Nissan Engineering Team Visit Dec. 3rd: Recap

@ gascant Have you considered, or have you already combined the suggestion into a survey?
I have seen a few that I hadn't thought about until reading them. A "Please rate these ideas
1-10" survey would help determine which improvements/complaints are most important.

highcountryrider said:

@ gascant Have you considered, or have you already combined the suggestion into a survey?
I have seen a few that I hadn't thought about until reading them. A "Please rate these ideas
1-10" survey would help determine which improvements/complaints are most important.

Click to expand...

That's a good idea. Linkim and I were talking over the weekend and thought we would just run a tally of what seemed to be the most popular. Although one reason why we want to meet in person with Nissan is so that THEY don't have to depend on surveys :lol:

For those who are suggesting steering as an improvement, could you provide a little more detail? This sounds like something that could evolve into a presentation. Or if you have a video, we could embed that into the PowerPoint file we plan to produce.

This is only my opinion of course, but:

All of the below are likely related to the power steering algorithm that is used in the Leaf.

1) The steering effort is far too low at speed which in turn makes the car twitchy and dramatically reduces any feedback through the wheel of the road.
2) There is very little on-center feel. By that I mean that it takes almost no effort to move the wheel off the center position and there is also little self centering force at speed (which brings the wheel back to center by itself. Again, this gives very poor steering feel and feedback, and increases susceptibility to movement of the vehicle in crosswinds. More caster might also help with this problem.
3) The steering is essentially numb. It gives very little feedback of what is actually happening with the vehicle and the road. Car and Driver summed it up very well: "The steering feels like it is remotely controlling a set of casters at the front end."

gascant said:

For those who are suggesting steering as an improvement, could you provide a little more detail? This sounds like something that could evolve into a presentation. Or if you have a video, we could embed that into the PowerPoint file we plan to produce.

Click to expand...

Likes:
1. Electric drivetrain - efficient, "greener" driving powered domestically
2. Smooth and fun to drive
3. Exterior dimensions, which make for ample ground clearance and generous driver/passenger headroom

Improvements:
1. More range (150 miles instead of 100)
2. All-wheel-drive (could be an option) for winter driving.
3. User-settable charge percentage. 80% is too high if starting out from a mountain.

Odd. My ICE vehicles are a 1982 Toyota Starlet and a 1973 F250 "camper special" (can you say pig?).
The Starlet has manual rack & pinion; the F250 has power "twin I-beam". That must be why I find the
LEAF steering to be quite satisfactory I guess, I'm used to each vehicle being very different.

But then my dash and nav clocks stay in sync, so I may have a non-standard LEAF. :?

Likes:
1. 100% electric = never needs gas, less maintenance, no exhaust fumes, smooth and quiet
2. Right sized for an everyday driver, comfortable for the whole family, and packs a Costco haul
3. High tech

Could be improved:
1. Double the range to 150 freeway miles - would handle those weekend trips also
2. Match the plastic bumper color to the rest of the car
3. Add SOC meter and use average miles/kWh since last reset for the guess-o-meter

Modifications made on mine: Leather wrapped steering wheel

TomT said:

Again, this gives very poor steering feel and feedback, and increases susceptibility to movement of the vehicle in crosswinds.

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I now know exactly what you are saying because tonight I was in 20mph crosswinds only going 38mph and it took some effort to keep it inside my lane. Btw, those winds are worse than going up hills as I had them the whole 30 miles and could only muster 5.0m/kW h vs. 6.0 on the same trip w/o any winds.

highcountryrider said:

(Oddly, my dashboard clock has remained within 1 minute of the nav system's clock since I first set it.)

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Mine has stayed the same as my cell phone since it was first set. I really like the clock and its location! It's the first one I've EVER had that has kept perfect time. All the others were at least 5 minutes fast in a short time and very hard to read while driving.

derkraut said:

3) Either get rid of Carwings, or improve its accuracy

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They have already done that with a firmware update. If you want the improvement (everyone that has had it said it is accurate now), just take your LEAF to a LEAF dealer.

highcountryrider said:

(The LED indicators on the center console are too dim for me to see when the sun is out.)

Click to expand...

Have you tried the 'brightness' button to the right of the 'trip' button? I have mine set to one less than brightest and it works great! You may want it all the way.

Looking forward to the meeting.

