My wife and I had a great test drive in the Leaf today

We arrived @ the site here in San Diego about 0930 for our scheduled 10AM test drive. After registering, we received an informative briefing regarding various components of the car---the main battery pack, charging, warranties, etc. Nissan really had its act together. There were already over 100 people there when we arrived. They put us in groups of ten, and kept everything moving very smoothly. I believe they had 8 cars there, including one on static display, and the others for driving. All colors were displayed, I believe.

Anyway, by 10:15, I was behind the wheel (my wife in the back) for the drive. The course was about 2 miles long, including several streets (stop signs, signals, left and right turns.) When we got back to the starting point, my wife and I exchanged places, and she drove, while I relaxed (?? ) in the back seat. After we were finished, we had complimentary refreshments, and spoke to SDG&E and Ecotality, who answered virtually all our questions. We were back in the Prius headed home by 11:30. When we left, there must have been a couple hundred people there, and things still seemed to be going very smoothly, with little waiting for the test drives.

Bottom line? My wife and I are both "senior citizens" (let's just say, we're over 70, OK?). We've been driving cars for over 50yrs. Over 90% of our driving is 50mi per day or less, locally. IMHO, This is a real breakthrough car, folks. It drives, handles like a sports car. It's very comfortable, front and back (I admit we're "little people"--5'5") One negative for us: the driver's seat, which is advertized to be raised and lowered, really only moves the seat part up or down about 2 inches, using a wheel on the left side of the seat. So, I'll have to buy her another pillow, like on the Prius.
We've been accepted for the ETEC program, so we've reserved the SL (the red one). Can't order until January, (Mossy Nissan in Poway) and hope for delivery around March or April. Life is GOOD...

Nice. So hundreds waiting to test drive everywhere. Had just 15 people at Volt - may be it will improve when it gets to a place where you can actually buy it.

BTW, wrong forum - and there is already a thread. I'll let this thread be around for a while and then merge it.

Oops! Thanks.

Derkraut, thanks for the fine report. My wife is only 5 feet tall. Looks like she will need a cushion. She is going to ask Nissan, why an electric car does not have a power seat

stanley said:

She is going to ask Nissan, why an electric car does not have a power seat

Click to expand...

Too heavy.

My dad (retired mech. engineer) and I were there today at about noon. The place was hopping, about 30 in the waiting area with another 30 or so in the demo "booths" and 20 or so in line to drive. There were about 10 Leafs of various colors in action, plus two "live" cars in static display for examination and photos.

The test drive was fun. The car handled great, with less body roll than I expected in cornering. Low-speed acceleration was very quick and the car was very quiet. However, I found it to be very sedate - I expect to be spending a lot of time with the radio on my commute rather than enjoying the personality of the car. If it gets me into the HOV lane, and drives on sunlight (PV installed and operating), well, that's just fantastic as an appliance.

In an earlier post I mentioned that there seemed to be two SD slots behind the nav screen. That's not true - just the CD slot and the "map" slot. So mp3s will need to be mounted on a flash stick plugged into the console.

Lack of a power driver's seat will be an annoyance for my wife and I but we'll live with it. If EV ownership agrees with us after a few years, maybe we'll move up to an Infinity EV.

Couple of minor gripes about the presentation: a happy mention of the 50% tax credit for the EVSE, without mention that the AMT negates that possibility for some; and also a statement of recharging cost at 14 cents per kWh from SDG&E that just isn't correct for many using air conditioning (dunno why people talk about "average" electricity rates when the incremental rate is what you'll be billed on).

Great reviews.

I too was very very impressed with the acceleration in Anaheim. Didn't get a chance to test it out as much in SM.

So I've been to SM, Anaheim, and I've joked with my wife that we're driving to San Diego this weekend to drive it again. But that would be hell with a 3 year old and a 6 week old.

Might go check it out again at the LA Auto show NEXT weekend though.