Sep
23
2010
Here are some of the impressions, taken from posts our friends made at MyNissanLeaf.com:
From gasmiser:
“I finally saw the Leaf in person today at Boardwalk 
The model shown today was the SV model (w/o the Level III charging port) and was silver in exterior color. Interior was a light tan on the seats and door panels. Carpet was a generic non-pile type, dark-grey in color. The seats had a fabric that was similar to a Prius Gen II micro fiber. Seats were very comfortable. Driver’s seat had a height adjustment, as well as front to back, and back rest adjustments fore and aft. Door panels were a combination of microfiber on the arm rests, and plastic. I sat in the driver’s seat with the seat all the way back, and there was just enough room for a 6′2” guy behind me without his knees hitting the back of the seat. Leg room was comfortable. Steering wheel had tilt feature. Center consul and driver/passenger up front had cup holders. Doors closed nice and solid with double rubber seals. I think it would be a tight fit for 3 adults in the back seat.
I was able to try the features: radio, touch screen interface, AC, map, etc. AC blows ice cold. Just turning it on reduced the range by 9 miles. The range display/screen was easy to read and operate.
I viewed it in motion around the parking lot and it is extremely quiet.
I’m 6′2”, and sitting in the front seats, I found that I still had a several inches to spare in height. In the back seat, I had a few inches in height to spare.
Fit and finish was on par with an upscale model Mirano or Maxima. The trunk was nice and deep. One guy held up his road bicycle next to the car and one could see it would fit no problem lying the bike down in back with the rear seats folded.
The only initial thing I didn’t like about the Leaf was the wimpy horn. That will definitely need to be upgraded.”
From Tango:
”
Interior:
- Underneath the radio is a space to put a phone.
- Also underneath the radio, there are spaces for four connectors with small flip-up covers. On the SV version we saw, two of those spaces were occupied. One had a USB connector, the second had a 3.5mm audio input jack. The other two weren’t used.
- The startup “chime” was different than on the Nissan website.
- The nav system is standard (not an option).
- The main system screen is a touch screen
- The car does not come with floor or cargo mats of any sort. If you don’t order mats with the car, you’ll have your feet on the bare carpet for the entire car (in one of the other threads, there was a question about whether the car came with cheapo mats and the mats available as an accessory were “better”). Susan, the GM at boardwalk said she’d sell them at the same price later if needed.
- When the seats are folded down, the “floor” is not level throughout the car. The trunk area floor is about a foot or more lower than the level that the backs of the fold-down seats. (This is different than on my subaru outback, where when you fold down the seats, they are basically on the same level as the cargo area floor).
Exterior
- the reps and the GM didn’t know what the exterior would look like with the “eco package”. There were folks asking if it was the huge “zero emissions” stickers or if it’d be something more subtle.
Ordering
- The dealers have seen a marked drop in number of orders over the last week or so.
- One of the nissan corporate reps (not the store GM) said that they’re expecting 1000 cars delivered to the states in december, but wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of people actually getting the cars. I think he was talking about 1000 cars will be at least on the docks by then, but transfer to the dealer and other issues he didn’t know about. I have to add though, that he was being a little cagey about this, so i’m not sure if it’s because he wasn’t supposed to say, or if he was just guessing.
- The nissan corporate rep said he had been taking some flak over the lack of information about the accessories. He said he was going to take that back to corporate.”
