I just bought a CPO 2015 SL with 14k miles about a week ago, and am slightly confused about the power steering, particularly with its return-to-zero and small adjustment behavior at speeds fo 20-40mph.
I'm trying to understand if these are normal for the Leaf at these city speeds, or if they're unusual. I've been driving for 35 years and have owned two honda civics, a mazda protege, and most recently a 2009 VW Jetta TDI.
The car was aligned as part of the CPO process and I have that alignment information. The wheels are the SL alloy wheels, and it has some sort of Michelin low rolling resistance tires on it that seem like they're in perfect condition.
Are there electronic parameters that the dealership can adjust to provide a more standard driving experience? I assume I'll get used to all of these quirks if they're just the way the car is supposed to feel. I'd like to have an idea of what I'm talking about before I go back to the dealer to have them sort it out.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
- I find that small adjustments to the wheel positioning (1-2 degrees) are basically entirely ignored by the steering system. They induce no changes to the direction of travel and do not result in any return-to-zero feedback of the steering column. Basically there's like 3-5 degree play in the wheel around zero that does nothing.
- If I am actually turning (1/2 to 1+ revolutions of the wheel) and let go the speed at which the system returns to zero is quite slow. This is to the point that I need to manually return the wheel to zero in normal city driving when going around turns or I will continue to turn for 1/2-1 second (e.g., for a right turn I would wind up driving up over the curb, for a left turn I'd wind up in oncoming traffic).
- If I have enough space to allow the wheel to return to zero naturally, it stops prior to the wheel alignment fully returning to straight driving. Essentially I will continue to drift in the direction that the turn took place in... slightly left after a left turn and slightly right after a right turn.
- I have to rotate the wheel quite a lot more for the same radius turns than I expect from previous experience.
I'm trying to understand if these are normal for the Leaf at these city speeds, or if they're unusual. I've been driving for 35 years and have owned two honda civics, a mazda protege, and most recently a 2009 VW Jetta TDI.
The car was aligned as part of the CPO process and I have that alignment information. The wheels are the SL alloy wheels, and it has some sort of Michelin low rolling resistance tires on it that seem like they're in perfect condition.
Are there electronic parameters that the dealership can adjust to provide a more standard driving experience? I assume I'll get used to all of these quirks if they're just the way the car is supposed to feel. I'd like to have an idea of what I'm talking about before I go back to the dealer to have them sort it out.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.