Actually it was.

My niece misjudged the entry into our driveway and gave the Leaf a bit of a scrape.

Fortunately, she was fully insured and for the week the car was at the smash repairers, the insurers covered the cost of a hire car.

The car rental place gave me a Skoda Octavia station wagon. And I hated it.

It’s strange because I understood why the thing that annoyed me most was what I would have looked for if I was going to buy an ICE vehicle. It is very fuel efficient, but it was the most unengaging driving experience. Throttle response, even in “Sport” mode was sluggish and steering and suspension were not very direct. It was very roomy and comfortable, but I felt as though too much was traded off to the detriment of the driving experience.

It couldn’t compete with the Leaf for smoothness. Having the engine auto stop/start at the lights (although I was impressed that the system started the engine when it detected that the car in front was starting to move instead of just waiting for you to reduce the pressure on the brake) and gear changes can’t compare with an electric motor.

And I realised that there is one convenience item that I’ve come to really appreciate - key-less entry and push-button start. I can’t get over how much I got annoyed by the need to get the key out of my bag or pocket and use it. But it was nice to have the car for a week, take a return trip to Sydney and not think about where I was going to re-fuel until just before returning it.