Leaf: a preliminary review

"Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
02/24/2020 at 10:48 • Filed to: None

One commute in the books, and I love it.

How did I get here? The first car I purchased after my hand me down Subaru Legacy was a 2005 Cooper S. That cemented the enthusiast in me, and introduced me to autocross. I traded that at 98k miles for a MKVI GTI with DSG. I never loved it, and only autocrossed it once or twice. It was in constant need of repair, and when my wife (of Camry and CR-V ownership) asked “why are we constantly dumping money into this thing?”, I had no answer. But I did have two kids. So I did the responsible thing and comprised. 2016 Civic with NA motor and a 6 speed manual. 40 mpg highway, real manual, a little bit of fun when I wanted it to be. But I never loved it either, and one day my wife suggested picking up a cheap Miata. After a year and a half of Miata ownership, I began to realize the comprised commuter was no longer necessary. And that 40mpg was an impossible feat in DC traffic. And the clutch dictated a seating position that killed legroom for the kid behind me. And that the car held it’s value pretty well. And that if I needed more than 100 miles of range, and my wife’s pilot wasn’t an option than I had the Miata, or the Tundra. And my commute is 54 miles round trip.

We were able to negotiate the purchase price and trade in within$500 dollars of each other. The leaf has 7000 fewer miles, and 3 additional years of bumper to bumper warranty, and battery coverage to 100000 or 2026.

How does it drive? As a commuter: amazing. It is so quiet. A normal talking volume is too loud. Without the engine to talk over, you realize you’re trapped in a small glass and metal box with another person, and really, you’re kind of shouting. It’s just tire and wind. So quiet.

The drive is adjustable in two ways, yielding four different combinations. Eco mode deadens throttle response, encouraging you to take it easy. B mode increase regenerative braking, turning into a one pedal car in traffic. So, stop and go or city driving would be Eco+ B, where open road would be no Eco, no B. Each selection makes a noticable difference.

Also making a noticable difference is climate control. Turn it on , and get a message letting you know you lost about 7 miles of range. But it’s got heated seats and heated steering wheel, so maybe leave that off anyway. It’s a pretty good guilt trip.

The car is comfortable. It’s the same year as my Civic, but retailed for twice the price, so it’s definitely an upgrade for me. Visibility great. Tech is also an improvement, even if a current Tesla or Bolt owner would look down their noses at it.

Now I just have to manage a charger install at the house. One quote came it at just under a grand for the circuit and outlet. But my neighbor up the street has one, and he installed the circuit and charger himself, along with a whole house surge protector. He seems to know what he’s doing and offered to help. Not sure if I’m willing to DIY a car charger though.

What do you want to know?

DISCUSSION (40)

For Sweden > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 11:23

Is the plural Leafs or Leaves?

someassemblyrequired > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 11:24

What? 54 mile commute? In DC? I’d lose it. I can barely deal with mid-day errand run traffic .

Hell has a better road network, and much more polite and courteous drivers than DC .

Cash Rewards > For Sweden
02/24/2020 at 11:24

That and the plural of Lexus: the automotive enigmas of our time

For Sweden > someassemblyrequired
02/24/2020 at 11:24

Shouldn’t everyone in the swamp commute in fan boats?

Cash Rewards > someassemblyrequired
02/24/2020 at 11:26

27 each way. I flew for work recently out of BWI and drove past the office at about 3:30 in the morning, and it took me about 25 minutes to get there. During work hours in 50 on a good day, hour and a quarter on bad days. I began to see the value of comfort and efficiency

someassemblyrequired > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 11:32

Ugh, it’s brutal that there’s no real public transit options from Fairfax County to the Maryland burbs. I wish they’d get their act together and run Metro in the median of 495 all the way around.

someassemblyrequired > For Sweden
02/24/2020 at 11:34

I endorse this plan. All those fans would also provide a nice cooling effect as well.

I hug my air conditioner every day and tell it what an important part of the family it is.

