Leaf Test Drives in the US

[johnr]

...it's more than 25 miles round trip each time. This is probably whining, I know, but Nissan could have held this elsewhere, such as close to where the vast majority of the Silicon Valley buyers are located, farther west like at Google HQ, etc. Woz is from Cupertino.

25 miles, is it? I had to drive 180 miles one way for my test drive

 

[Rat]

I have a minor gripe ...

Cheer Up! You could be in Pennsylvania with the first nearby drives scheduled for 90 miles away in DC in MARCH.

You're right, of course. I admitted I'm whining right up front. My real gripe isn't the extra 25 miles and couple of extra hours from being unable to combine the events, it's the whole phony marathon marketing thing. Driving a Leaf has nothing to do with long distance running, IMO. Marathoners who buy green vehicles buy bicycles. If Nissan really wanted to be green in the sense EV owners mean, they would schedule this at a time and place where the Leaf buyers are, which is centered 15 miles west of downtown, out near high-tech land, as can be easily seen from our own map on this forum. For those of you not from around here, other than Adobe none of the major high-tech firms are HQed in downtown SJ. Apple, Intel, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, NASA, Stanford, Lockheed, etc. are all to the west. The Leaf is an engineer's or programmer's car, not a marathoner's car.

 

[evnow]

Apple, Intel, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, NASA, Stanford, Lockheed, etc. are all to the west. The Leaf is an engineer's or programmer's car, not a marathoner's car.

Same here. All large companies are in the North (of where the drive event is).

BTW, the San Jose event is happening because of the marathon. IIRC, otherwise only one event would have been done for the area ..

 

[planet4ever]

So now I have to drive into downtown 3 days in a row. Parking is not great in that area and it's more than 25 miles round trip each time.

Maybe a good time to get acquainted with VTA? (http://www.vta.org)

 

[lne937s]

NY Times: one of the first back to back comparison tests between Leaf and Volt-- same roads, same conditions:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/back-to-back-drives-in-the-chevrolet-volt-and-nissan-leaf/?ref=automobiles

"But what the electric tour of Hell (MI) showed is that when it comes to ride and handling, these are real cars with different dynamic natures. The Volt is a pleasant cruiser and commuter, while the Leaf is more lively and may appeal more to a driving enthusiast, albeit a driving enthusiast on a leash."

 

[garygid]

Hint:
You can usually test-drive even when you are not signed up.

 

[Rat]

So now I have to drive into downtown 3 days in a row. Parking is not great in that area and it's more than 25 miles round trip each time.

Maybe a good time to get acquainted with VTA? (http://www.vta.org)

That's funny! I worked for VTA for 5 years, retired, and now have a lifetime free transit pass. Unfortunately no light rail or bus line comes anywhere near my house!

My wife and I would have to walk (she has a bad knee) more than half a mile to the nearest bus stop (rain forecast for that day) and transfer once to get to light rail (estimated time: 1:30 each way best case), or drive 2/3 of the way to get to a light rail station that goes directly there (which means why not drive the whole way once you're almost there). There's a closer station, but it goes to north San Jose and a transfer is required, which means over an hour and a quarter each way, as opposed to 15-20 minutes by car. If I just miss a connection at any of those transfer points, there's an extra half hour. I'm a big supporter of mass transit, especially electric transit like VTA, and use it when I can, but that doesn't include any trip starting or ending at my home. I also don't want my wife to divorce me, so I think we'll be driving. Three times.

 

[trentr]

Maybe they scheduled this during the marathon so that there will be lots of folks in the area, more visibility perhaps? Also, there is almost 1 million people in San Jose alone. If they move it to say Mt View or Palo Alto, then the San Jose folks like myself will be griping about an extra 15-20 miles of driving By the way, I work in one of the companies you listed!

 

[electriclarry]

http://www.windingroad.com/articles/reviews/driven-2011-nissan-leaf/?src=Nextscreen


Winding Road reviews the Leaf.

 

[EVDRIVER]

So apparently this is a journalist test drive tour, right? Have any of us Apr 20 $99'ers been invited? And I wonder if it will ever come back around to the SF Bay Area.

