Goodbye LEAF, hello...

[shortcircuit]

After 3 years of ownership we returned our 2013 LEAF lease today. Although there are some features I'm going to miss (awesome 360-backup camera, BOSE stereo, comfortable interior, great reliability), I'm glad to see it go. Just in the last 8,000 miles our LEAF lost 3 battery bars:

Lost first bar: 35,000 miles
Lost second bar: 39,800 miles
Lost third bar: 43,000 miles

Range decreased from 90+ miles to a maximum of 60-ish miles with careful driving (more of my experience here). The LEAF's primary purpose was to get me to work and back reliably (63 miles), so it failed in its primary mission even though we racked up almost all the miles we were allocated.

After reading this Car And Driver article and other websites I chose the Chevy Spark as my next EV. Driving them back to back, the Spark feels like a race car. It's much quicker and feels more planted. It handles turns better than the LEAF and you feel less detached from the road. The brakes don't have that unpredictable bite that the LEAF's do. That said, the seats, infotainment center, and overall interior are better in the LEAF (SV) so if you prefer comfort the LEAF is the way to go. The OnStar app blows the Nissan EV app away in terms of functionality. You can remotely lock/unlock doors and see where your car is on a google map. Plus it actually works!

Lastly I think Chevy is making deals on the Spark EV in preparation for the release of the Bolt. I negotiated a 3 year lease deal at $171/month for a Spark EV 2LT (10K miles/yr). Factor in the $2500 California rebate and this works out to $101/month (+about $10 for TTL). That's less than our cell phone bill.

This is my first Chevy so I'm crossing my fingers it will be as reliable as the LEAF. Sure, the Spark's dashboard says "95/113 miles" range now, but then so did my LEAF when it was new. Hopefully, the Spark won't suffer the same degradation as the LEAF <knock on wood>.

 

[GerryAZ]

Good luck with the Spark. Drivers in California have numerous choices for EVs, but the rest of the country has LEAF, BMW, and Tesla that will handle freeway speeds. Smart is also available if highway speed is not an issue. I would have considered RAV4, Kia Soul, Focus, and Spark if they had been available at local dealers when I had to replace the 2011 last year. Ford Focus is theoretically available here, but local dealers don't stock them and factory would not even give dealer an estimated delivery date.

 

[webeleafowners]

Good luck with the Spark. Drivers in California have numerous choices for EVs, but the rest of the country has LEAF, BMW, and Tesla that will handle freeway speeds. Smart is also available if highway speed is not an issue. I would have considered RAV4, Kia Soul, Focus, and Spark if they had been available at local dealers when I had to replace the 2011 last year. Ford Focus is theoretically available here, but local dealers don't stock them and factory would not even give dealer an estimated delivery date.

Good morning. Interesting comment on the smart ED. What would make you think the smart would not work on the freeway. Mine does it every day, has more Jam left at 70 MPH than our Jeep Grand Cherokee did and is considerably more solid...AND QUIETER as well...and its a convertible. Curious where that came from. We are considering the leaf as a replacement for our oil burner especially if we have to have a 4 seat vehicle again. We have driven them often and would have to say on the interstate we MUCH prefer the smart, or at least in their current form. We like the leaf and are hoping the 2017 will address some of the concerns we have with the existing model.

 

[Woosie]

The same happened to me today - the Leaf was turned two months early, in its third year, with 26,809 miles and no bar losses (yet).

My original lease was For 24 months, at $214.98/mo with a $2,700 down payment. I extended the lease by one year with Nissan paying for the first two months of the most recent year; I also received the $2500 rebate so my down payment was really $200. Nice!! There's a $395 Disposition Fee so I guess the two months free really weren't! I could've purchased the Leaf for about $12K but didn't want too, given the battery is wearing out but not fast enough for a replacement.

Loved the car and was extremely happy to have gotten the S model with a QC port. No worries of the telemetry becoming obsolete. Just a great, comfortable car with inadequate range.

