- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
NA
- Engine Power
NA
- Fuel
32h 0m chg, 439km range
- Manufacturer
FWD
- Transmission
Red'n Gear
- Warranty
5 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2023 Nissan Leaf e+ review
No, e+ is not a poor grade at school, it's the name of Nissan's longer-distance Leaf electric vehicle that has been updated for model year 2023. But has Nissan done enough to keep pace with a fast-growing EV marketplace?
- Easy to hit the energy-efficiency claim
- A natural commuter
- e-Pedal mode maximises energy regen
- Interior is starting to date, multimedia screen particularly
- Driving position lacks flexibility
- Back seat passengers don't get air vents, footroom or an armrest
2023 Nissan Leaf e+ review
When the Nissan Leaf five-door five-seat hatchback first hit Australian roads in 2012, few electric alternatives were competing for attention. This was a time before EV poster-boy Tesla arrived on the mainstream scene with the Model S (later in 2012), let alone the volume-selling Model 3 (2020) and Model Y (2022).
In fact, there were no real EV alternatives priced at around $50,000. Hybrids, sure, but not pure EVs like the original Nissan Leaf. But, because the Leaf was more a compromised curio than a viable internal combustion replacement, it didn’t exactly take over the world.
The second-generation Leaf landed in 2019, increasing the vehicle’s useable range from a paltry 100–170km to a more practical 270km. It also received several other real-world improvements, and the model range was split into two: an entry-level Leaf and a higher-priced, higher-performance Leaf e+.
But despite growing awareness of EVs within the wider population, the Leaf’s sales volume remained small. Miniscule, in fact, with just 1145 sold between 2019 and 2021.
Now with the model year 2023 update, the Leaf has improved again, albeit incrementally. There are still two variants to choose from: the entry-level Leaf with a 39kWh battery and a 110kW/320Nm electric motor good for 270km range, and a higher-priced Leaf e+ with a 59kWh battery and a 160kW/340Nm motor good for 385km.
The more powerful Leaf e+ also promises better real-world acceleration, with Nissan claiming a 0–100km/h time of 6.9sec compared to the 39kWh Leaf’s 7.9sec. That’s despite the bigger battery adding 142kg to the e+’s kerb weight (1736kg v 1594kg).
Nissan calls this MY23 update to the second-generation Leaf a “wheels-up redesign”, and the most obvious visual change is to the alloy wheels. Those 15-spoke black dish rims are anything but subtle.
Beyond that it’ll take a keen eye to spot the updated badging, reprofiled front grille, and tinted covers for the new LED headlights. At the rear, the airflow diffuser is new, as is the spoiler and LED tail-lights. Foglights front and rear complete the understated makeover.
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Nissan touts some safety enhancements, although they’re not of the semi-autonomous nature we expect in this day and age. Instead, Nissan has given the Leaf a driving sound called Canto, which the company says is only operational under 30km/h and is “designed to be audible but not alarming, to those outside the car”.
The cabin’s central rear-view mirror is still a mirror, and now has a second ‘screen’ mode linked to a camera in the Leaf’s butt.
So, the Leaf has changed but so has the competitive landscape. Today, there are too many EV alternatives to mention (see here). But the competition around $50,000 is still thin on the ground. The recently arrived BYD Atto 3 and the MG ZS are the cheapest (circa $45K), but then it’s a jump to the Hyundai Kona and Tesla Model 3 (around $59K).
We have no doubt that the next few years will bring new electric vehicles in the $40–65K price range. So the question is: has Nissan done enough with this new Leaf to keep up with current and future competition?
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How much does the Nissan Leaf cost in Australia?
The Nissan Leaf's price of entry has moved up slightly (by $1000) to $50,990 plus on-roads (or $53,515 drive-away), but that’s still less than the $51,500 demanded by the original back in 2012.
The flagship Leaf e+ we’re testing here costs $61,490 plus on-roads, which takes it to $64,015 on-road. The two-tone paint job adds $1090 to all of that.
Standard features on the entry-level Leaf include 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and tail-lights, dual-zone climate control, 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with smartphone mirroring, front and rear parking sensors, 360-degree cameras, and a host of safety features (detailed in the Safety section below).
Key details | 2023 Nissan Leaf e+ |
Price | $61,490 plus on-road costs |
Colour of test car | Grey Pearl with black roof |
Options | Two-tone paint – $1090 |
Price as tested | $62,580 plus on-road costs |
Drive-away price | $65,195 |
Rivals | BYD Atto 3 | Kia Niro | Tesla Model 3 |
How much space does the Nissan Leaf have inside?
