It's only a matter of weeks before potential new Nissan Leaf customers will be getting their first look at the car.
Although we know quite a bit about the new Leaf, there still isn’t any indicative price for it - at least at the time of writing.
This is, I suspect, because there is suddenly a lot of competition around when it comes to the choice of family EVs, and the €40,000 price point (and below) has become the new battleground for car manufacturers.
Any company launching a new car in this segment needs to be in with the most up-to-the-minute and most competitive pricing. Hence, the likelihood of a lot of head-scratching before committing to a price.
However, I’ll take an educated guess on the pricing being around €35,000 or so for the smaller battery version, and that would certainly make it an attractive option, from what I’ve seen of the car.
There was a time when the Leaf had it all its own way, having been the first mass-produced EV and with Nissan ploughing a rather lonely furrow as other manufacturers waited to see what would happen in terms of the move to fully-electric motoring.
Fourteen years on, there’s a clamour of car companies chasing effectively the same customers and more of them, with sales of EVs up by over a third in the latest sales period here.
The Leaf was never a large car, and when I saw the new one for the first time, I immediately thought it had grown quite a bit, but I was wrong. Perhaps it’s that fastback cross-over shape with the sloping roofline that deceived me, but I was genuinely surprised to learn that the car is actually 140 mm shorter and just 10 mm higher than the outgoing model. The front and rear overhangs have also been reduced in length.
In terms of current trends, it’s a genuine surprise, but the new Leaf is more of a four-seater car than a five, and that matches the general requirements of modern families. The roofline does limit rear space, but overall this isn’t a problem.
The roofline and things like the LED light bar across the front give it a pretty sleek look, and the overall look is quite distinctive - it’s certainly a big improvement on the outgoing model.
There are two battery options - a 52 kWh unit and a longer range 72 kWh unit. Nissan claims the smaller battery will deliver 440 kilometres of range and the bigger one up to 622 kilometres. Yet again, I emphasise that claimed ranges can vary significantly from real-world ranges, and we are looking forward to testing those ranges.
One thing I did note from the presentation from the car’s engineers, however, is that they are happy to stand over claims that this car will deliver up to 330 km at an average speed of 130 KPH and 430 km at an average speed of 110 KPH. Again, we look forward to finding out just how this stacks up.
Charging time on a fast-charger is from 20 to 80 per cent in under 30 minutes, giving a pretty good range in a short time for longer journeys.
The interior is very impressive, with a bright and airy atmosphere and very comfortable seats.
The interior colours in the car I drove at the introductory launch were pleasant and not at all garish, just appropriately colourful. The front seats were firm and comfortable and well set up for taller drivers and passengers. There’s good storage space for lots of odds and ends, too, including water bottles.
There are buttons, but not as many as I would like, and they are part of the screen, but at least you don’t have to dig into menus to adjust things like the temperature.
Noise suppression is also very effective, and the Leaf has a pleasant absence of wind noise and so on.
As with most new car interiors, the screen technology is a big feature. The car has two 14.3" screen for driver information and infotainment. The latter is Google-powered and efficient, and has crisp graphics. It also has the impressive Google Assist voice activation programme, which I’ve used on Renault (same company) cars and have been very happy with.
The boot is a decent 437 litres, although you don’t get a "frunk" space at the front for cable storage. This boot, however, can be set at different heights for different loading requirements.
There’s a very up-to-date suite of safety features, and while the Leaf has not yet been tested by the European crash testing authority, it would be a surprise if it didn’t perform to the same standard as other Nissan models in recent years.
However, how the Leaf will perform in this very competitive family segment depends on... that price.