I purchased a 2008 Prius IV for $6,300 with $141K miles. It'll be my commuter car until we purchase a Leaf 2.0, Bolt or Tesla Model S or III. We will purchase not lease this next vehicle.

So fellow Leafers, I'll fade off into the sunset for now...until we meet again. Thank you so very much for the advice, jokes and info MNL provided!!

 

[GerryAZ]

Wannabeleafowner,

My comments about the Smart were based upon talking to people who have driven them here in Phoenix (they may have been driving the older versions). Your convertible looks great so I may have to look at the new models one of these days. Traffic on the freeways here can move fast sometimes so I want a daily driver that can keep up--posted speed limits on freeways in the Phoenix area range from 55 to 75 mi/hr and drivers normally "fudge" a bit on those limits.

Gerry

 

[webeleafowners]

Wannabeleafowner,

My comments about the Smart were based upon talking to people who have driven them here in Phoenix (they may have been driving the older versions). Your convertible looks great so I may have to look at the new models one of these days. Traffic on the freeways here can move fast sometimes so I want a daily driver that can keep up--posted speed limits on freeways in the Phoenix area range from 55 to 75 mi/hr and drivers normally "fudge" a bit on those limits.

Gerry

Hi Gerry. Hmmm. I don't know how fast it goes so I'll have to get back to you on that. Our cops are a little anal here in Canada. I always keep it under 110 KPH which is around 70 MPH. I'll be out tomorrow and see what she does if I have the opportunity. I know it does 75 MPH but I don't usually go that fast. Burns through the power at that speed though. All of our posted limits here are 100 KPH so I set the cruise at about 105. (65 Mph mas o menos)

We like the leaf but haven't needed the back seat yet. Next year (late 2017) we will be replacing our second car (a diesel burner) and if we need the back seat it will probably be the leaf. If not we will go with the new 453 smart convertible ED. It hasn't been released yet so don't go looking for a test drive. The 2016 electric smart is on the old body style but is the third generation smart EV. The first gen was never mass produced, the second gen was anemic with a smaller battery but the 3rd gen is a nice car. Nice ride, excellent handling and excellent acceleration. Of course the acceleration drops off after it hits the 60 MPH (100KPH) range.

Cheers.

 

[iluvmacs]

...You put 44K miles on your Leaf in 3 years and you just got a 10K/year lease on your Spark EV? Sounds like you're going to paying a lot of mileage overage fees!

 

[powersurge]

I don't understand why a leaf owner would go for a spark or smart car? Honestly, I do not consider them to be in the same class. The leaf is a good highway capable family car. I can get 5 people into it comfortably for a short to modest drive. the others are personal city errand cars... if I was getting rid of my leaf, I would get a new leaf with the 30 KW battery.

 

[arnis]

The worst thing is that capacity drop was so fast that new battery was guaranteed within warranty period.
And that changes the price for the vehicle. Anyway it is lose-lose-win situation.
Spark is fine but not more capable than Leaf. Now instead of paying small fee for getting that Leaf and selling it for
nice money you pay not so much for Spark with limitations for use.

I would keep the Leaf and take Spark too if it made any sense. Or just keep the Leaf.
I'm not sure that leftover sum for Leaf is bigger than Spark.

 

[RonDawg]

...You put 44K miles on your Leaf in 3 years and you just got a 10K/year lease on your Spark EV? Sounds like you're going to paying a lot of mileage overage fees!

Chevy's website is not showing any current official lease deals, but last time I checked their Spark EV leases had a very steep over-mileage fee of 25 cents/extra mile

 

[shortcircuit]

...You put 44K miles on your Leaf in 3 years and you just got a 10K/year lease on your Spark EV? Sounds like you're going to paying a lot of mileage overage fees!

Keen observation. What I didn't mention was that I also joined a vanpool. I drive the Spark EV to work twice/week and vanpool the other days. The vanpool pick-up point is 5 miles from home so I take my Jetson Electric Bike to the pickup point and leave the Spark at home for the wife to use. So far it's working well.

