If you would have told me 2-3 days ago that we would be the owners of a new 2018 Leaf SV with ProPILOT Assist I would’ve called you crazy, but that’s exactly what just happened today. After finding an ad for a rather substantial discount on a brand new model and being extraordinarily skeptical, I went to the dealer expecting to waste a couple hours of my day and end up annoyed. There were 3 new Leaf’s on-site, but only one with ProPILOT Assist.... and now there are none! =). The negotiation wasn’t easy, but I’m very happy with the results.
I’ve only put ~20 miles on the car so far, but here are some initial thoughts:
-ProPILOT Assist is not quite Autopilot, but in a few ways I think it’s actually better. The way the system engages/disengages is great, and very intuitive. Just turn on cruise control, and once the system thinks it can provide steering it does and gets indicated on the dash. It’s a perfectly smooth transition. I quickly developed confidence in using the system - much faster than I did with Autopilot.
-In my relatively extensive experience using AP, you can’t really make minor corrections/adjustments without the car fighting you - and if you provide too much corrective input, the system reacts and disengages somewhat violently. This is entirely the opposite of what I experienced this evening. PPA took minor steering corrections beautifully, and did not once disenage due to this behavior. I *think* the system processes human steering inputs as the priority and adjusts as needed, but I really need to do more thorough testing before I speculate any further.
-The “E-Pedal” is incredible. The car has much stronger regenerative braking than previous generations, though it’s still not quite as strong as Tesla’s. The catch is that it’s very smooth and actually brings the car to a complete stop - even on an incline. It sounds like a pretty basic tweak, but it felt perfectly implemented and makes “one pedal driving” a very real thing.
-The car is very quiet, and the ride is super smooth. An improvement over previous generations, and impressive.
-The main control center UI is roughly the same, but seems more responsive. -The new instrument cluster is great though. Lots of easily accessible info!
-CarPlay. It’s there, and it seems to work. I still don’t get along with Siri, but that’s more of personal problem, not Nissan’s.
-The new mobile app is fantastic and features a ton of options. Blows Tesla’s app out of the water. It even features intelligently designed long distance trip planning, that appears to have the ability to be imported into the car. Will explore this more at a later date.
-It’s definitely faster and torque-ier than the older versions, but it’s still slowAF.
-The seats have been slightly redesigned, and are comfortable.
-Looks are subjective, but I think it looks nice/better/less alien than previous generations. It’s still not a sexy car, but it’s not bad either. Definitely better than a minivan!
-0% interest for 72 months. Gotta love free money.
-2 years ago we got a ridiculous deal for purchasing a new 2016 Leaf SV, and Nissan basically just gave us just as good of a deal on the trade-in value. The 22 months ownership for our 2016 Leaf SV total ended costing us less than $85/month after the tax credit, including taxes/registration. It’s just silly!
-The 2018 SV insurance quote from a major carrier just came back $15/month cheaper than the 2016, for the exact same coverage.
-The new 120/240v charging cable & adapter looks great through the packaging/bubble wrap, but I haven’t actually unwrapped it yet.
I will absolutely concede that these cars aren’t sexy, and not having access to the supercharger network is a little sad and certainly limiting.. But the cars are actually available today, are reasonably well built, relatively inexpensive, and there’s nothing even remotely close to ProPILOT Assist within $20K. The 150 mile range is totally manageable for daily driving too.
So far, so good Nissan!
I’ve only put ~20 miles on the car so far, but here are some initial thoughts:
-ProPILOT Assist is not quite Autopilot, but in a few ways I think it’s actually better. The way the system engages/disengages is great, and very intuitive. Just turn on cruise control, and once the system thinks it can provide steering it does and gets indicated on the dash. It’s a perfectly smooth transition. I quickly developed confidence in using the system - much faster than I did with Autopilot.
-In my relatively extensive experience using AP, you can’t really make minor corrections/adjustments without the car fighting you - and if you provide too much corrective input, the system reacts and disengages somewhat violently. This is entirely the opposite of what I experienced this evening. PPA took minor steering corrections beautifully, and did not once disenage due to this behavior. I *think* the system processes human steering inputs as the priority and adjusts as needed, but I really need to do more thorough testing before I speculate any further.
-The “E-Pedal” is incredible. The car has much stronger regenerative braking than previous generations, though it’s still not quite as strong as Tesla’s. The catch is that it’s very smooth and actually brings the car to a complete stop - even on an incline. It sounds like a pretty basic tweak, but it felt perfectly implemented and makes “one pedal driving” a very real thing.
-The car is very quiet, and the ride is super smooth. An improvement over previous generations, and impressive.
-The main control center UI is roughly the same, but seems more responsive. -The new instrument cluster is great though. Lots of easily accessible info!
-CarPlay. It’s there, and it seems to work. I still don’t get along with Siri, but that’s more of personal problem, not Nissan’s.
-The new mobile app is fantastic and features a ton of options. Blows Tesla’s app out of the water. It even features intelligently designed long distance trip planning, that appears to have the ability to be imported into the car. Will explore this more at a later date.
-It’s definitely faster and torque-ier than the older versions, but it’s still slowAF.
-The seats have been slightly redesigned, and are comfortable.
-Looks are subjective, but I think it looks nice/better/less alien than previous generations. It’s still not a sexy car, but it’s not bad either. Definitely better than a minivan!
-0% interest for 72 months. Gotta love free money.
-2 years ago we got a ridiculous deal for purchasing a new 2016 Leaf SV, and Nissan basically just gave us just as good of a deal on the trade-in value. The 22 months ownership for our 2016 Leaf SV total ended costing us less than $85/month after the tax credit, including taxes/registration. It’s just silly!
-The 2018 SV insurance quote from a major carrier just came back $15/month cheaper than the 2016, for the exact same coverage.
-The new 120/240v charging cable & adapter looks great through the packaging/bubble wrap, but I haven’t actually unwrapped it yet.
I will absolutely concede that these cars aren’t sexy, and not having access to the supercharger network is a little sad and certainly limiting.. But the cars are actually available today, are reasonably well built, relatively inexpensive, and there’s nothing even remotely close to ProPILOT Assist within $20K. The 150 mile range is totally manageable for daily driving too.
So far, so good Nissan!
