SOH for new Leaf sitting on a dealer lot

[danrjones]

A 2015 that I was waiting for has finally been transferred to my nearest carmax, so this weekend I'll be driving in and at the same time I'm going to see if the Nissan dealer is willing to make a great deal on a new one. Let the chips fall where they may. I've got an OBD2 that seems to work fine with my truck and I've downloaded leafspy light (free version)

I know what I'm looking for on the 2015, it has full battery bars, but it could realistically be sitting at a SOH of 85% and still have full bars. If its SOH is like 99% then I'd suspect someone did a reset. So I've got that figured out I think.

But on a "new" unit what should the SOH be? At first I thought this is a stupid question because it should be 100%. But would it really? If that new leaf has 20 miles on it and has been sitting for months (it surely has) what would I really see as a SOH? 95%? Or is their enough miles on the system for it to even know a true SOH? Should I even look at that on a new unit?

 

[Lothsahn]

I don't know the exact answer, but I would expect >= 95%. Keep in mind SOH is an estimate, so +/- 3% doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot. I would also expect that with only 20 miles, the system would not know. SOH updates as the battery is used.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I was lucky to get one with 99.59% SOH, but I seem to recall people finding 97% or so on their new cars. Probably lower.

 

[HerdingElectrons]

Mine was at 99.2% & had only been on the dealer lot for like 2 weeks IIRC & now after 11K miles sits at 96.5% so I personally wouldn't want a new car with less than a 98-99% SOH if possible unless I was saving significant money to buy it.

A big clue if your dealer has multiple Leaf's for sale is to see what charge percentage they are being "stored" at while sitting on the lot.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Mine was at 99.2% & had only been on the dealer lot for like 2 weeks IIRC & now after 11K miles sits at 96.5% so I personally wouldn't want a new car with less than a 98-99% SOH if possible unless I was saving significant money to buy it.

A big clue if your dealer has multiple Leaf's for sale is to see what charge percentage they are being "stored" at while sitting on the lot.

Agreed. My beloved 2013 Leaf SV had 30% or less charge on the lot. I turned her in 5 years later with 12 bars. I have no way of knowing what my current Leaf was stored at SOC-wise, but I'm guessing NOT 100%.

 

[danrjones]

Thanks all!

I spent all afternoon at carmax and the nissan dealer. The 2015 from carmax was actually very nice, SV blue with bose and surround camera. Leafspy light said it was at SOH of 91.8% or so. Actually I thought pretty good for a 2015 with 23k miles! BUT carmax failed to tell me it had some front end damage - looks like someone hit something low speed with the bumper, it was slightly tweaked and the charge port had trouble opening and closing! Too bad, the car was otherwise excellent.

So went over to the nissan dealer, and they had 6 on the lot, 4 new 2018's they never sold. Too bad for them, I noticed they had been sitting for a LONG time. Hence my question earlier. Leaf Spy light said it was like 97.8% SOH so for s leaf that's been on the dealer lot for probably 6 months that seemed acceptable

I will post the more sale details in another thread but I think I got a great price, even considering it was a 2018.

2018 SV with Tech and Weather packages, Pearl white or whatever it is

MSRP 37,000
Negotiated price 26800+tax and dmv
Actual OTD Price after credits and rebates ~ $15,500

 

[LeftieBiker]

Do you remember the state of charge (SOC) of the car you got when you checked it? I'm trying to figure what factors matter most with the 40whr pack. Congrats, BTW, on the new Leaf.

 

[danrjones]

Yes it was around 65% but it's been on the dealers lot for 6 months (?) So cant be sure that's how it usually was. They charged it to 90% while I was there. It had 2 qc and 5 charges listed in the leaf spy app. Oddly the odometer in leafspy doesn't quite match the odometer. No doubt they had it for a long time.

If anyone in southern ca is looking to score a deal they actually have three more 2018 sv models still. The guy when we were done even told me nobody has been buying them because the range is too short to commute from Palmdale to LA. Made me wonder why they ordered so many then...

So the history on it is a bit speculative.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The odometer mismatch is a LeafSpy issue. Updating LeafSpy should fix it.

 

[goldbrick]

Congrats on the Leaf. Hope it serves you well. I do think you got a good deal as minty 2015's go for > $10k here and your car has almost 2x the starting capacity as a 2015, plus a longer warranty. On the other hand, if the sound system is like the one in a 2017 S it leaves a lot to be desired....Still $15.5k OTD is a very good price for a 40kWh SV Leaf with tech and all-weather package, IMHO.

 

[Kieran973]

That's a fantastic deal. Does that price include a trade-in?

I was holding out for a deal like that myself, but a lot of the 2018s on the east coast which were advertised for around 10K off msrp were actually leases. I got sick of waiting, so I bought a 2019 SV with just the all-weather package for a little less than 22K. Anyway, congrats.

 

[danrjones]

That's a fantastic deal. Does that price include a trade-in?

I was holding out for a deal like that myself, but a lot of the 2018s on the east coast which were advertised for around 10K off msrp were actually leases. I got sick of waiting, so I bought a 2019 SV with just the all-weather package for a little less than 22K. Anyway, congrats.

I assume the 22k is with credits and rebates? Still not bad! I was wondering if there was any changes to the 2019

No trade in.

cash price was 26,800
doc proc fee is 80
sales tax is 2218.01
veh reg 30
license fee 372
tire fee 7
total price: 29512

minus 14,000 I put down to cover credits and rebates

SUM: 15,512.01

 

[danrjones]

Congrats on the Leaf. Hope it serves you well. I do think you got a good deal as minty 2015's go for > $10k here and your car has almost 2x the starting capacity as a 2015, plus a longer warranty. On the other hand, if the sound system is like the one in a 2017 S it leaves a lot to be desired....Still $15.5k OTD is a very good price for a 40kWh SV Leaf with tech and all-weather package, IMHO.

Yeah, the sound is OK but not as good as the bose in 2015 I was looking at

I suppose if I wanted I could always change the speakers out, that would probably make a big difference. Not sure what that would do to the warranty though

I really liked the 2015 but the ability to drive it the 92 miles from the dealer with no stops was a big plus for the 2018, and the 10 yr warranty, and a lower interest rate, the led headlights, etc. all made it worth the extra 5k

And honestly, I think it looks nice! The blue 2015 was very unique. But I can't say it looked nice.