Another is this car right for me with a twist

[DNAinaGoodWay]

I run the OEM tires year round set at 38 with no problems.

 

[LeftieBiker]

If the car has Ecopias, then replacing them with almost anything else will drop the range a bit, but the car will steer and handle as if it's had the whole front end upgraded. If range isn't a concern I'd look for better tires.

 

[Doomsday]

Ok, I have taken delivery of my car. I absolutely love it. Sadly though, day 2 having the car and now its snowing/sleeting so it might be a few days for me to get out in it again.

What I have learned in the very short time I have owned it. I have driven suvs and vans for over 10 years now so its going to take some time to get used to being much closer to the road lol. I do feel that for bigger folks as myself, the driver door can be uncomfortable. The lower arm rest does no good what so ever because your sitting higher in the seat and the upper window area is just a hair to high and makes it uncomfortable to be there for very long. Now that last part is probably due to my stroke shoulder still trying to regain its mobility and may pass with time.

If this is what the premium sound system sounds like cranked up high, I pitty every leaf owner that is stuck with the regular sound system. At higher volumes it does seem to distort a fair amount but then again my old ears cant take loud for long. Seems anything under half way sounds pretty good but still, I think I have had better stock sound systems from some of my old cars.

Just in the limited driving time I have already found the car is really fun to drive. I can see me having days that I just want to see how much I can eek out of the mileage vs other days making sure every car at every stop light, knows they just got beaten off the line lol.

The breaks seem much more grabby than my other vehicles so it will take some time getting used to that and not slinging passengers around when I go to stop.

I have done one charge from 30ish % to full in 40 degree weather and it took almost 13-14 hours. Ouch. I see why people want to get a level 2 charging station lol. I almost feel like the 6.6kw on board charger is screaming out REALLY? REALLY? YOUR CHARGING ON THAT THING? lol I know the trickle charger is going to be plenty for my needs but I do understand wanting that faster charge. Not to mention having to put away your charger after every use, thats kind of a pain.

One of my bigger complaints is going to be the tint on the windows. I dont know if that came from the factory that dark but its very hard to see out of the back. things you didnt notice previously cause you were to excited lol.

I got my optima battery in, now I just need to charge it up and put it in the car!!

Its funny. I have lived at this location for 18 years and never knew the amount of places there are within a 13 (random range I picked while looking on google earth) mile range of me. I may end up being less content on getting everything delivered and start getting out more again, at least on the weekends lol.

Only 1 charge so far, I kinda want to do a couple more soon to make sure my 12 bars and a range of 84 miles listed, are real and not a factory reset trick. Although pretty much everything in the infortainment center still had the old owners information attached to it. I kinda wish I wrote that stuff down and maybe tried to contact them for any info on their old car but to late, Like an idiot, I wiped it to add my stuff into it.

Overall, im so excited having it. In some ways it feels like its already a part of me where the van just feels like a tool that you dont really like even though its perfectly fine.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I have driven suvs and vans for over 10 years now so its going to take some time to get used to being much closer to the road lol. I do feel that for bigger folks as myself, the driver door can be uncomfortable. The lower arm rest does no good what so ever because your sitting higher in the seat and the upper window area is just a hair to high and makes it uncomfortable to be there for very long. Now that last part is probably due to my stroke shoulder still trying to regain its mobility and may pass with time

You should be able to adjust the height of the driver's seat, with the lever on the left side. If you think it's way too high it's probably at the top of the adjustment from the previous owner. There was a TSB for grabby brakes, but there is also a trick you can do yourself: a manual pedal reset. Turn off the traction control, and with the car stopped, press the brake pedal hard for 30 seconds. Then turn the TC back on and the brakes should be 'softer' for at least a few trips. Wait until someone verifies my memory of the procedure, though, as I haven't had to do it lately.

 

[RonDawg]

One of my bigger complaints is going to be the tint on the windows. I dont know if that came from the factory that dark but its very hard to see out of the back.