 

[shortcircuit]

I don't understand why a leaf owner would go for a spark or smart car? Honestly, I do not consider them to be in the same class. The leaf is a good highway capable family car. I can get 5 people into it comfortably for a short to modest drive. the others are personal city errand cars... if I was getting rid of my leaf, I would get a new leaf with the 30 KW battery.

Seriously? My LEAF's range dropped from 96 miles to 60 miles in the short time I owned it. Where's the class in that? I'd rather take my chances with the Spark EV compliance car than risk being burned by Nissan again.

And so far the Spark EV is exceeding expectations. Unlike the LEAF it's actually fun to drive, has excellent acceleration, and handles well. Sure the interior and infotainment center are not up to par with the LEAF (I had the SV w/Premium Package) but the performance and lower payment make up for it. Not to mention the 10 airbags in the thing.

Currently the GOM shows 94-113 miles range--similar to the LEAF when it was new. We'll see how the Spark holds up in the next 3 years...

 

[shortcircuit]

...You put 44K miles on your Leaf in 3 years and you just got a 10K/year lease on your Spark EV? Sounds like you're going to paying a lot of mileage overage fees!

Chevy's website is not showing any current official lease deals, but last time I checked their Spark EV leases had a very steep over-mileage fee of 25 cents/extra mile

Correct, there are no 'official' lease deals right now. I used the expired 2015 1LT lease deal as a starting point and worked up from there. I had to negotiate pretty hard but got a deal I liked on a 2LT: $0 down, $171/month, 10K mi/yr, 3 yrs, $0 disposition fee (before $2500 CA rebate). This was at DeLillo Chevrolet in Huntington Beach. YMMV.

 

[webeleafowners]

I don't understand why a leaf owner would go for a spark or smart car? Honestly, I do not consider them to be in the same class. The leaf is a good highway capable family car. I can get 5 people into it comfortably for a short to modest drive. the others are personal city errand cars... if I was getting rid of my leaf, I would get a new leaf with the 30 KW battery.

Good morning. Changing needs are what are driving us to look at the leaf for our second EV. It could be the same going the other way. Without going into the details we may need 4 seats in a year or so. At this point we would probably look very closely at the leaf as we like the fit and finish, handling, range (on the 30KW batt), features etc. Having said that, if that 4 seat need doesn't materialize we would be looking for a two seat option again. Our existing smart ED is a lot more fun to drive than any of the leafs we have driven. Better acceleration, handling, quieter, more refined ride overall and a great highway commuter. The range is good enough for us but we would like to see a 180 KM range (120 miles or so) although that is probably overkill. We also love the fact that it is a convertible which I doubt will ever be available on the leaf. In town in the summer with the top down (so no AC) we can get about 150 KM without about 5 percent charge remaining. Have only done that a couple times. Highway range is obviously much shorter....for us about 120 KM

JMHO

 

[JohnTomaszewski]

When the NMAC rebate of $7,500 off residual hit yesterday for the 2013 LEAF leases I jumped on it. In 33,000 miles I'm down about 6-8% in capacity with no real-world reduction in range. The climate in Chicago is more ideal for longevity. Hopefully, I do not have your experience. Or, if I do, the bars drop quickly so I get my freebie battery replacement

 

[RePo]

Your Leaf has a new battery coming right up under the 5yr/60k capacity warranty. Selling it now would mean a substantial loss, and the next owner will get a great car with a perfectly new lizard battery this year

 

[Stanton]

Your Leaf has a new battery coming right up under the 5yr/60k capacity warranty. Selling it now would mean a substantial loss, and the next owner will get a great car with a perfectly new lizard battery this year

That's a fact: this will become one of those "diamond in the rough" Leafs that can be bought on the cheap that qualifies for a new (lizard) battery pack.
I wouldn't drive a Smart anything...even if it was free!