This weekend, I drove a Nissan LEAF at one of the Nissan promo events. Very nice car. Some people even like the styling. I don't.
Compared to other $32,000 cars, the LEAF is a bargain, offering a level of cool factor, gee-gaws and doo-dads, exclusivity, quiet, and smoothness in power delivery that is unmatched by any other car in that price range. In my state, you get the federal $7500 tax credit plus a state $5000 rebate, making the car a steal. But even without the incentives, the LEAF is a good deal. An Audi A4 in basic trim is about the same price and size, so makes for a good comparison.
The LEAF, at least for the time being, scores far higher on the cool scale: An Audi does not turn heads, does not stimulate any conversation about your car, and does not have as many things to play with on the instrument panel. As soon as you spend more for a new car than the $16,000 for a Honda Civic, every dollar you spend is just buying you more cool factor, perhaps assuaging you insecurities, and might be helping you consume less energy (a la the Prius or LEAF). If car buying were a rational activity, a person comparing a Civic with an Audi A4 would have to go for the Civic: it will cost far less to own, will be more reliable, will use less fuel, etc etc. The advantages of the Audi are very subtle: they are noteworthy for their driving feel and responsiveness, and they are less commonplace than a Civic – you are a little less likely to see yourself coming and going. The advantages of the LEAF over the Civic (and over the Audi) are dramatic.
You can pre-warm your LEAF interior by using by using a cell phone app. You can also use your cell phone to remotely check on charge status, to start up the charger at a particular time (typically when the rates drop), or to remind you to plug it in, if you forgot to do so. In my state, the overnight rate for charging is $.05 per kWh, so the LEAF costs about 1.5 cents per mile to fuel. Very few Audi drivers keep their cars for 10 years, and this will probably be true for the LEAF as well. So there is no need to amortize the cost of battery replacement, any more that you amortize the cost of engine and transmission replacement in the Audi. At $3.00 per gallon, the Audi cost about 12 cents per mile.
The LEAF will cause remote CO2 generation of about 3.5 tons per year (assuming the grid average sources), the Audi about 7.5 tons.
Driving the LEAF is unremarkable, other than having unusually good torque and smooth, quite power delivery. You just get in it and drive, like any other car. The "shifter" is unusually easy to use, and an extra flick of the lever (mounted where a typical console-mounted or shifter would be) will toggle between economy and regular modes. "Starting" does not require a key, an arrangement becoming more common with cars in general.
Interior volume is the same as the AUDI, but cargo volume is much larger.
Refueling is a huge advantage over a gasoline car: takes about 15 seconds to plug in each night.
Range is far more than most people can use. 100 miles per day is 36,500 miles per year – it is a very rare driver who drives that much. It's not the car for a traveling salesman, etc., but for general around town suburban use it is hard to beat.
It's also not a car for die-hard cheapskates and environmentalists, or for people who value simplicity over gee-gaws, but for those folks, there is my avatar vehicle.
Nissan LEAF Test Drive
Re: Nissan LEAF Test Drive
