My next dream car - Nissan LEAF

I love Nissans and I am pretty excited about the Nissan LEAF which is the one of the few 100% electric cars in Australia.  Naturally there's a huge waiting list so even if I wanted to buy one now I wouldn't get one anyway for a few years, I'm sure.

But just looking at it, its a nice sized car, and it doesn't look tiny like the other electric cars I've seen.  In fact, it looks about the size of my old Mazda 3.  (Images from Caradvice.com.au.)

The inside looks roomy, and looks like it could at least put 2 boosters in it for the kids.

It even comes with a whole host of extra technophile features that are totally unnecessary but make you feel like you're driving some sort of futuristic car.  These include:

• A timer for the airconditioner that can get you to warm up the car at 6.30am before you start to drive for workat 6.45am
• Built in SIM so it can constantly updates itself with new info
• Apps on your iPhone or Android so you can see how much charge you have left in the car, or even tell it to start charging remotely (if the car is plugged in)

It has a little 12V solar panel on the rear spoiler that helps power many of the interior accessories.

So how far can it drive?  On a full charge, the car can go 170km it says.  Not bad for city driving. Not sure if that would be ok for me when I drive about 100km a day but if I had no side trips, it would probably be ok for a trip to work and back.  With the air-con on, it probably brings it down to about 120km.

So how do you charge one of these babies?  Well, there are 3 ways to charge it.

• Home.  You can charge it at home if you have the right power system installed - an electrician can do that for you apparently for about $200.  It takes 8 hours to charge up a depleted battery.
• Charging stations.  I don't know where there are any of them around here, but that would be pretty cool.
• Fast charge can be done from a 415V power system so you can rapidly get it to 80% in 30 minutes.

According to Caradvice.com.au, the car drives very well.

When it comes to drivability, the Nissan Leaf is an interesting car. You’re actually going to feel it accelerate just like you would in a sportscar. It’s a bizarre sensation given there is no engine noise. It feels and sounds like a Japanese bullet train about to hit cruising speed as it accelerates from the lights. With 280Nm of torque available from a standstill, the Leaf is much more lively than a Prius and many other cars (no official 0-100km/h figures yet).

Steering feel is very light, much like a Lexus. That makes it easy to manoeuvre around town and get in and out of car parks. 

- Alborz Fallah, 2012 Nissan Leaf review

I am pretty excited hearing this.  I would really like to have one!  Here is the full list of energy saving features that the vehicle has.

Energy-saving features 
Automatic lights-on system
LED headlamps with load-sensing leveller
High luminance LED rear combination lights
Full colour rear view monitor, with vehicle width/distance display function
Rear windshield wiper (intermittent)
LED high-mount stop lights

Active safety features 
 VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control [TCS functionality included])
ABS (Anti-lock Brake System)
EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution)

Passive safety features 
High-strength safety bodyshell
Impact-energy-absorbing body construction to mitigate pedestrian injuries
SRS airbags for the driver and front passenger
SRS side airbags for the driver and front passenger
SRS curtain airbags
Two-stage load-limiter-equipped double pretensioner seatbelt for driver and front passenger
Emergency Locking Retractor (ELR)
3-point seatbelts for all seats

So, in a few years, guess what I'll be driving! :D

Problem with car already! Lucky it's fixed now though...

I drove my car away on Tuesday and found that the damn clock keeps resetting to midday!  And so does the trip meter.  Sounded like some kind of battery/connection problem but today I took the car back and it was fixed up quick smart.  Fuse problem they said, which was easily rectified.

Erika loves the moonroof, she asks for it to be open all the time.  And she knows that mama's new car is black (she says it with a south african accent, so it sounds like she's saying Bleck).

At least the after sales service is good.  I will mention it when I do my customer satisfaction survey.

Oh, one thing I did notice was that servicing the car is NOT cheap.  And I thought VW service was bad, this is just as bad, maybe a tiny bit cheaper.

