GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Picked up our 2012 Nissan Leaf tonight! Her name is Nanuq (Nanuk which is Inuit for polar bear... have you seen the Leaf polar bear commercial)? What a SWEET car. Its going to take me a month to figure out all the gizmos on it.

Nifty.Did you ever see the TopGear test of the Nissan? Pretty funny.

Awesome. How does it compare to the Vibe?

Very nice!!!

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »Awesome. How does it compare to the Vibe?I'd say its pretty close in size to the Vibe.

More pics!The speedometer. To the left is a "tree" icon that will appear if you are driving efficiently. I got a tree up there tonight!

sweet -- I'll keep an eye out for it

I'm drooling on my keyboard!!! I'll keep an eye out for it!

'Know you were looking forward to this. Congrats!! And interesting.... Do they come in a stick shift too? Doesn't it seem weird that the car makes almost no noise, 'cept for tires and wind of course? I'm used to making cars louder, not quieter. Living in technology alley as we do, I have seen a few on the streets around here. I'll be curious to know how it works out for you in Canadian weather. Best of luck and enjoy!!

Enjoy!

Nice! I hope they are successful in the marketplace and stay around long enough for me to eventually buy one.I really like the blue color too. I could use one of those for 95% of my driving at the present time. But for the other 5%, I would need a 75-mile-long extension cord to get back home! LOL

...bet the EVEREADY "Bunny" really loves you now (ha,ha)!

I drove our Leaf for the first time tonight. It accelerates like nothing. One second you're doing 60 in a 60 zone and the next you're at 85. So easy to speed. Its creepy quiet too. It beeps when backing up. Hubby pulled it out of the garage and it was just so strange - this car is rolling out, without a sound (except the beep). I don't know if I like the backup camera, but I might get used to it. I set it up to charge from 10pm to 6am, but it will only take an hour and a half to get to 80% from where it is now. So far... LOVE it.

Quote, originally posted by kostby »I could use one of those for 95% of my driving at the present time. But for the other 5%, I would need a 75-mile-long extension cord to get back home! LOLThis is why I still have my Rogue! The Leaf is technically my hubby's. But I will take it to get groceries.

It's beautiful, love the color. Packed full of tech, looks like a fun ride. I imagine it would be like driving a video game.

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »It's beautiful, love the color. Packed full of tech, looks like a fun ride. I imagine it would be like driving a video game. Thats a good way to look at it! LOL. I mess with the gizmos while hubby drives.

Drove Nanuq today in -20 degree weather. No issues with range for the things we were doing - we've currently got a 42% charge left. My favourite feature is pre-heating the passenger cabin from my iPhone while I shop, or get ready to go out. Also love the heated steering wheel although sometimes it gets too hot!

Had our Leaf for over a month now. Still loving it. Its like driving on a cloud. Range is pretty decreased in -20 degree weather, but still no problem for our general commuting. The only time we don't drive it is when the weather is crappy (snow or freezing rain) because we didn't put snow tires on it (maybe next year). I've only put gas in my Rogue once in the last month (and it still has a quarter tank left from that fill up).

As much as I hate Apple and the iPhone, that's pretty awesome that you can pre-heat the car from your phone!!!! Glad you are liking it so much and obviously saving a TON on gas. Have you been able to notice a difference in the electric bill yet? If so, what is the difference in increased electricity vs less in gas?

Haven't gotten my hydro bill yet... mine comes every two months so I think my next one will be in the next month and then I can compare it to previous months. Took my friend for a ride in it tonight. She kept saying "its SO quiet!"

Nanuq would feel right at home here in LA. 10 were in just one row at LAX and I saw so many today while out and about. Even a few Teslas. At Caltech there were even EV-only spots. Odd, but I was reminded of Nanuq.

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »Nanuq would feel right at home here in LA. 10 were in just one row at LAX and I saw so many today while out and about. Even a few Teslas. At Caltech there were even EV-only spots. Odd, but I was reminded of Nanuq. I wish we had some EV spots... closest I've found is a hybrid spot at IKEA. A Prius was parked in one and we parked beside it in the other Hybrid spot..... although technically we aren't a hybrid.

We are now on our way to 3 months of driving a Leaf. We turned over 1000km today (short commute, don't drive it on ice/snow days). We calculated its costing us close to 3cents/km in the winter to drive it (worst case). I think its closer to 2.5c/km. In the summer that should be about 1.9c/km. So those 1000km cost us an extra $30 in electricity (roughly).My Rogue sits idle most days. Its still got half a tank of gas I put in there at the end of January and that's only its second fill up since Christmas. So I've spent about $110 on gas this year.There are 17 Leafs in Ottawa now... supposed to meet up with a couple of them at the end of the month so that should be cool!

Very interesting. Thanks for the update.

I'll second that. Keep us informed.Though I must say I'm truly more a fan of hydrogen technology and feel that to be the wave of the future, electrics are here now. They currently have the advantage.I worked for a division of a major oil company back in the early '90's... a Research and Development division. I can honestly say that the only reason all this "new" technology has taken so long is because of the short-sightedness of those in charge.

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »I'll second that. Keep us informed. No problem, I'll post updates on it from time to time. Lots of people like to ask me about it when they find out I have one. Funniest thing was this couple behind us snapping pictures of us! Then pulling out to come up beside us and take more pictures of us. Bizarre!

Yes, thanks for the update. I'm so glad its working for you!

Update on # in Ottawa: 22, not including any fleet cars (of which there are some but I'm not sure what fleet they are in).

Met some other Leaf owners on Monday... here are all our cars lined up (7 total!). Later a Tesla roadster showed up and parked next to the left-most Leaf.

Almost 1 year with the Leaf. Just under 7000km on it (we have a short commute really). There are more and more charging stations popping up in Ottawa so its quite easy to have the charge you need to get around town. We drive the Leaf almost exclusively in town and my Juke for distance drives. The Leaf only needs two maintenance checks a year and they only do minor things - no oil changes or anything like that. We are only spending an extra $20 in electricity per month ($240/year). If we still had the Rogue and were driving it as our commuter car I would have spent almost $1000 in gas in the year and also had to do oil changes and all that. Still loving it. My favourite thing about it is the acceleration from a stop light when it goes green. LOVE pulling up beside some kid who thinks he's got some hot car and leaving him in the dust when it goes green. Oh or pulling up next to a performance car and doing the same thing. We did that to a guy once and a guy behind us, came up next to us and gave us a thumbs up and a smile as we slowed down to turn onto our street.