That review had one glaring error, probably an accidental wording slip:

The 100-mile range isn't absolute: The air conditioner and the heater both draw down the battery, reducing range, and the car has better efficiency at higher speeds.

Do you mean test drives? That's in Nov at the auto show.

 

[evnow]

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/1010_2011_nissan_leaf_full_drive/index.html?asid=c8e6ca97

An unscientific stopwatch test with two people on board returned an approximate 0-to-60 time of 10 seconds, about the same as a Toyota Prius. While Nissan reports a top speed of 90 mph, we saw 95 mph on level ground, though we don't recommend it as it kills your range. Speaking of, after a day of lead-footing and real-world driving, our Leaf returned an actual range of 76 miles, just below Nissan's advertised 80-100 miles

 

[planet4ever]

So apparently this is a journalist test drive tour, right? Have any of us Apr 20 $99'ers been invited? And I wonder if it will ever come back around to the SF Bay Area.

Do you mean test drives? That's in Nov at the auto show.

Talk about ancient history! You dredged that quote up from page 1 out of 34. Yes, I meant test drives, and back on July 8 when I wrote that we had seen no test drive schedules. I finally get my first chance this Friday; back in July I was expecting to be able to drive a LEAF some time before the end of summer. I was also expecting it to be an event for reservation holders only, and that it would come before we ordered. Shows how good a prognosticator I am. :?

 

[garygid]

Rat,
"don't want my wife to divorce me" ... a lucky man indeed.
For me also, a most important part of the "buying" equation.
Cheers, Gary

 

[planet4ever]

So now I have to drive into downtown 3 days in a row. Parking is not great in that area and it's more than 25 miles round trip each time.

Maybe a good time to get acquainted with VTA? (http://www.vta.org)

That's funny! I worked for VTA for 5 years, retired, and now have a lifetime free transit pass. Unfortunately no light rail or bus line comes anywhere near my house!

My wife and I would have to walk (she has a bad knee) more than half a mile to the nearest bus stop (rain forecast for that day) and transfer once to get to light rail (estimated time: 1:30 each way best case), or drive 2/3 of the way to get to a light rail station that goes directly there (which means why not drive the whole way once you're almost there).
<snip>
I also don't want my wife to divorce me, so I think we'll be driving. Three times.

Ah, I see your problem, and I'm facing a similar one myself. The Murky News has gone from saying "chance of rain" to "rain likely" for Friday. I'm trying to decide whether to drive to the end of the Light Rail line or go all the way and try to find parking in the Convention Center garage. If I was going by myself I'd take the bus + Light rail, but ...

 

[Rat]

I drove right to the Woz Way lot where the tour is set up and parked. It's only $7 for all day so it's not worth sweating over. No rain yet. We may be the only big city in the country where driving into downtown at 9AM is the counter-commute direction.

Anyway, the test drive was fine, if unexciting. All the wait (20 min. before our group was called) and blather ahead of time (another 30 - 40 mins.) was unavoidable but unnecessary for anyone on this forum. The only thing I learned new was that the Carwings pre-heat or cool option only works if the car is plugged in, so you can't pre-cool the car when it's sitting in a hot parking lot (unless you have a plug there). He said it was a safety issue. So I'll use that feature only in my garage - no need for a cell phone, etc. I didn't like the way they characterized the trickle charge during the presentation as mainly an emergency feature. The presenter said it takes 18 hours to charge on that, and only when someone asked if that was based on having no charge remaining did he confirm that was so. He said "everyone" will have a docking station at home to charge it at Level 2. Not me.

My wife pointed out something else I hadn't read here: the crowd was almost devoid of obese people, unlike just about any other random crowd of adults. Must be something about the demographics of Leaf buyers. The rear window has less visibility than I thought, but the small aperture doesn't affect the area of visibility significantly when the rear seat headrests are up, since they limit the width seen in the rear view window anyway. If those seats are down or the headrests removed, then you have the full aperture, but as I said, it's on the small side. We didn't get to take in out on the freeway, just a few blocks so I didn't get much of a feel for the handling and pickup, and the gal who rode with us was a local who didn't seem to know much about the car. There were three of us in the car and it seemed to have plenty of pickup from a stop, etc. Due to the short trip, the Nissan aide being unknowledgeable, and the heavy city traffic, I really couldn't get any feel for using the nav screen or other screens, radio, etc. My wife's reaction: "it's a car." Still it was worth getting a feel for it. I glad I went.

