Nissan Leaf

[sudarsan]

Hello friends, Please shere your knowledge about Nissan Leaf in Sri lanka.

[Nishan.dj]

Did you go through this link?

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/15422-nissan-leaf-launch-in-sri-lanka/

[tiv]

Resurrecting an almost useless thread to post my views;

As some of the fellow autolankans requested

I'd like to add my humble, non-professional, not entirely scientific review on the Nissan Leaf 2013-2015 G grade

Well to start off with it was acquired by my father after letting go of a 13 year serving CR51, bullet proof reliable vehicle.

Sad moment indeed,

Do note all facts and figures on this post are from October 2015, given the rapid advancement in the industry, figures may change in months.

Before moving on to the car proper, the leaf charges on a 20A circuit, so you need to have a dedicated line with a 32A circuit breaker and 2.5mm 3 Core wiring (250LKR per metre) to power it, also it uses a non-generic NEMA 20 Plug that can take 20A, however these plugs are exploited by local retailers and sold for ridiculous prices.

Also the charging cable (EVSE) itself is costly to replace, as of 2015 - LKR 100,000

Orange electricals produces a 13A Multisocket which so far can withstand this plug mismatch and somehow deliver near 20A with a bit of heat of course.

All in all the wiring will cost LKR 5000 to 15000 depending on your requirements. Charging takes 4-5 hours if your capacity is below 20%

As for fast charging, the current method is a big exploit and thereby I did not inquire or use that service, also the fast charge takes a toll on the drive battery, therefore I am playing it safe.

I am yet to inquire into the Solar net metering system, and the new day/ night charging rate scheme by the government.

Anyways my prime concern of this review and the purchase of this vehicle is not economy, so it ends here.

My facts about the car will be scattered, in this article, as I believe this is how the average Joe would grasp it during a first drive.

On first impressions, the car looked a bit awkwardly styled, but the look does grow on you, It is no ordinary hatchback as the car is in measurement few

mm larger than the average townace, in length and breadth, and is just a few inches smaller than a KDH, Almost sounds jibberish,

Silly fact indeed but you got to keep em side by side to realize this, and this in-turn makes parking an issue too.

Sitting inside, it is indeed very futuristic, with the awkward gear knob, looks copied from a Pruis and a Beamer, it has two displays one for the usual driving data,

and one for the "Lorax" in you, I will not go in depth with the gauges as I do not want this to be a user guide.

The seats are not comfortable, on a long run they do take a toll on your back, however the leg spacing and the cabin is well arranged,

Six footers need no warning thus not at all an average hatchback, the cargo area is also satisfactory, (coming from a guy who hauls his stuff in a pickup)

The interior however is almost entirely plastic, even in its highest grade, UK trims do get rewarded with leather seats though. The door cards are rather thick, well insulated

and leather lined, strangely!

The roof liner is the conventional material pretty much what you get on every Toyota.

The multifunction wheel, is not entirely that useful as the interface is in Japanese, a big fan of its premium leather wrap and small size though.

Coming to the head unit, the thing is completely integrated into the car ECU, thereby making it impossible for an aftermarket upgrade, and almost all the advanced EV options are in Japanese, so pretty much useless, till you get google translator. To date there is no language conversion for the main unit,

the only solution is to replace it with a UK unit. also the unit has a SD card, unique to each car, these cards are stolen during trials and in the harbour, without the Sd card, the entire head unit is useless and needs to be swapped. Otherwise some of the advanced options of the car are never reached. Sadly the cars integrated gps prevents me from setting our local time, locals have plenty of hacks but I prefer to keep this car near stock.

However the smaller displays can be converted to english, but as I mentioned earlier, the mudalalis in the industry are exploiting it with various big quotes.

My dealer installed the language pack FOC, which works brilliantly.