The Nissan Leaf’s interior is a strange mix of new-world and old-school. One example of ‘new-world’ is the ball-mounted toadstool-style gear selector that reinvents PRND T-bars and joysticks without any tangible functionality advantage.
An example of old-school is the graphics on the multimedia screen, which are chunky and low resolution, but eminently functional.
Both of those elements feel like carryovers from the pre-update Leaf, as does much of the interior – including the steering wheel that still only adjusts for tilt and not reach. This, and the relatively high seat, compromises driving position flexibility, which means not all shapes and sizes will find a comfortable driving position, me included.
For me, the relationship between the steering wheel and the pedals didn’t suit my preferred seating position, which admittedly has me sitting close enough to the steering wheel to have my arms comfortably bent. If you’re an old-school straight-arm steerer, this may not be a problem.
The heated leather front seats themselves are relatively comfortable over short and longer distances. All adjustments are manual, not electric.
The Leaf’s foot-activated park brake is an anachronism, especially in a ‘technologically advanced’ EV. It’s functional but crude.
The front doors have bottle holders and there are two cupholders in the centre console ahead of the small armrest.
A digital rear-view mirror is now fitted inside – which projects a camera feed from the rear into the centre mirror, available at the push of a button – while there's also the 'Canto' sound, which plays below 30km/h to notify other road users if the vehicle is accelerating forwards, braking or reversing.
Access to the back seats is easy through decent-sized doors, and there’s a good amount of legroom and headroom for anyone six foot or less. Footroom under the front seats is limited.
There is no centre armrest for back seat passengers, nor are there any air vents or climate controls.
Interestingly, the front-drive Leaf has a transmission tunnel or driveshaft tunnel that a middle seat occupant has to straddle, even though it doesn’t need one. Nissan says the transmission tunnel is used to house high-voltage cables and easy access to the fuse box. Other EVs manage to house this stuff without compromising the cabin.
The Leaf’s boot opens manually (not electrically), offers a competitive 405L of storage, and is commendably deep. There is now a temporary-use spare tyre under the floor.
Is it just me, or does an EV come with the expectation that things like seats and boots should move electrically, too?
2023 Nissan Leaf e+ | |
Seats | Five |
Boot volume | 405L seats up 1176L seats folded |
Length | 4490mm |
Width | 2030mm |
Height | 1540mm |
Wheelbase | 2700mm |
Does the Nissan Leaf have Apple CarPlay?
The Nissan Leaf’s driver instrument cluster is a combination of old-school speedometer dial and 7.0-inch TFT display for driving range, driving efficiency and other performance monitors. It can also display navigation instructions and media updates.
The Leaf also has a centrally mounted 8.0-inch multimedia screen with built-in Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
This screen is small by today’s standards and the graphics have a grainy, chunky, old-school vibe to them. The system works well enough but can be a bit laggy at times. It includes media playback, satellite navigation and digital radio.
There is also a ‘driving range’ screen and an ‘energy usage’ screen to give the driver visibility over the Leaf’s planet-saving ways. It also details how much driving range you’re sacrificing by running ancillary systems like the climate control.
The Leaf includes an eight-speaker Bose sound system with a subwoofer in the boot, but the sound quality wasn’t all that impressive or bassy.
Is the Nissan Leaf a safe car?
The Nissan Leaf was crash-tested by ANCAP in 2018, which means the five-star rating it earned will time-out at the end of 2023. While both variants of the Leaf are structurally similar, ANCAP does not provide a rating for the 59kWh Leaf e+, and only officially rates the 39kWh short range Leaf.
ANCAP scored the Leaf a highly respectable 93 per cent for adult occupant protection, 85 per cent for child occupant protection, 71 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 70 per cent for safety assist.
2023 Nissan Leaf e+ | |
ANCAP rating | Unrated |
Safety report | Link to ANCAP report (for Leaf 39kWh) |
What safety technology does the Nissan Leaf have?
The Leaf comes with six airbags front and back, and two ISOFIX anchor points in the back seat.
Active safety technology ticks the main boxes but falls short of standards set by newer vehicles. It has intelligent forward collision warning with emergency braking that also detects pedestrians but not cyclists. It has lane-departure warning with steering intervention, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert. Neither of those last two will take a hand in helping you avoid trouble.
Front and rear parking sensors are complemented by a 360-degree surround-view camera set-up.
How much does the Nissan Leaf cost to maintain?
All Nissan vehicles come with a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty that also includes 24-hour roadside assist.
