So we drove the Coda today.
We were met by a very knowledgeable and exuberant gal named Sophie Nenner. She used to own a store that sold electric bicycles and is now one of four members of Coda's only current showroom in Westfield Century City, CA (424-249-1616). They don't actually sell Coda's at the showroom but they give test drives, answer questions, and dispense information. They will also assist you in placing a refundable $99 reservation but don't press this issue (same basic system and parameters as Leaf's system but they appear to have learned from Nissan's mistakes). You can also make a reservation deposit online if you prefer. It is definitely very low pressure.
Two Coda cars are available for demo drives and there are two G.E. L2 chargers in the demo parking area. In addition there is a Coda car just outside the showroom for people to look over. They also have a roller chassis in the showroom to show off all the components and the battery, and a very nice display of the options and information on all the different aspects of the vehicle. The showroom has a very nice ambiance, feel and air to it. All the cars are pre-production prototypes with actual production slated to start in later October. The first deliveries are slated for the end of the year.
After chatting for about 20 minutes, we went down to look over and drive the car, silver in our case. The battery is forced air cooled/heated with a central duct that runs air down the center of the battery cells and then wraps around the outside of the cells and back as a closed loop system. The thermal management looks good. The charger (which is not liquid cooled) is 6.6 Kw on 240 and 1.3 Kw on 120 and the battery uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) technology in 728 cells. It is 333 volts and 36Kw, and weighs about 700 pounds. The motor is 100Kw and 134 hp with 221 ft-pounds of torque. The car weighs about 3,600 pounds. Interestingly, top speed is limited to 80MPH. It has the same battery warranty as the Leaf (and no capacity warranty, also like the Leaf). The navigation and audio system is by Alpine and looks to be MUCH nicer than that on the Leaf. However, the screen is placed too low for my liking, at least in the prototypes. Instrumentation and dash controls, beyond those on the nav/monitor screen are minimal. All the exterior lights are LEDs and include some nice Audi-like LED DRLs..
The trunk is surprisingly large and the rear seats fold down in 60/40 fashion. The 12 volt battery is in the rear, and it has no spare tire and uses a tire inflation system like the Leaf. Since they had some extra range to play with, they went with 17" wheels with wider, beefier tires than the Leaf. The difference was quickly obvious when we later drove it in the twisties and when I did a test panic stop.
The car does not look as mundane in person as in the pictures but it is still bland and uninteresting both inside and out. Pleasant certainly but nothing that will ever turn a head. Fit and finish were not bad for a prototype but I did not like the material they used for the dash which has a dimpled texture and seems to easily attract dust and lint. The fabric (leather is an option) is similar to that in the Leaf but feels higher quality and is darker in color so it is less likely to show dirt. The carpet actually looks and feels like it didn't come from a shaved rat... The front seats were comfortable and more nicely adjustable than the ones in the Leaf, but the rear seat, while wide, was low (it doesn't sit up higher on a perch like that in the Leaf) and my legs were shoved up somewhat even though I am quite short. I would have a hard time warming up to either the exterior or interior styling...
The first thing I noticed once I got in the car was a giant analog SOC gauge to the left of the speedometer, calibrated from 0 to 100 percent (halleluiah!). To the right is a large power/regen gauge, also analog. I noted that we were at 82 percent (the car was not plugged in). The car "starts" with a key and is quite conventional with a center hand brake lever and a large rotary PRND shifter knob on the center console. Someone coming from an ICE would notice no real difference in starting/driving technique.
We drove off and the first thing I noticed was that the car has more creep energy with no accelerator than the Leaf. This calibration may be changed in the production car. I also noticed that the brake system has a very odd calibration, triggering regen very soon in to the travel but requiring about 2/3 of the travel to engage the fiction brakes. This makes the feel when going slow, which has minimal regen, quite different than the feel at speed when you have significant regen (more on this is a bit). Sophie said that the factory was aware of this and was going to recalibrate and adjust the brakes to solve this problem. Once out of the road, it is very quiet though tire noise is more prevalent than in the Leaf (perhaps due to the much more aggressive tires). The suspension felt more buttoned down and damped than the Leaf with less movement over undulations. The steering actually has some real road feel and on-center return, which was a nice change from the Leaf! Overall, I liked the tighter and firmer handling of the Coda but some might feel differently. Through the twisities, the Coda was definitely more throwable than the Leaf and I never got to the point that the tires protested, something that is relatively easy to do in the Leaf.
The car has much more aggressive regen than the Leaf and I easily pinned the regen guage just by taking my foot off the accelerator even at moderate speeds. The deceleration was clearly more substantial with just Regen than on the Leaf. Sohie indicated that the car reaches moderate regen when the pack is down to 92-95 percent, so it is apparently allows regen early in the pack discharge cycle than the Leaf. The "GreenScreen" efficiency and energy monitor was not yet functional on this prototype so I can't give hard, absolute numbers on power or regen. However, based on the mockup I saw, it appears to give more data than what we see on the Leaf Energy screen. I don't know what the acceleration numbers are supposed to be but the car felt slightly more sluggish immediately off the line than the Leaf, but stronger pretty much anywhere else in the speed curve up to about 60. It definitely felt stronger than the Leaf. Again, production calibration may change all this somewhat.
Braking was good but the ABS, like in the Leaf, seemed to be calibrated on the aggressive side. Going over a slight bump while braking moderately, it kicked in fairly hard. I felt only the slightest torque steer at full acceleration. The quoted range is 150 miles but Sophie said that the real world number has been closer to 130.
All in all, based on about 30 minutes of driving, I liked the car more than I thought I would but, no, I would not likely consider it in lieu of the Leaf, particularly at the price. However, time will tell if Coda's bet is right. As the early adopters and tech savvy types take delivery of their BEVs and that market dries up, it may be that the more conventionally styled middle-of-the-road BEVs find a niche with Middle America... That 50 percent bigger pack IS nice though!
I'm sure I forgot to mention a number of things I had intended to, but feel free to ask any questions on those things I may have overlooked. Oh, and I do particularly like one of Coda's taglines which is clearly a play on the Volt: "Cause Range Envy."