2011 Leaf Pros and Cons

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ezeagle

New member
Joined
Feb 16, 2018
Messages
2
Location
Hemet, CA
What are the pros and cons of buying a 2011 nissan leaf SV for $5000 and then buying a new battery for it and spending another $6000 for the battery. The car is super clean and well taken care of, just needs a new battery. Would this be better than buying a 2015 S model for about 12,000?
 
As usual, no location given.

The 2011 will likely lack the heated seats and steering wheel. It will also be completely off warranty, so any expensive failures will be out of pocket expenses.
 
Where are you located? Can you update your location info via your user name in the upper right > User Control Panel > Profile tab? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

(I've been lobbying to mandate filling out the location field for years, to no avail.)

What are your daily driving needs in terms of miles? How much city vs. highway? Will you have the ability to charge at your work/destinations?
 
cwerdna said:
Where are you located? Can you update your location info via your user name in the upper right > User Control Panel > Profile tab? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

(I've been lobbying to mandate filling out the location field for years, to no avail.)

What are your daily driving needs in terms of miles? How much city vs. highway? Will you have the ability to charge at your work/destinations?

Thanks for the info on updating location. My normal drive is just around town and not much highway. I live about 5 minutes from my work, but I can't charge at work only at home, which is not a big deal since it is not far. I would like to be able to take the car about 50 miles from home every now and then to visit family and this would require about a 30 minute highway drive.

I am not worried about replacing the battery at $5000 to $6000 if that would seem better to have a upgraded older model as opposed to the newer model with less upgrades. Just not sure if with a new battery how well a 2011 would run.
 
Given your occasional need for a 50 mile trip, but usual need for just a few miles, I think that a 2013 SV would do you well, even with 11 bars, as long as you understand the relationship between highway speed and range. If you can spend $10k total, you should be able to find a later build (after March of 2013) SV without the Premium options that the earlier Leafs also lack for less than $10k. It would still have a heatpump, though, to help range in milder Winter weather.
 
ezeagle said:
What are the pros and cons of buying a 2011 nissan leaf SV for $5000 and then buying a new battery for it and spending another $6000 for the battery. The car is super clean and well taken care of, just needs a new battery. Would this be better than buying a 2015 S model for about 12,000?
To me, very little pros in purchasing a pre '13 Leaf. As mentioned, being a '11 in may lack the winter package, but maybe in your local, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Another negative is L2 charging is 1/2 the speed of post '12s. IMO this is a big deal. It's nice to be able to pull into a free L2 charging station, plug in and shop for an hour and come back to a battery thats gained 30% charge, figure 1/2 that or roughly 15%/hr with a pre '13.
The heater is also much poorer on the liquid loop pre '13 models, slow to heat and not very efficient. As opposed to the heat pump in the post '12 SV and SL models which is not only more efficient but heats quicker.
A pre '13 will also lack the incredibly handy % SOC meter, unless you purchase a OBDII device and LeafSpy for your cell phone, you'll basically have to rely on the incredibly inaccurate GOM(or miles remaining meter) oh and while still inaccurate, they did make the GOM a bit better in post '12 models.
The older Japan built models do have a few +'s over the US built '13's and on but IMO nothing worth all the -'s. Search the many threads on MNL for the +'s and -'s of the 2 different types.
IMO for the ~$10-11k you'd have tied up in your '11 you'd be much better purchasing a post '12(preferably a SV/SL if the faster charging and more efficient heater is important to you) one with a ~90% battery SOH. You really shouldn't have a problem finding one in your price range. Heck for your requirements you could save a bit and get one with a lower SOH but when it gets <80% you'll get noticeably less regen or the ability to recharge the battery when letting off the gas, which also makes you use the brakes more and in turn wears them out much faster. Regen is a nice feature and sucks when it goes away! (says someone with an 8 bar '12 :( )

If you were talking about doing what your proposing with a post '12 I might say go for it but not so much for an '11 or '12.
 
LeftieBiker said:
The 2011 will likely lack the heated seats and steering wheel. It will also be completely off warranty, so any expensive failures will be out of pocket expenses.
For the OP's benefit, the warranty booklet can be downloaded from https://owners.nissanusa.com/nowners/navigation/manualsGuide (e.g. https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuides/LEAF/2013/2013-LEAF-warranty-booklet.pdf). Some of the older ones still exist on the server (e.g. https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuides/LEAF/2011/2011-LEAF-warranty-booklet.pdf).

Examples of possible expensive failures
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=21203
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=431228#p431228
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=23190
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=23017

OBC failures on the '11 and '12 out of warranty seem relatively rare. Some have just had the diode fail and that was easily fixed by splicing in a diode (e.g. http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=505463#p505463) installing of spending kilobucks to replace the whole OBC.
 
My concern is the possibility that the OBC and Inverter assembly may have a limited lifespan compared with the rest of the drivetrain. If they turn out to only last 8~10 years it won't be cost effective to replace them with anything but a DIY used part swap.
 
You are considering a 2011 SV so it has a 3.3 kW onboard charger and does not have the quick charge port. This is comparable to a 2013 through 2015 S without the quick charge option. This is adequate as long as your daily driving needs can be met with a single overnight charge. The cold weather package was introduced late in the 2011 production run so it probably lacks the heated seats and steering wheel found on later LEAFs. The cold weather package also includes a small heater to protect the traction battery in really cold temperatures, but you would not need that in Hemet. I still miss some of the features my 2011 SL had which my 2015 SL does not have, but I think a later model SV or SL would fit your needs better if you intend to keep the car for several years.

A 2013 or later SV or SL has the heat pump heater which has minimal impact on range in moderate climates and the 6 kW onboard charger. The 6 kW charger is much faster when you need to add some range without waiting for a full overnight charge. Personally, I would not want a 3.3 kW onboard charger without having a
DCQC port for quick charging when extra range is needed. I was starting to look for a DCQC unit that would work on 208-240 volts, single-phase to be able to add charge quickly to my 2011 at home. The 6 kW onboard charger in the 2015 eliminated that need when I was forced to replace the 2011.

Some of the posts mention inaccuracy of the dashboard instrumentation in the 2011, but the SOC bars and DTE (GOM) displays were much more accurate after the P3227 software update in my 2011 than the displays in my 2015 for my driving style. The 2015 has a SOC percentage display, but I usually just look at the bars or LEAF Spy.
 
The 2011 is quicker off the line! As mentioned above, the 3.3 onboard charger is slow. I would definitely want a DCFC port. If you only will charge at home while you are sleeping, 3.3 is OK and so is no DCFC in that case. The 2011 cars are very nice and don't get a lot of love from some posters here. If you need heated steering wheel and seats, than 2011 would not be good for you. If it were me, I would get the newest car possible with warranty, if it is practically the same money after factoring in the battery, as you did. Good luck!
 
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