10 things Nissan should change about LEAF

leaf-back
My 2014 Nissan LEAF has 14,000 miles on it, all of them Sun Miles šŸ™‚

editors-blog-entry3

I’ve driven my 2014 LEAF SV 14,000 miles in Colorado, USA, all of these miles solar-charged šŸ™‚ via my home’s 5.6 kW solar system. Generally, I’m quite happy with my LEAF.

That noted, here are 10 things I’d change/add for the next generation LEAF –>

1) More Range. My LEAF is my ONLY car, and I’ve twice run out of charge, both times in very cold temperatures. I need 180 miles at 15 degrees fahrenheit, 65 mph on highway with the heat on. Are you listening, Nissan?

nissan-li-ion-battery12) Offer different size battery packs. While I need 180 miles of range, and probably something like a 48 kWh pack, because the LEAF is my only car, others have a second or third gas car in their garage and don’t need such a big pack. Let me choose the bigger pack and pay more. Let others choose a smaller pack and pay less.

leaf-ugly-front3) Looks. The LEAF looks great from behind, horribly “eggy” from the side, and goofy from the front. Keep the rear design/look, change the rest!

4) Make the LEAF quicker. Maybe it’s asking for too much, but I want BMW i3-like acceleration in the LEAF. The LEAF is quicker than 95 percent of people would expect, and is great from 15 to 50 m.p.h. — but it needs more pep from 0 to 15 m.p.h.!

5) Improve paint job/quality.At least on my black LEAF (I wish I had a blue one), the paint is really cheesy, and has degenerated way more quickly than I would have expected, or would like.

leaf-cayenne2

6) More color choices. Silver, white, grey, black — all BORING (I leased a black one because I got a special deal on it). Add purple, dark blue, yellow, bright red, metallic green, metallic orange etc. EVs are special cars and people who buy them want them to stick out!

7) Add a windshield fluid sprayer for rear wiper blade. I cannot believe the LEAF does not have this feature. VERY annoying!

tesla-navigation8) Fix braking in winter/cold issues: I don’t know what it is but there is something weird about braking in snow/cold. Sometimes the brakes don’t kick in the way I expect, which can be scary, and sometimes they grab too much. And I’ve read about others who have the same problem. Fix this, Nissan!

9) A Tesla like LCD navigation/radio, etc. interface screen. I appreciate having a navigation screen, with traffic (with Sirius/XM), etc., but I hate the current touch interaction, which is clunky and non-intuitive. The screen also doesn’t look very good. Finally, too often, street names are not visible, even when zoomed in close.

10) Eliminate shuddering noise with windows open. I suppose it has to do with external aerodynamic design and a lower drag coefficient, but I can’t open the windows in the back of my LEAF without experiencing an ear popping shuddering noise. So, basically, my kids can’t open the windows in the back. Dumb.

Related articles–>