LEAF Peepers: Taking the New Baby Home

The whole process of getting our new 2013 Nissan LEAF took about two weeks from the time when Limey said, "You know, I've been thinking. Maybe you're right. Maybe we could do an electric car." This kicked off a week of online research and a whole lot of Facebook messages back and forth exploring all sorts of calculations.

By Friday we had determined we'd head off to an actual dealer loaded with questions. Of course we had thoroughly researched which dealer, too. We chose Milford Nissan because they had the most LEAFs in the area and excellent customer satisfaction ratings. We chose a weekday because we figured we were arriving with more than, say, the average number of questions.

At Milford Nissan we spoke to Wayne and Guy. Wayne was really nice and helpful, but it was clear that Guy was the LEAF geek in the group. All of our questions were answered to our satisfaction and then some.

We took a fully-loaded SL model out for a test drive. The Nissan LEAF was a pleasure to drive and had an incredibly tight turning radius. There were only a few hints that you were in an electric car. It does not idle. At slow speeds the car glides silently. At higher speeds it is hard to feel a difference between 30 and 70. You have a tendency to find yourself doing 50 which is inappropriate on both back roads and highways. We'll need to get used to relying on the speedometer more.

When we returned, Wayne ran some numbers for us. There was no pressure, no "I'm going to talk to my manager" tactics. Just an invitation to come back for another test drive. We were welcome to take it home to see if Limey's bicycle would fit while experiencing the range. We could take it for the day if we wanted.

On Saturday that is essentially what we did. After calling ahead so they would have the SV Plus model we were interested in charged and ready, we loaded the kids in the LEAF and drove it home. We tested the stereo with "Electric Car" by They Might Be Giants (the song that has been in my head the last two weeks.) Limey fit his bike in the back. All told we drove about 25 miles which is about how much the estimated range dropped.

Heath was completely on board but not Leland. He said he didn't like the feeling of "floating on a cloud". We brought the car back and Wayne patiently ran some more numbers on all combinations of 24 months or 36 months, 12,000 or 15,000 miles, this time on the SV Plus. "Plus" means it has the high-speed charging port. There was still no pressure when we took the pages with the figures and walked out.

By Monday Limey was working with Guy to get to a final price on the car. We also wanted to make sure that installing a 240V outlet in the garage would not be a deal breaker. We had an electrician come to take a look. Although we didn't get his quote, there was no indication that there would be some insurmountable obstacle. Nothing like the house would need a whole new system or the utility has some crazy prohibition. So, once we were satisfied that this was doable, we did it! We, Limey did. By Thursday he was signing papers and by Friday the car was ready for delivery!

We arrived on a cold and rainy November day (cue the GNR song) and our Nissan LEAF was charged and waiting for us. Guy walked us through everything we needed to know about the car. He and the LEAF certified master mechanic, Chris, got the car onto the internet and walked us through setting up our CARWINGS account.