Review – 2011 Nissan Leaf is a New Twist on an Old Idea

Posted by Christian Wardlaw on September 28th, 2011

Electrified transportation is not a new idea. When I was a kid, my grandparents lived in Sun City, California. Sun City was a master-planned retirement mecca right up Interstate 15 from the yawn-inducing Lawrence Welk Resort, where the yards were covered in green-painted gravel, where the ladies pedaled three-wheeled bikes to the See’s Candies shop, and where the garages contained golf carts that were used for daily errands in addition to hitting the links. For all I know, Sun City might be the same today. I haven’t been there in decades.

The point is this: Retirees might be old, but they’re not dumb. Why haul the Buick out of the garage when a golf cart offers enough range to get the job done? Today, 35 years after Dan and Irene Wardlaw’s neighbors figured out that charging a battery-powered vehicle and using it for local driving made more sense than feeding a V8 engine gasoline, Nissan gives us the pure electric, zero emissions Leaf.

The Leaf is a Good Car if it’s Not Your Only Car

As a second car, the Nissan Leaf is brilliant. My family lived with one for nearly a week, and never found the Leaf’s 80- to 85-mile range on a full charge to be a serious problem. Of course, being writers, Liz and I work from home and don’t commute, meaning that the vast majority of the time we simply need a vehicle for local use. Since we have a perfectly good crossover SUV sitting in the garage for longer trips, we’re perfect candidates for Leaf ownership.

Yep, We Suffered Range Anxiety

That’s not to say that we didn’t experience range anxiety, the anxious feeling people get when driving an electric car, especially when the range dwindles into the teens. Based on our experience, Leaf drivers must mind the range display at all times, and if you live in a hilly area, actively plan your trips so that you’re not climbing hills to get to a charging station or a power outlet because the Leaf quickly burns through battery on such terrain. Especially with kids aboard, the last thing you want to do is drain the Leaf’s battery and get stuck.

For example, one unusually tropical evening, we loaded up and headed out to get some yummy fro-yo. The Leaf said we could go as far as 31 miles. No prob-lemo. By the time we got to the yogurt shop, we were down to 21 miles of range, odd since it was just seven miles from the house. After watching a spectacular sunset punctuated by occasional flashes of lightning to the north, we headed home, taking the scenic route.

Not long after, with the last glow of day fading to the west and bolts of electricity stabbing the terrain ahead, the Leaf sounded the alarm with 14 miles of range to go. “Get thee to a charging station, pronto!” Of course, that’s not the actual range warning and I wasn’t that concerned since the rest of the way home was mostly downhill. By the time we pulled back into the driveway, the Leaf showed 13 miles of range. Now, I’m no math whiz, but our 16-mile journey had actually depleted 18 miles of displayed range because the scenic route included crossing local hills that the freeway avoids.

Nope, We Didn’t Drive the Leaf for a Family Gathering

The Leaf also didn’t work for a weekend family gathering. According to MapQuest, my brother lives 79.62 miles away from my house. That morning, the Leaf displayed a 78-mile range. Clearly, it just wasn’t going to work, so we drove a Chevy Volt instead, because with the Chevy there is no distance limitation, and therefore no range anxiety.

The Leaf Modifies Driving Behavior, Too

We also changed our regular driving evaluation loop to accommodate the Leaf, and to reduce range anxiety. Rather than take our standard 55-mile evaluation drive, which requires crossing two battery-draining mountain ranges, we stuck to a 39-mile route with no more than 800 feet of elevation change.

Starting with a full charge and 81 miles showing on the range display, we set off on the new route, a combination of suburban, city, highway, twisty two-lane, and freeway driving. At the end, we had traveled 39 miles and the Leaf’s display said the car still had 32 more to go. Again, I’m not a mathematical genius, but those numbers don’t add up to 81 miles. Thus, range anxiety.

AAA Offers a New Mobile Charging Service

By now, you get the picture. Chances are a Leaf won’t actually travel 80 miles on a single charge. It is worth noting, however, that AAA offers a brand-new mobile charging service in California, Florida, and Washington.

Some observers claim this helps alleviate range anxiety. It doesn’t. Here’s why.

Initially, just six AAA trucks will be deployed, and a re-charge could take hours with the Leaf SV (the Leaf SL comes with an available quick-charge port). That’s hours after the initial wait for the truck to arrive. Getting flat-bedded to the closest public charging station, which can be found using the Leaf’s navigation system, might be a faster way to go.

Fine. You Get It. Range Anxiety is Real. Move on Already.

The Leaf is equipped with an 80-kilowatt AC synchronous electric motor powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, and total system output is 107 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque. The EPA says the Leaf can deliver a range of 100 miles. Our test car, with more than 2,500 miles on the odometer, never displayed a range number higher than 86 miles. And while that horsepower figure isn’t terribly impressive, especially given the car’s 3,375-pound curb weight, driving a Leaf is a lesson in how torque is a more important number because torque is what gets a vehicle moving and up to speed.

