Out of the Blue and Into the Black: 2011 LEAF SL to 2013 SL

[Boomer23]

In 1979, Neil Young published a song called "Hey, Hey, My, My" on his album Rust Never Sleeps. You know the one, it has lyrics "Out of the Blue and into the Black". Other lyrics include "It's better to burn out than to fade away", and according to Wikipedia, it significantly revitalized Young's then-faltering career.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8T8Vl3nAcw[/youtube]

How apt, then, that I recently chose to return my Blue Ocean 2011 LEAF SL to my dealer and replace it with a two year lease of a Super Black 2013 LEAF SL with Premium. So with my own "Out of the Blue and into the Black" transition, I hope to revitalize my own faltering LEAF career. "Fading away" being a real possibility, with my 2011 LEAF having lost 19% of its initial range after 24,000 miles and 27 months in Southern California (though never having lost a capacity bar), I hope to do a few burnouts in this much classier and tighter handling new LEAF.

I thought it might be instructive to have a thread about the new SL with Premium and also to have a place to discuss the impressions of those who have transitioned from a 2011 or 2012 to a 2013.

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for Lease information and my reasoning for new lease

Why did I do this?

My original lease was for 39 months, 12,000 miles a year and it would have ended July 1, 2014. I knew that I wanted to replace the LEAF with another EV, also as a lease to protect against rapid technological change.

I appreciate good handling and performance, and I have always driven sports coupes, with a history including a 240Z, two Mazda RX7s, a Ford Probe GT, an Infiniti G35 sedan and a BMW 328i Coupe. The EV that got me excited about driving an EV as a sporty, fun but earth-friendly experience was the MiniE. I knew when I got the first LEAF that it wasn't the sporty car that I wanted, but it was the first affordable and practical EV, and I became an EV enthusiast as well as a sports car enthusiast.

My situation is that I'm married and a grandparent who is actively involved in child care for a small grandchild, with more possible in the future. The LEAF works perfectly along with our Prius so that my wife and I can trade off cars depending on the distance of our planned trip, and both cars work well for hauling kids and their stuff, due to their interior space and flexibility.

When I looked at the other available EVs, none of them but the upcoming 2014 BMW i3 meet my needs, other than the LEAF. The Fiat 500e is too small and only has two doors. The Chevy Spark EV is also very small, though it has four doors, and it should accelerate very well, though its other performance characteristics are yet to be known. But it is a cheap, Korean made EV based on GM's smallest, cheapest car, and I found the interior materials on the gas model really cheap and chintzy. And it only has a 3.3 kW charger and Frankenplug as an option, with no DC chargers now on the ground. The Honda Fit is fun, but it is more cramped for passengers and cargo, it has a down market feel compared with the LEAF, as well as more minimal instrumentation, it is now hard to get a car due to demand, and the 3 year lease is longer than I wanted. The RAV 4 EV is too big a car and not the kind that I like to drive, plus the lease is a bad deal and I don't want to buy an EV right now, and it lacks DCQC. Infiniti postponed their LE, so that removed an option for me. Tesla is out of the question right now due to price, the size of the Model S and no leases available. I like the way the Ford Focus EV drives and handles, but the interior and especially the luggage space are cramped, and there is no DCQC. The Smart EV and the Mitsubishi i are way too small and basic.

So it comes down to the BMW i3. I love BMWs and this car promises to be reasonably sporty and a very good EV, designed from the ground up to be an EV and available as a lease. It will even have an option of a small range extender gas engine if I so decide. The car should be available in the US starting at the end of this year or early in 2014, so the timing was good for a transition at the end of my old lease, next July. But as I started thinking about it, this was a brand new platform for BMW, a brand new vehicle, like nothing they had ever built before, with a carbon fiber body structure and completely new interior, seating and instrumentation. Reading the experiences of the BMW ActiveE field trial customers hasn't been encouraging, either. I'd say that most of them have had serious issues, many have been inconvenienced and have had to drive ICE loaners for a while, and some have opted out of the program because of problems. I want to give BMW an extra year to get the bugs out, and I want to read about the experiences of the first year buyers before I sign up for this car. I'd also like to opt out of the hype and emotion of trying to be one of the first to get an i3, including dealer gouging on the early cars. In fact, I'd like to be able to negotiate a discount on an improved 2015 model after the early fuss is over.