Cash Rewards > someassemblyrequired
02/24/2020 at 11:38

They’re having issues enough widening for HOV lanes in MD like they said they were going to. Now you want to run a metro line too? Never gonna happen, as much as it would improve literally everything . They’d have to bulldoze either that golf course or the Mormon church. LOL to both

EL_ULY > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 11:49

I am considering getting one and I believe you helped me out with this topic before on the FP on a comment wanting to know about est Range vs Actual mileage.

I have a 240V plug already installed in the garage which is a huge plus.

Only 42 miles to work but it takes 2 hours on avg because of traffic. So if the range there says 200, will it go down to 158 when I get to work under normal climate control/radio conditions or will it go down to 80-90 range?

If it did show 80-90 range, my commute home is sometimes worse!

So on a full charge, can I make my 84 mile/ 4 hour daily track to work and back home?

someassemblyrequired > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 11:50

I have learned in my short time here the best way to achieve something in DC is to start with an entirely unreasonable demand and maintain that position until your opponent makes meaningful concessions.

Therefore, we should bulldoze Maryland in its entirety, for the children of course.

Cash Rewards > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 12:21

I'll keep track as I commute and update accordingly. Supposedly very little draw at standstill. If real stop and go, Regen can greatly recover charge and range. Also, 2016 forward, SL or SV trim have a higher capacity battery. All I know at the moment

Cash Rewards > someassemblyrequired
02/24/2020 at 12:21

I fully endorse this plan

facw > someassemblyrequired
02/24/2020 at 12:28

Well Maryland is sort of getting that with the P urple L ine I guess? So now you just need to convince them to extend that across the Potomac? Or don’t live and work on different sides of a major city?

facw > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 12:30

Obviously the solution is to convince your employer to add chargers at work. I mean they’ll need them for SF90 Stradale anyway right?

Cash Rewards > facw
02/24/2020 at 12:39

In reality, the city isn’t the issue. Traffic through it sucks, but it’s more an issue of geography. The Potomac is a decent sized river, and needs to be crossed to leave or enter Virginia. There are only 4 decent sized crossings: each side of the beltway, the 14th Street bridge, and the memorial bridge. They made one beltway crossing bigger, and Virginia increased lanes from there to the other crossing. Maryland, until recently, refused to do anything about that crossing or the section of road from the crossing to the next two major interstate intersections. But choke down one section of a continuous circular road....

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 12:41

I think what really eats range is high speed, highway driving; aerodynamic drag goes up and you’re not getting regular regen braking.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 12:44

Congrats, and as a current Bolt lessee definitely not looking down on you. Those things are a great bargain - and you got one with tons of warranty coverage, so pay no attention to all those battery doomsdayers.

It’s amazing how easy an EV is to own and commute in...and so cheap to maintain.

How slowly does it charge? I guess with 50+ miles a day you can’t get by with just a regular outlet...that’s what I do but my commute is 25 miles round trip and of course have plenty of range beyond that for it to not be an issue.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > For Sweden
02/24/2020 at 12:45

It’s a proper noun, so Leafs?

Dammit, I’m the snob now, aren’t I?

For Sweden > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
02/24/2020 at 12:46

Are leafs proper though?

AlfaCorse > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 13:02

Stop and go traffic is more efficient than high speed highway driving for electric cars. In my experience, I would estimate that you wouldn’t really lose much efficiency/range compared to high speed highway driving with vs stop and go on the same route, even accounting for the extra time that the radio/climate control is on . You would possibly even be more efficient with the stop and go driving in ideal conditions (outside temperature around 70) . Also the ones that I have experience with are pretty good at accurately showing your range considering these all these factors.

The best case scenario for EV range seems to be low speed/stop and go with mild temperatures where you only use the fan or only a little AC

Worst case is high speed highway driving with winter temperatures and a lot of use of cabin heating. The heater takes a much larger hit on range than the AC.

facw > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 13:11

Personally think they should extend the ICC to 28 in Virginia, though that might be too far out to help people unless they want to get to Dulles from Maryland.

I don’t think there are too many other good spots for crossing though. Maybe you extend Cabin John Pa rkway across to the GW to relieve traffic on the Beltway bridge, and give a slightly more direct route onto the GW from MD (and vice versa)?