Not a fan of the pedal type handbrake either,

Sitting inside, visibility is rather poor around, and rear visibility is just 25% or less, very poor on Nissan's side, given that its such a well thought after car

First drive, the amazing silence, thats what gets you, the car is equipped with a flimsy horn, city horn as Nissan puts it, I am awaiting a high efficiency set from Hella which will go in this weekend, deal is with that silence, you gotta be hooting at everyone you see as no one notices it coming and any given speed. Same goes with animals on the roads.

The built in fake sound producing device cuts off after a certain speed, ( 30kmph) and even when its in action it is not convincing enough.

The steering is amazingly light, almost zero road feel though but very fast responding, and the turning circle is very good, drawing back to its city car roots,

The handling is very tight, almost zero body roll, but the car feels heavy ( approx 1500kg unladen),

The car is comfortable, the suspension landing somewhere between soft and hard, but the 17" rims and low profile tyre with 36PSI helps me to count the road grain well.

potholes are an utter disaster, road noise is very apparent, but given the lack of engine noise, you can't blame em

So in the not-so-famed eco mode, the car can range around 215km, provided you drive like you were on the license trial, but if you thrash it around mildly, you can tange 180, But once the eco mode is gone, and heavy thrashing you can do roughly 150km tops. ( all in a full charge that is)

Again, getting rid of eco and B mode (engine breaking), it pulls very well, pretty much amazing even to the race car driver, mostly due to the fact that the motor (actually motor!) has a lot of torque compared to HP, All in all a very nippy car, the thing has traction control, and with it off, you can actually wheelspin of the lights!

The the instant torque of the motor makes it an absolute nightmare climbing slippery hills, only way is to feather the throttle and hope it crawls through, a well paved hilly road is an absolute joy as it has so much grunt,

the artficial engine braking and regen system makes descent very easy,

the car has disc brakes all around making it stop very well, but I feel that the regen system does most of the decelleration, and the discs kick in only in an abrupt stop.

The VSC does kick in if you push the car hard on slippery roads cutting power off the motor. the brakes seem to be operated by a motorized vacuum servo.

The aircon is pretty much comparable to conventional cars with climate control of course, the integrated bose sound system is of course lovely and has the option to alter

in volume as the road noise varies. Steering controls and bluetooth work very well. The oem reverse camera is absolutely useless, even with its telematics nonsense.

Under the hood the main thing you can see is the charging apparatus, the motor is neately tucked away underneath. The only fluids that need attention/ topup are coolant

(Yes it has a radiator to cool the internals and It has blue coolant!), brake fluid and wiper washer fluid. The car has standard fuses and relays. Other than the Drive train, everything else including lighting, stereo,

aircon and other ancillaries are all run by a 12v system which leaches from the drive battery and is also trickle charged by the solar panel.

The headlamps are equipped with pretty LEDs for low beam and the tail lights are LED too, the high beams are halogen and pretty much everything in the lighting department

are standard bulbs found in other cars ( guess whos buying LEDs)

The car has very good ground clearance, comparable to a vezel, so you won't be rubbing the road everywhere you go.

I've pretty much covered about 300km+ on the thing including two 120km trips, the car never ran out of charge. and the range anxiety never hit me, but I did drive sensibly,

between 40-70kmph and about 120kmph max in an overtake (stupid I know, new car blues took over) . Its an absolute joy in the highway as in cruise control, it lost only 1% charge in the katunayake expressway. The fun part is, the lack of noise in that speed, reminds me of an electric train.

Also did a few runs around hill stations and always managed home to charge.

When the battery hits near-reserve level, some Japanese woman starts blaring god-knows-what through your speakers, which puts the fear of god in you.

There is one forum up already with a handful of members, and pretty much a load of facebook 'clubs' for leaf owners. they do share a wealth of information but need guidance to get a proper club together.

So at the end of the day, it is a rather satisfactory automobile,

Its not the replacement for your trusty corolla, but pretty much it is what your corolla will become someday,

I could call it my very own time capsule.

Apologies if it was too long though

Edited October 10, 2015 by tiv

[Magnum]

Pretty cool review, any idea if it requires special services? and how much do they charge for those fast charging?

