Nissan Leaf Road Test: Better Than Ever, Yet Too Little Too Late?

Can the EV trailblazer once more lead by example in its third generation? Remember the Nissan Leaf? Nissan’s original pioneer beat the rest of the industry to a somewhat credible electric car in 2010, but then slowly faded away as more advanced alternatives came along. The vastly more state-of-the-art third generation was unveiled in June 2025, we drove a prototype at the same time and it was due to hit UK roads in early 2026.Since then, Japanese-made Leafs have gone on sale in the rest of the world – including the EV-sceptic US – but things have been awfully quiet around European-market cars built in Sunderland. There has reportedly been trouble getting the new local battery factory set up, and local drivetrain production was scrapped and moved to Japan, but now it’s finally here.The new Leaf is an important car for Nissan, because it really needs a compact EV to boost its European sales, and it’s an important car for Sunderland to retain its relevance.On paper at least the Leaf looks competitive. It’s attractively priced, and with the large battery option offering up to 387 miles of range it’s up there at the sharp end of the class with the Volkswagen Group MEB triplets (the VW ID3, Cupra Born and Skoda Elroq), the Kia EV4, the Toyota C-HR+ and others. Now for the full road test.