Nissan Leaf first test drive

6th August 2010 - I had the opportunity for a Nissan Leaf first test drive. Nissan are launching their first electric car, the LEAF, later on this year. Probably the most important of all the new generation of electric cars, the LEAF is a Ford Focus-sized family hatchback. First UK customers will be getting their cars next March.

Being the author of an electric car book has its benefits, and one of them is the chance to try out electric cars before they are launched. Along with a handful of others, I was given the opportunity to drive the LEAF at the end of July. Whilst I only had the car for around 1½ hours, it was enough to get a good first impression of the car.

The styling is very much ‘love it or hate it’. There is no doubt that the car is very distinctive and it looks better in the flesh than the photographs show.

Earlier this year I drove one of the development mules that Nissan have been using and after that test I was concerned that the car could be dull to drive. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. It’s certainly not a sports car, but it handles nicely, accelerates well and is generally a very entertaining car to drive. The car has very little body roll and rides nicely over pot-holes. Suspension is firm but absorbs the bumps well and gives a good ride. When pushed, the car under-steered slightly under heavy acceleration, but responded well to sudden changes of direction (as if swerving to avoid an obstacle), helped in part to the lack of body roll.

Steering is lightweight and the ultra-smooth electric drivetrain makes driving the car utterly effortless. There is plenty of power in the car and we drove at speeds of up to 70mph quite happily with the car still pulling well on acceleration. Top speed is supposed to be 90mph. Low and mid range acceleration is very good, as you would expect from an electric motor, with strong torque when pulling away. Accelerating above 65mph with four people in the car is maybe feels slightly sluggish, but is still perfectly acceptable and no worse than a lot smaller engined petrol cars.

The interior of the Nissan LEAF electric car. The controls are very easy to use and understand. There are quite a few gadgets and gimmicks to play with if you want to, but if you’re not interested in any of that, you can just get in and drive. You don’t need to know what they all do and they don’t get in the way of the car.

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