Street Smart in San Diego

[stanley]

To Waterbays, thank you for the thorough recap. I appreciate it

 

[Boomer23]

Excellent summary walterbays! Your notes reminded me of a few other items. Josh Tickell also mentioned how the GM vision of the future for living in the suburbs and working in the city (to promote the automobile) essentially sealed our fate. Also, if you want to own a home, and aren't wealthy, then you get pushed further out from the city, thus increasing your transportation costs (more cars and gasoline).

I talked to a Nissan rep and he said those that ordered in Aug would receive their cars in Dec "for certain"! He said the LEAF production line in Oppama Japan will be fired up in two weeks. He also said that by the end of Oct your dealer will be able to provide you your cars (I think he called it) build date. That date plus roughly two weeks will tell you when you'll get your car.

Great info from all of you. Thanks so much.

I expect that we'll hear more useful info from the drive events in October.

 

[garygid]

Randy,
Pictures 49 and 50 (of 51) show me pointing to the windshield fluid filler cap (49) and the Coolant Reservoir filler cap (50), with my "LEAF" t-shirt on. (grin)

The only other fluid is Brake Fluid, up above the Inverter. The two other "filler" caps are on small "reservoirs" that empty down into the main Coolant Reservoir.

 

[Randy]

Hi Indyflick,
Yes, that was my music on the USB stick(!), it was an older 512 MB model I had laying around. I just grabbed some stuff and copied it over real quick, so my tastes are all over the place. That just happened to be what I grabbed as I was looked for some higher quality stuff soundwise. Tom Petty in the Leaf....It sounded pretty good!! Of course, I'll probably dream up some subwoofer design to go in the trunk to give the system that extra amount of punch, but I think it will sound okay in the meantime. After I got home, I wished I had burned an mp3 data CD to play in the system. I also wished I had motored the display out and tilted it for some photos as well. Maybe during the test drive event....

What I really liked is that you can use the touchscreen to touch any of the 6 Artists shown (my USB stick only had 6 artists copied over) and it immediately started playing that Artist. No menus, selections, just touch and play. I definitely liked what I heard...

I didn't see any interface screens on the audio system for any bluetooth music connections. That doesn't mean there isn't something there, but I didn't see it...I did glance at the XM satellite radio screens, but unless we get a free starter subscription I probably won't activate that on the Leaf.

I'm envisioning purchasing a couple of larger USB sticks to carry some car-drivin' music around with me...

Frank, I thought of you when I took the photo of the stats screen that shows miles per kWH. The Nissan rep said that he had driven the car down from LA on the freeway to get it to SD, so that number might be indicative of some freeway driving...

 

[mossyleaf]

Gary it was nice meeting you today!

 

[Randy]

Hi Gary,
Ah, that was you! We talked briefly when you were nosing around under the hood(!)....Glad you could make it down....What were your impressions? Anything you learned that you didn't know before?

Randy

 

[mossyleaf]

Randy, had a lot of time to explore the car saturday. On the bluetooth screen it said "audio device". This is the same way an ipod touch interfaces in a Maxima, 370z, or Murano. I didn't have my ipod on me to pull it off, but it seemed like it worked the same way.

 

[Randy]

Ah, okay....I guess I didn't access that screen...Well, maybe there's some hope for that type of connection...

Oh, forgot to mention. Tom from Nissan said that the two blank buttons in the center console by the USB input and the audio input on the right are for the cold weather package coming soon and those switches would be for the seat heaters...It looks like us west-coasters won't have that option in the beginning...

 

[garygid]

This silver LEAF was one of the first (#24, I was told) to actually be built on the assembly line (instead of "by hand").

I am 6' 2" and I had about an inch of headroom with the driver's seat all the way back. There is no independent up/down adjustment.

My friend, also 6' 2" has longer legs and bigger (wider) knees, and the steering wheel would not tilt UP enough for his right leg to lift up off the accelerator and safely (quickly) get onto the brake. He has similar trouble in many "small-scale" cars, but mostly, if you fit in other "smaller" cars, you are unlikely to have a problem with the LEAF.

One 6' 9" guy fit in OK, but he must have had his extra height in his legs.

In the back seat, my head not only hit the ceiling, and I could not even straighten out my neck. So, not "usable" (except in an emergency) for me. But, for shorter folks it was "cozy", but usable.

 

[indyflick]

Frank, I thought of you when I took the photo of the stats screen that shows miles per kWH. The Nissan rep said that he had driven the car down from LA on the freeway to get it to SD, so that number might be indicative of some freeway driving...

I sat in the passenger side and played with the Nav display for awhile. Because of that video, I felt comfortable moving through the menus and screens, etc. So I'm bouncing around fairly quickly looking at the displays and a lady had sat down in the drivers seat and was watching me. She said, "You know that system really well, do you work for Nissan"? I said, "No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night". Not even a smile....

 

[mossyleaf]

Did you notice the button on the upper left of the sterring wheel above the source button that displays your range on the telematics screen. That was one of my favorite features.

 

[stanley]

To Waterbays,with a 8/31 reservation date,what is your order date?

 

[evnow]

She said, "You know that system really well, do you work for Nissan"? I said, "No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night". Not even a smile....

LOL.

BTW, I'd completely miss references to any new ads. Haven't watched one in years ....

