I’ve now had my Leaf for a couple of weeks so I thought I’d give a few first impressions. First is the price, I still can’t quite believe Leafs (Leaves?) of this age (2015 on a 64 plate) are so cheap. It’s in really good overall condition, with just one tiny pin prick sized dent, and polishes up quite nicely (it’s black so it shows all the dirt).

It went off to the local Nissan main dealer yesterday for a main service (£230) and came back with a clean bill of health. Part of me was a bit anxious that they’d find a major fault, but no, all is fine. I struggled to find an independent garage to service it, so I’d welcome any suggestions (we’re in Birmingham). But the Nissan dealer was very good, efficient, interested and helpful.

The battery health is showing 11 out of 12, and the check that the dealer did showed good health as well. I’ve read on forums that you can scan the battery health using the OBD port for a variety of information, but I’m not sure what that would achieve and what I’d do with that information. The dash shows the 11 out of 12 bars, which is very helpful when browsing Autotrader!

I’ve spent a bit of cash as well on new mats, new wheel trims (no alloys on the Visia model) and a new boot seal, as there was a bit of dampness in the boot. The old boot seal looked as if it had been damaged by removing the charging cable many times over. That was a ten minute job, and hopefully an easy fix.

As mentioned, it’s the base model, so no screen, and a basic radio/CD player, but that’s fine with me. It’s still got air con and you can set the charging to start at a set time, and the car interior to pre-heat. It’s got keyless entry and start, and cloth seats (I don’t like leather seats!).

At the moment I’m getting around 85 miles on a charge (it’s the 24kw battery), which is fine for work and we have 3 other cars in the household. I’m only using a normal plug socket and leaving it overnight. I did some maths and worked out the electricity is around half the cost of petrol (someone can correct me if that’s not right!). According to the trip computer I’m getting 4.5 miles per kWh.

And it’s lovely to drive. Smooth, quiet, a good turn of speed when needed, and the handling isn’t too soft and wobbly after driving my Mini. The seats are really comfortable. Ironically, I’d quite happily do a long journey in it!

Edited by johnnyrev on 01/03/2025 at 19:37