Cash Rewards > facw
02/24/2020 at 13:31

I don’t know. The idea of a more northerly crossing had supposedly been debunked by traffic studies. But then traffic studies say adding lanes ultimately does nothing either. But for me to metro from one end of DC to the other is 10-15 dollars, where less than 3 gets me from Staten island to the Bronx in New York (or anywhere in NYC to anywhere else in NYC). Transportation in DC is so thoroughly fucked

Cash Rewards > For Sweden
02/24/2020 at 13:31

Ask leaf Erikson

For Sweden > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 13:33

The Norwegian ? Gross

someassemblyrequired > facw
02/24/2020 at 13:50

Yeah, ish. Public transit within Northern VA is terrible. There really needs to be a branch that runs from Springfield (or National Airport) through Vienna to Tysons Corner at least. No real north/south public transit options, and most Metro commutes require traveling all the way into DC. .

Problem with not living/working in the same location is that most DC jobs require you to go to places all over the city. Very few are in one place. Luckily for me I commute from one side of my house to the other, but most aren’t as lucky.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 13:56

Congratulations. My MK6 GTI had a lot of expensive problems too. When the timing chain jumped on my wife 3 hours from home we just left it at the dealer she limped it to. Test drove a Bolt and really liked it but a little too expensive and dealer experience was awful. Ended up with a used Volvo, for primary kid duties. Someday when the MINI retires it will be replaced either with another manual MINI or something electric for sure.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 14:22

How’s the range?

There's one Leaf in my town. They manage something like a 60 km commute (each way), and seem very happy with it.

Cash Rewards > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
02/24/2020 at 14:34

Working out the charging situation. It didn’t have the charger when we left, and they weren’t sure it got traded in with one. They just got back and said it doesn’t have one. We are negotiating that, as we don’t have a level 2 charger installed at the house yet. So I’m stopping by Target or whole foods to charge, which is fine since I commute every other day.

Cash Rewards > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/24/2020 at 14:35

Theoretically 110, but I've lost 1/12 of capacity, so 100 or so? Not sure yet. I'll push it gradually

Cash Rewards > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
02/24/2020 at 14:36

Everyone loves the mkvii, but damn those mkvi sucked. Enough that it out me off the brand, for sure

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 14:42

It was a nice car, but clutch, turbo, intake manifold and timing chain woes probably including valve damage all before 85k does not inspire confidence. And I didn’t even have the rear main seal or PCV problems yet.

Cash Rewards > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
02/24/2020 at 15:13

Those last two where what got me to throw in the towel. And we hadn't even committed to getting rid of the direct injection deposits

EL_ULY > AlfaCorse
02/24/2020 at 15:49

oh ok good. I never reach 40mph the entire trip either way. I really appreciate the info and Leaf is now on the top of my list. Are the seats comfy?

EL_ULY > Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle
02/24/2020 at 15:49

Very good to know since 40mph is very rare the entire time

EL_ULY > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 15:50

oh ok that’s a good tip for model year bump. Much appreciated!

Cash Rewards > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 16:08

Much more so than my Civic. Tons of head room, great visibility

EL_ULY > facw
02/24/2020 at 16:08

The ones we use for LaFerrari are portable. It’s like an oversized batt tender.

Kinja'd!!!

AlfaCorse > EL_ULY
02/24/2020 at 16:33

I don’t have too much seat time in a Leaf, only test drove a couple a few years ago. I remember the seat feeling pretty good, nothing remarkable though. I mostly have driven the Spark EV and Bolt EV about 30k miles each, and a Fiat 500e about 10k miles. And maybe a few hundred in Teslas.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Cash Rewards
02/24/2020 at 19:11

Massive knock on wood but my MINI is at 93k and has had exactly none of those problems. I had a minor coolant leak fixed recently and that’s the only thing I’ve spent on it apart from normal maintenance since warranty end. I’m getting a little paranoid though and thinking of taking it to the noted MINI specialist nearby for a thorough checkup.

Cash Rewards > MiniGTI - now with XJ6
02/24/2020 at 20:07

My r53 was bulletproof. Autocrossed regularly, 98k miles, only check engine light was for 02 sensor at the top of Pikes Peak. No issue, just confused