I think that’s the one i rented, when i got stuck with a rental EV. I prefer fwd to rwd, and while i like all wheel drive, i can live without it. It was kinda fun to drive, and all the problems i had (so many problems charging!) were problems you wouldn’t have if you owned the car and had a charger in your garage and time to plan before a trip.
Looking back at the OP, 150 mi of winter range with 4 people after a few years might be cutting it pretty close with the Nero though, since it only starts with 250 ish under ideal conditions.
Is there no fast charger on the way? A quick 20 min charge ought to do the job.
Otherwise, you might want to consider something with 300+ mi range if that trip is very important. Most EV batteries degrade over time and lose range in cold weather.
That trip is a nice to have. But I’m currently planning on keeping the gas car, so if i need to do that, i can burn gas.
There’s not a charger where I’d go, and i don’t want to offer people a ride and then keep them waiting for half an hour or more to charge the damn car.
Also, if the Niro is the one i rented, its highway range is a lot less than the listed range.
My wife, in the 2019 Leaf, was recently hit by another car just in front of the driver’s side door slamming the car across the street into a parked car. window broken. Airbag deployed. She is psychologically very shaken up, all over sore, a painful knee, but overall okay. The car was totaled.
We didn’t even wait for the insurance determination and just went out and bought the ‘26 Leaf. SV+. That’s the middle grade. Platinum + is top. She read about the others but she liked her old Leaf lots and this was getting great reviews. She especially likes the shorter size compared to many other EVs
It looks bigger but it is actually shorter. Drives great!!
NOT a fan of its controls layout. It is a reach across and for me a lean forward to reach some of the climate control physical buttons. Not enough tactile identifiers to the different buttons.
What it does come with is Google Assistant (or can opt for Alexa) built in which can be used to adjust climate control, music volume, so on. Did have some first week problems getting it all working right but I think it’s functioning now. Decent on steering wheel controls for some things once you figure it out. Radio volume down button is a bit funky? It acts like it sticks if you do rapid steps down in volume. But apparently is designed like that. The e-step option is decent regen but not enough to allow one pedal driving. Paddles on the steering wheel theoretically allow dialing up and down regen while not in e-step but I don’t experience it as doing much.
More storage than before with back seats down but less with up.
This trim level does not get heating steering wheel. Annoying. No panoramic roof. Good. Highest level gets both.
Worth a test drive. I’d not get it if you are uncomfortable using Google Assist. The physical controls layout is that poor.
FWIW I do not enjoy the car buying experience.
I don’t want to have to talk to my car. But i think all the EVs have crappy controls. Crappy controls are in vogue.
FWIW my Prius Prime (PHEV) controls are fine.
I think buttons and dials are actually slowly making a comeback. The touchscreens were popular a few years ago, but I think enough people were annoyed with them that you get at least a few dials and buttons now…
Today i went shopping! I test drove:
Kia Niro: the more expensive trim line, a perfectly nice car.
Nissan Leaf: the cheaper trim line, i had to mechanically pump a lever to raise the seat. The on-off button was weirdly hidden behind the steering wheel where i couldn’t see it and had trouble reaching it. It has nice camera views, but i spent half my test drive trying to figure out how to get rid of the “low battery” warning.
Hyundai Kona: out of luck, they didn’t have any. They’ll call me when one that’s in shipment arrives, Mon or Tues. I did sit in the gas version of it. The interior looks a lot like the Niro.
Mini countryman: i did this one on a whim, thinking I’d hate the weird round screen. But i really liked it. Fun to drive, and the features I’m likely to want to twiddle are pretty easy to get to. The temp is a thermometer graphic on the close part of that circle, and you drag it up and down with your finger in the obvious way. The radio can be accessed from a convenient button on the steering wheel. On/off, gears, turn signal are all physical things in ordinary places.
But the experience makes me aware of how irrational i am, too. The salesman say next to me when i drive the mini, and helped me with the controls. The salesman for the Leaf handed me the keys (and didn’t, himself understand how to turn off that warning, or I’m sure he would have.) Also, the mini dealership fed me mini lobster rolls while i waited (“left over from a sales thing we did earlier today, they’ve only been out for an hour”) The Nissan dealership smelled unpleasant. Like… truffle? Not the chocolate treats, the mushroom, which i find really cloying.
If i take home a car, it’s really not going to matter what the dealership smells like. But it did make me less comfortable as i got into the car.
The dealer is also the place you’ll go for some services, like recalls or software changes that require reprogramming. It doesn’t have to be the nicest place in town, but if it gives off the feeling that it’s barely maintained and maybe not long of this world… that might be a reason to avoid that brand, for fear of being stranded without a dealer (like in our town). If you have 2+ Nissan dealers there, that might be less of a concern.
I’m intrigued by the Mini too. I only learned about it this week, but it seems like a good size (smaller than the Leaf, right?). How does it handle? How does it park? How many people can it comfortably seat?
It’s small, but it’s about an inch bigger than the leaf in every dimension. It handles really well, at least in urban driving, which is where i tested it. It doesn’t have the cool wrap-around cameras that the leaf has. But it does have an automatic parallel parking feature that works nicely.
I didn’t try sitting in the back, but reviews say the rear seat is more comfortable than other cars in this class. It legally holds 5, but really holds 4, i think.
I went to this dealer because they had a Leaf in stock, but there are lots of Nissan dealers around. That’s a bigger concern with the Mini, which is an unusual car, so there aren’t many dealers, and none is super convenient.
Gotcha, thanks.
PS The wraparound camera is somewhat common now, so many EVs should have it (depending on trim)
The SV plus trim is a nice value compromise over the cheapest trim. But given that the base Mini is as expensive as the Platinum plus top trim Leaf … That one gets heated steering wheel, powered seats with lumbar adjustment, moon roof, upgraded sound … comparing cheaper trim Leaf to the Mini is not quite fair.
But you see what I meant about the controls layout? The start button is minor. Once you know where it is it is easy to get at. The rest of the layout to me is much more annoying!
I think the Leaf would have been much better represented if the salesman had helped me with the interface. On the other hand, i test drove a Niro without the salesman even stepping near the car, and was able to program its gps to take me back to the dealership, because it was easy and obvious how to use it.
The electric kona is REALLY hard to get around here. Hyundai says there are none, of any trim line, within 100 miles of me.
Which Mini model are people talking about here?
Ah, okay. I was wondering, because in Canada at least, the electric Countryman is $10-15k more than any of the other cars in this class, and the electric Cooper is not on offer (and not really in the same class either).
If money is no object, Lucid also has a couple of cars: https://lucidmotors.com/ One has 450 miles of range. They are luxury cars (by American standards).
They’re a Saudi funded Tesla competitor that only does EVs. Very expensive and extremely rare. Consumer Reports says they’re very unreliable though, like Rivian (the other EV startup).
Reminds me of early Tesla.
The Mini not a whole lot more expensive here than the trim lines I’m looking at for the others. The Lucid, however, is not on my list of possibilities. 
You do you, but the last several cars I’ve bought have been 1000+ miles away from my home.
You really don’t care where the car is. You’ll have it delivered to where you are for a trivial price compared to what you’ll spend on the car and on the operation of it.
It can be weird to buy a car long distance. But it isn’t really a show stopper.