Nissan Leaf Test Drive Tour Reports (Oct 1-3)

[mwalsh]

Live from the event.

You'll be happy to know that it will be a combined test track and city course of about 8 minutes in length. There are 10 cars driving at any given time, with one being recharged at all times, two set aside to familiarize drivers with the vehicle, and one static for photos that Nissan is going to take for test drivers.

At the moment it's 8:15am and Nissan dealer reps are just taking their turns (Brendan from Glendale Nissan says "Hi!"). It will open to the unwashed masses at 9am.

Tim from Nissan PR says that I should remind you that the event is going to be down in Anaheim for the OC Auto Show next week, and then up in Century City the weekend of the 22nd. I'm also told that more dates should go live (San Jose for sure) by next week.

More to come, but here's a teaser photo to be going on with:

 

[Jimmydreams]

Can you ask them if the blue cars are the production blue or if the production blue is still going to be "2 shades darker"?

Thx for the pic and report!!

 

[indyflick]

Thanks for the update. Wow and 8 min drive, that's great! I've seen video of this event in other locations and they only got 30 seconds around a parking lot.

 

[Skywagon]

Is there a white one? If so, can we get some photos?

 

[TRONZ]

My wife called in sick today so we can get up there and see all the EV stuff. Looks like alot of manufacturers and EV stuff will be on display. Scheduled our test drive for Anaheim but who knows, if there is room today... ?

Public "roads"??? If so, these are production Leafs.

 

[Boomer23]

Thanks, mwalsh. Nice report and pix.

I'm heading there, arrival about 11:30. Maybe I'll see you.

Phil

 

[josh]

Just finished my drive - fun! I am really excited to get mine. No one knew about delivery dates, but they said someone would get back to me.....

 

[mwalsh]

Just finished my drive - fun! I am really excited to get mine. No one knew about delivery dates, but they said someone would get back to me.....

Where you at? I met with Kathleen, she and I sat in one of the demonstrator cars and generally rooted around for a while. If anyone wants to look me up, for the time being I'm in the refreshments tent, and I'm dressed in khaki cargo pants and a dark green Mossimo t-shirt.

More to come soon...just uploading and editing some pictures.

 

[evnow]

Just finished my drive - fun! I am really excited to get mine. No one knew about delivery dates, but they said someone would get back to me.....

Any public roads driving ? How long was it ?

 

[mwalsh]

Well, here are my first thoughts....

The drive was not quite 8 minutes. I think closer to 5 would be about it. But still better than a closed course. The first part was the parking lot area I showed in the first picture, and then you went around the block and back into the parking lot.

The car felt wider than it is, or perhaps how I thought it should be, and I found myself being a bit concerned about clipping cones in the parking lot layout. But this is something I dare say I'd get used to.

Build quality seems great.

Exterior feels solid. Doors close with a nice "clunk". Doors open without any notchiness in the mechanism. Hatch lid feels nice and heavy. Wasn't able to open or close the charging hatch or hood yet. But I'll go away and see if they'll allow me to.

Interior plastics chosen were for the most part pleasing. Front seats were a bit wider than I expected and were very comfortable. I'm a little concerned that some of the buttons and switches are not as "chunky" as I think I'd like and some don't feel like they would last very long. Sprung center console cover was a nice touch.

There seems to be plenty of room inside, even in the back seat. And I like that slightly raised "stadium seating" position for the rear passengers. Fabrics were nice. Front seats were very comfortable. Didn't spend much time in the back seat, but they seemed good. Great leg room for rear passenger, even with the seat pushed all the way back.

Great pickup. No torque steer. I would think it's equal to a smaller V6. Certainly better than the 4-cyl 2 liter Focus I drove up here. Steering was a tad lighter than I would have liked - more American than European. That's a bit of a disappointment to me, because I like a European and slightly heavier feel, but it's not something I couldn't get used to. Turning circle seemed pretty good and it handled some of the tight turns built into the test area without issue.

Colors are all good. Blue is awesome. See picture of production color below. Glad I chose it. Will try to get a picture of the white, but they've only got the one white car here and it always seems to be behind something else or gone when I go to snap it. Red is quite dark - wine like - not as light when you see it under bright lights. I really like it, but I keep going back to wanting the head and tail-lamps to blend in more, which seems to be the case with the white, silver, and blue.

Any other specific questions while I'm here?

 

[garygid]

Does the dealer add the front license plate holder?

 

[garygid]

Can you zoom in the Nav enough to show yourself driving the entire course, on and off-road?

 

[malloryk]

sounds great mwalsh! so they do have the red one there? so excited to see it tomorrow! Did you punch it on the speed at all? overall, are you still happy to be getting it? any regrets?

 

[ttweed]

Will try to get a picture of the white, but they've only got the one white car here and it always seems to be behind something else or gone when I go to snap it....

Thanks for the report. Here's another request for pics of the white car if you can catch it standing still!

Thx,
TT

 

[garygid]

If you turn the headlights on (as if it is night), what does the "Other" (lower right dial) power-usage indicator show on the "Energy?" screen?

Does activating brakes, turn signals, other lights, or windshield wipers use much additional power?

 

[garygid]

What does the "8-year, 100k mike" battery warranty cover?

 

[evnow]

One thing that we haven't heard much about.

Does the Nav/Music system come with a hard disk - and how can it be used ? For eg. can we copy music into it and play from there ?

BTW, how is the crowd ? How many people does Nissan have ... more specifically do they have someone knowledgeable who can answer all the questions ?

 

[mwalsh]

Here is the white. I'm actually more pleased with it than I thought I would be. Yes, it's pearlescent, but not as wildly so as I would have expected. I've even seen this color before on the Murano, but it looks better than I remembered it.

 

[kmp647]

looks nice in white

can you see how they are charging, do they have a 110 or a 240v?

 

[garygid]

If there are 10 cars running and only one or two charging, they are going to need a lot more than L2 charging, right?