My Nissan Leaf Forum

I have to agree. The FFE is clearly more of a driver's car and you do see some of that extra cost in the interior, features, and appointments. The fellow I drove with today let me push it and throw it around a bit and it was definitely more rewarding when driven thusly than the Leaf. My wife and I, too, rarely ever have anyone in the back seat so space there is of no great interest to us. Everything considered however, if I was doing it over again today I would likely still stick with the Leaf, or if it was available, I might seriously consider the BYD. That 10Kw onboard charger, QC, and 185 mile range is mighty appealing for around $40k......

I also drove the Volt again since it had been a while since I last drove one and that reconfirmed why I went with the Leaf instead... I wanted to drive the Fisker they had there but that, alas, was by invitation only!

is the trunk really angled down like that or is it an optical illusion? It looks like anything left on the floor will slide back into the hatch, and when you open it, it will fall right out on the ground.

Picture of floor lifted shows two "Legs" that can be left down to have a level floor. When folded, the storage covers slopes. It's your choice depending on cargo.

That folding cover is angled down as it appears to be, but it can be propped up flat. Anything that might roll would be best placed underneath that folding cover, into the storage well below that is shown in one of the pics.

My thanks to those who posted driving reports. I'm hoping they show up at dealers soon so I can try one. Does anyone know if Ford has any contracts with rental companies to put some in their fleets, ala the Leaf? I did some Googling but couldn't find any mention, unlike the (out of date) info about the Coda. I asked Coda if the deals with Hertz and Enterprise were still on but they didn't reply, which I guess we can take as a 'No', or at least they're in abeyance until Coda demonstrates that it's not going to fold in the next few months to a year.

I don't judge cars without personal experience. Japanese cars can be quite good. I was rather impressed with my brothers Mazdaspeed 3. Being from the Motor City area (or anywhere else), the LEAF is inferior to the Focus when it comes to overall quality. I'm surprised anyone would dispute this. Though you didn't necessarily dispute this- you just prejudged me.



I totally agree with you there. In fact, there isn't a single car in Fords current line up that fits me well. My legs and knees are claustrophobic .



Again, more prejudice. But ChaDeMo is dead. I'm not sure how you can ignore this. Automakers want one place to plug in. It's easier for everyone that way. I'm not sure why the Japanese would want two places to plug in. Probably because they had no other choice with no standard being made yet. I commend Nissan for pioneering the idea and doing what was necessary to make it happen with no standard being made yet, but I don't think fanboys should discourage a better solution.



Liquid thermal management is superior to air. The FFE will not only provide marginally better range in moderate temperatures, but I have a feeling it will provide substantially better range than the LEAF in winter conditions. They aren't merely comparable and there is no slight advantage. The FFE is the clear winner. Of course, you're paying for it if you get a FFE.



I suspect you may be right. But even with the presumably heavier weight and smaller battery pack, it's still more efficient than the LEAF. Again, everyone should put it into perspective with the outrageous $40K pricetag.



Steering and handling may be subjective, so let's ignore those. Warm and cold weather range. Energy efficiency. Quality. Audio. Performance.

The RAV4-EV would be nice, but I hope they consider making a 4x4 version.

That particular assertion remains to be seen. In theory, LTM should do a much better job of keeping the batteries at their optimum operating temperature. But in practice, it's also a more complicated system, with more things that can go wrong. I would also think that it should be much easier to replace bad cells in a Leaf battery pack than in one where the cells are encased in liquid.

I would say the Leaf could benefit from liquid temp management for the pack to control DC fast charge heat rise

and the Focus EV could do without it and save 100 lbs or so since it has no DC fast charge !

Leaks will rear their ugly hear right after your warranty runs out.

That's... not really how it works.

Liquid cooling for battery packs work exactly the same way liquid cooling for your computer works: a heat exchanger. The idea of submersing the battery in coolant is silly for all sorts of reasons, maintenance being the least of them.
=Smidge=