Sometime in the past decade or so, economy cars became a little bit dour. Shaking off bright hues and the occasional unexpected performance package for fifty shades of greige and non-Rubbermaid-grade plastics did make them better commuters, but often at the expense of a little bit of spirit. Well, here’s a potential salve that reminds us not to take life too seriously. It’s the Nissan Leaf Nismo, and it’s a little bit juvenile.
First, some background. The Leaf is Nissan’s newly crossover-ized entry-level electric car in America, and it offers plenty of space for a starting price of $31,535. Add in up to 303 miles of range, a built-in Tesla-style NACS charging port, and Apple CarPlay, and the result is a rather competitive rival to the Chevrolet Bolt. On the other end of the spectrum, Nismo is Nissan’s racing and high-performance division that built its name by winning on the track and tuning up some of Yokohama’s hottest sheetmetal for the street. The Nismo 350Z, for instance, had a painstakingly seam-welded chassis for extra rigidity.
So what happens when the Nismo name’s applied to a mild-mannered electric commuter car? Well, it starts with a whole lot of red. Red stripes on the mirror caps, valences, and door trims add a touch of juvenile contrast that complements the Nismo body modifications. There’s a chunky front air dam, deep side skirts, and a proud rear lip that all visually push this Leaf closer to the ground. Of course, a body kit alone without a rear spoiler would look a little unbalanced, so Nismo’s gone and added a much taller ducktail to the liftgate. Schwing.
The red accents on the outside carry through to the interior, especially if you spec the optional Recaro seats. Yes, Recaro seats in a Nissan Leaf. What a time to be alive. Beyond those red-bolstered thrones, you get red stitching on the console, dashboard, steering wheel, and door cards, a red stripe across the dashboard trim, and even a red noon marker on the steering wheel. Do you really need a noon marker in a car like this? Probably not, but hey, that didn’t stop Nissan.
Does the Leaf Nismo get any extra power? Nope. Models with the 75 kWh battery pack still make the same 214 horsepower as their non-Nismo brethren, but the powertrain calibration is different. Nissan’s rather vague on what this actually means, but don’t be surprised if it partially translates to a punchier “sport” drive mode. That’s a bit underwhelming, but at least Nismo did change some parts underneath the warmed-up Leaf.
For one, the suspension’s been overhauled. Springs, dampers, anti-roll bars, all the sort of stuff you’d want to upgrade if you wanted to make your daily driver more fun. Beyond that, Nismo’s played with bushing compositions to tighten up compliance in places that were a bit jiggly for spirited on-ramp exploits. Of course, more purposeful suspension can only go so far without a good set of tires, so Nismo’s done the proper thing by chucking some Michelin Pilot Sport 5 summers on Enkei wheels. Score.
On paper, the Nissan Leaf Nismo won’t set your trousers alight, but it promises more fun at a time when even slightly spicy variants of affordable cars aren’t exactly abundant. I mean, the Volkswagen Jetta GLI seems to be living on borrowed time, nameplates like the Lancer Ralliart and Cobalt SS have long since disappeared from showrooms, the Hyundai Kona N-Line is pretty much just an appearance package, the list goes on. Better yet, there’s a chance the Leaf Nismo could make it to North America. I mean, we already get the Armada Nismo, so why not?
Top graphic image: Nissan
As a kid in the 80s I Ioved economy cars with sporty appearance packages. Looking through the rear view mirror out over your deck lid spoiler you felt like your car was a little special even as your 90 hp econobox was 12 seconds into its 0-60 run. I hope these make it to the U.S.
It’s basically a Luce
I love my Recaro leather seats in my Isuzu Vehicross that at 25 years old need replacement but not available. I will put seat covers over them rather than these cheap looking racing seats that look uncomfortable and ugly as hell
So you’re telling me those red stripes and spoilers don’t add 5hp?
Bummer, Dude.
Do the added equipment at least not make it slower than the standard Leaves?
If the performance tires allow Nissan to unlock more of the existing torque at lower speeds, you could actually see significant acceleration improvements even if the hardware and max output specifications remain unchanged.
260lbft from a dead stop in a compact car is no joke. I guarantee the base Leaf is severely tire limited, and does not allow anywhere close to full output until you’re traveling 35mph or something like that.
