2012 owner drives 2013 -- Didn't like

[peakay]

OK, so our 2012 lease is coming due and since gen 2 EVs are not out yet (Leaf gen 2, Bolt), we're considering our options. One option is to buy a later model Leaf since they are so dirt cheap and hopefully the batteries are a bit more solid (we lost 2 bars by 12k miles).

So, I found a couple 2013s that a local dealer recently got from auction and were selling cheaply. They drove well, but I found I really didn't care for 2 items:

1) Black interior: While I don't love the easily stained seats in our 2012, I found that having an all black interior really cheapened the feel to me. Pieces looked more plasticky to me, but they are the same construction in the 2012 vs 2013 -- its just the variation of colors in the 12 gives it a more premium look to me for some reason.

2) Ride quality: The 13 was definitely more brittle over road irregularities. I know some people didn't like the soft ride of the early models, but its not like this is a sports car, so why make the ride rougher? I'm a driving instructor for the bmw club and appreciate a nice handling car, but honestly I can hustle our 12 around any corner given the low center of gravity and really appreciate the cush ride quality.

So for me, the combination of a cheaper looking interior and a worse ride quality kind of kills the attraction of later model Leafs. Our 12 is kind of like an undercover lexus with the interior colors and plush ride, but the 13 felt like a honda civic to me - cheap and unsophisticated ride. Since we must have the seat heaters, that leaves just the 2012 model with a new battery as the only one we'd really want, which is a total unicorn.

Nissan, where is the Gen 2???

 

[desiv]

Like my 2012 as well...
Will probably feel a bit let down when I move to something in the 200 mile range in a few years..
Is the 13 also where they changed from the electronic parking brake to a pedal one? I like the push button parking brake. ;-)

Also, I thought I read (this is from the "it's on the internet somewhere" files, tho, so beware..) that they changed the acceleration for the 2013 and on.. Not quite as good??? That might be wrong tho.. Just sounds familiar...

For me, the killer will be the range tho.. I will need a car with more range, so that will trump things like interior, handling, and e-brakes... (hopefully I'll still be able to get those too tho in some model..)

There's also the Carwings thing too.. That looks to be going away by the end of the year too.. (Although that looks to affect all current models...)

desiv

 

[gsleaf]

peakay, my wife and I felt the exact same way about the 2015 (we were looking at maybe upgrading our 2012 when it came off lease). The whole car felt cheaper and the ride quality was not as good. We ended up just purchasing our 2012 since Nissan was giving a pretty good discount.

 

[JeremyW]

You can get the light interior in the 2013+ SV. Were you driving 2013 SL's? Those have 17 inch wheels so they may not be as squishy since there's less sidewall.

 

[peakay]

No, I drove 2 - 2013 s models. I went afterward tot he nissan dealer and every new model had black interior, so i thought perhaps it was phased out,

 

[LeftieBiker]

The power response curve has been changed from 2013 on, with less torque available at low speeds, but more HP available at higher speeds. That makes the low speed pickup a bit weaker, while keeping the same 0-60 times. I'm quite happy with my 2013 SV, and wouldn't want a softer ride. Try driving an SV with light interior and alloy 16" wheels (the S has steel wheels).

 

[lpickup]

Interesting perspective...

I have a 2012, and my wife got a 2013. My impressions were somewhat opposite:

• Dark interior: I felt like the dark interior was actually "fancier" than the light interior. I never had a problem with the 2012's white interior until I had a chance to ride in the dark interior. Now the light interior seems more like a toy to me.
• 6.6kW charging: Granted, not available on all trims, but man, that extra 3.3kW REALLY made a difference.
• Hybrid heater/range: The fact that her car was effectively 2 years newer than mine aside, her battery appeared to be holding up much better than mine, and more importantly, she had more available re-gen bubbles than me. In the winter, even when I'm down to 2-3 bars I'm only getting a 1-2 regen bubbles! And most of my trip is 0-1 regen. Hers acted like mine when mine was new and didn't drop off at all (granted, hers had 2 years less usage on it). The new heater in that car is phenomenal...produced good solid heat even faster than my car and used less energy.
• B-mode: I believe in not using regen when you don't have to. But, when in stop-and-go traffic, I do find it convenient for one foot driving. And since I also don't believe that EVs suffer with any significant penalty for quick acceleration, I have to say I strongly prefer the B-mode implementation in the 2013, which basically gives more regen and doesn't remap the accelerator.
• Around-view: Okay, another option, but that is one seriously cool feature. Once you get used to it, it's hard to go back to a simple rear-view camera.
• Lighted charge port door: Definitely a nice touch.
• Percentage SOC indicator
• Better POI search on the NAV system (based on Google)
• Ability to turn off the damn OK/Decline nag screen when booting up the car!!!!!!!

So on the other side of the coin? Well, as it turns out our 2013 was a lemon and Nissan bought it back. It made a noise that they could never solve (not for lack of trying--they replaced the reduction gear assembly twice and the front axle and tried several other things including sending an expert from Nissan to take a ride with us. I personally think there was a component of the motor that was slightly out of tolerance and resonated at a very certain RPM. Additionally:

• The fit and finish just seemed inferior to my Japanese-made 2012. The passenger side front strut CONSTANTLY made squeaking noises even though we had it replaced (under warranty) several times.
• Okay, admittedly the pickup on the 2013 was ever so slightly less than the 2012 (confirmed by "racing" off the line at a red light. But it's so slight it really wasn't noticeable, and as a previous poster pointed out, if it's actually a remapping, I'd be happy to trade off a litttle lower-end acceleration for higher-speed acceleration.