Oh today when I went back to the dealership the salesperson I dealt with was just handing over the keys to another Dualis +2!  A red one!  I went outside to tell the couple that they had made a nice choice, and the man asked me if I liked my car and I said I loved it.  Except for the clock of course.  Now a moot point :)

New car is here!!!!

I got a call today from Nissan saying that my car was ready for pickup!  Now that was a nice surprise, and especially on a Tuesday where I actually can have time to pick up the car if I try!  So I went to the bank after my Acute Pain Round, got my bank cheque and off I went to the car dealers.

After signing all my paperwork and stuff and having the car "tour" I finally got my car!  But there was one bad thing - the clock keeps resetting every time I turn the car off.  In fact, all the trip stuff seems to reset after I turn the car off.  I notified the dealers and they told me to let the service guys look at the car when I bring it around on Thursday.

Here's what it looks like on the inside (pictures from web, not my actual car)

Driving an automatic makes me feel lazy.  Taking off from the lights feels sluggish compared to driving a manual - is that due to it being automatic or is that just my engine being underpowered?  Tried it with the "manual" gear switch and it wasn't much different.

The display is distracting.  Probably because it's a new car, and I keep looking at the km on it and the fuel consumption.  I think i'll have to turn it off and not look at it.

The Bluetooth is actually really good.  I called people from my phone and they said it was good quality sound.  Simple to connect too.  I have to program some numbers into the car now to make it more useful.

Sound suppression is impressive, it was raining moderately to heavily and I could still talk on the phone.  I haven't driven the M5 to Campbelltown yet but I will tomorrow so I will get to see what it's like in terms of noise in the cabin.

I put the baby seats in, and they slip around a lot on the moulded leather seats, which is irritating.  So I put some padding under them to see if that helped, but I can sit between the seats, which is kind of cool!  There is a little more leg room in the back than my old car.

I haven't quite got my head around the car positioning, and how close I am to things.  I think I'm erring on the side of caution, and I'm worried I'll run over stuff at the back but when I put the car in the garage I was WAAAAY too far from the wall.  Will need to put it a bit closer when I park it again tomorrow coming home.

I like my glass roof.  I had it open most of the way home.  I bet Erika and Julian will like it too.

Keyless entry is cool!  It also has a key option for flat keyless battery thing which is awesome.  Not sure how that works if I can't actually OPEN the car... there must be a slot somewhere for it in the door.  I'll look for it later.

All in all I love my new car.  Oh but you know what was really cool when I first saw the car?  It was the number plates!  BSL97W... perfect for someone married to an endocrinologist!!!  Won't be forgetting that in a hurry.

I banish twit! Totally awesome.

Dualis it is!

Today took the plunge and bought the Dualis+2.  Getting it in black.  There were no Ti models there for hubby to look at, but he got a look at the ST model +2 as well as the non +2 model.

Trading in my car got me 10k off the RRP.  I'm excited now, can't wait till I get my new car!

Interestingly I keep asking Erika what colour car to get and she has consistently said Red.  I have tried wording it differently or giving her different options and yet she still says red.  I hate to disappoint her, but I've never had a black car before!

Here's a picture of my new baby... which will probably be here around mid October.

What car should I buy? Part 2

Ok I've narrowed my choice down to 2 cars:

Volkswagen Golf Wagon 118TSI comfortline
Nissan Dualis+2 Ti

Two different cars.  So hard to choose!

What do I like about the Golf?
1) Fuel economy. 6.7L/100km is hard to beat!
2) Zippy little 1.4L engine
3) It's a Golf!
4) Roomy station wagon
5) Safe

What do I like about the Dualis+2?
1) Sized between a hatchback and an SUV
2) +2 seats in an emergency up the back!  Not comfy though!
3) Tones of extra features included in the price for the top of the line model such as moonroof (glass roof!), bluetooth, seat warmers, leather seats, keyless entry
4) value for money price
5) Safe

OK so what don't I like about them?

Golf:
1) takes premium unleaded 98 only.  Geez, that will add heaps to my petrol bill.  No wonder the darn thing is so fuel efficient.
2) Adding all the extras makes the price go up
3) ugly... it's a station wagon!

