Nissan Leaf (2011 - 2018) Tekna 30kW 5d Auto Owner Review

I’ve owned this Leaf for four years & would never go back to petrol or diesel.
It’s a superb, cheap, green, quiet city car. Super reliable, smooth to drive & even manages to zip along fast when you need it.

The auto v manual thing:
REALLY ! Is it a thing? This car has no gears .. you just out your foot down and it goes. It’s so much easier than manual gears or even a good auto.

Range anxiety / battery health:
My car is 8 yrs old and 51k miles. Battery health is about 83% .. like all rechargeable batteries it loses charge over time. treat it like a city car for commuting, school runs, shopping etc and you’ll still get 100miles per charge … how often do you do more than 100 miles in a day?? It loves stop-start traffic jams!
DO NOT use this model for regular long motorway drives, as these cars use more power the faster you go … and so you’ll only get 75 miles range at 70mph.

TOP TIPS:
Charging at commercial fuel stations is quite expensive (70p a kWh) - to get the best economy trickle charge at home on Octopus night time power (9p a kWh). I can do 100 miles for about £2.50 …. A 55mpg 1.6 diesel costs about £12 per 100miles.

Go for top of range model Tekna … included heated steering wheel & all seats. 360 degree camera for parking.

There’s a basic app which lets you check charge level, stop or start charging & must important starts heating the car remotely !

Inside: more room than a VW Golf. Leather seats. Good visibility.

Slightly strange thing is this car has a foot operated parking brake. Strange given all the other tech. But it’s very easy and you soon get used to it.

Driving modes: B or D?
I don’t know … B makes more use of regenerating electricity as you brake … one note us that means you don’t need to brake so often at slow speeds, as the car slows itself when you take foot off the power - this means front brake discs don’t get scoured clean by braking as much, so mine needed replacing at 50,000 miles. On the other hand a normal car would wear out the brakes & need replacing anyway.

Servicing costs :
Very very low …my last MoT and full service was £140 … the garage almost could not think of what to do for a service…. There’s no oil sump, no gear box, no clutch, no exhaust system, no radiator and leaky pipes. No starter motor or spark plugs. So very little to go wrong.
In fact if you see how simple an electric motor is compared to all those moving parts in a petrol /diesel motor … no wonder ICE cars break down so much. Cylinder heads, crank shafts, valves, cams, etc etc

Rant over … electric is the way to go !