2015 Nissan Leaf electric

The new Nissan Leaf starts at a price of $29,010.This is a mass-market purely battery-electric car and does not have any self-recharging or range-extending generator on board. At the price point the Nissan is placed, this five-seat compact electric hatchback goes against the rivals like Volkswagen E-Golf and the Ford Focus Electric.

The Nissan leaf is offered in three different trims across various close but different price points the base S model starts at $29,010 and has a 24kWh battery. The SV trim priced at $32,000 is offered with the same battery but with a better 6.6kWh charger than the 3.6kWh charger on the S trim and finally at $35,120 comes the range-topping SL trim with the same battery pack but more features that can be considered premium.

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We would likely recommend the SV trim that stands between the most basic and the most equipped models, the reasons would not seem too deep as the feature-rich SL trim might draw more juice from the battery and the basic S trim just is too basic. The price seems satisfactory and the faster charger is an added advantage.

The Leaf does not have an engine in particular since it is an electric car but it rather comes equipped with an 80kW AC electric motor paired to a 24 kWh Li-ion battery that is mated 1-speed direct-drive transmission. The motor is capable of producing 107hp and 187lb-ft of torque. The car has a top speed of 84mph. 

The Focus Electric turns out to be the most powerful car-producing 160hp and 146lb-ft, which is followed by the Volkswagen with a 115 hp and 199 lb-ft of torque. The E-Golf is the fastest from 0-60 with an acceleration time of 9.1 seconds and then comes the Ford Focus with a time of 9.9 seconds to reach 60 while the Leaf takes a sluggish 10.4 seconds.

The Leaf is quite an efficient car that is returning 126 units per full charge and this is in the city, however, on the highway the returns come down to 101 and this results in a range of 84 miles. The Leaf S has a 24 kWh battery, the upper two trims come with a stronger 6.6 kW charger. The charger is made more powerful and the battery remaining the dance across the trims might not feel very useful to many but the advantage of faster charging using the bigger charger might be something that saves time. However, the chargers can be exchanged between neighbors using different trims of the same car, or replicas of such can be found in the markets just like every other Electronic gadget available.

The E-Golf comes with a bigger battery pack of 24.2 kWh than both the Ford Focus and the Nissan Leaf has a 24kWh while the Ford comes with a very small 23kWhbattery which gives it a range of only 76 miles. The Leaf has a smaller battery than the Golf but travels farther than the Golf can. The bigger battery on the Golf helps us to go a bit faster than the other cars here but the Nissan Leaf limits speed and increases the range.

The Leaf has a spacious cabin and the battery pack is smartly placed underneath the cabin in order to make no compromises in the cabin space. The inside features cloth-trimmed seats in the lower variants, while the higher-end trims get leather-covered seats. There is ample headroom available for taller people; the Leaf has a cargo capacity of 23.6 cu-ft, which is pretty good considering the segment.

The Ford Focus offers the most space on the inside which is followed by the Volkswagen Golf and then the Leaf. The E-Golf offers the most legroom in the rear while the other two offer lesser legroom. The Leaf however offers the most cargo space with 23.6 cu-ft and then is followed by the E-Golf which provides 22.8cu-ft last comes the Ford with the least cargo space of 14.5cu-ft. The important interior features include-

• 6-way manual adjustable driver’s seat
• 4-way manually adjustable front passenger’s seat
• Heated front and rear seats
• Leather-appointed seats
• Heated leather-wrapped steering wheel
• 60/40 Split fold-down rear seats
• Automatic Temperature Control (ATC)

How intuitive is the 2015 Nissan Leaf’s infotainment unit?

The Leaf comes with a 7” multi-touch control system with inbuilt navigation and infotainment. The base trim comes with four speakers, there is a six-speaker system offered in the middle spec and the top trim comes with Bose speaker system. Other important infotainment features include-

• Nissan Navigation System with 7.0" multi-touch control color monitor
• SiriusXM Travel Link
• NissanConnectSM with Navigation and Mobile App
• Four or Six speakers
• Bose audio system with AM/FM/CD 
• SiriusXM Satellite Radio with a 3-month trial subscription 
• Auxiliary audio input jack
• Steering wheel-mounted audio controls

The Nissan leaf for this year looks just like its previous iteration. It still has the potential to be disliked from the outside thanks to the bizarre headlamps in the front and the weird mix of the hatchback look with a sedan boot and the cargo area of the car seems to be outside the car itself. The car has a peculiar and shouting-out appearance and offers something different from its rivals that follow the traditional car styling.

The lightest car is the Leaf with a weight of 3,243 lbs and the E-Golf comes next with a weight of 3391 lbs the heaviest car of the lot at 3622 lbs is the Ford. The Leaf also has the longest wheelbase with 175” and the Volkswagen is the shortest with 168.1” however the Ford comes in between with 172.9” of length. Highlight exterior features of the sedan are-

• Aerodynamic LED low-beam headlights 
• Automatic on/off headlights 
• Fog lights 
• Body-color front and rear bumpers 
• Chrome door handles 
• Aerodynamic underbody cover and rear diffuser 
• Dual power body-color heated outside mirrors
• Front UV-reducing solar glass

The new Leaf has a lot of features issued as standard like the Nissan Advanced Airbag System, seat belt and occupant classification sensors, driver and front-passenger seat-mounted side-impact supplemental airbags, roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental airbags for front and rear-seat outboard occupant head protection. The brakes too are really good as the car can come to a stop from 60mph in just 126 ft. Major safety features include-

• Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC)
• Traction Control System (TCS) 
• LATCH system (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) 
• Zone Body construction with front and rear crumple zones 
• Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) with Easy-Fill Tire Alert
• Nissan Vehicle Immobilizer System 
• Vehicle Security System 
• Available 360-degree camera

The Nissan Leaf is a really good alternative to the constantly growing Electric car market, it has a good range to offer but that might be all there is. The car is not too spacious on the inside and is not the most powerful or the fastest and as per your guesses you might be better off with the E-Golf that has more power, better interior, and more features and quality even though it is more expensive.