Thanks for the info, all.
kolmstead said:
A couple of folks have tried it, and reported not much difference from normal acceleration. I usually run in ECO mode, but a couple of times when I wasn't, I've broken one of the front tires loose briefly just with quick accelerations from a stop. Hard tires on asphalt with a little sand on the surface. Traction control didn't prevent the slippage, to my surprise.
Traction control doesn't prevent spinning the driven wheels. It prevents the driven wheels from
spinning at grossly different rates from each other, and probably from the non-driven wheels as
well. Which is why Car & Driver mentioned turning the traction control off.
As to the acceleration, I'm very pleasantly surprised. Gets up to 40 mph very quickly, with no noise at all. Definitely a sleeper. It's not a dragster, but it would beat 90% of the cars I've owned.
I have not raced anyone. And I won't. That's not why I bought the LEAF.
Well, yeah, nobody is gonna win straight line contests in a Leaf, unless a. they have the element of
surprise, and b. the contest lasts only across the intersection! 100% torque at 0 rpm gets a body
at rest moving quite quickly.
That said, your experience and other' do confirm my own test drive experience. I floored the
throttle from a crawl (just turning out onto an access road) for about 1/16 of a mile. It's a lot like
driving a diesel: one gets a hefty shove in the back at first but then acceleration flattens out
quickly. (I didn't know about the traction control disabling nor the Car & Driver tidbit at that
point so I didn't try getting the front tires to slip.)
To answer your original question, I don't think the LEAF will generate any tire smoke. I know that a Nissan employee said that the LEAF could do burnouts. Not a chance. 107 horsepower in a 3370 pound car? Nope.
-Karl
Sure about that? It's not just horsepower one needs to break the tires loose. 206 ft-lbs is a
lot of torque. As a comparison, a 3250 lbs VW GTI makes about that much (albeit making
about 210 bhp). With the stability control (which also turns off traction control) off, I can
squeal the tires half way across the intersection, and "get rubber" on the 1-2 shift.
Furthermore, it's much easier to spin the front tires of a FWD car than a rear wheel drive one
because the rearward weight transfer unloads the front tires and loads up the rear tires.
I suspect the Leaf is more balanced front/rear weight wise than my GTI, the Leaf having its battery
under the floor. That makes the front tires even less loaded under hard acceleration.
Now, a sustained burn out
could be a tall order, but I'm inclined to believe that a Leaf can
definitely do more than just chirping the tires. I'd say it can
at least squeal the tires in the first few feet.
I guess I'll just have to wait until I get my Leaf to find out. Unless someone wants to let his/her
inner hooligan out and try it first!
turbo2ltr said:
I've tried. The power ramp rate is rather slow when you mash the throttle from a dead stop...
That's rather disappointing to hear. Is that with the traction control off?
...so the tires don't break loose, though you can hear them grasping for traction.
But even with the traction control on, you can easily break a wheel loose going around a turn. The traction control is a bit slow to react..
If you're going around a turn, maybe it's the stability control that's keeping a lid on it?
I don't know how much/whether traction control comes into play in a turn.