Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive the Nissan Leaf for the very first time at Nissan’s Drive Electric Tour event in Chicago, and I was unequivocally impressed with both the vehicle and the tour.  All pictures and videos can be seen on Flickr.  Here’s how it went down.

The Tour

The first step was check-in and registration.  I had already reserved a driving time, but arrived a little early, so when I checked in they just put in me in an earlier group.  The groups are broken down to roughly 15-20 people, and it starts with a guided 10 minute introduction to the vehicle.

Even though I’m totally up to speed on the Leaf, I thought this was still an excellent introduction to have.  Everything our guide mentioned was exactly how I would have described things – using consumer-friendly language, real-world examples, and a touch of technical chatter.  It was really well done and it gets people who aren’t very familiar with the Leaf comfortable with what’s going on.  The most important thing is that Nissan has done a great job of training everyone on what to say and how to say it.  It’s subtle but crucial to have a focused, consumer-friendly message when you’re pushing a brand new type of car.

The Drive

After the brief tour, you line up to get into one of the 15 or so Leafs they have charged up and ready to go.  Again, everyone was very friendly – introducing themselves by name, shaking hands, etc.  These are not paid-by-the-hour zombies.  Everyone who worked at the Leaf tour was clearly enthusiastic about their work.  The experience was reminiscent to how Apple employees enthusiastically handle customers at their retail outlets.

I was first in line and I was introduced to my Nissan guide.  My wife and I randomly met some Austrians who were visiting Chicago and asked if they could ride along with us, which I was happy to let them do.  So we packed 5 adults into the white Leaf and got started.

My first impression of the Leaf’s interior is that it’s quite comfortable – soft to the touch, quiet, and cushy.  The guide took about a minute to get me acclimated to the instrument panel.  I noticed the instrument panel has a matte-style screen instead of a glossy glass screen.  This was something I didn’t previously notice, but it’s a smart touch to help with the display’s readability in bright sunlight.

The drive itself was phenomenal – I honestly felt like I was in the future.  To say that it was quiet seems like an understatement – I’ve ridden in $70,000 luxury cars that have the best NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) systems in the world, an it wasn’t even close.  To be fair, I never got above 40 MPH given the streets we were driving on, but it was insanely quiet.

On the straights I gave it about half to three-quarters on the pedal (never to the floor) and the Leaf’s acceleration is impressive.  I’ve driven a wide variety of cars – Murano, Prius, Miata, 350Z, TSX, Civic, SLK, MX-6, Grand National – and the Leaf’s acceleration just feels so different because of how smooth and linear it is.  There are no blips from shifting gears and no need to keep the car at an ideal RPM range since 100% torque is always available.  Honestly, it pulls so hard I could even detect a slight understeer.  That is to be expected from a front wheel drive car, but it’s got so much juice (excuse the pun) that I don’t doubt you could squeal the tires on it easily.

The guide also wanted to show me eco-mode, which puts the cars into a sort of “sleepy” mode where power is reduced to save energy.  As I was driving she put it into eco-mode and you could immediately tell the car became sluggish.  I doubt that I would ever use this because I know how to ease the throttle and conserve/generate energy.  But for my wife and other non hypermilers, this is a great feature.  Since she is not a “skilled” eco-driver (nor should you have to be one), a system that limits her lead foot and keeps her in check is going to be pretty useful.  When the guide turned eco-mode off, I immediately felt the engine spring back to life.

The steering on the Leaf is extremely light.  By design the Leaf has no power steering, but it’s the lightest steering I’ve ever felt.  It takes almost no effort to move the wheel – I bet you could do it with one finger if you wanted to.  As a result, you don’t exactly feel super connected to the road, but then again it’s not like you’re going take this onto a slalom course.  I wasn’t disappointed by this by any means – a light steering feel makes driving easy.  An average driver doesn’t care about steering feel, they want a nice drive, and a light feel accomplishes that.  Also, the car feels rock solid and stable – a light steering feel doesn’t equate to instability.

Walk Around

After the drive you have a chance to inspect a non-driving Leaf, with all of its doors, trunk, and hood opened up.  For sure the Leaf’s design is subjective, but I love it.  Rounded but sculpted.  Some aggressive front lights to offset some of its smiley face.  A big rotund back with the cool vertical tail lights.  And no tailpipe.

The trunk is large.  Because there’s no gas tank, that space is reclaimed for the trunk.  So there is a deep cutout into the trunk that gives you a bunch more vertical trunk space.  That’s needed because horizontally you’re going to run into the battery pack.  We saw a family put a double stroller in the Leaf no problem, and they mentioned they could easily put a few more bags in there.

The interior is cushy and comfortable.  Soft materials with generally high quality plastics.  There are a few spots where the plastic is step down, which I mostly noticed on the arm rests on the doors.  The interior is an off white color, which is maybe the single gripe that I have – it’s going to get dirty instantly, especially with a dog and kids.  Hopefully it’s like stain resistant carpet and cleans off with a wet rag for the most part.

Summary

I knew what to expect from the Leaf going in, and the experience only solidified my decision and has me anticipating November even more.  For my wife, it gave her a chance to be hands on with the car, and now she has a level of excitement she didn’t have before.

The Drive Electric campaign is clearly well organized.  The staff is knowledgable and friendly, and they’ve got the message down.  It was fun to be around like-minded people and chatting about the Leaf.  The only down note you’d hear is “when can I get one?”, with the resulting answer for most people being “next year”.

Very simply, the Nissan Leaf is ready for primetime on the streets of Chicago.