The Nissan Leaf was, once upon a time, one of the mass-market electric-vehicle pioneers. Time — and competition — doesn’t stand still, however, and the first Leaf was soon left behind as competing makes came up with better EV offerings. The second-gen car never really closed that gap. Enter the 2026 Nissan Leaf.
Nissan has given the Leaf a complete makeover, changed the platform, massaged the powertrain, and more.
(Full disclosure: Nissan flew me to San Diego and housed and fed me for a night so I could drive the new Leaf.)
Nissan has given the Leaf a new powertrain that combines the motor, inverter, and reducer. Upper trims get a 75 kWh lithium-ion battery — a smaller 52 kWh unit will be available later. Cars equipped with the smaller battery will have 174 horsepower and 214 lb-ft of torque, while those with the larger unit will have 214 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. Nissan is promising up to 303 miles of range with the bigger battery.
This is a single electric motor, meaning the car is front-wheel drive.
The Leaf shrinks a bit — it’s 3 inches shorter with an 0.4 shorter wheelbase. Height also drops by 0.4 inches, but the car is 0.8 inches wider.
Nissan is now calling the Leaf a crossover, but it still has a hatchback access to the rear cargo area, and it’s more car than utility.
The design is completely new and it includes flush door handles and an active grille shutter. Gone is the awkwardness of the previous cars, especially gen one. This design will still polarize, but it looks better in person than in pictures. It’s nice and sleek and looks upscale — and the new platform gives the car a flat underbody.
The taillights are a nice little Easter egg — they are shaped after the Japanese lettering for 2and 3, or ni-san.
Inside, the dash consists of a sweeping screen that extends out over the center stack. Below that lies haptic-touch controls for the HVAC and a push-button shifter. There’s a wireless phone charger in the console and the aesthetic is minimalist. Nissan’s Zero Gravity seats are available and fitted with a synthetic leather material. Ambient lighting is available, as is Google built-in functionality for navigation and other uses. You can even stream video while parked.
The cabin is a mixed bag of good and bad — I liked the headroom offered up front by the arcing roofline, though it was a little tighter in the rear. Everything was easily reached, and the haptic-touch buttons worked without multiple presses, but we’d still prefer more knobs and buttons.
Speaking of buttons, the push-button interface for putting the car in reverse or drive worked well enough, but the plastic trim around it looked chintzy and cheap.
Those zero-gravity seats are all day comfortable, but woe be to taller adults in the rear seat — legroom is tight.
Hit the road and it’s clear the new Leaf has a mission — and that mission isn’t having back-road fun. This is a smooth commuter. This is a car that can road-trip well as long as you’re within the offered range — and thanks to Nissan’s move away from CHAdeMO and the Leaf’s newfound NACS/Tesla Supercharger capability, road trips will be easier.
On the other hand, this is not a car that wants to play on SoCal’s famous winding roads. Despite the new multi-link rear suspension and upgraded electronic power steering rack.
Enter a corner and the steering feels too numb and distant, and the car wants to push wide on corner exit. The tires do no favors. Us assembled media wags joked about Nissan building a NISMO version, but seriously, that would be appreciated.
That’s the bad. There’s good, too. As with most EVs, torque is available nearly instantaneously, so you can mow down the straights with some alacrity. And the ride is smooth, even on bad blacktop.
There is a “Sport” drive mode, but it didn’t seem to make a huge difference.
If you’re looking for a car for the commute to the office and the grocery store, you’ll have few complaints. You want back-road fun with a battery? Shop elsewhere.
Nissan’s ProPilot system is available, and it worked just fine during a brief test. Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 is standard on all trims, and it includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection and rear cross-traffic alert. Also included is lane-departure prevention, blind-spot intervention, and forward-collision warning.
There’s a major change afoot, one that brings the Leaf better in line with the competition. The move to make NACS/Tesla chargers available is huge — it removes a limiting factor that likely knocked previous Leafs off of shopping lists.
Fast charging should get you from 10 percent to 80 percent in 35 minutes, and Nissan has now fully integrated the powertrain, battery, and HVAC system. The Leaf also offers vehicle-to-load charging ability in order to power external devices. Nissan has now also integrated the apps for various charging companies into its own app.
Drivers can use the Google built-in functionality to check on the state of charge, plan routes with charging stops, and precondition the battery.
One-pedal driving and adjustable braking regeneration are available, though the car won’t come to a full stop using one-pedal. Somewhat confusingly, you have to deactivate the E-Step one-pedal setup to better adjust regen while cornering during spirited driving.
The Leaf offers plug and charge capability — for the uninitiated, that means you can just plug in and start charging without messing with an app or swiping a credit card. That doesn’t mean charging is free, it just means you’ll get billed later.
The trim walk works like this — the S+ starts at $29,990 and offers a standard 360-degree camera, along with standard wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. This is the high-range model at 303 miles max. These models have 18-inch steel wheels.
Step up to the SV+, which Nissan thinks will be the volume seller, and you’ll get 288 miles of range, heated front seats, Google built-in, wireless charger, synthetic leather (called TailorFit) up front, leatherette in the rear, dual 14.3-inch screens, and 18-inch aluminum-alloy wheels. This for $34,320.
The top-trim Platinum+ models that we drove start at $38,990 and add 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels, TailorFit seating surfaces throughout, a dimming panoramic roof, LED exterior lighting, Bose audio, vehicle-to-load interior outlets, and a hands-free liftgate.
The pre-production Plat+ I drove cost $41,930 with the $1,495 D and D fees and a floor-mat package ($345), battery heater ($300), and the two-tone red paint job ($800).
Prices listed don’t include the D and D fees. The S+ is available in four colors, while the SV+ adds the Seabreeze light blue two-tone look, plus a two-tone white. Platinum+ adds two-tone red and two-tone gray options. If you want a two-tone look, you must get a SV+ or Plat+. You can get colors from the lesser trims even if you spring for the upper grades — except for the gun-metal gray, that’s not available on Plat+.
The 2026 Nissan Leaf is a giant step forward — its range is much better and more competitive, there are more charging options, the design took the car from geek to glam, and the driving dynamics are better, at least to a point. It’s not particularly sporty, but that’s OK — that’s not this car’s mission. This a car meant for daily driving in suburbia, not canyon carving.
And it will do very well at that task. It is disappointing that the top trim requires a range sacrifice, though I’d note that the volume trim doesn’t ask for a huge drop over the S+. There are a few marks of cost-cutting on the inside. And rear-seat space will be a bit of a letdown for taller passengers.
But the overall package is just fine for the vast majority of driving situations. Office commutes, errand running, trips to Grandma’s house, forays downtown for dinner — the Leaf will be a much better companion than previous generations.
Now, about that NISMO.
[Images © 2025 Tim Healey/TTAC.com, Nissan]
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