Ok, I've had a leaf for about 2 months now. Admittedly, I also have a gas car, which I use when I need to go out of town. That said, the Leaf is the primary vehicle being driven about twice the miles as the gas car.
Overall, Nissan did an excellent job. I could complain about a number of things but I'll focus on the essentials instead.
1. Plugging in at night is no problem. It takes about 15 seconds - and another 15 in the morning.
2. Acceleration is great. The specs are above. But, from observing the Leaf's kilowatt meter, it appears Nissan restricted the acceleartion (probably for safety). Instead of immediately pegging at 80kw (the top of the meter), it gradually increases power over about 3 or 4 seconds. If you are already going about 10-20 mph, then it does give you the full 80kw, which you can really feel and observe as you shoot past other vehicles!
3. Range is reasonable. I'd like to see better, but for greater-city area driving, it's really hard to use up the range in one day. Realistically, I'm getting between 70 and 80 miles per charge. Another meter shows about 3.7 or so miles per kw, or about 250w per mile. It's better on roads without stop-and-go, even with regen. I haven't had to use the heat or A/C much yet, so I expect the range to drop maybe 10% in winter when I need both (defrost).
4. Comfort is reasonable. My own personal taste is that I find the front seats to have poor lumbar support. Also, the head rest protrudes too far forward, putting me into a hunched position. I solved the latter by turning the head rest around. Front leg room is great and the seat can be positioned comfortably high.
5. Visibility is poor. This might be typical with other Nissan vehicles. The front pillars are really wide and, when turning, you really need to move your head to look around them. The back window is small, so the rear view mirror is practically useless. The mirror is also annoying low, blocking vision to the upper-right. The side mirrors are small to, so I change lanes carefully.
6. The GPS map software works ok, but is lame compared to Google maps. Nissan should have licensed Google's software and chucked theirs. I usually use my android phone instead of the car's navigation - sorry tradeoff considering the car has a very nice screen.
7. The drive selector is crazy. I like the shape. But, it's opposite of a stick shift in that "reverse" is forward, and "drive" is backwards. I suppose it's supposed to match an automatic transmission selector - but it doesn't feel like one. So, I've accidentally put it in reverse a few time when I want forward, which is kind of dangerous! Also, if you move it too soon or too fast, it doesn't always work - stays in neutral - and then you take your foot off the brake and the car drifts instead of goes. One thing that would help: if it stayed in the position rather than bounce back to the middle, it would at least give a visual clue.
That's enough for now. I'd like to do some serious measurements and report back on kw for hill climbing at various inclines and speeds.
PH
Overall, Nissan did an excellent job. I could complain about a number of things but I'll focus on the essentials instead.
1. Plugging in at night is no problem. It takes about 15 seconds - and another 15 in the morning.
2. Acceleration is great. The specs are above. But, from observing the Leaf's kilowatt meter, it appears Nissan restricted the acceleartion (probably for safety). Instead of immediately pegging at 80kw (the top of the meter), it gradually increases power over about 3 or 4 seconds. If you are already going about 10-20 mph, then it does give you the full 80kw, which you can really feel and observe as you shoot past other vehicles!
3. Range is reasonable. I'd like to see better, but for greater-city area driving, it's really hard to use up the range in one day. Realistically, I'm getting between 70 and 80 miles per charge. Another meter shows about 3.7 or so miles per kw, or about 250w per mile. It's better on roads without stop-and-go, even with regen. I haven't had to use the heat or A/C much yet, so I expect the range to drop maybe 10% in winter when I need both (defrost).
4. Comfort is reasonable. My own personal taste is that I find the front seats to have poor lumbar support. Also, the head rest protrudes too far forward, putting me into a hunched position. I solved the latter by turning the head rest around. Front leg room is great and the seat can be positioned comfortably high.
5. Visibility is poor. This might be typical with other Nissan vehicles. The front pillars are really wide and, when turning, you really need to move your head to look around them. The back window is small, so the rear view mirror is practically useless. The mirror is also annoying low, blocking vision to the upper-right. The side mirrors are small to, so I change lanes carefully.
6. The GPS map software works ok, but is lame compared to Google maps. Nissan should have licensed Google's software and chucked theirs. I usually use my android phone instead of the car's navigation - sorry tradeoff considering the car has a very nice screen.
7. The drive selector is crazy. I like the shape. But, it's opposite of a stick shift in that "reverse" is forward, and "drive" is backwards. I suppose it's supposed to match an automatic transmission selector - but it doesn't feel like one. So, I've accidentally put it in reverse a few time when I want forward, which is kind of dangerous! Also, if you move it too soon or too fast, it doesn't always work - stays in neutral - and then you take your foot off the brake and the car drifts instead of goes. One thing that would help: if it stayed in the position rather than bounce back to the middle, it would at least give a visual clue.
That's enough for now. I'd like to do some serious measurements and report back on kw for hill climbing at various inclines and speeds.
PH