EDIT: (I realized that I hadn't finished the thought process.) I could have chosen to ride out the last year of my 2011 lease and then see what was happening with the BMW before making a choice of next car. After all, most of my driving fits into the remaining comfortable 60 mile range of the 2011 car (with careful driving, 70 miles to Turtle). But reports from Planet4ever and evnow, who had traded up to a 2013 LEAF, got me thinking about whether the new pricing, lease incentives and loyalty cash would put me into a new car for a two year lease for very little money, and I'd have more range, faster charging, leather, AC/heat improvements and other goodies for the next two years. So I contacted Mark Ranauro at Connell to see what a new lease would look like. And the rest is history. Mark made a good offer, we fine tuned it over email, he traded another dealer for the car I wanted and I was into the new car inside of a week.


Here's some information about the financial side of my transition. I'm not particularly interested in comments about whether I got the best deal I could get. I'm happy with the outcome and that's all I care about.

My dealer bought my 2011 LEAF back and paid off the 39 month lease after I drove the car for 26.5 months. I have an excellent relationship with Connell Nissan, and I'm not sure whether they would offer as good a deal to others.

The remaining payoff amount was $19,330. The trade-in allowance for my 2011 LEAF with 24,000 miles and almost new Michelin MXV tires was $17,000. The car also had significant paint scrapes under the front bumper. So I was $2,330 under water on the car. That under water amount was rolled into the new lease.

For the new car, the dealer gave me a $2,220 discount from MSRP and I got the $1,000 Nissan loyalty discount that all of us LEAF owners are eligible for, on top of the $7,500 Federal credit. I am liable for about $1,300 to return to the CVRP from the original $5k rebate that I got.

My old lease payment on my 2011 car was $413. My new lease payment is $438. So I'm paying $25 a month more than my old lease payment, plus a net of $562 (the $1,000 out of pocket lease payment less the first month's payment), plus the $1,300 repayment to the CVRP to get a brand new car with leather, a 6 kW charger, a new battery pack, Bose sound, Around View Monitor, 17 inch alloy wheels and Michelin tires. And I didn't have to pay the $395 lease end fee on the original lease, nor pay to repair the scraped front bumper.

EDIT: My 2011 car is now for sale at Connell for $18,999.

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for driving impressions

Okay, I think that after having driven the car for about 120 miles, I can make a few comments.

The bad news first. The 2013 seems slower off the line. Others have mentioned this and I agree. Nissan appears to have toned down the quick spurt of acceleration from a standing start, something that most of us instantly liked about the LEAF and we never stopped enjoying. Don't get me wrong, the '13 isn't slow like a Prius or a Versa. It's just that you really have to put your foot in the A pedal to get it going fast at a stoplight. So that feeling of leaving the unsuspecting ICE car in your dust and watching it dwindle in your mirrors is now less fun. It's a bit like Nissan tuned a bit of ECO into Drive mode. So fairly fast takeoffs are still possible, but you need to give it much more pedal to do so, and even at that, you get less of a kick in your backside as you do it. It's only noticeable when starting from a standstill, and the midrange power is great, possibly even better than the '11 car. Some here have guessed that the '13 is faster from mid to higher speeds than the earlier cars. I really want to drag race a '11 or '12 car if we can find a safe venue, just to validate the seat-of-the-pants feel. I've read that the torque figure is down for the 2013 compared with the '11/'12 cars, so that probably has a lot to do with it.

But the rest of the news is good. The handling feels nice and tight. Steering effort and road feel are slightly higher, which is a very good thing IMHO, because the early LEAF has such low effort steering with little road feel. Lane changes and turns feel more sure, tight and secure. The car is more fun to throw around. I'm not talking tire-squealing turns here, just enthusiastic lane changes and taking curves at higher speeds than I might enjoy in the old car. The leather covered steering wheel adds to the sportier experience (I've missed that). Tony mentioned how much better the handling was on his second LEAF when he put Michelin tires and 17 inch wheels on it. I imagine that I'm feeling much the same improvements with my car. You still sit up high in the car, which isn't my preference for sporty driving. In fact I feel like I'm sitting higher on the new seats and bigger wheels than in the old car. It still pitches a bit over uneven pavement, probably due to the shortish wheelbase, but that's nothing new.

And then there's the increased regen braking strength in B mode. For those who don't know, Nissan replaced ECO on the shifter with a new B mode that only increases regen strength. ECO is now a button on the steering wheel. The regen is very noticeably stronger than in ECO mode on the old car, as far as I'm concerned. So driving enthusiastically in B mode and Drive is quite rewarding and sporty fun, something that can't be experienced in the older LEAFs, with ECO coupled with extra regen. It is reminiscent of engine braking in a stick shift car, and combined with the improved handling, makes the car more fun to drive. Sadder still, in my opinion, that Nissan lowered the torque figure and "hole shot" acceleration on the '13 cars. If they'd left the torque alone, I'd be much happier with the new car as a driving experience. B mode brings the car down to a stop faster when approaching a stop light, of course, and I expect that it will recapture more energy and improve the energy economy, though I haven't seen many regen readings on the Gidmeter above 30 kW. From the strong feel of the regen, I expected to see numbers like 40 kW.

