2 Black Leaf's Testing in Phoenix 6-10-10

A friend saw 2 black Leaf's testing in Phoenix this AM. He happens to carry a camera for such an occasion. They were testing just as we see any other Nissan cars testing here; 2 cars following back-to-back with minimal masking (just emblems covered/removed).





These are early production cars from the looks of things as there are some details that are still missing such as air vents (looks like tape over the squares). I would say that they are conducting hot weather testing but we are only in the low 100's (mid to upper 90's for the weekend).

Super capture!

Thanks for sharing. The black leaf looks much better when the photo isn't overexposed (as in, the photos from Denmark.)

Edit: it has that same tube on the roof as the other car.

Edit 2: The antenna is different from the shark fin I've seen in Nissan's photos.

Map? on the dashboard?
If so, maybe no GPS Nav yet?

Yellow reflection in door handles.

garygid said:

Yellow reflection in door handles.

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I think that's yellow tape.

Edit: Link to original (very large) image - http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4687758933_f8c1a2cc02_o.jpg

Other large image: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1307/4687759233_a3003d7d13_o.jpg

Awesome! Don't forget to submit to Autoblog Green (http://green.autoblog.com/). I think it's something they'd be interested in.

awesome catch!!

Bicster said:

Edit 2: The antenna is different from the shark fin I've seen in Nissan's photos.

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Looks like the shark fin antenna has gone the way of cost cutting!

Sweet!

Ha! Anyone else see the tow-hook sticking out of the front bumper. That's not very optimistic of them. :lol:

Nice find....glad they are using the Black version to heat test...it will get the hottest in that Phoenix sun.

Gavin

Awesome catch. So much for all the "there are only two such samples" ...

mwalsh said:

Ha! Anyone else see the tow-hook sticking out of the front bumper. That's not very optimistic of them. :lol:

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May be there are doing "real world" range testing. They will drive till it is dead ...

mwalsh said:

Ha! Anyone else see the tow-hook sticking out of the front bumper. That's not very optimistic of them. :lol:

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that is standard for any car shipped from overseas. have to have some way of securing them for the trip.

Thanks Skywagon for posting those spy shots, and thank your friend for us - they're awesome!! Ok, so here are my observations based on the large photos:

1.) That tube at the top appears to be closed on the front end and has a wire running down from it between the doors and into the car. Maybe it's an air pressure/wind speed sensor or an antenna to transmit data to a following vehicle. But I think most likely it's a sensor to record the outside air temperature.

2.) Those are not Leaf mirrors. Maybe since it's preproduction vehicle they had to scrounge a few parts from their parts bin.

3.) That paper on the dash is not a map, it's probably a checklist where the driver goes through specific tests with the car and jots down his observations.

4.) Those front headlights really bulge out a lot, like a sore thumb!

Bicster said:

Thanks for sharing. The black leaf looks much better when the photo isn't overexposed (as in, the photos from Denmark.)

Edit: it has that same tube on the roof as the other car.

Edit 2: The antenna is different from the shark fin I've seen in Nissan's photos.

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YES ! Thansk for sharing.
Is that tube a camera, maybe ?

or a way to measure the weather (temp and such)...

it would be good to know the temp and sun strength on top of car and also on bottom of car...to compare air temp with road temp and all that...

Gavin

Holy Hades. The black color will put the A/C to the ultimate test in Phoenix. I'll be curious to see if the results echo Mark Perry's prediction of "maybe a 10% drop of range if you're running your air conditioner."

johnr said:

Those are not Leaf mirrors. Maybe since it's preproduction vehicle they had to scrounge a few parts from their parts bin.

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Or...we're not getting the specially designed mirrors after all!

Wow! What great LEAF spotting! Maybe they are on their way down to Tucson?!!!

They might be going south of Phoenix about 40 miles to the Nissan Technical Center. It is a huge test track.

Use this address in Bing Maps to have a look:

7815 North White and Parker Road Stanfield, AZ 85172-9642

The Google Maps view is not clear.

that is standard for any car shipped from overseas. have to have some way of securing them for the trip.

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I think he is referring to the eyelet coming out a hole cut out of the front of the body, not the normal underbody tow hooks. In the second high-res photo it is pretty clear, silver eyelet against the black body.