Nissan Leaf EV (2011) long-term test review

Causing a stir with the Nissan Leaf within the Bauer automotive park – seven September 2011

It’s a quiet very little issue the Leaf, such a lot thus it’s quite the eye seeker within the Bauer automotive park. individuals look on in amazement, stop you in your tracks and hearth comments aplenty: ‘What is that?’ and ‘That’s weird!’ we've not scythed any pedestrians down quite nonetheless, however we tend to tread gingerly around automotive parks. It's progressing to take individuals a moment to catch up with this new era of silent mobility.

Passengers notice it eerie, too, and are constantly agog at the deafening silence. however it will build the Leaf a splendidly relaxing place to be. typically a bit too relaxing, i am finding, because the sleek acceleration tips you over the 75mph mark on the motorway – and that is curtains to the vary.

We're at a crossroads here. Comparing the silence of the Leaf with the lairy sound of a sports automotive engine, just like the Ferrari 458 we tend to had in recently, shows simply how essentially totally different the new motoring landscape may well be. Our education continues apace.

What’s your routine on a weekday morning? A quiet, calm and perfectly ordered begin to the operating day? Or does one hit ‘snooze’ on the alarm umpteen times, then realise you’re late for work, and rush through the shower and breakfast therefore you’re neither properly clean, dry, or fed before you’re running out the door? I live my life within the latter camp, and beginning in a very simply a number of weeks time I’ve got another chore that’ll want adding to my rushed daily routine: plugging in my Leaf once i buy to work…

Comeuppance when eight months in an M3? Not to a small degree of it. I volunteered to run the Leaf over a year ago, and have spent the most effective a part of the last twelve months convincing the nice those who own automobile HQ to put in some of charging points within the automobile park; for numerous, difficult reasons we’ll cowl within the returning months, I can’t charge the Leaf at home.

So, my car. It’s pretty normal extremely – on balance, the engine (well, electrical motor), interior, alloys wheels and nearly everything else can’t be customised. Options? There are solely two: the outside color and whether or not you wish a group of solar cells within the rear spoiler, to assist charge the battery on clear days. I’ve gone for blue, within the imprecise hope that it’ll look alittle like Captain Scarlet’s SPV, and I’ve ticked the £260 box for the trick rear spoiler too. Total: £31,690. Or with the government’s £5k rebate, £26,690 – still over a VW Golf GTI, or BMW 320d, or Toyota Prius.

Our automobile was already ordered, engineered and on a ship before the terrible events that befell Japan, therefore we’ll take delivery quite soon. and that i hear it’ll be delivered on a truck, therefore it’ll be totally charged…

I've never, ever been additional intrigued by a long-termer; following six or therefore months are progressing to be terribly fascinating indeed.

Posted in: 2011,Cars,Nissan