Performance tires don’t make cars go faster in a straight line — they help cars maintain higher speeds in curves.
Meanwhile performance tires & wheels are heavier and sticker – which could actually impede acceleration vs economy tires in some cases.
Sorry, what? Sticky tires absolutely improve acceleration, for the same reason they allow better cornering. Performance rubber improves grip in all scenarios. Why do you think drag racers swap to softer rubber for the strip?
I’m not talking about top speed- Most people only ever experience their vehicle’s performance up until roughly the legal limit. That said, performance tires DO have better casings and a higher speed rating.
Don’t forget that most EVs are specced with super max range highway tires that prioritize low rolling resistance over all else- The computer is set to leave a lot of acceleration on the table to avoid tire-destroying wheel spin.
Performance has always been a tradeoff. A Civic Si is faster, but had less range and worse fuel economy than a DX with the same gas tank.
But a Civic DX never had 260lb ft of torque, and wasn’t being “held back” by its rubber and computer system the way a base electric car is. You needed to physically upgrade the engine if you wanted to match the better rubber.
This is the kind of thing I wish Toyota would do with a GR Prius. It doesn’t really need more power, so keep the efficiency (minus the small hit from real tires) and make it a better driver through suspension and steering tuning, maybe some colored accents or something.
Highly related: Bozi over at TTAC just did a “will it fit” for GR Corola suspension and brake calipers on a Prius. Answer: Yep. So if Toyota won’t do it, you sure could.
Drivetrain swap next?
I dislike the looks of the GR Corolla and find the new Prius far more attractive. A manual GR Prius would be sick.
Give us a NV200 nismo taxi or GTFO
I would absolutely rock a eNV200 chassis cab
A lot of people don’t realize this kind of thing is absolutely nothing new. The Nismo and GR badges are already all over the model lineups in Japan. You can buy a Nismo Note, a Nismo Rogue (or X-Trail, as it were), a GR Sport Aqua, and a GR Sport RAV4! Madness!
hot take i don’t hate it. the ducktail spoiler is rad the seats look comfy. the wheels are nice as far as OEM wheels go. sure it doesn’t have more power but ask yourself this question: would you rather Nissan artificially limit the NON nismo power just to make the Nismo seem ‘worth it?” or every leaf gets the same power? i now which one i would prefer!
I support this if only so that Old Man Torchinsky has material for Glorious Garbage 30 years from now.
I had a Juke Nismo over a decade ago, so let’s not pretend that Nismo has always been this sacred halo thing that’s somehow just recently been sullied by this and the Armada Nismo. The Juke Nismo was a turd. But I would have this car. It’s weird, and I’m here to celebrate weird cars.
I mean, the chief reason would be brand dilution. Unique is usually cooler than regular. If everything gets a Nismo, then it’s less unique. And then you make a new one and no one cares and no one buys it.
Noon marker. That’s new to me and it’s cool. Am I the only one who isn’t thrilled by Recaro’s? I’ve only been in a couple of cars with them and they felt like plywood. I can’t deny they made the cars faster, though.
Yeah, not actually comfortable seats, those Recaros. Stock seats are always nicer for my butt.
Not bad. I don’t love the wheels, nor do I hate them, and while the red trim is still a bit much (as is the NISMO) fashion, it isn’t too overdone (like some other NISMO models) or poorly done (like recent VW models).
Hopefully those Recaros are better than the pseudo-Recaro seats in my EV6 GT (which may actually be unbranded Recaros for all I know). The seats are comfy for 15 minutes or so, but after that it would be nice to have some adjustability beyond just seat back tilt. Still, they do hold me well in the corners…
They would be better served with a different trim designation for this than NISMO
Maybe less significant, like SE-R. But also it would be nice if they could find any extra power from the controller. I assume the certification cost is too high though.
So, maybe they’re doing the best they can. people so rarely hit the bottom of the throttle anyway (normal people, not autopians), just changing the throttle input profile will feel like a hot trim.
