2013 SL with 20K miles being delivered to me by Carvana

[EVforRobert]

Exhaust leaks, rusting mufflers, smog checks.

 

[Levenkay]

Guilt from idling half an hour in a "fast food" drive-up line

 

[LeftieBiker]

No worry about having to use the car regularly to stop it from wearing out more quickly from disuse. Put a 12 volt battery maintainer on a Leaf and you can go a month between drives.

A lot of Leaf drivers come from driving a Prius, and have gotten hooked by that on having the engine stop when it isn't needed.

 

[bigbearballs]

1. Changing Brake pads (with regen)
2. Oil stains in the garage
3. Engine noise
4. Gas stations closed
5. OPEC severely limiting oil production
6. Tune ups

No transmission or timing belt, right?

 

[LeftieBiker]

1. Changing Brake pads (with regen)
2. Oil stains in the garage
3. Engine noise
4. Gas stations closed
5. OPEC severely limiting oil production
6. Tune ups

No transmission or timing belt, right?

Right. There is a differential and a single gear set to transmit power, but no manual or automatic transmission as the terms are commonly used.

 

[bigbearballs]

No worry about having to use the car regularly to stop it from wearing out more quickly from disuse. Put a 12 volt battery maintainer on a Leaf and you can go a month between drives.

A lot of Leaf drivers come from driving a Prius, and have gotten hooked by that on having the engine stop when it isn't needed.

That's me, I had a 2004 prius with 185k miles on it so I didn't have to worry about the 30 minute drive through using gas.

 

[Evoforce]

No more:

Replacing standard oil pump
Replacing standard water pump
Replacing alternator
Replacing gas filter/fuel pump
Replacing oil filter
Replacing vacuum hoses
Replacing injectors or carb
Replacing cracked heads
Replacing oxygen sensor and many other sensors emissions /fuel related
Replacing catalytic converter/other emission equipment
Replacing lifters, cams, crank, pistons, rods or block
Replacing standard radiator hoses
Replacing starter and flywheel
Replacing Idler pulleys/fans/belts
Etc... Yea!

 

[bigbearballs]

No more:

Replacing standard oil pump
Replacing standard water pump
Replacing alternator
Replacing gas filter/fuel pump
Replacing oil filter
Replacing vacuum hoses
Replacing injectors or carb
Replacing cracked heads
Replacing oxygen sensor and many other sensors emissions /fuel related
Replacing catalytic converter/other emission equipment
Replacing lifters, cams, crank, pistons, rods or block
Replacing standard radiator hoses
Replacing starter and flywheel
Replacing Idler pulleys/fans/belts
Etc... Yea!

That's the list I was looking for, ya!

 

[GerryAZ]

The dealership I bought the car from gave me a book with a coupon for a free oil change. Hahahahaha!

I got one in the mail not too long before the 2011 met its demise so I was going to ask for a reduction gear case oil change because I thought it would be good to have fresh fluid at 50,000 miles.

Gerry

 

[bigbearballs]

Now for a different way of looking at the whole subject. We would like to know some Leafspy numbers. Many people are/will be kicking themselves because they babied the battery too much and are just barely going to miss out on the warranty replacement.

While there is a capacity (but not new battery replacement) warranty on your car, Nissan lately, as a business practice, has been replacing them instead of repairing. My belief is that they will continue to do that with all year Leafs even though they are not legally bound to do so. There has been some precedence set with the 2011-12 Leafs and the court settlement along with their current business policy. They have tried to repair cars in hot climates before only to have them quickly degrade back to 8 bars again with the car still under 5 years/60,000 miles. Then they have to put the (new) pack in after attempting to repair. It costs them more money to do it that way. Twice the labor plus the new battery.

If you use your car normally, in Texas, you probably will have a 8 bar car well before the warranty expires unless you drive an excessive amount of miles and it appears you won't. If you baby it, you will probably still qualify (or barely not) but closer to 5 years/60,000. They could more easily decide to repair it so close to the finish line just to get you over the time/mileage if they go back to repairing them.

Keep in mind if they do give you a (new) replacement it only has a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty but cannot be shorter calendar/mileage than when original capacity warranty would have originally expired. Your calendar degradation in Texas will rapidly march on whether driven or not. Batteries are lasting a little over 2 years in Arizona and possibly close to 3 years if babied and climate controlled in garages. It took my car only 7 months to degrade from a 10 bar car to a 8 bar car. IMO I would not wreck havoc on your soul to only gain 6-8 months of more time. Don't abuse it, but expect that it was not built durable enough to handle your climate. So, your strategy is up to you. Good luck!

Your experience is based on a 2011 Leaf battery? Didn't they make improvements on the 2013 battery?

 

[Evoforce]

My experience is based on the 2011 battery and the new Lizard batteries that are in each of the two cars that I own. I have had a lizard battery in one of them for 15 months. and I had a lizard battery in the other one for approximately two months. If you read back on my post you will see that I've done extensive comparisons between original batteries and the lizard battery. Also look at my signature at the end of my post.