Nissan Leaf 2020 review: family test

Let’s get the important bit out of the way: how does it charge? You can easily charge the Leaf at home, by plugging the cord that comes with it into a regular electricity socket.

You can easily charge the Leaf at home, by plugging the cord that comes with it into a regular electricity socket.

This is the slowest way to charge and it will take around 24 hours to get from zero to 100 per cent. But still convenient because if you’ve got a garage or can plug in at work, you can leave it to charge every day.

Nissan claims it will cost around $700 a year at peak times, or just $300 at non-peak. Less again if you have solar panels.

You can also get a home wall connector installed in your garage, so you plug into that instead of a powerpoint and that will take 7.5 hours to charge. Then there is a CHAdeMO connector which only takes one hour to charge. 

And in about a year (end 2020) you’ll be able to pay $2000 for a two-way battery charger, which essentially stores power in the car’s battery and powers your home in off-peak times.

The Nissan Leaf costs $49,990 before on road costs.

The Nissan Leaf costs $49,990 before on road costs and warranty is Nissan’s standard five year/unlimited km cover. 

Nissan says the (98 per cent recyclable) battery will outlast the car, and vehicle servicing is required every 12months or 20,000km.

The exterior is eye-catching, I had two people stop to ask me what car it was and one person cross the road to talk to me about it. It looks modern and sporty. 

The exterior is eye-catching.

Inside, Nissan's really upped the interior design to give you more value for the dollars you’re paying.

Comfortable leather seats are heated in the front and back, which is rare, and the leather steering wheel feels great to touch and is also heated - a feature we normally miss out on in Australia. 

There’s a blue stitched trim on all the leather and the soft dashboard looks and feels high quality.

The centre console is well designed with an incorporated, large multimedia screen. The rest is kept simple and the result is that you feel really good in the car. 

There are two cupholders in the front, with a small centre storage bin, and a spot to throw keys and a phone, and a bottle holder in each door.

Rear passengers miss out on air vents and their own cupholders, but that is standard in this category.

It’s at a good height for kids to climb in and out by themselves, but not so great if you have to bend down to fit a baby capsule in.

The charge port is at the front of the car where you normally find the engine.

Charging the car was surprisingly easy, and the charge port opens with a touch of a button on the key. It’s at the front of the car where you normally find the engine (always a novelty not to have an engine) and the parts fit together with a satisfying sound.

For a hatchback, it’s surprisingly spacious inside. My family of four fit comfortably. Granted, my children are small (aged five and seven), but with some family members hitting 185cm, the front had enough leg and head space and the rear had enough room to comfortably seat a tall adult or teenager. 

For a hatchback, it’s surprisingly spacious inside.

If you have a rear facing baby capsule you will have to move the passenger seat forward to fit the capsule behind it, but that is the case with most cars (even some large SUVs). 

The rear had enough room to comfortably seat a tall adult or teenager.

Because there’s no fuel tank, the boot is deep and spacious. At 405L it’s not the largest of the hatchback boots but it’s on the bigger end, and had enough room for the CarsGuide pram.

At 405L it had enough room for the CarsGuide pram.

I fit two huge boxes from the grocery store plus tennis rackets and school bags and there was still room to spare, so it’s a decent size for a hatchback.

It comes with all the advanced safety equipment you would want in 2019 including auto emergency braking with forward collision warning, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert, among other things.

It scores a maximum five star ANCAP rating on the strict 2019 test.

There are six airbags and two ISOFIX points plus three top tether points for kids car seats and it scores a maximum five star ANCAP rating on the strict 2019 test.