Nissan LEAF makes a good commuter

TotalCarScore.com rates LEAF best commuter car

If you are wondering who TotalCarScore.com is, so were we. It turns out, they are review and data aggregators – thus the name. They grab the scores from various automotive review websites – including consumer sites such as Edmunds.com, Consumers Guide and US News and World Report. In addition, TotalCarScore.com incorporates National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data (they of the 5-Star crash test ratings), along with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). IIHS provides crash test data to the insurance industry. Normalizing all of these scores to a 100 point scale, TotalCarScore.com comes up with one number – the combined input of up to nine sources combined to provide their score. Naturally, not all nine sources may have tested every vehicle, so a score will only be considered validated if five or more sources have posted evaluations.

So what makes the LEAF their commuter choice? Simple. LEAF achieves great city fuel economy ratings – 106 MPGe (equivalent) City rating. Why city versus highway? Good question. In their research, TotalCarScore.com found that many commuters spend their commuting hours idling on the freeway rather than cruising the multi-lane byways at speeds approaching triple digits. If your commute is long distance at high speed, the LEAF may not be the right vehicle for you. But if you find yourself bogged down in rush hour traffic along with a few thousand of your fellow workers – the LEAF might just by the vehicle that you’ve been hoping for.

The other factor considered, along with city fuel economy ratings, was TotalCarScore.com’s proprietary comparison score. High mileage cars won’t make you happy if they don’t include the features that you need, or provide the amenities and comfort that you want. When great mileage and good reviews are combined, the Nissan LEAF ended up at the top of the heap for commuter cars. Check out the link above to see what TotalCarScore.com had to say.