The Nissan Leaf competition we were running to win a sat/nav was won by Mary from Pinner. It’s a nice prize and I’m hoping we’ll be able to run a few more competitions in due course. Stay tuned!

It’s interesting to note that Manchester-blog reaches as far as Pinner. So I suspect she wasn’t able to take advantage of the test drive at Manchester Central.

I did though. And I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how roomy the Nissan Leaf is. Plus you can have a bit of fun as you try to drive as economically as possible. The Leaf grows a image of a fir tree on the dashboard to represent how you’re saving a tree by responsible eco-=friendly driving. My only worry is that the range of 109 miles wouldn’t be enough to get me to my parents (more than 200 miles away) and I’d have to hang around charging the car for around 30 minutes to complete the journey. Making a long journey much longer. Still for city driving this car has got to be a great investment.

So, well done Mary and thanks to the others who entered the competition. Keep reading and like I said, with a bit of luck and a following wind we’ll have a few more competitions.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Nissan Leaf Manchester launch Nissan are launching their new electric car (The Nissan Leaf) on Monday 9th May. And to tie in with the launch they’ve kindly offered to sponsor this competition to win a Vexia econav 380 satnav because it ties in with the eco-friendly credentials of the Nissan Leaf by helping you save fuel.

So to the competition then!

It’s fairly straight forward. I want you to comment on the Nissan Leaf Manchester launch  post and say what Nissan claim the cruising range is for the Nissan Leaf. As a very slight hint you may find it if you go to the Nissan Facebook page I link to from the Nissan Leaf Manchester launch post and check one of the Facebook sidebar items.

I wish you all the best of luck and look forward to announcing the winner.

Rules: Simply, as follows:

1) The competition closes on midnight Sunday May 8th, just before the Manchester Nissan Leaf launch

2) Everyone who puts the correct cruising speed in as a comment on the Nissan Leaf Manchester launch  post will be put into a hat and one email will be drawn at random.That email will be used to request your name and address

3) If the email requesting name and address is not replied to within 24 hours, another will be sent and then if there is no reply within 3 days another random draw will be held and this step repeated until a winner replies

4) The winner will be announced in the blog and a photo would be appreciated so we can post it with your name.

5) Putting cruising speed comments into this post will not be counted so please make sure your comment is in Nissan Leaf Manchester launch!

6) In the interests of global warming and postal charges this competition is only open to UK readers, sorry we might get a more global prize another time

7) Manchester Blog editor (Jim Symcox) decision is final

8) Good luck

The Nissan Leaf, the car of the year for 2011, is being launched on the unsuspecting Manchester public at Manchester Central (please, oh please go back to calling it GMex!) on Monday May 9th through to Saturday May 14th .

Nissan has selected Manchester as the first UK city to host a comprehensive test drive of the new Nissan LEAF.

Six Nissan LEAF cars will be available for test drives at Manchester Central, Petersfield, from 9am to 7pm from Monday 9^th to Saturday 14^th May, as part of a European City Tour. And to experience what Nissan promise to be a no petrol, no exhaust pipe and no gearbox car, with a smooth, near silent drive, you can book a 30 minute test drive on Facebook by logging on to http://on.fb.me/mc3qAm.

The City Tour will also showcase an interactive exhibition with games and displays and a 3D film of the LEAF, along with a ‘Jungle of Opinion’ style diary room where customers can record their thoughts about the ground-breaking car. The exhibition will be open until Sunday 15^th May until 5pm.

Manchester has been chosen as one of the two flagship UK cities to showcase Nissan LEAF as it is one of the first nationwide locations to be named as one of the ‘Plugged-In Places’. Greater Manchester will be investing in electric vehicle charging points and aims to have 300 by October of this year.

Nissan LEAF, the award winning compact 100% electric five-seater family car, comes fully equipped with features such as climate control air conditioning, satellite navigation, a parking camera, a rapid charge socket and internet connectivity.

Available in five colours – Sky Blue, Universal Silver, Pearl White, Kuro Black and Force Red – the Nissan LEAF is equipped with a compact lithium-ion battery pack that, when charged to full capacity, gives a range of 110 miles.

Launched earlier this year, Nissan’s network of 26 EV dealerships are equipped with specialist equipment and facilities including dedicated service bays in the workshops and designated parking spaces, to ensure customers are provided with the very best service.

Each dealership will also offer a rapid battery charger where customers can charge their Nissan LEAF up to 80% capacity in approximately 30 minutes. The network of fast chargers means that over 90% of the UK population are no more than 50 miles from a fast charger.

It all sounds very eco friendly and positive. I’ve been invited by Nissan to attend so I’m going on Monday to have a look and try out the milk-float quietness of it. They asked me to let you all know about it and so they’ve sponsored this post and as a thank you they’ve giving me a Vexia Econav 380 Sat-Nav for Fuel Efficient Driving to give away in a competition, which I’ll be announcing shortly.

I was at Manchester Central today having arrived at the G-Mex station via Metrolink. Inside the exhibition hall they were running Business Northwest, incorporating BEX Conference.

I met some great people there, including a balloon artist called Andrew Smith. He created some fabulous balloon sculptures, including this one of Goofy and a fantastic one of an alien on a motorbike.

The Whiteaway-Laidlaw Bank were there too and they had someone dressed up as Scrooge.

Several companies went to quite a bit of trouble to make their stands more interesting than the average, including a stand with a roulette table and another which was a single decker bus, complete with a football table.

The turnout was very good in the morning, particularly after the poor showing last year when there was very little apparent advertising and people stayed away in droves.

Actually while I’m thinking of G-Mex…

Please tell me why has it been re-named Manchester Central when we’re all used to calling it G-Mex? OK it may have been Manchester’s Central station – but that was decades ago!