The Leaf is Fun to Drive

Maximum torque is available the moment you step on the Leaf’s accelerator. The electric Nissan leaps off the line, eagerly and energetically getting the car up to and beyond city speeds. In fact, we coaxed a little bit of wheelspin out of our test Leaf when powering out of corners. Merging onto the freeway was not a problem, and the car proved happy to cruise in the left lane at 80 mph, even when climbing 800 feet of elevation into the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Leaf is more than just quick. On the highway, the cabin is almost silent thanks to those bulging headlights, which are designed to channel airflow around the side mirrors to reduce aerodynamic drag and quiet the interior. The suspension behaves like that of a good European car, compliant and almost soft over bad pavement, gently rolling in corners, but surefooted, composed, and communicative at all times. The electric steering feels alive in your hands, and the brake pedal is surprisingly easy to modulate considering the Leaf has regenerative brakes. The only downside to the Leaf’s driving dynamics is how the brakes get grabby when creeping along in stop-and-go traffic.

Comfort and Cargo

Lest you believe that a battery pack big enough to provide an EPA-rated 100 miles of range takes up all the space for people and stuff, a visit to the Nissan dealership is in order.

This is a five-passenger, five-door hatchback and the trunk measures 14.5 cubic-feet, nearly as much as a Honda Accord Sedan. A small stroller fits with plenty of room to spare. Fold the rear seats down, and there’s even more space for your things, though the resulting load floor is not flat because the main trunk is a deep well, like a minivan’s.

For me, the Leaf’s driving position is too low vis-à-vis the dashboard and the thick windshield pillar bases, resulting in hampered visibility. I found myself leaning forward and craning my neck to judge distance and where the front of the car was, which is ridiculous given the amount of headroom and the size of the Leaf’s greenhouse. The problem is that the driver’s seat cushion offers a tilt function to improve thigh support but not a cushion height adjuster to raise the driver higher in the car. That said, I found the seats themselves to be comfortable and the cloth, made from partially recycled materials, to be soft.

The Leaf’s rear seat looks roomy, and for kids it’s terrific. Even adults will find a decent amount of legroom in the Nissan, and passengers are positioned high in the car with a great view out. That’s because the rear seat sits on a raised platform over the battery pack, and that means there’s no room for feet under the front seats, and that translates to a lack of thigh support.

Interior Design is Unusual, But Not Weird

Aside from the “palm shift drive selector,” which is what Nissan calls the stylish little knob on the center console that allows you to choose Park, Drive, and Reverse, the Leaf’s cabin is different but not simply for the sake of being so. Many of the bits and pieces are crafted from partially recycled materials, and everything looks and feels like quality. Traditional hard-key buttons are set into a piano-black center panel that seems to float over the flowing dashboard, surrounding a touchscreen navigation, information and entertainment display.

The main drawback to the Leaf’s cabin is that it is only available in this light gray color, which shows every speck of dirt (but is super awesome for hiding white cat hair, which seems to cover everything my family owns).

Plugging In is Like Powering a 1990s Laptop

If you carried a laptop computer in the 1990s, you remember how clunky and heavy the power cord was, right? The Leaf’s power cord is like that. It stows in a backpack in the trunk, and is easy enough to unravel for charging the car.

To access the power port, pull on the left lever under the dashboard. Whoops. That was the right lever, which popped the hood. Now you need to go to the front of the car, open the hood, slam it shut, and try again. OK. Good. You got the right one on the second try.

Go to the front of the car, and the little door with the Nissan logo should be popped open. Lift the lid, and you’ll see a couple of charge ports on the Leaf SL model equipped with the optional quick charger. The port you want to use with a standard household outlet is on the right as you’re looking at the car.

Open the protective lid, attach the end of the charger that looks like a garden hose nozzle by lining up the pins and holes, and then stick the other end of the charger with the standard three-pronged plug into the outlet.

A display on the charger itself will show if power is flowing to the Leaf’s battery pack. Alternatively, you can check the top of the dashboard, which displays a blue flashing light to indicate that charging is underway. Nissan says a full charge using a standard household outlet takes eight hours, and if you have access to a public charging station, the optional quick charge port on the Leaf SL can provide an 80-percent charge in just 30 minutes.

You Get a $7,500 Tax Credit With Purchase

Buy a new Nissan Leaf, and you can get up to a $7,500 income tax credit for purchasing the car, depending on eligibility requirements. Additionally, through 2011, the federal government is offering a $1,000 income tax credit for installing a 240-volt charger in your garage, which cuts re-charging time in half.

The Vehix View

The Nissan Leaf might not be pretty, but it certainly has its charms. You almost definitely don’t want one as your only mode of transportation, unless you lead a ridiculously predictable life or you have ready access to public charging stations and regular 30-minute blocks of time to spend waiting for the batteries to juice up. But as a second car used for local commuting and errands, it’s fantastic.

Related posts:

1. Full Nissan Leaf Options List Revealed
2. Where Can You Actually Take a Road Trip in a Nissan Leaf?
3. Nissan Leaf Technology Goes Racing
4. Nissan Leaf Races To The Clouds
5. Nissan Leaf Assembled Alongside the Cube and Juke
6. Nissan Leaf Headlights Serve a Purpose
7. Nissan Esflow – A Leaf On Steroids
8. Review – 2011 Chevrolet Volt is a Ready Road Tripper

Tags: 2011 Leaf Review, 2011 Nissan, 2011 Nissan Leaf, 2011 Nissan Leaf Review, electric car, Hatchback, Leaf, Leaf Review, Nissan, nissan leaf, Nissan Leaf Review, zero emission