2012 Nissan Leaf consumer reviews

Great car for around town with no gas and fun to drive. Great pickup with top speed at 90MPH. I am saving over $200 a month in gas and have leased this vehicle for under $300 per month with 15,000 miles per year on a 24 month lease! The MSRP on this vehicle is over $38,000!

I've had my Leaf for about a month now and already have 1100 miles on it. I typically drive between 45-55 miles per day and have roughly 1/3 capacity remaining in the battery at the end of the day. Just like others have said, your range is really determined by how you drive the car. Fortunately, the Leaf has lots of feedback to the driver about how you are driving. My initial range anxiety has dropped as I've got to know this car more. While the car is not packed with luxury you will find it has most of the required creature comforts. The car comes nicely equipped. Some of my favorite features so far are the remotely activated climate control as well as climate control timer. The steering wheel heater is also a novel innovation as well. I do strongly recommend the using a 240V home charging if you plan to drive it a lot per day (45+ miles) as the 120V charging can take a really long time to re-charge. If you live in an older home like mine be prepared to deal with electrical issues that come with older homes like having a full breaker panel or not enough amps coming to your house through the meter. It can be a hassle but its all worth it in the end.

This car drives very nicely and it's completely quiet. I would strongly recommend it for anyone commuting up to 60 miles a day. We commute around 17 miles (each way) 80% highway at speeds between 65 and 75 mph, and 20% city. We charge it to the 80% mark and we always have around 30 miles on the "tank" when we are back. Driving it on a highway with new asphalt at 70 mph is a total pleasure! There's no noise other than a bit of wind. That being said, if you are a person that freaks out when the gas light pops up, then forget about buying this car. It feels like driving a car with less than a quarter of tank of gas. For our use is more than perfect, but this car is not for everybody. It makes for a very, very nice second car, actually we use mostly this car for all sort of local trips and leave the other car for long trips only. Or, like a friend of mine said, it makes for a nice (and expensive) kid's car, since you know they are not going to drive it very far, and the faster they drive, the shorter their trip.

The Leaf is smooth, quiet, handles nicely and has very good acceleration from a stop. The seats are not super comfortable (had to get a cushion for lumbar support), but the interior is nice and modern. The GPS is not great but the infotainment display is pretty good overall. Remote climate control and monitoring (via iPhone app or Nissan website) is really neat. Car can be scheduled to charge at a particular time so you can set it to only turn on when electricity rates are lowest at night. I do this and end up paying less than 2 cents a mile (so operating costs are obviously extremely low compared to a gas-powered vehicle). Seat warmers are very good and minimize need for the heat which drags down the range. Realistic range is more like 75 miles, but if you have a short commute, the Leaf is a good choice.

For the folks who gave it one star for range, you have no idea what you are talking about. I drive 40-60 miles a day and get back home with plenty of range left and this is while only charging to 80%. The range meter on the car (called the "guess-o-meter" in LEAF circles) does not do a great job estimating range at the top end, but is more accurate as the battery draws down - this is something you learn how to deal with quickly as you drive the car. For anyone with a commute under 60 round trip, this car will easily meet your needs unless you go 80mph all the time. Range is influenced by temperature and driving habits. Expect 80-90 miles in moderate weather if driven properly. If you drive it like you stole it and run the heat @90, it'll go 50 miles. Expect 3.5miles/KWh (this is after charging losses). In VA where it's $0.10 a KWh, that's ~$0.03 a mile. A 25mpg car with gas @ $3.75/gal is $0.15 a mile. I currently save about $120 a month in fuel.

Love it! It's a commuting car - if you use it like that then it's ideal. Inthe are I live there are many chanrge pointsand I find the free PlugShare App the best for locationg charging locations (even better the the on-board navigation charge locations within the cars GPS).

We bought a 2011 Nissan LEAF almost a year ago. We have just over 12,000 miles on it at this point. The ride is solid, the car is extremely quite, it's a blast to drive, and it's now our primary vehicle. The battery pack gives the car a low center of gravity so it feels planted in the turns. The car has a five star safety rating which was important to our family. It's also nice to wake up to a fully charged car and not have to hassle with going to gas stations!

Very low battery life it won't last 100 miles, 45 to 50 tops.&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

got my new leaf and 10 miles on the highway used up 60 % of the charge It went from 110 mile range to 45 mile range great around town doing under 45 mph ... I would not recommend it for anyone who uses the highway...