LEAF's Shifter Knob is backwards

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Working as a kid at an auto dealership, I remember trying to shag an OLD Saab in back for service. It took 5 minutes and 2 mechanics for us to figure out where the friggen key went! Hint; buried waaaay down in the side of the center console?!?!????
 
smkettner said:
bruceha2000 said:
evnow said:
A switch on the dash - that can't be hit by accident is what we need.
Just like the Prius Gen II :)
Prius? Chrysler Imperial had a push button transmission back in the early '60s or late '50s. The buttons were right up on the left side of the dash.

Yup....and the Edsel had the shifter buttons on the steering wheel hub. :cool:
 
I don't have much faith in the durability and reliability of buttons. Most work fine, but I have had some stick or break or fall off. I want a lever, but it can be on the steering column like the one I learned to drive with (manual Plymouth circa 1962) or the center console. The way Nissan has it is fine with me.
 
I agree on a lever, but I vote for either the steering column (like they used to be) or the dashboard (like the Prius). The only reason they migrated to the center console was that the old muscle cars wanted "four on the floor" with a short direct linkage to the transmission (which was right there on a rear wheel drive). Sloppy linkage is no longer a problem. Having the shifter in the center console is now just plain stupid.
 
evnow said:
Rat said:
I don't have much faith in the durability and reliability of buttons.

Well, then you won't be able to start the car. Never mind the shifter.
Does it even need a shifter? Just put a start forward button and a start reverse button. Then an indicator on the dash for same.
I guess it would need something interlocked with the brake peddle so it does not have a mysterious sudden acceleration problem. :roll:
 
Rat said:
I don't have much faith in the durability and reliability of buttons. Most work fine, but I have had some stick or break or fall off. I want a lever, but it can be on the steering column like the one I learned to drive with (manual Plymouth circa 1962) or the center console. The way Nissan has it is fine with me.


The Nissan does not a have a lever it has a jog wheel/slider it is not a traditional mechanical lever. In fact a quality button is more reliable than a complex jog device with many linked parts. The gen 1 think had a paddle on the dash that was great and gen 2 had buttons and gen 3 is back to a lame shifter that looks like a std auto transmission because people will not melt down from too much good change. regardless of the lever or button, unlike a normal car it's all electronic anyway so the fewer mechanical parts the better. A center shifter is a huge waste of space.
 
I would prefer to have no blockage between the front seats, or in the foot-space. A flat floor with no "bridge" (to allow leg stretching), and more "friendly" (less isolated) seating would be nice.

And for back-seats:
In my mid-50's Citroen (looked like a car style from the 20's, like the French Police Inspector drove in old movies), one could sit in the back seat and stretch out one's legs, and not (or barely) touch the front seats. Now that was comfort!
 
Here is what I would like to have for the shifter, and why:
I have never owned a car that did not have a shift lever and clutch, been using the gears to keep in torque range and decelerate in mostly under-powered vehicles for over sixty years. Including the Mitsubishi FG with an exhaust brake which is toggled by a lever on the steering column. and works well to save brake wear. We recently rented a modern car with an 8-speed auto tranny, toggleable between all of the gears using the shift lever, which was probably no more efficient but kept me from going nuts while driving. So my Leaf driving consists of shifting from D to B and then using e-Pedal for short bursts when going down hills, shifting to N for coasting down hills, then back into gear when needed (I know, stupid, but keeps my hand busy...). This is easier for me than using e-Pedal, which requires too much foot finesse. It would seem simple to have say 5 or 6 levels of re-charge braking, toggleable, in the Leaf. I understand that Chevy does this..... Probably can download whatever shift pattern you prefer in Tesla?
 
Since braking or coming to a stop is not required to shift, I prefer to shift in the direction of travel which is how the LEAF shifter is set up so your contention that it is wrong is simply...wrong.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Since braking or coming to a stop is not required to shift, I prefer to shift in the direction of travel which is how the LEAF shifter is set up so your contention that it is wrong is simply...wrong.

My Leafs have all had Reverse in the forward position, and D in the backward position, so not sure how that is the direction of travel? I can get used to anything, it was a previous poster who changed his Leaf......
 
dmacarthur said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
Since braking or coming to a stop is not required to shift, I prefer to shift in the direction of travel which is how the LEAF shifter is set up so your contention that it is wrong is simply...wrong.

My Leafs have all had Reverse in the forward position, and D in the backward position, so not sure how that is the direction of travel? I can get used to anything, it was a previous poster who changed his Leaf......

You are in reverse. To shift to forward, pull in the direction of travel which would be back.
 
Current theory: It stems from the Model A (which has reverse forward and first gear forward back) and has continued since.....Jeeps, three on the trees.. alll floor-shifting automatics have reverse forward and forward back. Too much baggage to try to change now.....
My Kubota tractor has reverse backward and forward forward- tractors evidently are not governed by convention but rather by intuition.
 
dmacarthur said:
Current theory: It stems from the Model A (which has reverse forward and first gear forward back) and has continued since.....Jeeps, three on the trees.. alll floor-shifting automatics have reverse forward and forward back. Too much baggage to try to change now.....
My Kubota tractor has reverse backward and forward forward- tractors evidently are not governed by convention but rather by intuition.

Intuition varies I guess. My intuition comes from scooters and bikes; to go backwards I have to thrust forward and vice-versa.
 
Nubo said:
dmacarthur said:
Current theory: It stems from the Model A (which has reverse forward and first gear forward back) and has continued since.....Jeeps, three on the trees.. alll floor-shifting automatics have reverse forward and forward back. Too much baggage to try to change now.....
My Kubota tractor has reverse backward and forward forward- tractors evidently are not governed by convention but rather by intuition.

Intuition varies I guess. My intuition comes from scooters and bikes; to go backwards I have to thrust forward and vice-versa.

Intuition has not helped me much when backing up on a bike! But I accept the scooter analogy.....
 
Combustion engined automatic transmission vehicles have had reverse forward or up next to P since the federal government mandated the selector sequence to P-R-N-D-X-X in 1965-66.
 
Jaguar I-Pace did it correctly. Very pleased. Just makes so much more sense.

images
 
Back
Top