Review of 3 months Leaf Ownership

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Rory166
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Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 7:45 am
Location: Norwich, UK

Review of 3 months Leaf Ownership

Postby Rory166 » Wed Aug 20, 2014 8:40 am

Hi All

Just blogging a few random thoughts.

Touch wood the car has been 100% reliable.
I have never run out of Juice.
There are issues with my operation of the menu system and controls, whether more thorough reading of the manual would help I am not sure. It seems the Visia Model which I have may have been developed as a hurried afterthought and not too much research done on making the control system user friendly. The charging timer system has caused considerable difficulty.

The only feature of the higher models I would really like is the reverse cycle aircon. Have yet to experience winter so not yet an actual issue of course.

Rapid charging is an essential feature in my opinion and I have yet to see a car without it even though supposedly an option in the Visia. It is the rapid feature which makes these cars so much more than any previous generation. The performance on the road is fantastic and always seems to have more available than you can legally use.

There are reports of brake grabbing from other owners but I have not experienced this. Maybee 2500 miles is not enough yet for this to occur. Some say that a firm application of the brakes at the start of the day reduces the problem. It may be that the main use of regenerative braking causes the discs and pads to suffer degradation through lack of use?

The driving method is not what we are used to in the uk. The handbrake is a foot pedal and I cannot comfortably use it at traffic lights so end up with foot on brake, this of course operates brake lights which must annoy those behind. Any other method is just too cumbersome for me, any other users found a solution. The electric park switch could be a solution but I find reselecting drive too slow and cannot see the display through the steering wheel.

If electric cars had been this good from the start I suspect everyone would be driving them. Certainly for social domestic and pleasure use it is superb. The free to use rapid network is great and part of me hopes not too many cars are sold or that will soon get over busy.

Rory
Electric Seicento conversion, Leaf

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