Thinking of buying a used LEAF

jstroud48 said:

I am thinking of buying a used leaf, i dont think i will be leasing one. any ideas out there on what year you would buy, i have seen the 2013 sv model for 10500 with factory warranty. i am planning on keeping the car until it falls apart so i wont to get a used one with the factory warranty and would like to get an extended warranty, talked to a dealer in arizona and he said i could get an extended warranty that would cover the car to 120000 miles, any one our there have any comments. thanks

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cwerdna said:

mods: Can you please move this to something more appropriate?

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jstroud48 said:

I am thinking of buying a used leaf, i dont think i will be leasing one. any ideas out there on what year you would buy, i have seen the 2013 sv model for 10500 with factory warranty. i am planning on keeping the car until it falls apart so i wont to get a used one with the factory warranty and would like to get an extended warranty, talked to a dealer in arizona and he said i could get an extended warranty that would cover the car to 120000 miles, any one our there have any comments. thanks

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• 2012 models all got heated front and rear seats and heated steering wheel as standard. 2012 Leaf SL also got quick charging as standard equipment.
• 2013 shifted production from Japan to Tennessee and saw introduction of a cheaper base model called the Leaf S which deletes cruise control, the navigation system, and CarWings, and substitutes a different radio and climate control layout. Leaf SV and SL got a "B" mode for greater regen, and a less power hungry heat pump heating system; base model Leaf S still stuck with the older style heater. SV and SL also came with a faster 6.6 kW (6.0 actual) on board charger; this was included on the Leaf S if you bought the optional Quick Charge package, otherwise Leaf S got the old 3.8 kW charger from the older cars. SV and SL had a Premium Package option which included Bose and Nissan's Around View camera system. Cars without Premium have a slightly larger trunk as the charging unit was moved to the
  "engine" compartment; on cars with Premium the extra room is taken up by the Bose system.
• 2014 only had minor changes, the biggest of which is that a standard backup camera became standard on all Leafs. 2014's have a short production run as the 2015 model was introduced early.
• 2015 had the biggest and most awaited change so far, and that is the introduction of a (supposedly) more heat-tolerant battery. Leaf S finally got cruise control included (but still no B mode or heat pump heater).

• The biggest one is to buy an OBDII WiFi or Bluetooth adapter and use a smartphone app such as LeafSpy or LeafStat. Use these tools to determine the actual battery degradation. DO NOT RELY ON A 12 BAR READING as an indicator of battery health; it is possible to reset the computer to make it temporarily display all 12 capacity bars. However if it is reading anything less than 12 bars, chances are it's probably accurate.
• Unless the car is over 5 years old (the very first ones delivered will turn 5 in December 2015) or has over 60k miles, there is a capacity warranty which guarantees a minimum of 9 capacity bars by the time the car reaches the end of this warranty. There is one exception: owners of 2011-2012 models who opted out of a class action lawsuit known as Klee. v. Nissan were surprised last year when dealers notified them of something called a "B0133" on the car's printout when it was brought in for service. This code is Nissan-speak for these cars being excluded from that warranty. If you buy from any other source than a Nissan dealer, if possible ask the seller if you can bring the car to one for them to check to see if this car is on this list, as some may have been sold/traded before anybody knew of this. If you buy from a Nissan dealer, I would ask for this printout.
• Any extended warranties, whether from Nissan or a third party, are unlikely to cover premature battery capacity degradation. Anecdotally, it appears the 2013-2014 models aren't suffering as much capacity degradation as the 2011-2012 models. It's too early to say about the 2015 models.
• Some early 2013 models were found with A/C drain hoses not properly connected, so if you turn on the A/C on a hot muggy day and noticed the driver's footwell all damp (or find indications of that area being wet), that's what is causing the problem. It is an easy fix by simply unscrewing the center console to expose the hose and drain pipe it is supposed to connect to.