Reading this topic through, it might be good to bring up what you had BEFORE the LEAF and see if indeed you'll end up at the same or better or worse when you feel its time for a change. While there are lots of factors (and typically most car purchases are simply not rational to begin with) here is my own scenario.
I was really interested in the new tech factor early on when we 'reserved' our '12 LEAF online (took 18 months to get one) but living in the midwest, had limited options for full EV's; and sorry just didn't ever like the Prius (which most pundits have said is the car most people had before a LEAF) as well as wanted a 100% electric so it was pretty much the only viable choice even when we took delivery 4 years ago this past month.
We had an '06 Mazda 3 GT (5-door hatchback) that was pretty close size-wise to the LEAF with about 59K miles on it; it was a nice commuter car, did have the advantage that we could take it on much longer trips (which we did on a few occasions) but during its last few years, was pretty much my work commuter. That car listed new for $25K, we bought it for about $19K with a discount and another trade-in ('98 New Beetle TDI) and got $9K in trade against the full MSRP LEAF with it in '11, so after fed tax credit, state EV rebate and trade-in our out of pocket was actually a few hundred bucks less than when we bought the Mazda 3 (not factoring in sales tax, license fees, etc. but EV's are much cheaper to register in IL).
So, our '12 LEAF is now 4 years old with 36K miles (a bit less miles due to its limited range vs. the Mazda 3 after the same time) so will probably have about 56K in another two years -- will it be worth the same $9K as our Mazda 3 was? Most likely not, but unlike that ICE Mazda 3 we won't be needing any of the major stuff that typically has to be done with an ICE (timing belt/chain, valve adjustments, trans flush, etc.) once it gets past 60K miles and hopefully it will still have enough capacity to do enough work commute and errand runs -- how many more than the 6 years, who knows? Really its when our cars start looking shabby (we're in the rust belt after all) and still have a bit of value is when we think of switching (most, but not all the time; we keep a minivan for 12 1/2 years; it was only 'worth' about $600 but got $3,500 during that cash for clunkers deal). We've got perhaps a bit more flexibility than others as we have 3 cars between 2 drivers (although really 4 cars between 3 drivers as my son has his own but occasionally drives the LEAF).
Would we buy another EV? Most definitely but everyone's scenario is probably not like ours --- the above doesn't even cover the running and maintenance costs but with gas so cheap, unless you've traded in a real gas guzzler that needs premium fuel it narrows the difference --- lastly, the EVSE L2 in our garage was also subsidized (out-of-pocket after rebate about $625) but expect to use it for many more years.
What we look for next?-- a nice mid-size SUV PHEV that could cover work commutes using 100% electricity and handle long trips, bad weather and more cargo when needed -- its not here yet but would think more options within 2 years