When I was thinking about getting the '13 car, I was looking forward to having the choice of stronger regen because BMW's philosophy is to provide strong regen on the A pedal and allow almost "one pedal driving". From what I can gather, unlike Tesla, BMW doesn't include controls to reduce the regen strength. So you just have to get used to driving with strong regen. It's sporty fun and most MiniE and ActiveE drivers learn to love it. When I test drove an ActiveE, I am chagrined to admit that I got a bit motion sick from the forward-and-back G forces. To avoid a roller coaster ride in the ActiveE, the driver has to learn to modulate the A pedal at the neutral point when he wants to coast or avoid shaking up his passengers. I wanted to practice driving with stronger A pedal regen in the LEAF, to see if I would like even stronger regen in a BMW EV. I prefer Nissan's choice (and Tesla's) to allow the driver to choose the strength of regen. When I have passengers, especially my wife, who is quick to say that she "doesn't like G forces", I drive in D mode, which has the same lower level of regen braking as the earlier LEAF. B mode is for when I'm by myself and having fun with the car.

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for features comparison

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for tires and wheels

Wheels and tires for the 2013 SL are 17 inch alloys with Michelin Energy Saver A/S, V rated tires in size 215/50 R 17.

Here is Michelin's product sheet for these tires: http://www.michelinman.com/tire-selector/category/passenger-car-minivan/energy-saver-a-s/tire-details" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tread wear warranty is 55,000 miles. Max tire inflation marked on sidewall is 44 lbs.

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for interior and seats

The seats on the 2013 SL have perforated leather seating surfaces, and the steering wheel is covered in leather, which is lovely to the touch. I love leather steering wheels, factory leather ones, not ones that I have laced on myself. This is a favorite feature of the car for me. The only interior color, regardless of the exterior paint, is black.

The seat leather is pretty standard perforated leather that you'd expect in a Nissan. It feels sturdy and durable, and plenty thick. It's not butter soft or creamy textured, but it is leather, and it is going to be a lot more durable and luxurious than the fabric in the earlier LEAFs.

The seats are stiffer and they have more lower lumbar support than the seats in my 2011.

And now, finally, we have a proper wide front bar across the front bottom of the front seat cushions for fore/aft adjustment of the front seats. Gone are the original Japanese market inboard-mounted small levers that are difficult to grab from outside the car when the seats are pulled forward and you are a large person trying to move the seats back so that you can sit down. Thank you, Nissan, for changing this simple control in the US built cars.

The driver seat has the same adjustments as the seats in the '11 and '12 cars: forward, back, seat bottom tilt and seat back angle. The seat bottom tilt control is different than the wheel control in the earlier cars. In the '13, this control is a lever that tilts the seat bottom with upward or downward strokes of the lever. But it works about the same and it has about the same degree of tilt control as in the older cars.

The seats are heated, with the controls for the front seats located on the center console, like in the 2012 LEAF, and the control for the rear seat heat is located on the inboard front passenger seat back side.

My only complaint about the seats is a minor one, involving the LATCH attachment point for child seats on the rear seat backs. The 2011 and 2012 cars had nice plastic guides around the metal attachment bars for the LATCH belts. The 2013 car just has slits cut in the carpet on the seat backs, and you have to dig into the slits to locate the metal bars. It's no big deal, but it is cheap and low end, by comparison. An example of Nissan saving $0.15 per car, I assume.

Note the cheesy rear LATCH attachment point, center photo

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for Around View Monitor (AVM)

This feature is one of my absolute favorites on the car. The Around View Monitor (AVM) was introduced on Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand cars several years ago. It uses four cameras to provide a 360 degree overhead view of the exterior of the car from above, as well as front, rear and side views that are very useful for parking maneuvers.

The four cameras are mounted as follows: one each on the bottom of each exterior side mirror, facing downward, one on the forward lower part of the Nissan insignia on the charging lid, facing down and forward, and one on the rear decklid handle like we are used to with the 2011 and 2012 cars.

When you shift into reverse, you get a split screen on the Nav screen. Part of the screen shows a familiar rear view camera shot with trajectory lines that move with the steering wheel, and the other part of the split shows the overhead 360 degree view of the car. The overhead view is useful for positioning the car next to curbs and within parking stripes. You can also press a button on the rim of the screen and the overhead view is replaced by a view downward from the right side mirror that has calibration marks showing how far you are from the curb.

