I had my test drive this past Monday.
The setup was very well done - a confirmation phone call the day before and the demo person called 30 minutes before his arrival. He arrived exactly on time in what he said was a SV with white paint and the black 'floating roof'. I liked the look and would consider paying the $650 for it. It had a light fabric cloth seat that I don't see as an option on the 'build your Leaf' web site so it is no doubt a pre-production car. The fit-and-finish of the car seemed fine and it was immaculate despite having driven down from Vancouver.
My driver Andrew said I was the first demo drive in Oregon. Heck, and I wasn't even trying. He was fairly knowledgeable about the car - nothing like the Craigslist guy I had for the 2011 initial roll out demo. Of course, he wasn't up to MyNissanLeaf standards but who is?
I was told that I had the run of the car for an hour. If I wanted to sit in the driveway with it for all that time Andrew was fine with that. As it was, I checked out the engine compartment, new body features and had my wife sit in the car. I liked the new styling and the car presented itself well.
Once I started driving my initial impression was that the car was quicker in acceleration. Road noise was also less (Andrew pointed out fender well insulation that was new). I quickly adapted to the analog speedometer despite having to navigate through several speed zones. I didn't miss the 'eco-tree' display but did miss the more prominent regen display.
Andrew attempted to demo ProPIlot but it would not 'lock-in' on the 2-lane roadway of highway 99W near my home. The speed limit varied between 45 and 55mph and it was sunny with clearly visible lane markers. He also demoed E-Pedal but it was not something that I think I would use. Just my preference. The driving portion of the hour lasted about 30 minutes, mostly because I had seen enough of the new features of the car.
We spent the remainder of the hour comparing my 2016 SV to the 2018. I showed him Leaf Spy and he was amazed by the info it provided. He took several pictures of the various displays. I resisted the temptation to plug into the 2018's CAN BUS port to see what Leaf Spy would display.
Final thoughts? Nissan did a terrific job with this program as compared to 2011. The demo driver was knowledgeable, professional and did a good job demoing the car. The car itself is a nice upgrade from my 2016 model. Nothing revolutionary but all the changes are (mostly) positive. My biggest concern is whether the battery will display the same high capacity loss that my 2016 is showing - a SOH of 86% after 18 months and 6500 miles. In Oregon. With no quick charges. This, for me, is the 800lb gorilla in the room.