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I've had two vehicles since I was a teenager, a winter one, good in snow with a great heater, and something that was fun to drive for the summer months.

In August I sold my fun car, and procrastinated even replacing it until spring. But the Leaf has been in my radar since releasing them, and end of the year lease prices were too hard to say no to. I'm saving between $100-$200 in gas, depending on which vehicle I am comparing it too.

On topic, 2001 Monte Carlo SS.
 
Not sure what I expected when I read this thread, but was surprised we weren't the only one to trade in a sporty high-line car. This thread has a Porsche 911, Nissan 350Z, Audi A8 W12, BMW 7-series and more! Sure many of you traded in more commuter based cars... but lots of people really went from extremes to the Leaf like us. That makes me feel good!!

Anyhow...

PRE-LEAF
We were driving my 2013 Volkswagen CC. It is an "executive trim" car so it has 4motion all-wheel-drive and a 3.6L VR6 motor. It was getting 19-20mpg around town which is most of our driving. It can muster 25-26mpg on freeway trips. We still have this car as our long-trip family car. We also had my wife's 2008 Audi TT with only about 13k miles on it. Rarely got driven, was truly a toy especially since it was a pain to take out with our kid. It got slightly better MPG than the Volkswagen, but was a useless car to have but a VERY fun toy!

POST-LEAF
The Leaf replaced the TT as far as what is in the garage, but it also means that 75% or more of our driving is now on the Leaf. We estimate we'll manage to save $150+ in fuel costs going from gasoline (91 octane) to electric power on the EV. We also gained significant savings going from the Audi to a really nice lease on the Leaf (gotta love the tax credit / savings / promotions they were running last month)...

Here is a photo of the wife's car... I had done some work on it to make it look better, of course... and trust me you guys/gals will be excited to see the wheels I picked up for the Leaf for summer time!!...

2012-07-05%252014.40.39.jpg
 
2004 Prius with 120k miles and no signs of quitting. Great car but I wanted to figure out how to make total EV work. I love the LEAF.
 
We didn't really "replace" our old car - we kept it as a back up and to use for hauling big (messy) stuff and the dogs. But - driving the LEAF versus my old 2003 Toyota 4Runner (V8) has been saving enough cash on fuel costs to make the lease payment on the LEAF. I used to fuel the Toyo about once every 5-6 days. Now I fill it about once a month. What a difference!
 
My 2012 Black LEAF
Leased (first lease ever) 12/22/12
11 miles
700 miles so far.

Replaces 1995, yes '95 Jeep Wrangler with 140,000 miles. I still love it and have not decided to sell it yet. Although my parents bought me a new Ford Ranger when I was 17, the Jeep was the first car I bought with my own money. The Leaf is only my third new car purchase, I bought a new 2007 Prius for my wife and she still loves it.

Cars owned:
1984 Toyota Truck-Loved this little truck. Was stolen.:-(
1990 Ford Ranger (Brand New) Sold for Wranger.
1995 Jeep Wranger (Brand New)
1992 Red Bronco- Like OJ's only red. Was my Dad's but gas was to much!
1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Wife's car, think it was a lemon. It was a POS.
2000 Ford Explorer. Nice ride, friend drives now. My brother sold this to me.
2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid. Nice car, but the gas millage was a little weak for my taste. Brother sold it to me.
2007 Prius. Wife's Car. We love this car, it purrs. I talk about it in a blog post here: http://geraldkirchner.com/?p=149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1212 Leaf. Love, love, love the car, so far.:) More range please.:) Have not bought the fast charger, don't know if I really need it. Trickle charging as been working fine.

About 44 gallons of gas saved @ 3.50 a gallon = $153- $25 in electricity $128 is savings. Not bad so far.
Best thing, have not been to a gas station since 12/21/12
Priceless
 
Stanton said:
Are they no longer checking/requiring installation of L2 when buying/leasing a Leaf? While there were ways around it, they buying process strongly suggested purchase of an L2 along with the car. Now, it turns out that people figured out you could upgrade the existing Nissan L1 EVSE to L2, but the point still remains: charging a fully (or even mostly) depleted Leaf on L1 (on a regular basis) will lead to a very unhappy owner.
Click to expand...

I was told of its availability, but having an L2 was not a requirement in any such way for me to get a Leaf. Tustin Nissan made no strong suggestions to get one either. I was simply made aware of the various charging times and the battery degradation issue.

Other than the fact that it takes forever to charge a well depleted Leaf using L1, is there an issue with relying solely on L1 charging? I do not have an L2 station, and I am still debating whether to bother with one as I am only leasing. In the week I've had this car it hasn't been a problem for me to simply plug the car in using L1 when I get home from work (15 miles round trip) and set the timers for an 80% charge. I do have access to a pay Blink charger near my work if necessary if I let the battery get too depleted.
 
RonDawg said:
I was told of its availability, but having an L2 was not a requirement in any such way for me to get a Leaf. Tustin Nissan made no strong suggestions to get one either. I was simply made aware of the various charging times and the battery degradation issue.

