Leaf vs Volt - The Final SHOWDOWN!

This weekend my wife and I raced by Leaf vs her Volt on a straight track at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX. Friday nights are open to the public for racing. My wife and I raced our cars twice, and I raced 2 more times, once against my brother in law (volkswagen GTI) and my dad (S10 pickup). Here are the results!

Run 1
Volt Leaf
R/T .501 .306
60 2.651 2.622
330 7.115 7.192
1/8 10.842 11.067
MPH 65.67 62.98
1000 ---- 14.460
MPH ---- -----
1/4 16.854 17.347
MPH 81.32 77.98

Run 2
Volt Leaf
R/T .523 .125
60 2.765 2.636
330 7.233 7.193
1/8 10.956 11.073
MPH 65.71 63.13
1000 14.200 ----
MPH ---- ----
1/4 16.995 17.349
MPH 81.76 76.84

The Volt beat the leaf both times, about 0.5 seconds quicker and about 3-4 mph faster. Although it does appear that the Leaf is better off the line, the volt catches up, most likely due to the lower drag of the vehicle.

The other two runs turned out extremely similar results. I always hit the quarter mile at 17.3xx seconds 77.4 mph +- 0.6 mph. That error is small and quite consistant even if the runs were limited to only 4 sample points. My best run was 17.315 seconds at 78.04 mph and my worst was 17.349 seconds and 76.83 mph. I attached some photos. These were shot on the second run. I actually got quite a big jump on her and almost won!

Nice. I guess lack of Leaf fan base is to blame for this undeserved loss

ah ha, excellent.

That is pretty much in keeping with the road test results from most of the car test magazines...

Pipcecil said:

The Volt beat the leaf both times, about 0.5 seconds quicker and about 3-4 mph faster.

Click to expand...

Looks like fun and solid performances from both cars.

http://www.zeroto60times.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2010 Nissan Versa SL Hatchback   0-60 mph 9.0   Quarter Mile 16.9

2012 Nissan Versa SV Sedan   0-60 mph 9.0   Quarter Mile 16.8


2011 Toyota Prius Hybrid   0-60 mph 9.7    Quarter Mile 17.1

2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid    0-60 mph 10.9    Quarter Mile 18.5

2012 Toyota Prius V   0-60 mph 10.2   Quarter Mile 17.8

Nice! It's great to see something like this being done w/ a Leaf.

Pictures are great. It's funny because I have the same car (Leaf: color etc). If I may, R/T is reaction time?
Also in the last pic, it does look like the Leaf won but probably just the camera angle and by the specs very close call.
Thanks for sharing.

Ahh, life in the slow lane... Reminds me of the diesels days of long ago... :lol:

TonyWilliams said:

http://www.zeroto60times.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
2011 Toyota Prius Hybrid   0-60 mph 9.7    Quarter Mile 17.1
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid    0-60 mph 10.9    Quarter Mile 18.5
2012 Toyota Prius V   0-60 mph 10.2   Quarter Mile 17.8

Click to expand...

Yes, and you'll note that in both runs, the driver of the Leaf had a better reaction time than the driver of the Volt (he anticipated the Christmas Tree better). That would partially account for the Leaf being so far ahead at the beginning of the run...

vin944 said:

If I may, R/T is reaction time?

Click to expand...

TomT said:

Ahh, life in the slow lane... Reminds me of the diesels days of long ago... :lol:

Click to expand...

