardware is top quality – no plastic buttons or switches here!
The back seats fold flat but unfortunately there are 2 problems.
1st the trunk storage well is very deep (fills space where a gas tank would be). This is solved by ordering the optional trunk organizer which has a lid covering the deep area.
2nd problem is that there is a bar in the trunk area running from rear wheel to rear wheel covering about 2/3rds of the rear seat that means that there is no flat area when you lower the rear seats. We questioned this and were told that this is due to the suspension. I am looking for structure information as this doesn't make sense. My Honda Civic Hybrid has the same problem - but there are batteries there - not suspension parts. Anyone have an answer? Or can it be modified to just 2 bumps over the wheel wells like other cars?
Did not remember seeing a spare tire anywhere! Is there one?
120V charging cables are hung on a hook in the deep area of the trunk – looks like an afterthought.
Interior (the only thing that wears out!):There will only be the light gray cloth offered until the 2012 model. (This is the same color that is on the interior roof of the Versa.)
The cloth door handle will be dirty your first day of use unless you wear white driving gloves! All display models had dirty handles.
They did not offer a leather interior option because Nissan wanted to stick with all recycled materials. I plan on replacing the interior with leather as it is easier to clean and will last much longer.
The black very shiny dash panels look very rich - but will show cleaning scratches in short order. I plan on replacing all black panels with aftermarket wood grain panels when available. This will increase the "warmth" of a very high tech interior. (Wife will be driving too!)
Interior chrome hardware is top quality – no plastic buttons or switches here!
The back seats fold flat but unfortunately there are 2 problems.
1st the trunk storage well is very deep (fills space where a gas tank would be). This is solved by ordering the optional trunk organizer which has a lid covering the deep area.
2nd problem is that there is a bar in the trunk area running from rear wheel to rear wheel covering about 2/3rds of the rear seat that means that there is no flat area when you lower the rear seats. We questioned this and were told that this is due to the suspension. I am looking for structure information as this doesn't make sense. My Honda Civic Hybrid has the same problem - but there are batteries there - not suspension parts. Anyone have an answer? Or can it be modified to just 2 bumps over the wheel wells like other cars?
Did not remember seeing a spare tire anywhere! Is there one?
120V charging cables are hung on a hook in the deep area of the trunk – looks like an afterthought.