Well, Sunday was the big day! The car came in on Thursday, but my son's college graduation, an auspicious event at
least as monetarily satisfying as buying a LEAF,
interfered with going to get it. So, after an 8 hour drive back from the graduation, I pulled into Mossy Nissan Kearny Mesa. There she was! That Blue Ocean bombshell. Bill took us through all of the details. While I knew the info, this was my first chance to actually SEE where all of the buttons and settings were located, and to take a real test drive. I knew it from the Drive Electric event, but discovered again that the car in drive has plenty of pep. I was doing 75mph on the freeway before I realized it. I stuck it in ECO mode for the return leg to the dealership, and discovered it to be adequate, and it certainly helped keep my freeway speed in check. I did get some time later to put it back in drive and really romp on it around some corners. This car certainly has more torque than any car I've ever owned (granted I've never owned a real performance vehicle).
I have to give a great BIG hat's off to evnow for the
lease spreadsheets and to one recent poster (that I can't find) who described a similar experience at Mossy. One thing this purchase beat into my brain is that ANY car dealer will try and cheat you if they can. Even the so-called "good guys" like Mossy. I had come straight to the dealer from the trip, something I had not planned to do, so the lease data I intended to bring along wasn't with me. Since I had to log on at the dealership to get my Carwings PIN, I also printed out the Quote from the dashboard. I knew from the spreadsheet that the lease payment there was based on the proper money factor, etc... Good thing I did. The first lease they brought matched the payment on the quote, but was for 39 months instead of 36 months and showed a money factor of 0.00212. I sent them back, but misremembered the proper money factor as 0.00208 rather than 0.00204. That caused them to bring me a 36 month lease with the 0.00208 MF I mentioned, but the payments were now higher than their quote. I stayed politely stubborn, refusing to pay more than the original quote. They finally gave up trying to pad the lease and brought me the proper 36 month lease with the exact payment they had quoted way back when. I'm truly sorry to have to report this, since Leon was a treat to work with when I RAQ'd and the rest of the experience was very good, but other buyers need to be prepared. You can't be complacent, even if you like the dealer.
That out of the way, My wife and I tripped across the street to Subway for a quick bite (it had been hours) while they typed up the paperwork. Back over to sign papers and then it was homeward bound. I took my twin 17yo daughters around the neighborhood (they had dropped us off at the dealer and gone home). Then comes the moment of truth..."Dad, can I drive it?" Well, it's Sunday evening, virtually no cars in sight. I figure that I won't find a better time to let her try it, so I say, "Sure, I guess so", sacrificing yet another week off my life expectancy...but what are fathers for? I guess I should count my blessings that only one of them has their license. (Wait! that means the other one will want to practice in it with her learner's permit. Noooooooo!!!!!!!)
Intellectually, I knew all about the bars and expected range, but it becomes real when you drive it the first time. I blew through one-third of my charge between the 8 mile test drive and the 15 mile journey home, and a couple of miles of show and tell. I can plainly see that I will want to drive conservatively ALL the time, especially if/when I decide to switch to 80% charges. At home, I immediately logged in and applied for the CVRP rebate, then back out to test the included EVSE and the Blink. I also tried starting charging through Carwings. It all worked as expected. Anyway, I finally set the LEAF's timer for 12:10AM to 5AM, plugged in the Blink, and waited for midnight. I did end up at one point with the Blink plugged in and NO blue dash lights, but I don't really know I how I got there, and it didn't happen again. About 12:30 I found the car charging away, and I tried to check charge state through Carwings, but discovered that like the AT&T phones I got rid of...my car didn't get reception with the garage door closed. Rats. I'll have to try Blink's notifications and see if they work for me. No car unplugged reminders, though.
Next morning I drive into work, all 5 miles of it, and get to my desk...the guy next to me asks if that's my LEAF outside...the problem being that I parked in the garage and he couldn't have seen it. I look out the window, and someone ELSE has beat me to being the first LEAF in the complex! There's a brand new Glacier Pearl SL parked in the main lot! Now, I've REALLY got to get to writing the "Why this building should provide charging facilities" paper I was asked to do.
Reading this over, it sounds a little like a rant, but that's only because explaining the lease thing took so much space. The truth is that it was a very small issue thanks to the great help available here. The only regret I have the morning after is...that my commute is so short! As I drove into work, I was bummed because I didn't get to spend more time in my LEAF. Well, I have plenty of time for that, I guess.