Buying an electric vehicle sounds like a rather daunting task for some consumers. The idea of owning an electric car can be a foreign concept to drivers who have only ever known standard gasoline-powered cars, but it can also be exciting. Companies like Tesla that produce only electric vehicles seem to take center stage, but you don’t have to break your budget to get into a reliable electric vehicle. Sure, the awkward-looking 2021 Nissan Leaf doesn’t seem as cool as some of the Tesla options, but there are a lot of reasons why the car is genuinely underrated.

An affordable electric vehicle

The 2021 Nissan Leaf isn’t the most affordable car in Nissan’s lineup, but it does offer quite a good amount for the price. With a base model price of around $31,670, the Leaf does well to compete price-wise among other electric cars, making it a great option for drivers who are interested in ditching their hybrid or completely gasoline-powered engine for something with an easier to swallow price tag.

Average styling isn’t a bad thing

The 2021 Nissan Leaf doesn’t stand out — in any good ways or bad. It looks just like every other sedan on the street today, with some modern features like updated headlights that gives the car just a little bit of flair without being overwhelming aggressive. The interior is just as modest, with comfortable seats that aren’t too elaborately styled and a dashboard that offers you just what you need and nothing more. For some drivers, this simplicity can be rather refreshing, and the Leaf manages to balance this minimalistic styling with a slew of standard safety features.

Standard safety and smooth power delivery

The 2021 Nissan Leaf isn’t the sportiest car on the road, but it wasn’t designed to be. Instead, this EV might be one of the best cars for electric car owners looking for something in a lower price range but not wanting to sacrifice safety features. The Leaf comes with more than a few worth-while standard safety features, including forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and pedestrian detection — some of the features ranked most valuable to saving lives by Consumer Reports.

Overall, the 2021 Nissan Leaf isn’t the most exciting thing on the market, but when stacked up against other electric vehicles, or even other sedans of the same price range, it has quite a lot to offer. The Leaf might seem like the awkward addition to the Nissan lineup that everyone keeps forgetting, but this spunky sedan might just be the perfect entry-level EV.