agedmachine
Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2018
- Messages
- 17
Hi everyone, please forgive my blurting this out, I have three days including today to decide to keep this car or send it back to the dealership with my tail between my legs.
I'm brand new to electrics and saw this 2012 Leaf SL with only 33,000 miles on it for $10k and jumped at it, thinking it would be perfect as my first car purchase in 14 years. It's in perfect shape, body and interior, etc.
Sadly, I've had it all of two days, and I'm finding the range isn't anywhere what I expected. I work 15.4 miles from my house, there is a steep hill to climb on the way in, and back down on the way back, (Highway 26 from the east side of Portland, OR out to Beaverton) but so far I've had to stop midway and charge this thing up downtown on both the trips I've made...
Here's as accurate a run-down as I can make:
Picked up from dealership - Dash says I've got 28 miles. Drive 6.1 miles to work - dash says I've got 19 miles.
Leave work... stop in downtown Portland to charge, 9.6 miles from work - Dash says I have 9 miles left. Traffic was bad, some stop and go...
Charge it for 1/2 hr, leave the charger with it telling me I have 56 miles... it's two 'bars' from the "1" at the top at this point.
Get home, roughly 5.5ish miles away, car says I have 32 miles left. Park the car. Start it later - 28 miles left. Drive back downtown after stopping at two other charging stations that only had Level 2 chargers. Didn't pay attention to the miles reported on the dash between then and hitting the charger. (L3) - Charge it up a full hour or so... says about 59 miles when it's first turned on.
Drive the 5.5 mile trek back home from there, and it's saying 34 miles when I park it.
This morning, get it turned on - 32 miles. It's dark outside. Headlights on. Defrost for about 5 minutes, turn that off.
Drive my 15.4 miles to work, and I park the car and the dash tells me I have 11 miles left -- less than I had when I left work the prior time and ended up downtown to charge it again - I may not make it downtown this time and will have to find a charging station closer to my work.
This is obviously not workable as a 'drive to work and back and maybe stop at the grocery store or for dinner' scenario that would be the most basic of my expectations.
So I get on the forums and start poking around and realizing a car of this vintage probably needs a $5500 battery to return it to the functionality I'd expect. So, we're now talking a $16000 investment to do that, which is, indeed, far less than the money it would cost for a 2018 Leaf -- but is it worth it? This is a 2012 SL with 33,000 miles.
Will I get the performance I need with the new battery, and would it be worth the expense, or should I take this thing back to the dealership immediately and look for a hybrid or something instead, given what I intend to use a vehicle for?
This decision will need to be made very soon - and I'm hoping to get some good, solid advice before I make the full commitment.
Thanks!
I'm brand new to electrics and saw this 2012 Leaf SL with only 33,000 miles on it for $10k and jumped at it, thinking it would be perfect as my first car purchase in 14 years. It's in perfect shape, body and interior, etc.
Sadly, I've had it all of two days, and I'm finding the range isn't anywhere what I expected. I work 15.4 miles from my house, there is a steep hill to climb on the way in, and back down on the way back, (Highway 26 from the east side of Portland, OR out to Beaverton) but so far I've had to stop midway and charge this thing up downtown on both the trips I've made...
Here's as accurate a run-down as I can make:
Picked up from dealership - Dash says I've got 28 miles. Drive 6.1 miles to work - dash says I've got 19 miles.
Leave work... stop in downtown Portland to charge, 9.6 miles from work - Dash says I have 9 miles left. Traffic was bad, some stop and go...
Charge it for 1/2 hr, leave the charger with it telling me I have 56 miles... it's two 'bars' from the "1" at the top at this point.
Get home, roughly 5.5ish miles away, car says I have 32 miles left. Park the car. Start it later - 28 miles left. Drive back downtown after stopping at two other charging stations that only had Level 2 chargers. Didn't pay attention to the miles reported on the dash between then and hitting the charger. (L3) - Charge it up a full hour or so... says about 59 miles when it's first turned on.
Drive the 5.5 mile trek back home from there, and it's saying 34 miles when I park it.
This morning, get it turned on - 32 miles. It's dark outside. Headlights on. Defrost for about 5 minutes, turn that off.
Drive my 15.4 miles to work, and I park the car and the dash tells me I have 11 miles left -- less than I had when I left work the prior time and ended up downtown to charge it again - I may not make it downtown this time and will have to find a charging station closer to my work.
This is obviously not workable as a 'drive to work and back and maybe stop at the grocery store or for dinner' scenario that would be the most basic of my expectations.
So I get on the forums and start poking around and realizing a car of this vintage probably needs a $5500 battery to return it to the functionality I'd expect. So, we're now talking a $16000 investment to do that, which is, indeed, far less than the money it would cost for a 2018 Leaf -- but is it worth it? This is a 2012 SL with 33,000 miles.
Will I get the performance I need with the new battery, and would it be worth the expense, or should I take this thing back to the dealership immediately and look for a hybrid or something instead, given what I intend to use a vehicle for?
This decision will need to be made very soon - and I'm hoping to get some good, solid advice before I make the full commitment.
Thanks!