 

[walterbays]

To Waterbays,with a 8/31 reservation date,what is your order date?

Not a word from Nissan. "eTec application pending." Not a word from ECOtality.

For those of us who reserved after 4/20 I think the question isn't so much what month of 2010 we can order in, nor whether we'll get the car in December or January. It's whether we'll get the car in 2011 or not. If not, I guess some other cars are going to take away a big fraction of the would-be Nissan customer base. That's why it's nice to get some reassurance that probably everyone who has reserved to date will end up getting a car by the end of 2011.

It would sure be nice if they would at least send courtesy email to people who would like to be their customers, saying something like "... unprecedented demand ... great choice ... doing everything we can ... appreciate your patience ... anticipate you should get your car in 2Q2011 ... a rough estimate, not a guarantee, subject to change ..."

Heck, while I was waiting for my Prius, Toyota sent me a "Hybrid Synergy" key chain to thank me for my patience. A tiny symbolic gesture to be sure, but at least I knew that they knew I existed.

 

[mossyleaf]

Great Point.

 

[stanley]

to Waterbays, My son ordered his car on July 25 and received a February order date from Nissan. You may want to call the Nissan chat line and ask them about a date to order

 

[evnow]

For those of us who reserved after 4/20 I think the question isn't so much what month of 2010 we can order in, nor whether we'll get the car in December or January. It's whether we'll get the car in 2011 or not.

Oh, c'mmon. It is just a matter of weeks ....

 

[garygid]

Right, with DVR "speeding" through commercials at about 30x, I only very rarely see one.

The "included" L1 RVSE had no apparent controls or buttons, just 3 status lights, Ready, Charging, and Fault, as I recall. I was looking for a setting that would allow one to select 8 amps or 16 amps instead of the (presumed) 12-amp default setting (1.44 kW), meant to be "safe" to be used on the typical 15-amp breaker.

If one had it on a dedicated 20-amp breaker, then a 16-amp setting might allow 33% (12 to 16) faster charging, but would usually "trip" a standard 15-amp breaker.

Some older circuits could be on 10-amp circuits, so an 8-amp (80% of 10A) setting would be useful there.

There was an AV L2 EVSE (or mockup) there, but possibly NOT the one "we" (not me) will be getting.

I am doubting that the LEAF made it 130 miles (from LA to San Diego), at least not without recharging. There, the LEAF indicated as being near "full", presumably after being charged overnight.

The LEAF was ON, so they had to watch that people (especially childern) did not release the parking brake and "pop" it into Drive or Reverse. The Parking Brake Control is apparently just a switch, and a slight pull up (less than a quarter of an inch) "sets" the brake, and a similar slight press (even accidental) on the same lever "releases" the Parking Brake. Hopefully it is interlocked, requiring the foot brake to be ON, before it can be "released".

 

[EVDRIVER]

Right, with DVR "speeding" through commercials at about 30x, I only very rarely see one.

The "included" L1 RVSE had no apparent controls or buttons, just 3 status lights, Ready, Charging, and Fault, as I recall. I was looking for a setting that would allow one to select 8 amps or 16 amps instead of the (presumed) 12-amp default setting (1.44 kW), meant to be "safe" to be used on the typical 15-amp breaker.

If one had it on a dedicated 20-amp breaker, then a 16-amp setting might allow 33% (12 to 16) faster charging, but would usually "trip" a standard 15-amp breaker.

Some older circuits could be on 10-amp circuits, so an 8-amp (80% of 10A) setting would be useful there.

There was an AV L2 EVSE (or mockup) there, but possibly NOT the one "we" (not me) will be getting.

I am doubting that the LEAF made it 130 miles (from LA to San Diego), at least not without recharging. There, the LEAF indicated as being near "full", presumably after being charged overnight.

The LEAF was ON, so they had to watch that people (especially childern) did not release the parking brake and "pop" it into Drive or Reverse. The Parking Brake Control is apparently just a switch, and a slight pull up (less than a quarter of an inch) "sets" the brake, and a similar slight press (even accidental) on the same lever "releases" the Parking Brake. Hopefully it is interlocked, requiring the foot brake to be ON, before it can be "released".

Gary, you are far too concerned about charging safety in general. It will all be fine. Nissan is NOT full of idiot product people like Aptera, cars will not be rolling away that easy. BMW uses the same type of parking brake but on a stick ICE it's utterly stupid on steep hills. And if you order a Leaf and cancel you will be banned form future EV orders

 

[garygid]

1. There is a small "Voice Command" button on the left side of the steering wheel, the 4th up from the bottom, as I recall.

2. The lower child-seat LATCH attachment points are there, built into the bottom edge of the rear seat back, but a bit hard to find in the "crack" between the seat and the back.

I felt the two for the right-side seat, but did not check the center or left seats.

3. A "blue" LEAF will be available at the "drive" experience, I was told. The production blue was described as being "two shades darker" than the blue on the "mules". The silver was nice, so now the choice for me is "white" or "silver", it seems.

4. The 12v battery up front looked big in previous pictures, primarily because we had nothing by which to judge the scale. For the most part, everything is rather "miniture" under the hood. So, it is NOT a BIG battery, but only about half the front-to-back dimension of a regular small-car battery.