Nissan Leaf anyone buying it?

Its pricy for a car with very limited use. Sure its reasonable for a daily commute. What if you decide to go away for the weekend? You would have to plan you charging strategy to avoid being stranded.
I do realise that it should be cheap to run but then again, its pricy, kinda ugly & if general opinion goes against this, its resale value might be hopeless. Given that the greens will be out of government, the electric car plan might fall away into the background.
Even if a car with that kind of range was suitable for my needs, I wouldnt go for it at this time.
There is also the whole other problem of getting people to change to a whole new type of driving experience & to many people who enjoy the actual driving part, that will be a stumbling block.

why??


and dont tell me its because of the carbon emissions because the last time i checked it takes a lot of carbon to make electricity

robtri wrote: »

not as much carbon as a petrol or diesel cars spouts out.....

cheap running costs on an eleccy car,

how about when you factor in things like oil use in the machiens that produce the electricity?

and the petrol car owner will laugh at you when you need to replace one of those rechargable batterys..those things are silly money

Technoprisoner wrote: »

how about when you factor in things like oil use in the machiens that produce the electricity?

why??? on a scale it probably less then equivlant amount of petrol or diesel cars...

elecctricity produced at our current generating stations is less polluting than car engines... producing the equivilant amout of energy
thats a fact .....

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If it had the electric and a smaller 500cc emergency engine which could be used it would be a better purchase, relying on the electric charging is a pain. Incentives like use of the bus lanes and free onstreet parking would make them a success.

Would this make an Opel Ampera a better proposition than the Leaf then? If they come on stream at the same price I know which one I would get (if I had €30k to spare of course )

Technoprisoner wrote: »

and the petrol car owner will laugh at you when you need to replace one of those rechargable batterys..those things are silly money

iirc with the leaf u never own the batteries, they are on lease.. so if they die they will be replaced by Nissan

Shane732 wrote: »

PMSL at that comment!

You think the Leaf would make it as far as junction 12?!!

probably not, but the leaf driver would probably leave the leaf at home and get the train to cork.... and laugh at u in traffic..

Shane732 wrote: »

You think so? The Leaf owner will have to install a 220/240V 40 amp dedicated circuit to the switch box and PAY for the electricity to charge the piece of sh*t at home. Not to mention the cost of getting the thing towed every time it runs out of charge!

I'd happily pay €85 to fill the tank in the Alfa...

do you know how much it costs to charge the leaf???????

yeah cause no petrol car ever runs out of petrol and left stranded at the side of the road...
under most normal driving conditions around cities, i.e commuting to work or shops or friends, would not likely discharge the car to empty.. charge it up over night for a couple of wuid and away they go again in the morning..
whats the average mileage per annum 10,500 miles a year ( as per SEI) which is what roughly 30 miles a day.. sometheing the leaf can easily handle without running out of elleccy....

Shane732 wrote: »

It's funny that some people would actually go for the leaf.

What I'd love to do is give a Leaf to someone who loves them and tell them to drive to Cork, then pick up that Alfa and drive behind them and point and laugh when they run out of charge!!!

If you want an electric car go buy a Tesla - Zero Emission and 0 - 60 in sub 4 seconds!!

Oh come on now... they can pull in at one of our many motorway services to recharge.. oh right.

Actually I think the time for the return of the electric car is firmly upon us.
However I think the leaf is much too ugly for a company to seriously consider selling, I really wouldn't like to own one.
In fact I think it would annoy me to have to drive it because its so ugly, and because it draws attention to itself for all the wrong reasons. Its a bit tacky, like green bling. I dislike the fake planet saving message that the manufacturers are using to sell these cars, particularly because they will mainly appeal to city dwellers with public transport so its really just not green.

I would also consider it akin to a first gen iPod, the ones that come after it will be better in every way and cost considerably less. Of course the first gen iPod came with a free leather case and wall charger whereas now you get bugger all.

I have few objections to electric cars, with any luck an inductive charging loop will be added to motorways so they can travel intercity via an invisible pantograph. This would reduce the weight of batteries required. So range anxiety assuaged, my main gripe would be that of driving enjoyment, I mean if we can't row our own gears and listen to engine notes then all thats left is to drive ridiculously fast on enjoyable roads, something that they will be adept at.. but now we can't do that either because of all those pesky speed vans and boring boring motorways. So I think they will be very fast but very very boring.

Certainly the leaf is the vanguard of a new motoring era, but describing it in such terms disguises that its really just a car for early adopters. Those pawns who we like to sacrifice at the alter of progress. Step aside please, and let those brave green warriors through.

All well and good until you have it charging in your drive way one night and a little scrote waking home from the pub takes the plug out and you end up running out of charge at the end of the driveway!