So I have always hated Tesla and don’t like that they’ve in a lot of way tarnished the name of electric cars. The second you say electric cars every person and their mom says OHH you’re getting a tesla! Quite annoying.
Anyways, I’d like to hear from some of you folks some models of electrics you like. I have always been a gearhead deep in the gas and oil, and I still enjoy my cars, but an electric would be fun and a cost savings for me, especially since I have a ton of roof space for solar panels if I wanted to.
It sounds superficial but a big reason I used to hate electric cars is they are for the most part, hideous. Then again, to me, most new cars are hidous, the designs are just not good. But I think i can look past that.
It would also be a huge bonus if there were any models out there with the least possible features. I prefer cars with manual locks/seats/doors and no screen, which is of course impossible with current cars (sadly). But the less digital garbage the better.
I also have a 2024 Ariya! Also love it, only had it less than 6 months (bought an ex-demo car for about 60% of the price of a new one).
Nissan have been making Leafs for years, built in Japan, we got the 63kWh mid-range model. It’s not a huge SUV but big enough we can easily fit three kids in the back and they have leg room. Has all the bells and whistles, like adaptive cruise control, steering assist, auto wipers, auto-lock/unlock, bluetooth, beepy things when you get too close, uses Lidar not cameras like tesla, but also have cameras so you have the overhead 360 view. All sorts of beeps and barps for various warnings but you can turn off anything you don’t like.
I’d say the most unusual part is that there’s no separation of driver and front passenger footwell, just one giant gap. After reading about it online I did what others do and bought a baskety container thing and velcroed it to the floor so now there is so much storage for all the books and jerseys and whatever, on top of the two glove boxes.
Comes with free updates to the satnav maps that you can also do yourself (I ended up using my wife’s Windows computer as I didn’t get their software working on Linux, maybe someone else has had better luck).
There are things I don’t like but overall, a solid car, no regrets. If you have more money they also sell a higher spec AWD version with a bigger battery. We get about 300km range on our 63kWh version by the time we fill it with stuff and 5 people.