Well, we’ve had our 2013 Nissan Leaf for about 3 months now. Overall, we love it. It’s a great little car. There’s always a little bit of disappointment after we tell someone we have an Electric car and they assume it is Tesla, but other than that it’s been a delight.
We consider it a town car, in that it stays in town. It has about 100 mile range, and it would be hard to drive more than 100 miles in town. It works well for us, but it could never be the only car with this limitation.
It is saving us gas in an unexpected way, by getting used the most. For example, on weekends when we need to run a kid around or a quick stop at the grocer, it is the Leaf that gets used. The other household vehicles only get used on longer drives or when the Leaf isn’t available. Since I work at home, my car has become practically dedicated to airport shuttling.
So overall, very happy. But the Leaf has some quirks. things that strike me odd. First, is starting the car. To start the car, you have to step on the brake and push a button. The car effectively boots-up, the dashboard lights up and there’s silly sounds. This boot process takes about 5 seconds.
My old routine was to start the engine, put the car in gear, and go. But now I have to boot the car, wait 5 seconds, and then put the car in gear. The gear shift moves, but it won’t go in gear until those 5 seconds are up. I find this a tad annoying.
I also find the on/off modes of the vehicle confusing. I’d prefer a switch of some kind that has different positions. For example, those times where you just need enough “on” to put the window up or listen to the radio. These are all different levels of on on the Leaf and on most cars, but good luck trying to get to a specific mode or knowing which one you are in on the Leaf.
A bigger annoyance is the gear shift. It does move, but goes back to the same position. To go backward (reverse), you push it forward. To go forward (drive), you push it backward - it’s emulating the neutral position on an automatic. I’d prefer a stick that stayed in different positions. But it gets worse.
The car has two drive modes - normal drive and braking. Braking readjusts the regenerative breaking system to be more active. To get into braking mode, you effectively go into drive twice. To go back to drive mode, you do it again (pull the gear shift back again). It’s a bit silly. Particularly since ECO mode, which adjusts the power curve on acceleration is a steering wheel button. Lastly, to but the car in park does not involve moving the gear shift or a button on the steering wheel, but but pushing the button on top of the gear shift. This whole user interface is ridiculous.
One more gripe about park is it doesn’t unlock the doors that are automatically locked. For that you need to turn off the car. There’s lots of reasons why doors open in Park that don’t require the engine to be off; such as dropping-off or picking-up passengers. Not sure why or how Nissan got so confused as they do these things better on other models.
So overall, loving the Leaf. Sadly, there's room for improvement on the user interface.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/review/three-months-into-our-2013-nissan-leaf?cid=roadrunner