  2012 Nissan Leaf SL. Click image to enlarge |
Given how difficult it can be to figure out the information and navigation systems on many new vehicles, I expected the tech-heavy Leaf to have an equally tech-heavy interface. To my surprise, everything was extremely intuitive, and even though I didn’t have a full owner’s manual, I quickly figured out everything within the touch-screen, which includes energy information, charging and climate control timers, driving history and the closest public charging stations (of which there are very few right now, of course).
Get in, push the starter button and the Leaf comes to life, accompanied by a little electronic tune. The gearshift lever is an odd little saucer-shaped knob on the centre console, which you push up for Reverse, sideways for Neutral, and down for Drive or into Eco mode, which sharply restricts the throttle response. A button in the centre puts the single-speed transmission into Park. Once you’re in Drive or Eco, you simply press your foot down and away you go.
It’s a compliment to say that the Leaf doesn’t feel much different than driving pretty much any other compact hatch. It’s rated for 107 horsepower and 207 lb.-ft. of torque, and since electric motors make their power right from the start – unlike a gasoline engine, which has to rev up – it’s right there when you need it. The steering is light but feels quite good, the heavy battery plants it firmly, and it’s actually a lot of fun to drive. About the only thing that feels unconventional are the brakes, which can be grabby, and which have that odd-pedal feel that was common on the early hybrid models. The seats are very comfortable, which was appreciated but almost seems strange, given that many gasoline cars that’ll go 600-plus kilometres on a tank have cushions that get unpleasantly hard after the first fifty kliks. Visibility is good and everything is easy to reach and use, except for cupholders set below the centre stack that don’t easily accommodate taller travel mugs, and an instrument panel that’s almost impossible to read if you’re at the right time of day and direction for the sun to shine through the driver’s window onto it. The rear seats fold down, but due to the battery pack, there’s a tall divider between the cargo area and the seats, so larger items can only be accommodated if they can rest on the divider.
  2012 Nissan Leaf SL. Click image to enlarge |
The Leaf obviously has no gasoline-engine growl, but since much of the sound you hear inside any car is from the tires and road noise, it’s about the same as driving any other compact once you’re cruising. Only when crawling through parking lots is it whisper-quiet, and so there’s a special noisemaker that alerts pedestrians to your presence when you turn it on. If you have the type of spousal relationship that involves sneaking home in the wee small hours of the morning, this is definitely your vehicle.
Naturally, the Leaf uses an electric climate control system, and it heated up very quickly, although it never got much below minus 1 degree Celsius when I had the car. The seats are heated, as is the steering wheel. That might sound odd, given that these systems require a lot of power, but it turns out there’s a method to the madness. The automakers have discovered that if your butt and hands are warm, you tend to keep the cabin temperature lower, and it requires less power to heat a seat than it does to heat the entire cabin, especially if there are only one or two people using the hot chairs. The Leaf also has a timer that will let you set it to charge during off-peak hours and to pre-set the heater or air conditioning. I did this one morning and, right on time, the heater came on to take the chill off the interior. This meant that since the car warmed up on the electricity from my house outlet, it wasn’t eating into the battery’s range as it would have if the heater had started up from cold once the car was unplugged.