It's almost certainly an aftermarket add-on. Dark tint from the factory is only allowed for pickups, vans, and SUV's, and only for windows behind the driver. Otherwise the side and rear windows should be just as light as the windshield (except for possibly the uppermost part) when the car rolls out of the factory.

For the side windows you can remove the tint yourself. I'd recommend you let a tint shop remove the back (hatchback) window's tint, to prevent damaging the defroster wires.

 

[Doomsday]

lol. I checked the maps in the navigation system, they are 2013. I checked about updating them, nissan wants $179 to upgrade the maps to 2016. Thats insane! You can buy a garmin for less than that with lifetime map upgrades. Heck I can use waze on my phone for free even lol. How is nissan getting away with these crazy map prices? Is there something else in it that im missing that makes it worth so much??

 

[Reddy]

Nope. You're learning all of the things that people have complained about for years. At least you didn't pay full MSRP like many of us did back in 2011.

 

[Doomsday]

I have driven suvs and vans for over 10 years now so its going to take some time to get used to being much closer to the road lol. I do feel that for bigger folks as myself, the driver door can be uncomfortable. The lower arm rest does no good what so ever because your sitting higher in the seat and the upper window area is just a hair to high and makes it uncomfortable to be there for very long. Now that last part is probably due to my stroke shoulder still trying to regain its mobility and may pass with time

You should be able to adjust the height of the driver's seat, with the lever on the left side. If you think it's way too high it's probably at the top of the adjustment from the previous owner. There was a TSB for grabby brakes, but there is also a trick you can do yourself: a manual pedal reset. Turn off the traction control, and with the car stopped, press the brake pedal hard for 30 seconds. Then turn the TC back on and the brakes should be 'softer' for at least a few trips. Wait until someone verifies my memory of the procedure, though, as I haven't had to do it lately.

Thanks for this. Turns out it was on its lowest setting. I pumped it its highest setting and was just a little to high, lowered a couple notches and my arm on the window doesnt hurt, so come spring I will be riding with the window down
Odd though, even on lowest setting, the actual arm rest on the door is just to low for me. but its not a big deal now. Been snowed in the last few days so havent gotten to drive it to test out the break one you mentioned but will try that.

 

[LeftieBiker]

There may also be two or three bolt holes in the seat mount, so look at that too.

 

[Doomsday]

So I put roughly 60 miles on my car this weekend. First off, im not sure im cut out for being eco friendly. Its just to much fun hitting the pedal and boom, your off the line ahead of everyone lol. It drives like a "slower" sports car and handles really well. Why are 99% of the youtube videos just about getting every ounce of battery life for that extra mile? There should be lots more videos of people just enjoying hot rodding their electric vehicle because it is fun lol. The thing is, im not sure starting off the line will ever get old for me. My biggest gripe at intersections is people that take 500 feet to get to 10 miles an hour, My father will pull out in first gear and then switch to third gear at 15 mph and anyone who drives a stick knows, 3rd gear doesnt like it that slow. It can take it the length of a football field just to get up to 30. So I have always been about getting off the line fast and this car really fits that bill lol. I do drive in B mode a lot for the extra regen breaking.

Sunday I was sitting at home and thought, I wonder if there is a dog park close to me. We took our dogs to one that is near downtown but there was no parking and finding a spot was difficult so we stopped going. Well, turns out I found one 6.1 miles away from me with tons of parking space. I got in my car and drove up just to check it out. I think next weekend, my dogs are going to be in for a treat if its not raining!

 

[LeftieBiker]

It's great that the car is helping you get back into social activities, and away from home.

 

[Doomsday]

ok, I bit the bullet and bought an odb2 dongle. After driving this thing for a little over a month I noticed something that just seemed to be a little off. I seem to be getting around 7 miles per 10% charge driving fairly normally. Meaning when I pull out I will be using about 4-5 dots of power till 45mph then down to 1-2 for the trip. By my calculations I thought I should be getting a little better than that per 10% discharge. This battery is at 12 bars but is at 89% health at 58ahr on a 24kwh battery. Interestingly enough it has been QC'd only 1 time and L1/L2 charged 321 times. Considering that the few quick chargers there are here and the fact they want $7-$10 just to plug in and then per minute charges, its probably never going to go above that 1 QC LOL.

