2014 i3 owner thinking about a 2018 Leaf

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TomD558

New member
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
2
Location
Napa. CA
We have had a 2014 i3 since July 1 of this year. It was kind of a proof of concept purchase and I'm looking around a bit more for something with more features.

We have been driving about 350 miles/month and love the free charging stations here in Napa where we live. Spending $40.00 on lunch to save $3.50 in electricity is fun.

Our other car is an X3 that we take on longer trips or if we are with another couple. The X3 has a lot of technology that I like and features we did not get in the i3 and now miss at times.

Our i3 has a range of 80 miles and we will take 40 or 50 mile round trip drives quite often but not further. Something with a bit more range would be nice, although the new i3s have a bigger battery.

Our x3 has adaptive cruise control and the i3 does not. I miss it on those "longer" trips. I like the idea of the car staying in the lane depending on how well it worked. These features of the 2018 Leaf have me interested but I have not been to a dealer and only seen the Leaf at charging stations.

I really like the hatch-back of the i3, very easy to load and unload.

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm here to see what others think of the Leaf before we check out the 2018 when it comes out next year.

Any suggestions or tips on Leaf vs i3 are welcome.

Thanks,
Tom
 
Hi Tom,

A little clarification needed. Are you comparing the x3 features with the leaf2 (aka 2018 leaf), or were you inquiring about the current 30kwh leaf (aka 2017)?

Edit: just want to point out that no one here has driven the leaf2 extensively enough to give an in-depth answer about the 2018 leaf - although DaveinOlyWA did drive the press-released one.
 
Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm looking forward to the 2018 Leaf. I have an i3 so am already in an EV and not in a big hurry. I'm thinking leasing something new to replace the i3 next year and the Leaf is an option. I'll look at a few others as well as the 2017/18 i3 so just here to find out about the Leaf pros and cons.
 
Oils4AsphaultOnly said:
A little clarification needed. Are you comparing the x3 features with the leaf2 (aka 2018 leaf), or were you inquiring about the current 30kwh leaf (aka 2017)?

Edit: just want to point out that no one here has driven the leaf2 extensively enough to give an in-depth answer about the 2018 leaf - although DaveinOlyWA did drive the press-released one.
I believe Lasareath and OrientExpress have, as well.
 
cwerdna said:
Oils4AsphaultOnly said:
A little clarification needed. Are you comparing the x3 features with the leaf2 (aka 2018 leaf), or were you inquiring about the current 30kwh leaf (aka 2017)?

Edit: just want to point out that no one here has driven the leaf2 extensively enough to give an in-depth answer about the 2018 leaf - although DaveinOlyWA did drive the press-released one.
I believe Lasareath and OrientExpress have, as well.

Ah cool.

In the meantime OP, here's the one test drive that I'm aware of: http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2017/09/2018-leaf.html

Not having driven the i3 before, but from what I've read about its "dynamic" handling and higher asking price, I'm going to lean towards the leaf 1.5 over the i3.
 
Pro Pilot I believe is "level 2" autonomy so it can only drive on the freeway, single lane travel and for very short periods of time only.

You need to have your hands on the wheel but you don't have to provide steering control. During my test drive, if I took my hands off the wheel in about 3 seconds the car starts a series of warnings and alerts that will eventually bring the car to a stop in its lane and turn on emergency flashers. So no taking naps but if you need a 5-10 second break, the LEAF does very well for that.

Pro Pilot is scheduled for upgrades in 2020 and 2022 which you may be able to get on the 2018 for a price. I have no info on that (nor does anyone at Nissan yet when asked if hardware upgrades would be required but realize I pretty much only had access to media people)

I will say the car tracked VERY well even on fairly sharp curves at freeway speed. I have been in other "somewhat" autonomous cars and they tended to wander quite a bit in their lane. The LEAF was dead center steady the whole time.

Now all this comes from a 20 min stint behind the wheel on a predetermined course so no real idea how it would work in the wild but will say the freeways we were on only had rumple strips for lane markers.
 
Nissan telematics are pretty bad and their "interior tech" is not so great but they again BWM has not had the best track record. If you live in Napa I would also consider a Model 3, supercharging is there and you can do long road trips and use autopilot in stop and go traffic, plus lots of free Tesla destination charging there as well.
 
Back
Top