Nissan Leaf user reviews

Brightonuk 20 December 2011

Good: No Gas

Bad: Range, Pick Up, Interior, Stereo, Navigation

Comment: Pros
The car is a joy to drive quite, responsive, and quite (did I mention how quite it is) I find most of the time not even turning on the radio just to listen to the silence.

Will beat most other small cars off the line even a Mustang or two great flat torque curve and a top speed of 90-93 (with a tail wind).

The knowledge that you are not feeding BP, Exxon or OPEC and hopefully doing a tiny part to reduce carbon tailpipe emissions.

Fun to drive I look forward to driving the car every chance I get it really is fun to drive.

The looks from other motorists as there are only about 5 Leafs in the Dade/ Broward county area so they tend to stick out.

Cons
Availability (Today) I placed my order for a 1st gen Leaf in June 2010 after numerous delays and the complete inability of Nissan CS to answer any questions apart from a pre prepared answer list, I finally took delivery in Dec 2012.

The radio is the cheapest Clarion radio available, and the Speakers just add to the sad pathetic sound. The speakers use a paper cone with magnets the size of a quarter it is awful (this reviewer must be deaf) at $40k+ for the SL I was expecting something better without doubt the worst car audio I have ever heard it is that bad.

The Meep Meep horn, you would scare the living daylights out of someone silently creeping up on them then right before they cracked up laughing at the Meep Meep horn.

The Guess O Meter (GOM) as Leaf drivers have affectionately named it. It is just that the readout that is supposed to tell you how far you can go it is basically a guess of your available driving distance, accurate within 7-10 miles which ain’t much good if it says you can make it home that last 7 miles and then you run out of juice.

Next up of complaints is the stupid tree that you grow as you drive, the more conservatively you drive the faster the tree grows then when you have grown your tree another one starts to grow what a stupid idea give us something useful such as a % read out of the available juice left in the batteries in its place.

Light one color interior, which is going to be a nightmare trying to keep clean. It all looks great when you first get in but those light velour seats and velour inside door handles will be black in a month.

No Spare tire and the tires Nissan use are not readily available at your local tire store.

The supposed solar panel to charge the 12-volt accessory battery, you could not charge a cell phone from its output (but it looks cool)

Lack of charging infrastructure (But it is growing)

So it sounds like a lot more Cons than Pros but even with it shortcomings a great car to drive and as this is only the second gen it will get better.
I would not change it for any other EV or hybrid available today this is just the beginning, in three to five years the kinks will be ironed out, and we will have the Tesla S!