1997 General Motors EV1   0-60 mph 7.6   Quarter mile 16.0

2008 Tesla Roadster (Electric Sports Car)   0-60 mph 4.6   Quarter mile 13.4

2011 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport   0-60 mph 2.4   Quarter Mile 9.6

TEN SLOWEST CARS:

68 Fiat 850 Idromatic   0-60 mph 25.4   Quarter mile 23.0
73 VW Super Beetle Convertible   0-60 mph 23.7   Quarter mile 22.2
74 Datsun B210 Coupe   0-60 mph 22.5   Quarter mile 24.5
79 Volkswagen Rabbit (Diesel)   0-60 mph 21.2   Quarter mile 21.9
81 Cadillac Seville (Diesel)   0-60 mph 20.9
80 Audi 5000S Diesel   0-60 mph 20.3   Quarter mile 21.6
81 Audi 5000S Diesel   0-60 mph 20.4
68 Fiat 850 Spider   0-60 mph 19.9   Quarter mile 21.4
64 Austin-Healey 3000 MK II   0-60 mph 19.8
72 Fiat Wagon   0-60 mph 19.0   Quarter mile 21.2

I had one of those many years ago... It somehow felt much faster back then! And damn did that exhaust system sound good!

TonyWilliams said:

64 Austin-Healey 3000 MK II   0-60 mph 19.8

Click to expand...

Pipcecil said:

This weekend my wife and I raced by Leaf vs her Volt on a straight track at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX. Friday nights are open to the public for racing. My wife and I raced our cars twice, and I raced 2 more times, once against my brother in law (volkswagen GTI) and my dad (S10 pickup). Here are the results!

Click to expand...

Oh dang.. I had meant to go out there and watch this and forgot all about it. At least you did get some photos.

Volt Leaf
R/T .501 .306
60 2.651 2.622
330 7.115 7.192
1/8 10.842 11.067
MPH 65.67 62.98
1000 ---- 14.460
MPH ---- -----
1/4 16.854 17.347
MPH 81.32 77.98

Click to expand...

Could somebody break this down and explain to me what these numbers mean? I don't know a lot about racing.

Basically, everything is in seconds (minus the MPH numbers).

The R/T is the reaction time or how fast off the line when the light turned green. Me, driving the leaf, got better reaction times than my wife. The 60, 330, 1000, etc. Are feet away from the start and reports time (in seconds) to that point. 1/8, and 1/4 is eighth of a mile and quarter mile, respectively. The MPH is the speed at which the car reached the previous distance interval (like at the 1/8 and 1/4 miles).

Fun times!

adric22 said:

Volt Leaf
R/T .501 .306
60 2.651 2.622
330 7.115 7.192
1/8 10.842 11.067
MPH 65.67 62.98
1000 ---- 14.460
MPH ---- -----
1/4 16.854 17.347
MPH 81.32 77.98

Could somebody break this down and explain to me what these numbers mean? I don't know a lot about racing.

Click to expand...

I believe:
r/t reaction time- Volt sat .2 longer than LEAF before moving forward

60- time (seconds) to 60 foot distance
330-time (seconds) to 330 foot distance
1/8-time to 1/8 mile distance (half way to finish line)
MPH speed at 1/8 mile distance
1/4-time to 1/4 mile distance (finish line)
MPH- final speed at finish line

So what were the 0-60 numbers for these two cars ? Was that not captured ?

Pipcecil said:

This weekend my wife and I raced by Leaf vs her Volt on a straight track at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX. Friday nights are open to the public for racing.

Run 1
Volt Leaf
R/T .501 .306
1/4 16.854 17.347

Run 2
Volt Leaf
R/T .523 .125
1/4 16.995 17.349

Click to expand...

It's clear: Your wife was trying to let you win, but she won anyway! :lol:

Here is another Volt-LEAF race on YouTube. It seems clear the LEAF is quicker off the line but the Volt accelerates faster above about 30 MPH.

The thing I still don't understand about all these performance numbers is my Leaf is out accelerating all the cars around me without even trying, including expensive performance cars. They must all be really, really not trying.

LTLFTcomposite said:

They must all be really, really not trying.

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No self-respecting ICE vehicle driver would be caught dead racing a Nissan Versa!

LTLFTcomposite said:

The thing I still don't understand about all these performance numbers is my Leaf is out accelerating all the cars around me without even trying, including expensive performance cars. They must all be really, really not trying.

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It is the effortless power that makes driving LEAF so much fun.
Everyone else has to baby the engine to run silent and smooth.
People will not understand it until it is experienced.