Close Body and Interior Inspection Post 1

I attended the "Drive Tour" and delivery event for the 2nd Leaf here in San Diego - here is what I learned/observed. First this is an excellent car – do not let my comments sway you otherwise.
Interior (the only thing that wears out!):There will only be the light gray cloth offered until the 2012 model. (This is the same color that is on the interior roof of the Versa.)
The cloth door handle will be dirty your first day of use unless you wear white driving gloves! All display models had dirty handles.
They did not offer a leather interior option because Nissan wanted to stick with all recycled materials. I plan on replacing the interior with leather as it is easier to clean and will last much longer.
The black very shiny dash panels look very rich - but will show cleaning scratches in short order. I plan on replacing all black panels with aftermarket wood grain panels when available. This will increase the "warmth" of a very high tech interior. (Wife will be driving too!)
Interior chrome hardware is top quality – no plastic buttons or switches here!
The back seats fold flat but unfortunately there are 2 problems.
1st the trunk storage well is very deep (fills space where a gas tank would be). This is solved by ordering the optional trunk organizer which has a lid covering the deep area.
2nd problem is that there is a bar in the trunk area running from rear wheel to rear wheel covering about 2/3rds of the rear seat that means that there is no flat area when you lower the rear seats. We questioned this and were told that this is due to the suspension. I am looking for structure information as this doesn't make sense. My Honda Civic Hybrid has the same problem - but there are batteries there - not suspension parts. Anyone have an answer? Or can it be modified to just 2 bumps over the wheel wells like other cars?
Did not remember seeing a spare tire anywhere! Is there one?
120V charging cables are hung on a hook in the deep area of the trunk – looks like an afterthought.

Exterior:
Paint quality varies by color!
White is the best as this is the Murano white put on in 3 steps. Silver is also from the Murano. Red is from the Juke. The Blue is 2 shades darker than the ads – I was told they are changing the ads (2 months ago!). Other colors seem to be from the Versa.
Front license plate is an option (there is no place for it)– but required by law in California. Nissan are delivering the car without and handing you the front plate – which they will install upon your request (or possibly the Police’s request if you are caught!)
Rear bumper license plate is design for European plates (long). Usually this is modified for the U.S. market but apparently they are not doing this for the Leaf.
Another European tough is a side body turning light that looks like an afterthought. I questioned if the production model has this light (not required in the U.S.) and a check of the delivered car showed the light was there. Interestingly, I check the Versa which I about the same size/platform and it does not have this light. Looks like the Japanese models now being delivered are designed for Europe. I am guessing you will not see the same rear bumper or side lights in the U.S. manufactured models.
Exterior chrome parts are high quality – same as the interior parts.
Running Sound:
A few of us were interested in hearing the sound of the car’s synthesizer when running under 18 MPH and ran out behind the delivered model as he drove away – there was no sound! Maybe it has to be turned on? Either way a discussion ensued concerning hacking the chip to make it sound like a Ferrari.
Charging:
I questioned direct DC charge for home battery storage. Looks like you have to install and inverter to do it – which will drop efficiency considerably.

Welcome.

No spare tire - liquid flat fix kit instead.

There are countless posts on these topics, you may want to look around a bit if you have not already.

interior cloth is the only thing that worries me that will not last, I plan to add seat covers the day I get mine, but in regards to side doors cloth, I don't know what options we have...

IBELEAF said:

interior cloth is the only thing that worries me that will not last, I plan to add seat covers the day I get mine, but in regards to side doors cloth, I don't know what options we have...

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Wrap the handles in duct tape?

electricfuture said:

Exterior:
Paint quality varies by color!
White is the best as this is the Murano white put on in 3 steps. Silver is also from the Murano. Red is from the Juke.
Running Sound:
A few of us were interested in hearing the sound of the car’s synthesizer when running under 18 MPH and ran out behind the delivered model as he drove away – there was no sound! Maybe it has to be turned on?

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Actually, it isn't white, but Glacier Pearl metallic (all colors are metallic except black). The Cayenne Red is also on the 2011 Rogue. It isn't red, but a light copper metallic. It may look red in the shade.
The VSP has a switch that the driver can push for on or off. Both are very mellow sounds, not loud at all. The driver had his window down, and he told me he couldn't hear it. I was standing next to him at his window, and I could barely hear the front one and the rear one was just a little louder, but soft. Maybe the sounds are louder if you are directly in front or behind the car.

Apparently both sounds come out the FRONT of the car.

Wow.. this post feels like a blast from the past. Welcome to October, 2010.

electricfuture said:

The cloth door handle will be dirty your first day of use unless you wear white driving gloves! All display models had dirty handles.

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A valid concern, even with the slightly dark production cloth. We'll have to wait and see, both in the How-dirty-will-it-get department, and how easily it cleans up.

We questioned this and were told that this is due to the suspension. I am looking for structure information as this doesn't make sense.

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I'm sorry you asked questions of the Drive Tour guides. They were running partly on script, and partly on bizarre imagined stuff.
The hump contains the 3.3kW charger, and the backup battery for the brakes. Search other threads for details.

Did not remember seeing a spare tire anywhere! Is there one?

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Reading the owners manual (posted) would help explain this. There is no spare tire.

Thought someone said a week or two ago that production door handles are not cloth.

The actual door-unlock-and-open handle is apparently metal, but the "rim" of the armrest, often used to push the doors open, or pull them shut, are apparently cloth.

A clear, slightly stick-on, plastic overlay might be useful?

thanks for the inspection guidelines

garygid said:

The actual door-unlock-and-open handle is apparently metal, but the "rim" of the armrest, often used to push the doors open, or pull them shut, are apparently cloth

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I posted this elsewhere too, but there is actually a plastic "cup" (for want of a better word) inside the scooped out area on the door handle. You can use your fingertips inside this cup to pull the door shut, rather than grabbing the whole handle with the palm of your hand and fingers.

My wife won't be trying to close the door with the metal handle - and neither will I. Sprayed the cloth with Scotch Guard to little avail on the door handle fabric, so I broke down and am getting the "full" protection package which includes something that is 3 time better that Scotch Guard and a teflon coating on the paint to help preserve the mediocre paint quality.