[Nishan.dj]

One of a best review I have ever read on the forum.

Have you travelled to kandy in your trips ?

[Ruslan]

Nice write up? One question, did you considered the e-Golf when you buying this?

[pug306xsi]

36psi on 17's you must be having a nice body massage:) what's the profile?

Nice write up. Thanks

[terrabytetango]

Nice review. IMO, the leaf is a fantastic car for what it does, I'm srsly considering getting one next year, if prices remain more or less the same.

[tiv]

  On 10/10/2015 at 5:13 PM, Magnum said:

Pretty cool review, any idea if it requires special services? and how much do they charge for those fast charging?

The whole fast charging scene and related institutions are in a

Tug o war at the moment, so far only one place has a unit running,

I read on the forums they require a membership and then it's some LKR 2000 per charge,

But I am not sure as my in-house charging system is sufficient for my commute

As for the services, it has running gear similar to a normal car beyond the reduction gear ( alternative for the gearbox )

Also the suspension is similar to a conventional car, these need to be addressed when issues come along,

The service manual has step by step maintainance procedures every 5000 km, the only major one I recall was

The aircon system service, but these intervals may change according to conditions in our country.

Again, nothing major

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[tiv]

  On 10/10/2015 at 7:00 PM, Nishan.dj said:

One of a best review I have ever read on the forum.

Have you travelled to kandy in your trips ?

Yes I made two trips, I also had the dealer demonstrate a trip for me in another demo car, easily achieved, but the kadugannawa climb takes about 20% of the battery though. You'll still have 40+Km range left when you reach Kandy.

Going to colombo, u ll have 50% battery left with minimum 80km of range

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[tiv]

  On 10/11/2015 at 4:09 AM, Ruslan said:

Nice write up? One question, did you considered the e-Golf when you buying this?

Yes I did consider this, my dad went for the leaf purely based on the sheer volume of good reviews on the car, also the current

Model has been revised from day to day issues.

Since Volkswagen is just testing waters, we decided to stick to the leaf,

Also did some comprehensive fact finding into the BMW i3, in fact we were more into the i3,

other than it's cute Angry Puppy styling, it has the same range, the car is a bit wider, a bit brisk to Accelerate, all in all they are quite similar. The thin tyre was a bit of a buzz kill, along with the suicide doors, the interior is very nice but the boot space was not convincing,

Again solely made the decision on reviews,

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[tiv]

  On 10/11/2015 at 6:23 AM, pug306xsi said:

36psi on 17's you must be having a nice body massage:) what's the profile?

Nice write up. Thanks

215/50R17, Bridgestone ecopias

the width of the tyre works well for me,

Considering on lowering to 30psi to my spine sake, but need to consult a

Proper tyre guy, please do advice..

The lower grades come with 205/55R16 making them

A bit more usable, but with steel wheels.

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[tiv]

  On 10/11/2015 at 6:29 AM, terrabytetango said:

Nice review. IMO, the leaf is a fantastic car for what it does, I'm srsly considering getting one next year, if prices remain more or less the same.

So far the leaf has not been caught in the current tax trends, but the forex matters have already

Made a 1-2 lakh change in prices along the range.

Yes it's a game changer of a car, no matter how much we object

This is the future.

Sorry about the multiple replies; can't seem get the multi quote working on mobile

Any tips?

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[Sierra Charlie]

Tiv, thanks for a very sensible review after aeons. looking forward to read more. I parked next to a Leaf the other day. Despite how it looks, it's actually a large car. Didn't realise it until I actually managed to have a closer look like that. Had 16" wheels like you said.

What's the sort of electricity bill you guys are looking at after the addition of the Leaf?

[pug306xsi]

I am on the same size on 17's and 29 psi. still the ride is stiff on rough roads than my previous set up.

be careful for pot holes on 36psi .