I think that's about it--that's about all I can really come up with on the negative side, and while I suspect the fit & finish issue is probably unique to her car, I do suspect that the probability of getting a car with those kinds of issues is probably higher for the American-made cars (sadly).

 

[arnis]

You can have new Leaf in light color but many chose black as it has advantages.
That "cheap look" is only a feeling. Ask others for impressions.
Also did you sit on cloth seats, recycled plastic seats or leather? Plastic is the best
I've ever used, even compared to BMW-s leather.

Firmer suspension is safer. Buy Leaf with 16" wheels and don't pump the tires above
normal value. I would say my 2014 Leaf on 16" and normal tire pressure is still
a little bit too soft compared to my BMW 5-series. So I fill a little bit more.
Dealers might overinflate to show "abnormally excellent consumption".

Didn't you notice the main advantages on the newer Leaf? Like regen that DOES exist
and climate system that is smarter and more capable.

 

[cwerdna]

So, I found a couple 2013s that a local dealer recently got from auction and were selling cheaply. They drove well, but I found I really didn't care for 2 items:

1) Black interior: While I don't love the easily stained seats in our 2012, I found that having an all black interior really cheapened the feel to me. Pieces looked more plasticky to me, but they are the same construction in the 2012 vs 2013 -- its just the variation of colors in the 12 gives it a more premium look to me for some reason.

No, I drove 2 - 2013 s models. I went afterward tot he nissan dealer and every new model had black interior, so i thought perhaps it was phased out,

Well, if you drove the S, it also came w/dull interior pieces (http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Metallic-Slate-S-interior.jpg from http://insideevs.com/real-world-test-2013-nissan-leaf-range-vs-2012-nissan-leaf-range/) around the HVAC stack, shifter and possibly other areas instead of the glossy, piano black pieces. And, yes this looks cheaper and worse.

The '13 SV and SL come w/the above glossy piano black pieces like the '11 and '12 SV and SL.

As for black interior, I also don't like the black interior as it feels depressing, but it's easy to keep clean. '13 SV was still available in the light interior so it wasn't phased out. I had that for my leased Leaf. The '13 SV I own I intentionally bought in black.

'13 S is only available in black cloth. '13 SV is available in black cloth or light cloth interior. '13 SL is only available in black leather.

To me, Nissan went overboard and should've offered a grey/dark grey interior and not just have gone all or nothing w/the light and black.

I agree w/lpickup's comments but fortunately, mine weren't lemons. I can't compare acceleration to a '11 or '12 though since I never leased/owned one. Have only test driven them before.

 

[DuncanCunningham]

I think that's about it--that's about all I can really come up with on the negative side, and while I suspect the fit & finish issue is probably unique to her car, I do suspect that the probability of getting a car with those kinds of issues is probably higher for the American-made cars (sadly).

I have a 2012 SL and my Wife has a 2015. I was totally disappointed with the 2015. Panels and doors on the car don't fit as well as the Japan built 2012. We had to get the rear door aligned at the dealer as it would not shut properly. Interior panels around the pillars were not fitting as well and even coming away, showing gaps. I worry that if I can see things that are placed, installed, or possibly built with lower tolerance in open view, what about the parts and fits that I can't see, under the hood, wheel wells or under bodywork?

It's sad that we with USA and UK built Nissan cars are not built and inspected to the high standard of the Japanese models.

The only thing I like about the 2015 over my 2012 is the battery, but that could just be down to it's age (and chemistry possibly). If I could upgrade my 2012 battery to have longer range the Nissan Leaf would be the perfect car to keep for as long as the other parts will last and most cars out last their transmissions and ICE all the time. I have no intention to replace the car as long as the battery gives me the range I need for work. I'm hoping for 3rd party batteries being made available soon to the large number of Leafs out in the wild.

 

[arnis]

It's true. UK factory is also full of crap.
I had to let dealer adjust 2 doors, replace rear hatch seal, adjust rear hatch (was not closing at all), speaker died during 1 month period,
had to let headlights and fog lights adjusted (they were not adjusted at all, like bolt on and forgot).
Also there were a dozen of spot welds that are on the edge of the metal (about half of the electrodes were not touching metal at all).

This is normal for low quality manufacturers. They do have defects that they fix during warranty.
It's cheaper to make it shitty as only some customers will ask to fix small defects.

 

[jjeff]

It's true. UK factory is also full of crap.
I had to let dealer adjust 2 doors, replace rear hatch seal, adjust rear hatch (was not closing at all), speaker died during 1 month period,
had to let headlights and fog lights adjusted (they were not adjusted at all, like bolt on and forgot).
Also there were a dozen of spot welds that are on the edge of the metal (about half of the electrodes were not touching metal at all).

This is normal for low quality manufacturers. They do have defects that they fix during warranty.
It's cheaper to make it shitty as only some customers will ask to fix small defects.

On my '13 I had to have dealer adjust rear hatch 3 times to get it to close in cold weather, finally the 3rd time they replaced the struts and for the most part it's been fine, still requires what I consider a "slam" to latch in very cold(-20C) weather but it is what it is. I also had to have the dealer adjust the charge port door in the first month as I'd push the button to open but the damn door wouldn't open a bit! It would click but not open to the point that I could get my fingers under it to open the door, that was just an adjustment. Lastly, IMO the front end alignment was out of whack from the get go, less than 15K miles and bald tires on the outside is not acceptable IMO. Rotating to the rear at 7.5k miles(what I now see they want) would only have made the rear tires bald after a while. Unfortunately it was 13 months before I brought this to the dealers attention, 1 month past any possible warranty coverage so the $100+ USD was totally my cost They said it was somewhat out of alignment and I'm very careful about avoiding potholes and curbs.