After the pizazz of a late-night public unveiling for the new Nissan LEAF at Dublin's Grand Canal Theatre, CBG.ie headed to Windsor Nissan in Deansgrange to evaluate the car in the cold light of a Monday morning. At first glance, the LEAF certainly stands out from the crowd, but thankfully, Nissan has not gone for the ‘point-and-stare’ styling of some other electric cars. From the outside, the most distinctive feature of the car has to be its oversize headlights, which have been designed to be both low-energy and aerodynamic. At the back, there’s a hint of the previous-generation Renault Mégane, while from the side, the upswept line of the windows makes for a handsome profile.

Inside, the LEAF is a bright, airy and pleasant place to be, with tan-coloured upholstery and a black-trimmed centre console. To start it, you press the on-off switch next to the steering wheel and the digital dash comes to life with a short musical sound. The whole process feels more like turning on a computer than starting a car, and the mouse-like ‘drive-by-wire’ controller used to select the driving mode adds to this impression. Unlike the gearstick in a more conventional car, this controller is not connected mechanically to the transmission – it’s merely a selection device used to move between drive, reverse, power and eco modes. Moving away, the LEAF drives like a regular automatic – you simply release the brake and it begins to creep forward.

Putting my foot down for the first time, I realised that this car was going to be a totally different prospect to a certain Indian-manufactured, plastic-bodied electric vehicle I drove not too long ago. That car required you to drive around with your foot welded to the floor like a maniac just to keep up with everyday traffic. But in the LEAF, even gently leaning on the accelerator produces a wave of ample, perfectly smooth and perfectly controllable power. There’s no delay, no peakiness and no rev range to be ‘worked’. It’s actually quite addictive, and makes the LEAF perhaps better suited to city driving than any other car on the road. From what I could tell on this short test, the LEAF seems to prioritise comfort over handling prowess, which is not surprising given that it is aimed at family buyers, but the combination of its electric motor’s on-demand power with a well-sorted chassis would make for a highly entertaining sports car.

Like any new technology, the LEAF will take a little bit of getting used to. With an extensive on-board computer system and the ability to communicate with your mobile phone, this is not a cheerfully simple car, but rather a feature-rich piece of technology – gadget lovers will adore it. One drawback may be that the LEAF would probably not achieve its maximum stated range of 160 kilometres if you were to drive it the way I would like to drive it – using its fantastic power delivery to despatch with dawdlers, dart out into gaps in traffic and generally make swift progress in the often-maddening environment of urban and suburban traffic. Just as with a petrol or diesel car, a heavy right foot will impact on your efficiency, and those with longer journeys to make will probably have to restrain themselves and flick the car into economy mode. The LEAF does do a lot to alleviate the dreaded ‘range anxiety’, however. A kilometres-remaining figure is displayed prominently on the dash and the sat-nav map in the centre console is overlaid with a ‘range circle’ that gives a visual representation of how far you can make it on your current charge.

Finally, we come to the price for all this cleverness. The LEAF’s €29,995 (after Government incentives) price tag puts it amongst some fairly prestigious competition, and it may be slightly out of reach for the average small family car buyer. It certainly makes a very strong case for itself, though, and while the all-out electric-car revolution may be some years off yet, the LEAF is a compelling opening salvo from the electric camp.