Love everything about the drive. Incredibly smooth at all speeds.

My top 3 Issues:
1. % SOC meter (Guess-o-meter induces range anxiety.)
2. Use and design of screen real estate. UI needs improvement on NavScreen, i.e. button placement.
3. HVAC - overly complex and automatic.

Likes:
1. Great headroom for tall folks in the front. Sits high so I don't have to lower myself into the car.
2. Great pickup from start or when passing.
3. Good overall size for our family

Dislikes:
1. No light for charge port. Some of us bought a magnetic motion light to put in there for illumination at night.
2. No spare tire.
3. Light upholstery that shows all dirt.

Likes:
- I actually like the effortless steering so keep this as an option!
- Dash displays, system sounds, and the Clarion graphics look very good (despite needing functional improvements)
- Carwings remote control capabilities

Improvements:
- Button on remote fob to open the charging door
- Since passive-heat does not exist, we need a button to force the heater off such as a VENT/ECO button that turns off A/C and heat
- Increase voice command capabilities. Examples: "find nearest charging station", "go home", "play album ______", "overhead map view"

Likes:

- 100% electric drivetrain
- Perfect size, inside and outside
- CHAdeMO quick charge port

Improvements:

- Need another driving mode with full regen on pedal release and performance like 'D'. Or the ability to program full regen in 'D'-mode.
- HID option for high beams. Saves energy (35W vs. 55W) and has better light output and color temp.
- Heat pump for heating instead of resistance heater.

I tried this today. Neither the dash nor the nav console brightness
control has any effect on the LEDs.

LEAFfan said:

highcountryrider said:

(The LED indicators on the center console are too dim for me to see when the sun is out.)

Click to expand...

Have you tried the 'brightness' button to the right of the 'trip' button? I have mine set to one less than brightest and it works great! You may want it all the way.

Click to expand...

Thanks all !
Keep the comments coming. It's very informative.

Likes:
- Quiet
- Build quality
- All electric

Dislikes:
-Range
-Guess-0-meter
-Would like to know if there will be a battery refresh program

Like
1)Instant torque / quick acceleration
2)Seating for 5 (Volt got only 4)
3)Cheaper to Operate and maintain

Dislike
1)The Charge Indicator, display the number of bars.
Instead of the curved bars, provide a thermo meter kind of display. The mercury level in thermometer should show the charge remaining. Show the number corresponding to top line of mercury in different color and lighted.
2)Get rid of Miles remaining display as it is misleading.
3)Ability to open the charge port from outside itself. Provide a mechanism similar to the door handle
Also button to override the timer (instant charging) should be next to the charge port outside. A small display, (same size of a digital watch) near the charge port area showing when the next charging will start and the current number of bars during charging.
[instead of the flashing lights]
4)Back design is ugly when compare with the cute front design.

Likes:

1) Pure electric so quite.

2) Zippy acceleration.

3) Love the overall body design. The rear hatch area and brake lamp assemblies are really cool.

4) Like the minimalist dashboard.

Dislikes:

1) The trunk only has one way to open it PERIOD. On my leaf the connector came lose to the button in the hatch and I had no other way to open the trunk until I went to the dealership. Really how hard is it to have a release from the drivers area!

2) Charging timer intelligent proximity sensor I want the ability for the leaf to know its at my home station but when using public charging to bypass the timer because I have forgotten to bypass on several occasions or when some one else takes the car out its real easy to not remember to bypass and return only to find out the timer kicked in and the EV stopped or worse never got any charging.

3) Tire maintenance dash alarm does not indicate which tire. I have the alarm now and don't know which tire is the culprit so each wheel now has to be inspected.

4) The steering wheel button on the left side for the stereo select button for source & stations sticks out to far and always gets bumped or caught on my wrist or shirt sleeve.

5) Solar panel in the rear is dumb! Get rid of it unless it could to something more useful like power an exhaust fan on hot days.

6) Cargo organizer lids get knocked off and fall into the compartment on bumpy roads, Just mount a couple of short Velcro strips on the lids.

Likes:
Smooth/quiet acceleration
Vehicle size and utility
Lowest price 'real car' EV

Dislikes:
Basically no available CHAdeMO public charging locations
Headlight housings look too strange sticking out so much
White interior (too easy to show stains) should be dark gray