2018 Nissan Leaf

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CodeRedR51

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http://www.autoblog.com/2017/02/10/next-gen-nissan-leaf-spy-shots/

nissanleaf-proto-g02-kgp-ed-1.jpg
 
Looks like an enlarged Nissan Micra from the side view. I reckon it stands a chance of being visually decent.
 
It would take a further leap in range to interest me i'm afraid, a lot of owners report the supposed 91 mile range to be less than 80 on a motorway at 60mph with everything in eco mode, and to compound that the quick charge points over here only charge the battery up to 85%, so an educated guess would be less than 70 miles range between jumps which means it'll be empty before you know it. The quick charge points also take half an hour to use. For me it's just a bad decision right now if you do any sort of mid distance journey. Good luck if you put the heating or air con on!
I like electric cars as much as the next guy, but I think some sort of range extender is a must still. I know of a company which is investing and researching in using jet engines as an efficient generator, but noise is the issue, and some UAV drones actually use wankel rotary engines as a generator because of their lightness. Probably not the right solution in a car though as just holding the weight off the road doesn't consume energy, so a heavier more efficient solution will probably do better
 
It would take a further leap in range to interest me i'm afraid, a lot of owners report the supposed 91 mile range to be less than 80 on a motorway at 60mph with everything in eco mode, and to compound that the quick charge points over here only charge the battery up to 85%, so an educated guess would be less than 70 miles range between jumps which means it'll be empty before you know it.

That's why the race to 200 miles has been so important for so many brands, and why the race to 300+ was such an important feat for Tesla. At 200+ miles, range anxiety is non-existent for most people, easily covering multiple days of your weekly commute without charging. As battery technology continues to improve and the curve on pricing regularly puts these cars below $30k, I'd expect adoption rates to increase further.

These days, picking up a used Leaf, 500e, Focus Electric, or any of the other bundle of compliance cars seem like great bargains with few miles. With low maintenance and operating costs, for the right person, it makes almost too much sense. Right now my only limiting factor is not having a place to charge at my apartment - I think that is a problem for far more people than it should be.
 
I know the aero kit is primarily fitted to let the Leaf glide through the air as quietly and efficiently as possible, but it almost looks like a hot hatch with its flared skirts and diffuser.
 
The official teaser got me seriously Excited!!! I thought it would be a serious electrified Japanese Golf fighter...

But now that i see the camouflage shots, it is a letdown.

The front looks like a good improvement, but the back is still too reminiscent of the first leaf, which i hate.
The interior looks to be a snooze-fest...

It could look much better... Hopefully it wont be too bad.
 
Not sure "quite good" is the term I'd use. Looks very awkward from the rear, or the front...

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Big front overhang (if you can see that much from the rear three quarters, it's not a great sign) and that rising waistline does the rear no favours either - particularly given how small the wheels look.

Reserving final judgement until I've seen it in the metal (not least because long-range snaps like those can skew proportions by giving everything an isometric look) but it's not too promising at this stage.

What's under the skin matters more of course.
 
It looks . . . boring. At least Nissan's design language isn't that dull or bad, but I miss when electric cars were deliberately designed to look really different.
 
Big question is range, and how close they can get to 200 miles. Even if they keep it as a value-priced EV compared to the Bolt, not having the range that easily exceeds 100 miles year-round would be pretty disappointing.
 
No one is expecting the new Leaf to come with the battery capacity of the Bolt (60kWh), many will be surprised if it even has 50kWh. Which is big loss for the Leaf unless it can significantly undercut the cost of the Bolt.
 
The cover for charging port looks ugly and out of palce.Why not hide the charging port in the grill?
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Might well be radar stuff, but it's fairly poor design. Doubly so as it seems to have restricted the amount of space dedicated to the bonnet, creating that second nasty shutline behind the charging port.

I've been giving Nissan the benefit of the doubt for the last few years as some of their stuff looked okay, but this one's a bit of a mess. The old Leaf might have looked a bit goofy but it was more cohesive than this one.

Still, the range and tech improvements should be worth it. Still not sure I'd necessarily opt for one over an Ioniq/i3/e-Golf/Zoe.
 
The original Leaf had so much character and looked unique especially at the rear but this is just bland and ugly, such a shame.
 
The original Leaf had so much character and looked unique especially at the rear but this is just bland and ugly, such a shame.
I half agree. It's not so much ugly in my eyes. It has lost its character. What this design does, is put it behind a 0.5 generation of current hatch designs.
 
Why do hybrid and electric cars have to look so ugly ??! ( except for Tesla)

They are all trting way too hard...

Please someone make an HARMONIOUS design that is as pleasing to the environment as it is to our eyes...

That shouldnt be hard?

Personally, i think the Ioniq is the best looking right now
 
Why do hybrid and electric cars have to look so ugly ??! ( except for Tesla)

They are all trting way too hard...

Please someone make an HARMONIOUS design that is as pleasing to the environment as it is to our eyes...

That shouldnt be hard?

Personally, i think the Ioniq is the best looking right now

I dunno, Lexus did a pretty good job with the LC500H IMO. I saw one "in the metal" in a really nice grey colour recently and it was astonishingly good looking.

The P1 is pretty awesome looking, too :P

lexus-lc500h-1.jpg
 
I dunno, Lexus did a pretty good job with the LC500H IMO. I saw one "in the metal" in a really nice grey colour recently and it was astonishingly good looking.

The P1 is pretty awesome looking, too :P

lexus-lc500h-1.jpg
Saw a white LC500 at the local dealer today. A modern, affordable LFA. Looks sporty, classy, futuristic.
 
Why do hybrid and electric cars have to look so ugly ??! ( except for Tesla)
Bit of a broad brush for tarring there.

As @Moglet mentions above, the Lexus LC is available as a hybrid and it's far from ugly (far more appealing than any Tesla, for me). That's not to mention that the "holy trinity" of hypercars are all pretty good looking hybrids, BMW's i8 is also a hybrid, the Passat and Golf GTE both look pretty good, the entire rest of the Lexus range are available as hybrids and most look pretty decent (and indistinguishable from their non-hybrid alternatives), the Panamera E-Hybrid, the Kia Niro and Optima hybrids, the XC90 T8, and the aforementioned Ioniq. The Prius is fairly odd, but I've seen enough of them now that the design more or less fades into the background. And overall I reckon it's more cohesive than the new Leaf. The old Prii weren't ugly at all, just fairly bland.

Admittedly some electric cars can be a bit odd too, but these days I'd say it's far from being the majority. The new Leaf is a bit of a minger and the old one was fairly ungainly, and "Tesla" is also a bit broad since the Model X is a mess. But there's an e-Golf, which looks good, the aforementioned Ioniq, the Renault Zoe - the looks of which I prefer to the Clio - and the VW e-Up, which looks as good as the petrol one (probably slightly better, thanks to VW's electric car detailing). The Smart Fortwo ED is an acquired taste (which I happen to like, but since it's no different from the regular one a preference either way is not a demerit for electric cars specifically) and the BMW i3 likewise, but I happen to think that looks fantastic too (and it has the best interior of any current production car).

By all means direct your ire at Nissan for making another wonky-looking Leaf, but the rest of the hybrid/EV industry really isn't that unattractive right now.
 
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