Driving though, It drives great, sticks to the corners very well. There is an intersection near me that in my van I will turn right at, maybe 10 mph tops, In my leaf I can take it at 30mph and it feels like I barely turned at all lol. I love how this thing sticks to the road!!

 

[LeftieBiker]

As long as you have enough range for your needs, don't worry about the efficiency - enjoy the car! Winter driving saps efficiency. Your car has 89% of the original capacity left. Mine has about 87%. Be thankful we don't have the 'Canary pack' in our cars, which would have us at about 70% capacity left - or less.

 

[Reddy]

......Driving though, It drives great, sticks to the corners very well. There is an intersection near me that in my van I will turn right at, maybe 10 mph tops, In my leaf I can take it at 30mph and it feels like I barely turned at all lol. I love how this thing sticks to the road!!

Enjoy and have fun! It looks like we have another candidate for that "EV grin" and excessive tire wear! (just like my car)

 

[Doomsday]

As long as you have enough range for your needs, don't worry about the efficiency - enjoy the car! Winter driving saps efficiency. Your car has 89% of the original capacity left. Mine has about 87%. Be thankful we don't have the 'Canary pack' in our cars, which would have us at about 70% capacity left - or less.

Oh I got plenty of range. I just drive it around town so even if I lost half the pack I would still have enough range. We supposedly have like 120+ charging stations here so I dont think it will bother me to much. I have had it for a little over a month now and already washed it 3 times lol, None, and I mean none of my other cars have ever gotten washed more than twice in a year. I have always seen cars as a way to get from A to B and thats pretty much it but with this car it just feels different. its no longer just getting from A to B, its now about the enjoyment of the trip and I got to say, Nothing looks better than a shiny car reflecting every detail back at you when your getting ready to go on that journey, even if that journey is 6 miles to go pick up some groceries lol.

 

[Doomsday]

......Driving though, It drives great, sticks to the corners very well. There is an intersection near me that in my van I will turn right at, maybe 10 mph tops, In my leaf I can take it at 30mph and it feels like I barely turned at all lol. I love how this thing sticks to the road!!

Enjoy and have fun! It looks like we have another candidate for that "EV grin" and excessive tire wear! (just like my car)

LOL, I have had that grin since the first time I drove it. When I talk to anyone about it, Im grinning from ear to ear. I dont know about the tire wear just yet, I have only pushed cornering just a little but it is fun

 

[annabel398]

Doomsday, you're cut out to be an EV Ambassador, I can tell! I'm so happy when I read your accounts of getting out and about in your Leaf (and I totally think you should take some of your friends out for a drive and demonstrate what happens when you take off Eco and punch it :lol. Cheers!

 

[Oils4AsphaultOnly]

Doomsday, your change in mood from the first post til now is such an endorsement for the leaf! Hope to see more join the party!

 

[Doomsday]

Doomsday, your change in mood from the first post til now is such an endorsement for the leaf! Hope to see more join the party!

LOL, Im not a recluse out of need or anything, Just that I can get everything I need delivered so I just never need to go out. Plus the fact that I still feel that my van is my wifes van and that it will always be hers so its just weird driving it. The last smallish car I owned was ages ago and it was a Chevy Beretta, since then I have been in suvs and they are not really made for "street fun". Put em in 4wd and get in the dirt and thats a different story lol. I look at the leaf as just an overall fun yet luxurious ride (compared to my other vehicles) and think it filled a gap for me. It made driving fun again, not just getting to your destination. Im sure other small cars would be fun to but I enjoy just how quiet to leaf is. I put in a dash cam and went back and watched a trip to the dog park and was amazed at how clear the radio and my gps was and just how low you can have the radio volume and it still be "loud" compared to the rest of the noise. I wonder if I would have had an ev when I was growing up, would it have saved my hearing from me blasting the radio lol. I think that is just probably an age thing