Other than the fact that it takes forever to charge a well depleted Leaf using L1, is there an issue with relying solely on L1 charging? I do not have an L2 station, and I am still debating whether to bother with one as I am only leasing. In the week I've had this car it hasn't been a problem for me to simply plug the car in using L1 when I get home from work (15 miles round trip) and set the timers for an 80% charge. I do have access to a pay Blink charger near my work if necessary if I let the battery get too depleted.
Click to expand...
For a short commute like yours L1 charging will suffice. Besides being much slower than L2 the only significant disadvantage of L1 charging is that it is less efficient, about 75% versus 86% for L2 (240 V, 16 A) charging.

The other disadvantage is that preheating is less effective at 120 V, 12 A but that likely won't be significant for most people in Southern California except for those who live high in the mountains. Pre-cooling ought to work pretty well on L1.

There are a number of LEAF owners here who use L1 charging at home. As long as you don't find the speed an inconvenience, you should do ok with it.
 
Traded in my 2008 BMW 528i last month and have not looked back. Bimmer was sucking a gallon of gas for every 20 miles. Have driven 1500 miles the first month with the Leaf saving over two hundred in gas alone. Solar panels just got installed last week and will be charging for free soon! :))
 
dgpcolorado said:
For a short commute like yours L1 charging will suffice. Besides being much slower than L2 the only significant disadvantage of L1 charging is that it is less efficient, about 75% versus 86% for L2 (240 V, 16 A) charging.

The other disadvantage is that preheating is less effective at 120 V, 12 A but that likely won't be significant for most people in Southern California except for those who live high in the mountains. Pre-cooling ought to work pretty well on L1.

There are a number of LEAF owners here who use L1 charging at home. As long as you don't find the speed an inconvenience, you should do ok with it.
Click to expand...

Thanks. The pre-heating does work well for me, but of course this is SoCal and not Colorado. It has been very convenient for our unseasonably chilly temps up until just the other day. The timer or remote pre-heating/cooling is perhaps the best feature of this car, IMHO even more than the fact that it does not use gasoline or diesel.

I know you'll scoff at my idea of cold, but it is not normal here for temps to drop into the (positive) 30's overnight for days on end! :eek:
 
RonDawg said:
Thanks. The pre-heating does work well for me, but of course this is SoCal and not Colorado. It has been very convenient for our unseasonably chilly temps up until just the other day. The timer or remote pre-heating/cooling is perhaps the best feature of this car, IMHO even more than the fact that it does not use gasoline or diesel.

I know you'll scoff at my idea of cold, but it is not normal here for temps to drop into the (positive) 30's overnight for days on end! :eek:
Click to expand...
Yes, cold is relative I suppose. My low Tuesday morning was -15ºF. Down in town I heard one report of -26ºF. While much colder than usual, such below zero lows generally happen a few times each winter. Since then, however, I've had six straight days of sun—great for solar—with highs of 38ºF the last three days. Sunny plus high 30s is pleasantly mild and typical for January here in the mountains (my house is at 7670 feet elevation). By contrast, when I was growing up in Hawai'i the record low for Honolulu was 58ºF, although it is somewhat lower nowadays.

Rather than take the LEAF, I plan to bicycle down to town today for my workout. Going down a steep hill at 30 mph or so on a bicycle in winter can be brisk!
 
dgpcolorado said:
RonDawg said:
I was told of its availability, but having an L2 was not a requirement in any such way for me to get a Leaf. Tustin Nissan made no strong suggestions to get one either. I was simply made aware of the various charging times and the battery degradation issue.

Other than the fact that it takes forever to charge a well depleted Leaf using L1, is there an issue with relying solely on L1 charging? I do not have an L2 station, and I am still debating whether to bother with one as I am only leasing. In the week I've had this car it hasn't been a problem for me to simply plug the car in using L1 when I get home from work (15 miles round trip) and set the timers for an 80% charge. I do have access to a pay Blink charger near my work if necessary if I let the battery get too depleted.
Click to expand...
For a short commute like yours L1 charging will suffice. Besides being much slower than L2 the only significant disadvantage of L1 charging is that it is less efficient, about 75% versus 86% for L2 (240 V, 16 A) charging.

The other disadvantage is that preheating is less effective at 120 V, 12 A but that likely won't be significant for most people in Southern California except for those who live high in the mountains. Pre-cooling ought to work pretty well on L1.

There are a number of LEAF owners here who use L1 charging at home. As long as you don't find the speed an inconvenience, you should do ok with it.
Click to expand...

Here's some more info: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10965&p=252095#p252095
 
Count me here as someone who has been using L1 for the last 11 months/11K miles with no issues, except that on some weekends there were times I wish I had an L2.

Now that my commute has gotten much longer I may spring in for an L2.
 
Our new 2012 SL is replacing our very reliable 2001 Camry LE, with 110K miles on it. We bought it in November, 2002 with 29K miles on it, so keeping our Leaf within 12,000 miles/year for our lease is pretty doable. :)
 

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