Featured Ontario makes solo HOV driving a PERMANENT perk for plug-in drivers!

Well, some good news for my fellow Ontarians, particularly those in the Toronto area...

Green licence plates

Not sure how they would regulate 'permanent'? At some point (likely far in the future) BEV/PHEVs will be far more common and they will need to repeal this. I can only imagine they will stop providing green plates and grandfather it in over time.

In any case, it is great news nonetheless.

 

Absolutely. Ontario already boosted the incentive to purchase plug in vehicles in February (up to $14K!), and now have extended this perk, since sales of these vehicles are down as all the lemmings flock to buy trucks and SUVs in light of the lower gas prices...

Was a big reason we finally made the move on the Leaf in February, and now have decided to get a used PIP rather than a Gen 4, partly since we have an L2 anyway, and to not stretch our budget too far with two brand new vehicles.

(See updated signature )

 

No, I don't. I am also on MyNissanLeaf and have posted a few messages there, but never did a review or anything.

It is my wife's daily driver (not really enough range for me, I drive for work), and she absolutely loves it. However, to be honest, the car drives great and the EV driving is fantastic, but since owning it I find there are a few features which feel "cheap" compared to the Prius, even my Gen 2. We have the top of the line SL, and I find that for the price the "MFD" screen seems pretty low res as well as the backup cam (though it does have the Around-View monitor, but the screen is quite small), and I find small details like the driver seat height lever and the electric mirrors adjustment knobs feel cheap. Also no power seats, radar cruise control, or PCS systems, or any of those advanced systems that Toyota offers in Safety Sense.

As well, the trunk is more 'vertical' than horizontal, which IMO is not as practical, but can still carry decent cargo... if you pile it up.

The car is quite torquey and nice off the line, and the heated steering wheel, and rear seats is nice. The telematics for connectivity with the car is good (when it is not being hacked.. LOL), but very S L O W...

It is pretty cool though that I can open the Nissan EV app and check the geolocation of the vehicle anytime. Heh heh.

I also bug my wife that the SKS on the Prius (2nd gen) is more logical than the Leaf (and yes, I am biased). On the Prius, you touch the inside of the handle and it unlocks, always. Conversely, the black button on the outside always locks the car. On the Leaf, you have to press the button on the handle to either lock or unlock the car (it toggles with each press), there is no touch sensitivity function on the Leaf. Furthermore, to add more confusion the beeps are reversed compared to Toyota (1 beep for unlock, 2 beeps for lock). Seems to me there is a good chance of walking away from your car leaving it accidentally unlocked with this functionality design... Under the hatch, there is a large button for unlock, and a small button for lock. If you know it is there.

In terms of fit & finish, I noticed the leather around the rear-seat heater switch (on the side of the front passender seat) seems to be coming out a bit, and the alignment of one of the rear doors seems ever so slightly out of alignment when closed (I.e. the door sticks out slightly more than the body when closed). Like 1/32nd of an inch or so. I know I am nitpicking. We will bring this up when we bring the car in for service, but that might not be for another year since it is an EV.

One last minor example of upscale feature on the Gen 2 not found on the Leaf is how the car turns the dome lights on when the FOB approaches. This is a simple, but 'high end' feature which the Leaf does not do (as far as I know).

Overall, the car is great, and I would recommend it to anybody, particularly as a second vehicle, I just find some of the finer details are not to the same fit & finish quality of Toyota, IMO, not to mention lack of some high end features. Particularly at this price point. But we will see what the new Leaf looks like next year.

OK, I guess I just wrote a review.

 

Agreed. However, in Canada a loaded PIP and loaded Leaf are about the same price (before rebates). On one hand is a large battery, and the other is a full ICE system, which may or may not be similar in cost, with the difference being the other equipment.

To each their own, but I personally prefer the Prius feature set (by a slight edge, I still thoroughly enjoy the Leaf) and the Toyota reliability I know.