Road Tripping Around Scotland With Nissan Leaf*

When I was approached to test out their electric car, the new Nissan Leaf, I jumped at the chance, because not only is this a top of the range car with intelligent autopilot mobility and smooth automatic transmission, but it also fully electric and zero emission, British built, and was even awarded Best Electric Car at the WhatCar? 2018 Awards! Plus, it gave Jack and I a great excuse to escape the city and go on a mini road trip around Scotland on Valentines Day! Read on for my full Nissan Leaf review.

Full disclaimer here, I know next to nothing about cars (except how to drive one), so I may not have the fancy motor vocabulary, but the staff at the Perth specialist cars Nissan dealership were extremely helpful, running me through everything in simpleton terms so even as a young city driver I felt fully prepared to explore the Snow Road of Perthshire and the Highlands.

The Nissan Leaf range has been really popular, as one of the most efficient, affordable and high tech electric car models on the market, but this new 40KWH Nissan electric car runs for hours on just one quick charge, and is even equipped with brand new e-Pedal and ProPILOT technologies for the most confident and comfortable driving experience yet, so neither me nor Jack could wait to try it out for ourselves!

After exploring Perth by driving around in tthe super comfortable and spacious new car (PSA: the Nissan Leaf has heated driver and passenger seats, AND a heated steering wheel; luxury doesn't even cut it!), our first stop was - as always- lunch. We settled on a hearty 3-course pub lunch (special Valentines day offer at £19.95) at The Glover Arms, which to my surprise had an extensive vegan menu despite being in the middle of nowhere! A cosy interior with a  roaring fire, great staff and delicious food (check out the amazing chocolate overload we shared for dessert!), it was just the refuel we needed before heading out into the wilderness.

Without having to stop at all to recharge, we made it all the way to Loch Tay, one of Scotland's most breathtakingly beautiful lochs. It’s the largest loch in Perthshire and one of the deepest in the country, and has a fascinating history of ancient settlers building 'crannogs', mini island homes, as seen reconstructed in the picture above.

We had a great little visit at one Loch Tay's marinas, despite the bitter cold and wet weather, taking some amazing panoramic shots and sipping coffee in a cosy lodge. Amazingly, there were even some Tesla charging points in a nearby car park so we could plug-in for a while before we set off on the scenic route back to the city.

The highlight of our mini road trip was the Enchanted Forest in Perthshire. As snowflakes fell and settled on the thick, dense pine forest, the view from the windows of our Leaf looked just like a fairytale. Places like this make me feel incredibly lucky to live in Scotland!