GregO
Member
I live in Los Angeles (Pasadena area) and am in the market to replace my Corolla. I originally planned on getting an older Prius, but now I'm leaning toward a used Leaf when I saw how cheap they were. As I did research on this forum about what I wanted and what to look for in a used Leaf, I realized you guys provide a lot of good insight on what I should be looking for based on my driving needs. So I'm just looking for some insight on what vehicle would be best for us.
My wife and I will share the car. Our other shared vehicle will be an SUV. My wife works from home and does a lot of activities with our 2 kids around town. My commute is only 2 miles, but I also regularly drive 25-30 miles one way for client meetings. I anticipate that I'll drive the Leaf on days that I have meetings and my wife will take it the other days (as long as it has the range she needs for the day).
I am looking for something that makes sense financially. I typically just buy an older commuter car and drive it for a long time. I'm considering a Leaf because it appears to me that we'll put enough miles on it (10-12k per year) that the gas and maintenance savings will make it worth the additional ~$5000 to go from a ICE to EV. And we also would get the benefit of driving a much nicer car and reducing our oil consumption.
Right now I was specifically looking at 2013-14 Leafs with 20-30k miles on them. I want to make sure it has Quick Charge ability so I have the ability to take it around town for work when needed. I also liked that the 2013s have 6.6 kw chargers. I see plenty of those available around town with 12 bars for $10k. That seemed like a good choice to me, but a lot of you guys recommend buying new or leasing. It doesn't seem to me that a new EV would save enough money to make it worth that upgrade, but I don't really know.
Lastly, I've read a couple of posts about using Leaf Spy to determine the battery quality. What do I need to buy to use the app and what should I be looking for when I hook up to a Leaf that I'm looking at?
Thanks in advance.
My wife and I will share the car. Our other shared vehicle will be an SUV. My wife works from home and does a lot of activities with our 2 kids around town. My commute is only 2 miles, but I also regularly drive 25-30 miles one way for client meetings. I anticipate that I'll drive the Leaf on days that I have meetings and my wife will take it the other days (as long as it has the range she needs for the day).
I am looking for something that makes sense financially. I typically just buy an older commuter car and drive it for a long time. I'm considering a Leaf because it appears to me that we'll put enough miles on it (10-12k per year) that the gas and maintenance savings will make it worth the additional ~$5000 to go from a ICE to EV. And we also would get the benefit of driving a much nicer car and reducing our oil consumption.
Right now I was specifically looking at 2013-14 Leafs with 20-30k miles on them. I want to make sure it has Quick Charge ability so I have the ability to take it around town for work when needed. I also liked that the 2013s have 6.6 kw chargers. I see plenty of those available around town with 12 bars for $10k. That seemed like a good choice to me, but a lot of you guys recommend buying new or leasing. It doesn't seem to me that a new EV would save enough money to make it worth that upgrade, but I don't really know.
Lastly, I've read a couple of posts about using Leaf Spy to determine the battery quality. What do I need to buy to use the app and what should I be looking for when I hook up to a Leaf that I'm looking at?
Thanks in advance.