How happy are you with your Leaf?

[chuck58]

Now that some owners have had the LEAF for 3-4 months is the honeymoon still going? Has the car lived up to your expectations? Would you buy/lease another one?
I have heard about some cold weather package for the car but don't know if this will be standard or an option. How will the car respond in January in Chicago, IL or Bismark, ND when temperatures are in single digits?
When is the car coming to the East coast? Looks like at least 6 months or more.

 

[Boomer23]

I've had mine for two months, 1400 miles and I'm extremely happy. Note that I'm in Southern California and the car has never seen temps below 48 degrees or above 88 F. The car does exactly what it is advertised to do, but what isn't obvious is how nice it is to drive. It has a heavy, planted feel on the road, combined with a light steering feel and it's very quiet. It's roomier and larger than it looks and most people who haven't seen it up close are surprised at how large it is. The tires are meatier than you'd think and the car holds the road well.

Here's a link to my blog. It has more details on our experiences. You can page back through previous posts using the archive links. http://drivingelectric.blogspot.com/

If you search this forum for "cold weather package", you'll find that the package is now available for ordering with the new orders, and it's priced just under $1,000. Nobody has seen one of these cold weather cars, and we don't know how well the modifications work.

I'm not up to date on the state-by-state roll out plans, but others will be able to answer.

 

[SilverLeaf]

I've had mine for a month, 800 miles. Still in love with this vehicle. I love everything about it (except for the glove box). Range has been excellent for me. I still need an alternate vehicle to this for my occasional longer trips. I would buy this over again, in a heartbeat, but I couldn't manage with two. My next new vehicle may be a Prius Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV). One of the nicest side benefits, is everyone who test drives or rides in my LEAF loves it as much as I do. Their reviews have all been very positive.

Side Note: I don't know if I could come up with another catchy license plate. PVpwrEV seems to fit quite nicely.

 

[SanDust]

As a car it's a mixed bag. There are a few nice things, the backup camera and the shifter come to mind, but it's basically an econobox (the sun shades don't even extend) without a lot of power informed by some odd design decisions (fabric on arm rests and center console, charger door release awkwardly placed, etc.).

As an EV it's unbelievable. Who would have thought you could buy an EV with a decent range for under $25K? Quite amazing.

My major concern is the range degrading with age. Right now I get about 80 miles charging to 100%, which is great, but if the range drops to under 70 miles that starts to get problematic if you only charge to 80%. Hopefully the battery will prove robust.

FWIW, and in contrast to what others have found, it seems to attract a lot of attention.

 

[mwalsh]

Honeymoon still ongoing here, after 5 months and 4500 miles. No regrets whatsoever about the purchase. Some minor things I'd change about the car, sure, but nothing major.

 

[easkag]

Extremely happy after about 3 months and a little over 3000 miles. Biggest complaint is the nag startup screen, but that is small potatoes. Our other car (minivan) is barely putting on miles now - we use the LEAF for almost everything. I'd buy another, but the minivan is only three years old and we'd need a bit more range for out-of-town trips (the Model S would fit, except for the cost...). I'm hoping that when the time comes to replace the minivan that battery capacity will have gone up while the price goes down - I'd love to have a smaller minivan-style EV with more range.

I live in eastern Washington, so we did have some cold (30-40 degC) temps for a while - the cold weather package would be nice, but I'm glad we didn't wait. Pre-heating the car was great and we haven't had any complaints about the heater output. Our economy has improved with the temperature rise (we're about 65-75 deg highs now), but that also could be attributed somewhat to becoming more comfortable with the car.

I still get a kick out of stomping on the accelerator every now and then - 0-60 isn't the greatest, but the initial acceleration from a stop is fun.

Greg

 

[DarkStar]

Still rocking here too! Just rolled over 4,000 miles after about 2.5 months!

 

[DeaneG]

My wife and I both like the car a lot and use it constantly. Since we bought the Leaf a few months ago, we literally have not driven our other cars enough to keep their 12V batteries charged.

 

[LEAFer]

My wife and I both like the car a lot and use it constantly. Since we bought the Leaf a few months ago, we literally have not driven our other cars enough to keep their 12V batteries charged.

And watch out for stale gas in the tank of the gasser ...

 

[rickbecker]

After six weeks, I am extremely happy with my LEAF. It has plenty of range for my meager driving needs (only 568 miles to date) which allows me to experiment with various driving modes. I love the way it handles...not quite like the sports cars of my younger years but it is peppy enough for me now!

Driving costs of just over 2 cents per mile, reduced dependence on foreign oil, and a reduced carbon footprint are added benefits!