 

[evnow]

We may be the only big city in the country where driving into downtown at 9AM is the counter-commute direction.

Same here in Seattle - the big rush is to get out of Seattle to Eastside where Microsoft, Google and others are anchored. West commute to Seattle isn't empty but better than eastward.

 

[Rat]

We may be the only big city in the country where driving into downtown at 9AM is the counter-commute direction.

Same here in Seattle - the big rush is to get out of Seattle to Eastside where Microsoft, Google and others are anchored. West commute to Seattle isn't empty but better than eastward.

That's right. My son works for Microsoft.

 

[trentr]

I finally able to drive the leaf in SJ. I think it might be the fastest car I've driven from 0-35mph. from a stoplight, I put the pedal to the metal and before I cross the intersection I was already at 35. It was effortless too. the acceleration was smooth, very linear. Of course, no transmission, but took me some time to get used to it. The brakes felt normal, very good gradual braking feel to it. Basically, just like a normal car. The switch from pads to regen was not noticeable. I didn't try ECO mode. It also had minimal body roll which I certainly prefer. The steering was light, but direct and I had full control at all times. The steering feel was much better than my Sienna minivan for sure! Handling wise, my Type R will blow it away, but the LEAF is so easy to accelerate, felt light and nimble that it was surprisingly fun to drive. I have no issues with the steering, Nissan did a good job for a family car. The tires didn't have much grip, however, it was screaming when I was turning sharply or making a U-turn, but the car was still under control. My guide was telling me to slow down, since I was hammering it at every chance I get. I was driving it like I stole it. He said that his manager will kill him. LOL! I really wanted to test the handling. I can say that it was much livelier and eager than the Prius I drove awhile back. The best thing was the complete lack of noise and vibration. It was eerily quite. I hear the other cars more than the LEAF at low speeds. I wish I can drive it in the freeway, maybe someday. I'm sold, four doors, lots of space, my wife can drive it, carpool sticker, what is not to like?

 

[EVDRIVER]

I finally able to drive the leaf in SJ. I think it might be the fastest car I've driven from 0-35mph. from a stoplight, I put the pedal to the metal and before I cross the intersection I was already at 35. It was effortless too. the acceleration was smooth, very linear. Of course, no transmission, but took me some time to get used to it. The brakes felt normal, very good gradual braking feel to it. Basically, just like a normal car. The switch from pads to regen was not noticeable. I didn't try ECO mode. It also had minimal body roll which I certainly prefer. The steering was light, but direct and I had full control at all times. The steering feel was much better than my Sienna minivan for sure! Handling wise, my Type R will blow it away, but the LEAF is so easy to accelerate, felt light and nimble that it was surprisingly fun to drive. I have no issues with the steering, Nissan did a good job for a family car. The tires didn't have much grip, however, it was screaming when I was turning sharply or making a U-turn, but the car was still under control. My guide was telling me to slow down, since I was hammering it at every chance I get. I was driving it like I stole it. He said that his manager will kill him. LOL! I really wanted to test the handling. I can say that it was much livelier and eager than the Prius I drove awhile back. The best thing was the complete lack of noise and vibration. It was eerily quite. I hear the other cars more than the LEAF at low speeds. I wish I can drive it in the freeway, maybe someday. I'm sold, four doors, lots of space, my wife can drive it, carpool sticker, what is not to like?

Good feedback! As a side note the Sienna has pretty poor steering feel so I would hope the Leaf is better.

 

[mwalsh]

It was eerily quite. I hear the other cars more than the LEAF at low speeds

You know what's been the feakiest thing to me thus far....you know the noise tires make when you push/roll your car on a smooth concrete garage floor? Well imagine hearing that sound while you're driving on a smooth garage floor. That was quite freaky.