I am happy to report that after 5 weeks my LEAF has become... well... "just another car" to me, like a lot of other fine cars I've owned.
Oh sure, it's very fun to drive, fast, solid, agile in traffic, frosty-cold and pin-drop quiet on the inside; but otherwise it's starting to become just transportation. I get in, turn it on, then drive to wherever I'm going. Nothin' special. I'm no longer mesmerized by all the cool displays of battery charge and energy use and typically don't even turn them on unless I'm demo-ing the LEAF to a friend.
I don't bother with the "Eco" mode and don't give a thought to "driving green." I just drive. To wherever I'm going. With full-on AC. As fast as traffic will allow. With as heavy a foot as I like. Yet I've never come even close to experiencing "range anxiety." I just haven't been able to run this baby down anywhere near empty since I did that deliberately the first week when I was testing the LEAF's limits.
Now I just drive it. It's "just a car."
OK, I admit that I never turn on the (excellent) sound system because I'm not over my fascination with the LEAF's extraordinary silence. And, sure, it feels good to drive past all those $$ gas price signs knowing I haven't had to insert my MasterCard into a gas pump for more than 5 weeks. And it's nice knowing that my driving has a zero carbon footprint because my home uses exclusively West Texas windmill electricity. And, yeah, I admit that I love having people ask me about the LEAF, then running through my whole LEAF "spiel" and test drive.
But other than that, the LEAF has become just another car to me. You believe me, don't you? NOT! :-)
I love my LEAF!
Re. "ECO" or not "ECO": the "ECO" definitely feels more sluggish, but I have found that when I need to "get movin'", a heavy foot produces about the same accelerative response feel as 'D'. I prefer "ECO" because of the more "generous" re-generation on coasting and braking.
ReplyDeleteAndy, you're absolutely right about the ECO mode; however, I never bother with it because I really enjoy the friskiness of the LEAF; and I like to control regenerative charging myself by simply touching the brake pedal lightly to decelerate. That way the disk brakes are not applied until just before the car comes to a complete stop.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Range Anxiety is absolutely a non-issue for me. In my normal city driving I rarely use up even 50 miles of battery charge in a day. No matter where I am in Austin I'm never more than 10 miles from my home charger; so it seems pointless to drive sluggishly in order to eke out an extra mile or two at $0.03/mi.
Whatever floats your boat. :-)