[pug306xsi]

sorry - double post

Edited October 12, 2015 by pug306xsi

[tiv]

  On 10/12/2015 at 3:47 AM, Sierra Charlie said:

Tiv, thanks for a very sensible review after aeons. looking forward to read more. I parked next to a Leaf the other day. Despite how it looks, it's actually a large car. Didn't realise it until I actually managed to have a closer look like that. Had 16" wheels like you said.

What's the sort of electricity bill you guys are looking at after the addition of the Leaf?

Well after going through the Leaf forums of Sri lanka, I am expecting a gain of about 10000LKR , deal is I don't use it everyday for a month, so my values may not be accurate if one is intending to purchase this as a primary vehicle.

A very nice gentlemen whom I met due to the ownership of the leaf said that he only gets a bill of 3000-4000 additional for the car, and that is his daily runner.

Besides in the hills, we don't have a dire need to run aircons in the house so the bills are pretty much the usual small sum, any changes from the leaf will show a marked increase.

So I have wait till the bill comes for a solid number

  On 10/12/2015 at 3:49 AM, pug306xsi said:

I am on the same size on 17's and 29 psi. still the ride is stiff on rough roads than my previous set up.

be careful for pot holes on 36psi .

The car is very stable, and has very good suspension travel, cushions bumps with ease, the I guess the profile ruins it all.

Edited October 12, 2015 by tiv

[tiv]

To further add to my review, an interesting experience I had minutes ago,

Insane downpour today in my locality and upon returning from a minor commute, I decided to overtake this bus, twisty road of course, heavy pour

In a rather inattentive manner I just floored it, muscle memory from the hilux I guess, The car did its usual thing whirring it in to pace, but to my horror the thing broke traction halfway and went into a severe skid,

I was in the oncoming lane almost sideways with traffic and to my amazement the ESP sorta totally locked the right wheels getting the car in track in a whip like manner which pushed me towards the bus, but luckily he slowed down in time and I managed to swoop back into my lane in front of him,

So after many, "nooleng beruna neda" , "parissamin yanna sir" and "himeeta yanna putha" s

I made it home, so far no damages on flashight, but I'm yet to see what sunlight will reveal on the car. Btw its a new car thus tyres at 98% probably 34PSI

So my point is, be very careful with EVs as this, as that burst in acceleration tends to break traction in bad weather / poor grip situations, be it ESP or some god given program, if the window is to narrow or the minute delay in the program can send you to a certain doom along with others. So don't count on it fully.

Therefore please be careful.

Thanks

Edited October 20, 2015 by tiv

[hrm]

Good to hear you are safe. So the point is you should not floor it when road is wet ?

[tiv]

  On 10/21/2015 at 3:46 AM, hrm said:

Good to hear you are safe. So the point is you should not floor it when road is wet ?

Yes, I hope a member with a UK leaf would translate the messages the Japanese woman bloats when the traction control works!

[Devinda_Z]

Good one TIV!

Nice to see a local perspective in our conditions

How many units do you reckon it consumes for a full charge on a domestic electricity connection?

[tiv]

Thanks a lot

21 Units from flat from local sources, I've never pushed below 20% so I get around 10-14 units per charge, Roughly 3 hours

awaiting bills though

[pug306xsi]

Say if you charge a lot wont your price slabs on the electricity go up? So the units to charge the car towards the end of the month or if you go over certain slabs will be at a higher cost right?

[tiv]

AFAIK the highest slab is at 45rs,

And anyways my domestic usage is way above that slab scheme, so i'm sure the rate will have crossed over to the highest slab when I plug the car.

Plenty of announced incentives from the CEB via media, except that when asked from my local station, they have no clue whatsoever

[tiv]

So the bills just came in from the 3 premises that I charged my vehicle in, approx mileage since purchase 2000km

Venue A- 102 units

Venue B- 132 units

Venue C- 58 units

------------------------

Total - 292 units for 2000km

Please do the math as I do not want this post to look like a Prius Insight Leaf PHEV Aqua type of thelhiganna thread, and for it to show up on

thel higanna search columns

Edited November 7, 2015 by tiv