What's the thing you hate most about your Leaf?

Hey gang!

It's always interesting to ask this question to owner's of a car I'm looking into buying. We all know that the Leaf is a great car and most owners love them.

What's the biggest disappointment you've had with your Leaf?
What's the thing you dislike most about it?

the wimpy horn.

Battery degradation is the worst, definitely. I pretty much love everything else about it.

Besides the obvious--accelerated rate of battery degradation--I would have to say the inability to have fan only when cabin temperature is less than 60 degrees F.

How nissan lies about range. Thin paint. Lousy navigation system.
The likes are much greater like: no pollution, cheap running costs, cheap lease, almost no maintenance, quiet ride, etc...

WIMPY HORNS bug me a lot, especially when driving in LA. Was driving my buddy's WRX for a few weeks with Hella horns and people really got the message quickly with those Felt great

What kind of battery degradation are you guys experiencing? In Japan there's a 5-year warrantee saying that the battery won't degrade to less than 80% in the first 5 years, and if it does, they'll replace it. Does such a thing exist in North America?

Petty thing: the sound the turn signal makes. I swear that they did that to stop you from leaving it on for long.

Moderate annoyance: the grabby brakes and the lack of a spare.

Major issue: having to pamper the battery pack, for my own conscience if not for actual benefit to me.

I actually have to think very hard about what I don't like about the Leaf.

Much of it is stuff that there are workarounds for. The inability to shut off the heat completely in winter (but still have airflow) is one, as there is a modification for it. The blind spot to the rear caused by enormous c-pillar is another; had I opted to get the SL, or done a DIY workaround (don't want to do that to car I give back two years from now), the backup camera would help with this. Tires are another; the OEM ones are terrible, but you can get aftermarket replacements that are much better and don't cause too much of a hit on your range. A dual-voltage portable EVSE would be nice, but it's already been discussed why Nissan USA has shied away from that, plus we have our own Phil to make that happen for us.

Now what isn't so easy to workaround: the cheap carpeting. It's only a slightly thicker version of what they spray on Christmas trees at the Christmas tree lot :lol: That papier mache cargo cover is surprisingly expensive given its lack of sturdiness. I don't like how the interior gets dirty rather easily.

I also think the dash display is overkill...most other EVs have a toned down display with analog speedo, which is easier to read. The "eco-forest" is a total joke; I would have preferred Nissan use that display space for something else, like a SOC % meter.

I do wish the steering wheel heater is better at keeping a somewhat steady warmth, and not swinging wildly from "wow this thing is getting hot" to "is this thing even on?"

treinjapan said:

WIMPY HORNS bug me a lot, especially when driving in LA. Was driving my buddy's WRX for a few weeks with Hella horns and people really got the message quickly with those Felt great

What kind of battery degradation are you guys experiencing? In Japan there's a 5-year warrantee saying that the battery won't degrade to less than 80% in the first 5 years, and if it does, they'll replace it. Does such a thing exist in North America?

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Our warranty is 70% five years in the US, and Nissan had to get sued to provide that warranty. Totally sucks to hear that it's 80% in Japan, where temps are cool enough that NOBODY will ever use the warranty! By 30% loss, many people aren't able to make their commutes without charging mid trip.

Disappointment: Overly rapid capacity loss. Hopefully will be addressed by battery improvements in 2014.

Hate the most: Limited range. Looking forward to a Tesla eventually. Keep in mind that I live in a semi-rural area, though.

Pluses: Very reliable so far, and enjoyable driving experience. And no gas!!!

For the 2013 model, I hate that they reduced the torque of the motor. Particularly noticeable accelerating from rest.

But I really like the 25 or so things that they improved over the 2011, making the overall car much better, on balance.

They've already corrected it but... I hate the light "cloth" interior on my '11. It is very, very tough to keep clean.

mwalsh said:

Battery degradation is the worst, definitely. I pretty much love everything else about it.

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what mike said.

and the SYB program, which they could fix.
i fixed the horn, now have horns.

Boomer23 said:

Our warranty is 70% five years in the US

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Actually, a four-bar loss is 66%, not 70%. So when you get to 66%, Nissan will replace it if it's within the time/mileage period.

mwalsh said:

Battery degradation is the worst, definitely. I pretty much love everything else about it.

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+1! Hopefully, the new 'hot battery' will solve this problem. I didn't like the fact though that my bp was already down around 5-6% when I leased it new. If it had been at full capacity, I wouldn't have lost a bar already!

All the geeky girls in my town want me to give them a ride in it!

there are only 2 issues and only one is very important to me because I have no concern about the battery degradation problems because after 24 months the car is nissan's problem.
so the big issue for me is the limited range, IMHO, for an EV car like this to viable outside of the urban areas it needs about a 100% range boost.
to address the wimpy horn issue, REALLY?
who uses a horn anyway?

I don't have to think very hard about this one. My number 1 complaint is RANGE. In my own opinion 70-80 miles in real world conditions is pathetic. Second would be the light interior in my '12. Third would be the slow 3.3Kw Charger and yes I'm on L2 EVSEupgrade so charging the max my onboard charger can handle. My fourth and final complaint is the very thirsty electron eating heater in the '12. Again I feel a failure on Nissan's part to include such a power hungry heater on a car that is already in the pathetic category in range.

apvbguy said:

to address the wimpy horn issue, REALLY?
who uses a horn anyway?

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In addition to its usual uses in an ICEV, with my Leaf I've had to use it on inattentive pedestrians in parking lots. They have apparently accustomed themselves to listening for car engines rather than actually watching where they are going.

Yes. Before changing the horn people would be just backing up into me. They couldn't hear the leaf and they couldn't hear the horn.