But the AVM is not only useful when in reverse. The AVM will be displayed when you press the button on the screen rim at any time when the car is stopped or moving at low speed. If you are stopped in Drive or moving forward, the split screen shows a forward view with moving trajectory lines for forward steering, combined with the 360 degree overhead view. The forward view trajectory lines can be used as guidance to make sure that you aren't coming too close to the corners of other cars in parking lots. The overhead view is especially fun when you are positioning yourself within the paint stripes in parking spaces. It's almost like you have your own personal satellite tasked to show your movements from above in real time. If you park crooked when you have this device on your car, you are just not paying attention.


For some reason, probably profit, for 2013, Nissan deleted the rear view camera as standard equipment on any LEAF. The rear view camera is only available on the S model, and then only as part of a $1,300 charger package. Neither the SV nor the SL model offers the rear view camera. Instead, the Around View Monitor is available and only as part of the $1,050 Premium package. To me, the rear view camera, at least, is so important for the safety of children, pets and the elderly walking near the car, that it should be standard or at least an affordable standalone option. Making it part of expensive packages is a bad idea. Hopefully Nissan will change this next model year.

Below is the forward view with split screen of the overhead view.

The bottom two shots are of the rear view.

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for battery data

 

[Boomer23]

Reserved for driving range info

 

[GregH]

You've got more than a few reservations about this...

Hey I went from blue to black as well! (Although only a 2012..)

 

[laalan]

Thinking about upgrading one of my 2011's to a 2013 with all the bells and whistles, but struggle with the low trade in value offered. I like the faster charge feature and factory leather.

 

[abasile]

Congratulations on the "2103 SL"! Truly, a vehicle ahead of its time. ;-)

 

[JPVLeaf]

Congratulations, Boomer. Looking forward to your write-ups.

Thinking about upgrading one of my 2011's to a 2013 with all the bells and whistles, but struggle with the low trade in value offered. I like the faster charge feature and factory leather.

Ditto. Were you able to sell the other 2011 for an acceptable price?

 

[mbender]

In 1979, Neil Young published a song called "Hey, Hey, My, My" on his album Rust Never Sleeps. You know the one...

How apt, then...

Given that the '11 was your first LEAF, how even more appropriate then is that Neil's song "Long May You Run" from a few years earlier is about his first car?!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYna-UAt75c[/youtube]

Long may they all run!

 

[surfingslovak]

Congrats again, Boomer! I'm weighing my options and I can see myself go down this path. I look forward to reading your observations on your blog and here on the forum. I'm particularly keen to see what you thought about the interior, the larger wheels, and the handling of the vehicle.

 

[Boomer23]

You've got more than a few reservations about this...

Hey I went from blue to black as well! (Although only a 2012..)

In more ways than one, Greg. :lol:

Hey, after my pack has stabilized for a week or so, I'd appreciate your opinion on the pack health. It seems to be a bit degraded at about 63 AH.

 

[surfingslovak]

It seems to be a bit degraded at about 63 AH.

Perhaps it's not fair to say, but it might be worth remembering that Gids were depressed in hot weather last year. The only thing that seems different about your LEAF is the fact that new cars are supposed to be slightly above nominal. It's also interesting to see the numbers LEAFfan is reporting from Phoenix. Perhaps the new software in 2013 LEAFs is causing this unusual behavior?

 

[Boomer23]

In 1979, Neil Young published a song called "Hey, Hey, My, My" on his album Rust Never Sleeps. You know the one...

How apt, then...

Given that the '11 was your first LEAF, how even more appropriate then is that Neil's song "Long May You Run" from a few years earlier is about his first car?!


Long may they all run!

Amen to that, brother. I like to think of "Ol Blue" running for many more miles.

 

[Boomer23]

Congratulations, Boomer. Looking forward to your write-ups.

Thinking about upgrading one of my 2011's to a 2013 with all the bells and whistles, but struggle with the low trade in value offered. I like the faster charge feature and factory leather.

Ditto. Were you able to sell the other 2011 for an acceptable price?

Yep, JP, I've added some details now to the second post. Connell gave me a very generous $17,000, plus a $2,220 discount and we get $1,000 LEAF loyalty discount on top of the $7,500 Federal credit.

 

[JPVLeaf]

Yep, JP, I've added some details now to the second post. Connell gave me a very generous $17,000, plus a $2,220 discount and we get $1,000 LEAF loyalty discount on top of the $7,500 Federal credit.

Nice on the trade-in value. Tustin offered me $12.5k. After I winced and said I'd 'hoped for more', the mgr threw in an extra $500 for an even $13k. But then again, I had 33.5k mi. at the time. Still, that wasn't going to do it for me, so an upgrade wasn't in the books for me that day.