I think we are just past the point in automobiles where you can do a cheap part swap and unlock more power. even as early as the late 2000s you could just swap exhaust and intake and get a decent power bump now there is no way an OEM is going to leave that much power at the factory. with EVs there is even little “tuning” to do. so if your an OEM do you arbitrarily limit the non performance models to make the extra power DLC add on like Mercedes or do you just give them all the same power? People complain when the extra power costs $3,000 dlc to unlock but then they also complain when the performance model doesn’t get more power!
Once automakers have a wider range of EVs, they’ll end up with a larger range of motors to pick from that they could easily drop in for a Nismo model. Actually, they might’ve been able to use the Ariya’s if it’s sized right.
usually it’s not the motors themselves that increase power on the evs but the battery architecture and the greater system power that lets you push more power. Think 20v cordless drill vs 60v cordless drill or a 120v drill that plugs into the wall.
SE-R: Now with normal, actual mechanical door handles on all four doors!
Sigh, never going to happen while the adolescents are running the styling department.
If they can fit the Gojira engine in the Nismo Juke-R, they could have at least given us 400hp worth of motors in the Leaf. Seriously.
The new leaf really feels like it’s trying to be something it’s not in many ways. It has some great improvements over the gen 2 but the gen 2 is honest. The gen 1 was weird and honest. This just feels like a further perversion. But the bolt has the rs this just feels like a response to that and the n line Hyundais. With those the non sport versions feels better and are more comfortable.
I’m sure with the wheel changes that range has been negatively impacted.
Quite likely. But I think they look better, at least.
I already see some folks down on this, but I think it’s great. 7 seconds to 60 is fine, it’s got some handling bits, a COG lower than your ankles, and a touch of flash for fun. This will rip around back roads in an entertaining way at almost legal speeds. It’s nice.
Yep. Seems like it would be a fun grocery getter on the weekdays, and occasional weekend autocrosser in those very same grocery store parking lots. I wish the article went a little more in depth on the suspension tweaks, as those should be the most obvious improvements.
That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Not for me, but this is a perfect modern warm hatch.
Did I miss the MSRP increase and the range reduction over the regular Leaf?
Not yet determined since only the JDM version has been announced so far.
They jacked up pricing on the new Leaf faster than Nintendo did with the Switch 2. Roughly $10k higher than a longer Sentra or similarly sized Kicks, dealer lot average.
The question now is will be the depreciation be as massive at the previous gen?
The previous gen had massive depreciation because of the air cool batteries that had a history of failure. The current generation used liquid cooled batteries like everyone else so depreciation should be lower.
“Should” is doing a lot of lifting there. Everyone will see “LEAF” and think “battery issues”. Except us who live and breathe this stuff. So they’ll be lot poison for a few years until people wise up. Better deals for us! In the finance office: No, you can’t TruCoat a 3 year old car. No, I don’t want the oil change plan. No, I don’t want the extended warranty on the transmission. Do you even know what car you’re selling?!?
LOL, you know used car dealers will still be trying to sell the maintenance plans.
For some people it’s entirely worth it so their ICE car doesn’t blow up from lack of oil changes. Otherwise, no.
On an EV, the maintenance is: rotate tires, replace cabin filter, hose off heat exchanger. That’s it. Well, the Ioniq 5 has that funky fluid that needs changing every 30k miles but that’s an exception.
Lack of an engine doesn’t keep my Chevy dealer from emailing me saying my Bolt EV is overdue for an oil change.
A 30K change interval for coolant is rather low but every EV needs coolant changed just like a ICE car. I believe for my Bolt it is every 120K miles. Brake fluid should also be changed every 3 years for every car.
I don’t hate it but this feels more like the spiritual successor to the Sentra SE-R than something with a NISMO badge.
This could be interesting. I had the 1st Gen Leaf, and it was a surprisingly fun little car to drive. I always thought with the right set of tires and performance tuning it could have some potential.
Those Recaros look great.
AND red stripes. And everybody knows red stripes mean BUSINESS!
This has been the truth since the first Golf GTi in 1970-something 🙂
–But still a big lumpy lump, not very sporty or agile looking. But that’s just how cars look now, right? 🙁
Ugh, first the Armada and now this.. the NISMO name has been permanently sullied.
Because they add ST or R or RS or M or Nismo to anything now. So many sporty SUVs and pickup trucks.