August 22, 2013

Experiencing the Nissan Leaf

I was given the opportunity to use the Nissan Leaf that is in my employer's car fleet for some travel that I have to do tomorrow.  Curious as to how it would drive compared to a Toyota Prius that is also in the fleet, I went ahead and got a quick training on using it and drove it from where the fleet cars are located to the electrical charging station that we have - a short drive that is maybe a tenth of a mile.

Instead of a key, the fob that also locks and unlocks the car doors is used.  Unlike the Prius, where the fob is inserted into an ignition like you would insert a key, the fob just needs to be nearby (in my case, in one of the drink holders) and then press start.

I'm not too crazy about shifting into reverse, drive, the "eco" mode, and back to park.  Instead of a normal stick, it's more like a flattened knob that you shift to the left and then up or down, depending on what you wanted to do, which then went back into it's original position.  Setting park consists of pushing a button.  The emergency break is a small latch instead of a lever that I am used to in other cars.

Otherwise, it felt like a normal drive.  I'll have to see how I feel about it after a 6 mile round trip tomorrow.

No comments: