Leaf UI
The leaf has some major UI limitations.
Move gear forward to go reverse and backward to go forward.
Car takes too long to boot. Can’t put it in gear.
Auto Door locks don’t unlock until you turn the car off.
Lid for charger has cable for video camera that blocks the outlet.
Turn turn off car. Righ hand: park button, car off. Left Hand: Lights off, open charger
Reverse: can’t turn down stereo while reverse camera is on.
Door lock button is not illuminated at night.
Stupid tree thing
It has now been eight months with the all electric Leaf, and I’m pleased to report we are very happy with it. The car is fun to drive, practically designed, roomy, fast, and quiet. The impact to our gas bill is more than we expected because we generally drive the Leaf over the other cars when its available.
When I tell people I have an electric car I generally get the same questions about it, so thought I’d share the responses.
Q:Is it slow?
A: Perhaps it was those battery operated toy cars we had as kids, but people assume a battery operated car is slow. It is not. It is quite powerful. Generally the first off a red light.
Q: How car can you go?
A: It’s the same for most electric cars - about 70-100 miles depending on conditions which actually includes a lot of factors such as the number of people in the car, weight/cargo, the course (hills or flat), current temperature (HVAC), and time (due to lights).
Q: Is it a Tesla.
A:) No. Tesla is quite well known, so people assume that it makes all electric cars.
So, yes I recommend that car, but it has some faults.
The biggest complaint is its user interface. I don’t know what they were thinking, here’s some examples:
Gear Shift: It isn’t really a gear shift, it’s a shifter, but it always returns to center. The car is put into park, not by moving the shifter, but by pressing the button on top of the shifter. To go in reverse, push the shifter forward. To go forward, pull it backwards - perfectly intuitive. To put the car in brake mode (recommended for city driving), put it back twice. To put the car in econ mode, push a button on the steering wheel. Yes, two different modes that affect the drive settings, one is done with the gear shifter, the other with a button?
Door Locks: The doors lock when the car drives. To automatically unlock the doors, turn off the car. My old car unlocked the doors when put in Park, that makes much more sense to me. Dropping off and picking up rarely involves turning off the car. What’s the big deal? A related UI issue is the auto door lock/unlock switch on the driver’s door is not illuminated. There is no way to find this button at night. So now someone is waiting for me to unlock the door, and I can’t find the switch, I naturally move to open my door so the light goes on, but foiled again because my door is also locked.
Arrive at home, and turn off the car. For most cars, slide the shifter to Park, turn off the key and get out. In the Leaf, it’s a few more steps involving both hands. Right Hand: Press the Park button on top of the gear shift. Then press the power button on the dash to turn off the car. Left Hand: Turn off the lights, then press the button to open the charger cover. It’s a two handed four step process.
Go Time: I don’t understand why the car takes so long to start. The power button effectively boots the car, and that takes about 5 seconds. During that 5 seconds, you can’t put the car in gear. It’s a long 5 seconds. I am used to turning a key and going. Here, I start the car and wait 3 seconds, put it in gear. Then when it doesn’t go because I put it in gear too soon, I put it in gear again. I understand the car takes 5 seconds, but the user interface needs to be improved - perhaps locking the gear shift until booted makes sense.
Reverse: Our Leaf has the reverse camera which is nice. However, when the camera is on, the radio volume controls don’t work (same unit). If the last one to drive was my teen, then the stereo is almost always too loud, which I don’t always realize until already backing up.
Front Camera: It also has cameras around the car which aren’t that useful, but fun. The front camera is built into the lid that covers the charger plug. The cord for the camera gets in the way of the charger connector. There is plenty of space there to work the cable differently - bad design.
Cars used to be cars, but today the software is nearly as important as the traditional hardware specifications. The gear shift isn’t actually engaging gears, pushing it forward to go in reverse isn’t a mechanical issue it is a poor user interface issue. The car companies are going to have to step it up on UI.
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://www.examiner.com/article/nissan-leaf-great-car-poor-user-interface?cid=roadrunner