Lease or buy Leaf 2019

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Elia89

New member
Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
1
I'm a New York resident and I looking to get a new Leaf.
After a test drive at the car dealership, I realized that the agent knew nothing about the car and also tried to dissuade me from that car to another car he understood a little more about.
As far as I understand leasing will cost me about $ 10K over a 36 month period but if I purchase the car that will probably cost $ 30K and after getting all the refunds and subsidies in the end I might pay about half that price.
I would love to get details about the purchase process, how much money and where from will eventually return to my pocket and what do you think you should lease or buy?

Thanks.
 
The summaries of the previous posts are excellent. I would make a few quick bullet points.

To be completely happy,

1) The EV should be your second car... That way you can use it for trips that are no more than 50-60 miles (for the original 24KWH battery). For longer drives you take the gasoline car.

2) Expect to drive at the legal highway speed limit (or less) to not drain the battery excessively fast, thus reducing your range. If you expect to drive the car at 65-80 MPH... Then DO NOT buy a Leaf.

3) During hot/ cold weather, you cannot blast the A/C and Heat, or your range will be cut in half. The air and heat work fine on the Leaf, but it must be used in a moderate manner.

4) If you live in the mountains, with long distances and high elevations, do not get a Leaf. In order to climb high elevation changes, the car must use much energy, thus lowering your range.

5) You must have a driveway with an electrical outlet to charge over night. If you live in an apartment and park on the street, with no outlets around, do not get an EV.

I live on Long Island, NY, and drive an original Leaf (24KWH). I am able to drive the entire length of the island with my Leaf, sometimes stopping for 1/2 hour or so to quick charge the battery to get home. I own the car, love it, and expect to put 200,000 miles on it eventually. So...
 
Two corrections to the above post:

* There is no 24kwh 2019 Leaf, so the caveat about range isn't correct for the available cars. 90-100 miles is a good, conservative range limit for a new 40kwh Leaf.

* A/C use does NOT cut the range in half, no matter what the conditions. Range reduction is more like 5% for A/C, maybe 10% in extreme heat. Heater use, depending on temps and whether or not the car has the heat pump-equipped heater, can do that in severe cold. If you have real Winters, get a Leaf with a heat pump, and remember that it won't help range enough to matter below about 24F.
 
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