I took the Leaf test drive event today. It lasted about two hours from start to finish. Both myself and my wife got to drive the Leaf after an hour presentation. The presentation covered the battery, charger/infrastructure, nav & range, and finally a display car to look and play with. They had about twelve cars set up for driving. It started in a parking lot with cones and a brief overview of functions/controls. Then we went on a two mile drive on open roads that included hills and flat terrain.
I also took the Volt test drive a few months ago.
Impressions:
Pros:
The back seat is definitely easier to enter and exit from than the Volt. It also seemed to be more spacious in the back seat at the expense of truck/hatch space.
The Leaf looks better in person than in photos - I was pleasantly surprised.
Cons:
The acceleration was a step down from the Volt.
The interior squeaked quite a bit compared to the solid feeling of the Volt. I'm not sure if it is due to being pre-production or not. I forgot to ask if these were engineering samples or production versions.
The interior quality plastics seem cheaper than the volt. The seat fabric (though they were heavily promoting the "recycled" element) did not seem very nice.
The rear hatch seemed quite a bit smaller than the Volt.
Overall the event was pretty polished and high tech with flat screens presenting info everywhere. There were four prefab/transportable buildings for the event compared to GM's single 10'x10' tent. The presenters had a more marketing feel than the GM engineers and tried to answer technical questions. The presenters and assistants were very friendly. GM could take some hints from the overall quality of the presentation.
BTW, there was a 1st gen Insight and lots of Prius (I guess it's officially Prii) in the test drive parking lot.
I also took the Volt test drive a few months ago.
Impressions:
Pros:
The back seat is definitely easier to enter and exit from than the Volt. It also seemed to be more spacious in the back seat at the expense of truck/hatch space.
The Leaf looks better in person than in photos - I was pleasantly surprised.
Cons:
The acceleration was a step down from the Volt.
The interior squeaked quite a bit compared to the solid feeling of the Volt. I'm not sure if it is due to being pre-production or not. I forgot to ask if these were engineering samples or production versions.
The interior quality plastics seem cheaper than the volt. The seat fabric (though they were heavily promoting the "recycled" element) did not seem very nice.
The rear hatch seemed quite a bit smaller than the Volt.
Overall the event was pretty polished and high tech with flat screens presenting info everywhere. There were four prefab/transportable buildings for the event compared to GM's single 10'x10' tent. The presenters had a more marketing feel than the GM engineers and tried to answer technical questions. The presenters and assistants were very friendly. GM could take some hints from the overall quality of the presentation.
BTW, there was a 1st gen Insight and lots of Prius (I guess it's officially Prii) in the test drive parking lot.