Dualis+2:
1) Fuel economy not as good - 8.2L/100km
2) Not as roomy as Golf
3) Doesn't have back seat vents for air con/fan

There are quite a few reviews out there:
Dualis
Carshowroom.com.au
carsales.com.au
goauto

Golf
carpoint.com.au
motorreport


Interestingly to insure either of these cars comprehensively, the Golf is $300 more expensive to insure.

I think I may end up getting a Dualis anyway.  I will still get the +2 seats because the boot is bigger with the +2 seats folded down than the normal.  Will cost me an extra 2.5k though.  Should I get AWD?  I dunno, will I ever use it?  I doubt it.  I can always take the Lexus if I really need to do 4WD stuff.

What new car should I buy?

After these car dramas I've been thinking that I should get a new car.  I've been looking at the Volkswagen Golf Wagon, but it is a tiny car with not much power... though it is very green (but says I have to use premium unleaded in it!).  The VW Passat wagon might have a bit more kick.

Someone told me to look at the Camry Hybrid, which has rather nice fuel economy but hubby and my mum are not keen for me to get a Hybrid they think there's something buggy about the technology.

Hubby wants me to get an Audi A4 wagon.  But that's starting to push the price boundaries a bit for me!

Hope to go test drive a few models tomorrow

MORE car drama!

Today I was driving to work and while I was on the freeway there was a funny noise - like a flapping noise (like you hear if you have a flag on your car flapping in the wind).  Then it stopped and I was like phew!  Then the battery light came on... then the oil light came on.  Mum and the kids were in the car with me and I was freaking out (it was on the freeway bit where it's 80km/hr) and I was ringing hubby and HK and then the temperature gauge stopped working and then the ABS light came on.... and when I turned onto Narellan road I realised the power steering wasn't working!!!  I managed to get mum to the train station and then drove to hospital and parked the car (by that time the lights on the radio had gone as well, and the airbag lights had come on) and called NRMA.  Michelle came to pick up the kids and then NRMA got there looked at my car a fan belt and a ?pulley had broken which is attached to the alternater and battery and that's why the battery wasn't getting charged when the car was running which made all the electrics die.

So my car got towed away eventually and hopefully it will be fixed today.  If not I'll have to go get the car seats out so I can put them in some other car!!!

1800: OMG more drama.  At about 11am I got a call from the mechanic who had fixed my car and was coming over to the hospital to come pick me up.  So I started looking for my wallet.. couldn't find it.  So I was super stressed and my nice colleague RR lent me his keycard and some cash and told me his PIN so I could pay for my car!!!  So lovely of him.  Anyway the cash was enough to cover and I came back and I still couldn't find my wallet.  STRESS!  So then I suddenly got a call from Admissions downstairs - they had found my wallet!  So I was running down and they said I'd left it lying on the chair downstairs - where I had been sitting waiting for the tow truck.  AND all the money was still in it!

What a scare!

Geez, I was driving back from a friend's place and I was driving along a major road not far from home and the light was green but traffic was backed up.  The car in front of me stopped and then I hit the brakes but I wasn't going that fast anyway, but the 4WD behind me couldn't stop in time and rear ended me with a huge crash.  Julian was asleep but he woke up with a scream and I was petrified he'd been injured!

I pulled over and checked Julian, he was fine, no glass on him but the back of my car looked terrible!  Glass everywhere, boot smashed in... bullbars - they're car killers!

The driver of the other vehicle was so apologetic and was really nice about everything, asking if I was ok, and I was trying to reassure him.  He sorted out everything so quickly - I had only just gotten home and he rang me to tell me the claim number and what to do and what number to call.  I thanked him and reassured him again.

See it's not like I was doing anything wrong.  Sometimes accidents happen and there's nothing you can do about it.  But just thinking that being hit from behind and what's between me and that other car is the children...

When I got home I took out the car seats so I could put the back down and get the pram out.  Somehow the pram managed to survive unscathed.  Must be the way someone put it in.