Depends how you look at it. You could make an argument that the ideal is a brand new car with the best crash test scores of anything on the market and state-of-the-art safety features.
I know someone who learned to drive in an older leaf.
In some ways a better experience. The accelerator is drive-by-wire for instance, so acceleration is smooth. The regenerative braking means just lifting your foot slows you down.
One wierd part was the driving test asks about putting the car in "accessory" (which the leaf technically has, but is hard to achieve without studying the manual). Other evs don't even have it.
"accessory" (which the leaf technically has, but is hard to achieve without studying the manual).
I’ll remind our listeners at home that I’m the one with the eight year old Leaf. To this day, with a gun to my head, I couldn’t get it into “accessory” in under five minutes, if at all. From memory, it’s some combination of “this sequence” coupled with “but only if..., otherwise...”. If you master that, try and turn the heat on with it still plugged in, without using the app. It can be done, but...
press the start button without stepping on the brake
Unfortunately it is difficult to KNOW you are in accessory.
There is a tiny battery symbol on the dash and/or the traction motor indicator is off (car symbol with arrows underneath). This is non-obvious and lost in the other indicator lights.
You will eventually find out (like a regular car) because climate control will not change the temperature, but the fans will blow and the 12v battery will drain.