Any thoughts on the Nissan Leaf?

[BusyCee]

Soon to have DC3 and need a new car. Very rarely travel further than 50 miles. Quite interested in reduced emissions.

Hi

Whilst we thought the Leaf is great, we bought a Nissan e-NV200 for our 3DC. Its a Leaf in tall clothing, with sliding doors and massive room inside.

For our London life of school runs, playdates and sports it is absolutely perfect; its no bigger than a Focus, but the boot space is HUGE and sliding doors are just the best thing ever.
We can put our Urban Detour 3 wheeler buggy in the back without collapsing it. All 3 DC bikes fit in the back with no problem at all

We can get about 80 miles out of it between charges, which is a bit less than the Leaf.
When visiting friends and family we can just plug in and charge at their's, and IKEA fast chargers are great for a quick top up. We've not run out of juice yet...

We had a quicker charger installed at our house, which cost about 100.

The only problem is that there is not a 7 seat version, but according to the dealer Nissan will be putting one on sale later this year...at which point we may well trade ours in!

We do have another car as well for really long runs, but we know other electric car drivers that just use Streetcar or other day hire place for their rare longer journeys.

Thanks Geeky - great answer

No problem

With these sort of things and when buying new, I would really push the dealer to let you have a 24hr/48hr/long weekend test drive to see if it works for you.

We have had a couple of 'range anxiety' moments on the way home after a day out, but you get used to it after a while - you can learn the cars capabilities and don't feel restricted by them.

Around town its perfect - no clutch, no gearchange and no loud reving engine of an automatic while you wait for it to change gear.

Hope this helps