“Gear shifter”, time for it to go?

[jkirkebo]

It felt a little funny and strange the first few days, but I have now come to LOVE the gear shifter. Way cool and simple.

+1 to that. The Ford Focus EV looks so old-school compared to the Leaf in this regard.

[leafydragon]

Also, operation is not intuitive. Pulling what looks to be a parking brake release sets the parking brake ???

Nissan sales guy pointed out to me that pull-to-set-brake is the same direction as mechanical handbrake levers. The form factor is very different though... MercBenz has step to set, pull short lever to release.

Anyway, I agree that the puck and parking brake should go somewhere else, for the sake of storage space.

Coming from a '06 Prius, the center storage box of the Leaf is ridiculously small, and the elbow rest feels too small and aft.

[FairwoodRed]

I was also surprised at the counter-intuitive operation of the shifter! I have handled a number of automatic and stick cars, even golf carts, and I found the shifter movement somewhat foreign. Of course I will adapt, but for the first few times I had to pause and think about what to do.

I too, found the shifter counter-intuitive. I kept trying to use it like a game console – up being forward and down being back.

The trouble is that Nissan tried to make it like existing gear shifts. They go P R N D L 2 1, from front to back. If you simplify that to R N D, from front to back, then you get the Leaf shift pattern. Sure that makes sense, but it just wasn’t intuitive.

[HoustonFlier]

After reading some opinions, I can live with the Puck design after a little getting used to it, but the location is really poor. The center console can be much better ergonomically.

The brake lever is really poor for me. Took me a lot of fiddling around to unlock it, and being an electrical switch it can go anywhere and be any shape/size.
Curious, why not a simple mechanical pedal or lever?

[harrier]

Steering wheel/column. Like old-school automatic with a lever, or like the porsche paddle shifters.

Oh, and put the "driving sound cut-off" on the steering wheel.

[veramis]

It would be nice if the shifter was also a storage compartment. I wasn't fond of how the puck worked until I was in a parking space trying to wiggle my way out and I realized it is actually very easy to just slap the puck to R and D repeatedly. In an automatic transmission PRND shifter, I have to either look down or pay attention to feedback from my arm when switching between R and D wiggling out of a parking space.

[planet4ever]

I wasn't fond of how the puck worked until I was in a parking space trying to wiggle my way out and I realized it is actually very easy to just slap the puck to R and D repeatedly.

Yes, that is nice, but the Prius accomplishes it without using up all that console space. The dash mounting makes it so easy to shift without hardly moving your hand from the steering wheel.

Ray

[EricBayArea]

I love the puck design. I too think that the traditional looking one, like in the Focus and Volt, was for a time when you were mechanically moving something and needed the leverage. Today its all electronics.

I actually like the one in the Range Rover Evoque:

When you turn the car off it sinks back down into the console. But when the car is on it is raised and you just turn it like a dial.

I also saw another car that had buttons. One for P, R, N, D and you just pressed it and it lit up.

But with that said, I think the arm rest and center console could have been WAY more though out. Why such a tall console? Why no storage underneath (thinking Prius, Tesla, etc.)? Its not like there's something under there except a major waste of space.

[kovalb]

The trouble is that Nissan tried to make it like existing gear shifts. They go P R N D L 2 1, from front to back. If you simplify that to R N D, from front to back, then you get the Leaf shift pattern. Sure that makes sense, but it just wasn’t intuitive.

Nissan had no choice about the shift pattern. Federal regulations (FMVSS102) say which direction the P-R-N-D-L has to go. Combine that with the layout of the shifter and you have what you have. That said, I would prefer either push-buttons or a small electronic lever for the shifter. This combined with the already eliminated electric parking brake switch would free up space for more storage in the center console and easier reach of the cupholders.

[kubel]

My Crown Vic has a column shifter. Frees up a lot of space between the seats for cop stuff. I would like to see the e-brake and puck go in favor of more storage space. It's a giant waste of space right now.