Exactly.  Car and Driver speculate/estimate it will start significantly higher than present Leaf.  To go considerably cheaper (lower cost than 2025 model) would likely require a much smaller vehicle.  Apparently Nissan decided to take Leaf more upmarket, not down.  Perhaps that will leave more room under Leaf for a cheaper City Car model similar to Fiat 500e in size; though that doesn’t seem likely to me.   https://www.caranddriver.com/nissan/leaf-2026    

Hi. Actual electrician here. This in no way stupid. The code exists for a reason, and believe me I’m a big less regulations are better kind of guy.    Even if it’s a 30 amp charger there’s still a lot to consider when deciding on wire size and length, whether or not to you want to backfeed to the panel in the event of a power outage and in that case if you do a transfer switch will be required by the utility (and code, it’s treated similar to a generator). This is not something the average DIY hack should ever consider doing. 

If Americans are indeed against that “tweener space”, wouldn’t that also exclude a Maverick-size van given they are all in that +/- 200-inch-long length, whether cargo or passenger?  As a longtime van owner, both full size and minivan, I think the largest possible van that can still be parked in a standard home garage would appeal to many buyers. Ease of maneuvering into standard parking space also helps. Custom is best selling van in Europe for a reason and I expect it would do well as both cargo and 7-seater passenger in NA as well.  In Europe it may go up to 9 passengers — not sure.  Speculative renderings of Maverick crossover above look like a tall station wagon to me, and not particularly great looking.  Getting to third row could be a hassle, which is why I don’t like compact 3-row vehicles.  IMO 3 rows need to be large vehicles, or else go to more-efficient van design.  Getting to 3rd row in my Odyssey was 10 times easier than in my cousin’s Acura MDX.  Night and day different, yet both vehicles were similar in overall size.

If I had to get a BL Nautilus, currently neither color would do. I don't care for red interiors, nor light beige/white interiors.  Granted, I like how it looks, I can't live with it.  I'm curious about this "Aurora" combination, I do like blue...Although they do make a Blue/Black interior for the regular Nautilus which I actually like.

I had to look up "marquetry" as that word is out of my Ikea vocabulary.   marquetry noun mar·que·try ˈmär-kə-trē  variants or less commonly marqueterie : decorative work in which elaborate patterns are formed by the insertion of pieces of material (such as wood, shell, or ivory) into a wood veneer that is then applied to a surface (as of a piece of furniture)  

I think if a CUV was built off of the Maverick, it would be just a narrower, fwd/awd unibody Explorer. We had a 2015 Flex SEL; one of Ford's all time best values for the money. At lease end, we bought a 2018 Escape because we felt we didn't need that much room, regret that now. the Escape has a choppy ride and sub par ergonomics compared to our '09 Mariner IMO, and not much better fuel economy than our 3.8l Flex did. We bought an Explorer to replace the Mariner, but definitely would have bought a Flex or maybe Tourneo if they were offered. CD6 is good bones.

Ford should not have not given up on Flex. As usual, Ford had a good idea but they didn't stick with it.    Maverick SUV is Bronco Sport... They are build on the same platform, in the same factory, on the same assembly line. If Ford wanted to sell a 7 seat version, they will just stretch the Bronco Sport rather than try it with Maverick.   But anyway, there is no market demand for compact 7 seat CUV, at least in North America. Several brands (Rav4, Rogue, Tiguan, Santa Fe when it was still a compact) have tried it and they've all got rid of that options fairly quickly. Since we don't have any weight/engine size/CO2 based annual taxes, people who need occasional use of 3rd row can just get a midsize or large CUV that are better at carrying 7 people. 

We loved our Flex as well.  137k mostly trouble free miles.  We were just discussing this weekend whether we would have bought another if they had updated it.

Yes, it’s an interesting question.  Apparently they didn’t want to push it over to Ford Performance, effectively making it just an appearance package. I suppose people can throw a Ford Performance supercharger on it to gain the engine performance, but it would have been nice if Ford had done something from the factory, such as the 3.5L HO. the powertrain and exhaust was available from the Raptor so it would have been pretty easy to do.  Speaking of the 3.5L HO, I think it’s time for an upgrade to that motor.  It’s been 450hp for a long time and the motor is obviously capable of more.  The Ram 3.0L HO is at 540hp so I see no reason why they can’t boost the 3.5 to at least match that.          

I think the passenger van market is limited here in the States, and Tourneo/Transit Custom would fall in that tweener space in the states - too big to be small like Connect, and too small to be big like Transit, which I think is the main reason it hasn't been offered here.   I would have to imagine if that Maverick van rumor (new Transit Connect) is true, that it would have to spawn both a cargo and passenger version...     I loved my Flex, and I know many owners that had them loved them too.....I think they overestimated its appeal, and projected sales too high for a good ROI, even with using company platforms.   It'd be neat if they could come out with a similar profile (and size) using CE1 - imagine the space inside that it could have.