Servicing the Leaf happens in 12-month or 20,000km intervals, and will cost $852 for the first three years or $1476 over five years under Nissan’s capped-price servicing plan. If you service at a Nissan dealership, they’ll even give your car a clean inside and out to finish each service.
The Nissan Leaf’s comprehensive insurance quote is surprisingly high for a $60,000 car at $2073. This is based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.
At a glance | 2023 Nissan Leaf e+ |
Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
Service intervals | 12 months or 20,000km |
Servicing costs | $852 (3 years) $1476 (5 years) |
Energy cons. (claimed) | 17.1kWh/100km |
Energy cons. (on test) | 16.8kWh/100km |
Battery size | 59.0kWh |
Driving range claim (WLTP) | 385km |
Charge time (7kW) | 11hr 30min |
Charge time (100kW max rate) | 90min (20–80%) |
Is the Nissan Leaf energy-efficient?
Nissan claims the Leaf will cover 270km between charges according to the WLTP standard. The Leaf e+’s bigger battery raises this claimed figure to 385km. During our time with the car, the most we saw was 350km between recharges at an average consumption of 16.8kWh/100km.
Plugging the Leaf in at home means it will take 21 hours to recharge. The bigger battery in the Leaf e+ takes that out to 32 hours.
If you take Nissan up on its 7kW wallbox, then charging times drop by almost two-thirds to 7.5 and 11.5 hours respectively.
DC fast charging enables a one-hour 20 to 80 per cent fast charge in the base Leaf, or 1.5 hours in the Leaf e+.
For most of our week with the Leaf, we plugged it into a standard domestic socket overnight and in the office carpark, so range was simply never an issue.
We did try one of two free public charging stations in Geelong that promised 22kW/h, but after 14 minutes plugged in, the Leaf had absorbed a paltry 0.04kWh, so we gave up and moseyed on over to the second site only to find four Teslas hooked up. Waiting another 15 minutes changed nothing, so we gave up again.
This is not a slight on the Nissan Leaf, but is symptomatic of Australia’s unreliable and overworked recharging network.
What is the Nissan Leaf like to drive?
The Nissan Leaf’s edgy external styling is in no way a teaser to edgy driving dynamics lurking within. In fact, this EV is as vanilla as it gets on the road – comfortable and competent but lacking in character.
If you want an EV that delivers solidly on its promise and doesn’t waste time on driver engagement, then look no further. The Leaf drives, rides and steers as effectively as a commuter car should. It’s quiet, it has a decent amount of accelerative urge even at highway speeds, and it brakes smoothly and without hiccups caused by the energy regeneration system.
In addition to that, the Leaf can be driven in one-pedal mode by pushing a button near the gear selector. This means the car slows aggressively when you lift off the accelerator by using the electric motor as a generator to harvest electrical energy, and will ‘brake’ in that way long enough to bring you to a stop.
The system is actually one of the more aggressive ones that I’ve driven, and it will upset your passengers if you step off the accelerator, so it's best to instead reduce pressure smoothly until you’re totally off.
One-pedal mode is not suited to parking manoeuvres, so it’s good that the switch to disable it is close to hand.
One thing I found a bit strange: when reverse is selected, the Leaf makes an ongoing chiming noise that for some reason reminds me of the sonar ping you hear in submarine movies when they’re trying to sneak up on a target. So, instead of making me calmer, it adds a bit of stress.
On second thought, maybe that’s not such a bad thing while reversing.
Also, despite the multimedia touchscreen that should in theory centralise many vehicle controls, there are still close to 50 buttons scattered around the Leaf’s interior. And some of them are in very strange positions.
For example, the car’s four driving modes – Eco, D, B and e-Pedal – are activated by three different controls in two different locations. The e-Pedal toggle rests near the transmission selector, but the Eco mode button is on the other side of the steering wheel – next to a recharging flap release button.
Key details | 2023 Nissan Leaf e+ |
Engine | Single electric motor |
Power | 160kW |
Torque | 340Nm |
Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
Transmission | Single-speed |
Power to weight ratio | 92kW/t |
Weight (kerb) | 1736kg |
Spare tyre type | Temporary spare (underside of car) |
Turning circle | 11.0m |
Should I buy a Nissan Leaf?
Sure, if you want a quirky-looking EV that will get you and three others from A to B without fuss and in relative comfort.
These days, $50K is not a lot to pay for an EV, but the Leaf e+ pushes beyond $60K and strays perilously close to rival EVs from Tesla, Hyundai and others with more driving range and more modern interiors that are also more engaging to drive.