We drove a $44,000 Nissan Leaf Plus to figure out if this 2019 Car of the Year runner-up is ready to take on Tesla

The 2019 Nissan Leaf SL Plus is the fanciest version of the vehicle that first appeared in 2010.
Although over 300,000 Leafs have been sold worldwide, the electric car has always been held back by its range.
The Leaf Plus, however, serves up 214 miles on a single charge and has a more powerful motor.
At $44,000, the Leaf SL Plus is a bit pricey, but you can opt for a cheaper trim level.
Overall, the Leaf SL Plus is a dandy EV; it's well worth a look if you're shopping for a new car.
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Editor's note: Business Insider will name its 2019 Car of the Year on November 23. Each day this week, we're taking another look at the five vehicles that were runners-up selected from a pool of 16 finalists. The second vehicle is the 2019 Nissan Leaf SL Plus.

The Nissan Leaf was basically the first modern, mass-market, all-electric vehicle, beating the Tesla Model S to market by a few years.

When it launched, the Leaf had limited range and was sort of unimpressively designed, but there was a lot of buzz around EVs then. The Leaf was the cornerstone of a Nissan "Zero Emission" strategy.

Market reality hasn't quite lived up to expectations, but Nissan has continued to improve the Leaf. The second-generation arrived for the 2018 model year, with an updated design. For 2019, Nissan rolled out the Leaf Plus, a version of the EV that could achieve up to 226 miles on a single charge.

Generally, a baseline 200-mile number is magical; it eliminates much of the "range anxiety" that consumers suffer from because it adds a decent buffer and reduces the need to frequently recharge the Leaf.

I tested the Leaf Plus for a week in the New Jersey suburbs and even took a ride to Brooklyn. I concluded that the Leaf Plus was very good, and thus we have named it a 2019 Car of the Year runner-up.

Here's now my test went:

Photos by Crystal Cox unless otherwise indicated.

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We drove a $44,000 Nissan Leaf Plus to figure out if this 2019 Car of the Year runner-up is ready to take on Tesla

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