My 10k mile check-in

[garsh]

I just passed 10,000 miles on my 2012 SV this morning. I've had it for just a little over seven months. I'm still quite pleased with the car. I love the instantaneous acceleration - no waiting for a transmission to downshift. I do wish it had a bit more range - I have relatives who live 45 - 60 miles away, and that's really stretching things with the whole family loaded into the car. It's been the perfect commuter car for me, and I find myself trying to use it at every opportunity.

I've done a few mods on it. I've added a VSP shutoff switch, to be quiet when I back out of the garage at 5am. I've done a mod to the driver's seat cushion to raise the front a bit, and I've modded the headrest so that it doesn't stick forward quite so much.

I've added some cheap mudflaps and floor mats. After playing with tire pressure a little bit, it seems that my mileage is better when I increase the pressure to 44 lbs, so I'm keeping it there. I've also bought a set of Altima wheels and Blizzak tires from Craigslist - I can't wait to try this thing out in the snow.

I've bought a cheap backup camera, and I plan on adding that to my Leaf as soon as I have some free time. That and the Homelink buttons are the only SL features I wish my car had.

 

[eHelmholtz]

.... That and the Homelink buttons are the only SL features I wish my car had.

You can install homelink buttons for $15-20.

 

[mkjayakumar]

Have you done your 7.5K miles service ?

 

[SalisburySam]

I've done a few mods on it. I've added a VSP shutoff switch, to be quiet when I back out of the garage at 5am. I've done a mod to the driver's seat cushion to raise the front a bit, and I've modded the headrest so that it doesn't stick forward quite so much.

Congratulations on your happiness with the LEAF and your mods. I'm interested in the VSP "off" switch and your headrest mods. Could you please say a bit more how you accomplished both?

I've seen the thread on the VSP switch and from what I've read it requires a switch (duh), a new wire from someplace to someplace else, and may or may not correctly activate the VSP dash light. Guidance would be welcome!

I'm 6'2" and the headrest is irritating; my work-around has been to raise it to highest position but that isn't a great solution.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[TomT]

For the vast majority of Leaf's there IS no 7,500 mile service required. A tire rotation can be done at 7,500, but that can be done anywhere and is not actually a required Leaf service. The first required service is the battery check at one year (regardless of mileage). Many dealers are simply trying to enforce what was the norm for ICE vehicles years ago - and a good profit center- but even most of them have now gone to 10,000 mile intervals... There is also no need to do a brake fluid flush at one year and even a two year interval is overkill.

Have you done your 7.5K miles service ?

 

[garsh]

Congratulations on your happiness with the LEAF and your mods. I'm interested in the VSP "off" switch and your headrest mods. Could you please say a bit more how you accomplished both?

Good question. I should have provided some links.

Seat cushion mod. Thanks soareyes!

Headrest mod. All you need is a vice and a piece of strong pipe.

The information for adding a button for VSP off is scattered among several posts in this thread

• turbo2ltr's very useful pictures.
• GeekEV's instructions.
• My description of what I did.
• Picture of the mounted switch.

 

[SalisburySam]

Thanks garsh, very helpful!

Had to laugh about the headrest mod...sometimes the straightforward approach is the best.

 

[garsh]

Have you done your 7.5K miles service ?

My dealer asked me to bring the car in after 3 months for a free checkup. I'm not sure why, since I hadn't really heard about it here. But I wasn't charged, and they didn't try to sell me anything else.

I'm already receiving nag emails from Nissan saying I'm late for my 15,000 mile service. Don't they have my carwings info?