Are these wheel covers an attempt to make it more aerodynamic, or just for fun?
Curbside Outtake: The First Nissan Leaf I’ve Stopped To Shoot
– Posted on January 29, 2021
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Curbside Classics Archives
Are these wheel covers an attempt to make it more aerodynamic, or just for fun?
Why not both? I think the look works…
I think all Leafs (even the most basic trims) came with aluminum wheels. It would be interesting to hear the story behind this one’s switch to steelies and moon wheel covers.
Normally I don’t like moon hubcaps, and I think the first gen Leaf is one of the ugliest cars ever made, but two wrongs kind of made a right. This works surprisingly well.
+1. Weird, but true.
Another one here who’s not a fan of Leaf styling or Moon caps, but I agree it works. In fact, with a little more work, like chopping the top and lowering it a bit, I could see the potential to create a baby lead-sled à la ‘49 Mercury. Aside from how it looks, I did drive a first-gen Leaf once, and it scoots along quite well.
I didn’t think it was possible to make a Leaf look worse than stock – and the colour doesn’t help either.
This is a heavy car – brake cooling could be a problem.
Regenerative braking on the front wheels should take much of the load off the friction brakes.
Why would you build a car and call it a Leaf, but not feature it in bright green and a variety of autumn colors? 🙂
That’s a good question. You’d think there’d be a lot of earth tone colors.
Come to think of it, shouldn’t that be the way with any hybrid or EV?
Totally agree. So I did something about it, in my unique kind of way.
Green Prius.
I’ve tried to come to terms with how modern vehicles look, and in some ways have come around, but any car where the headlights meet the windshield I think will always be a bridge too far.
That said, I actually like the steelie-look on this Leaf. The color works for me as well.
As far as the styling of the Leaf in general, I suppose I will just say it “has a great personality”.
One good thing about Tesla is they proved it’s possible to make an electric car that isn’t ugly.
I’m guessing that’s an “S” model, the stripper. Nissan has a certain dedication to reviving the concept of “four wheeled penalty box” and the S is it. The other two versions come with decent looking alloy wheels that you wouldn’t want to cover.
Where can you get baby moons for recent cars? I have a base model 2019 Fusion with steels wheels and think it would be fun to replace the plastic wheel covers with baby moons.