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I’d been browsing Craigslist here and there, just getting the feel for what’s out there. Just yesterday found this one with 58k on it and about half what I’d seen in the past. Nice red color with beige interior. I had a little nervousness about the purchase with some distance anxiety, but when I paid for it and got behind the wheel, I was thinking, this is great! Coming from my convertible BMW 330ci, I was thinking, this really didn’t feel like a downgrade. Plenty of pep, and just felt solid. My BMW is an 03, so it’s a little lesser for the wear, and the Leaf is so much more modern.

It’s very ironic parking next to my wife’s 09 Mustang GT convertible. Same exact color and interior as that car, but we’re talking 17 miles per gallon.
 
I have had my car for a month now. So far the car has worked fine for my limited use since I don't drive very many miles, the Leaf really is great. I knew what I was buying before I bought, I knew the range limitations, and the variations by climate as it gets cold or hot, and I had a very good idea what my use would be, the distances, and how it might work for me. So for my purposes so far the car has been exactly what I needed and wanted.

Local prices have climbed for the used Leaf since this time last year. My son bought an SV last year at this time and he managed to get an amazing deal on the car. Fast forward one year and the prices of those same cars are 2k higher than last year and the selection was much worse. I literally had to go shopping out of state to find a car that I wanted. It worked out the car arrived and things went OK. The car is very nice, very well built.

Since I bought the car there was a recall notice for reprogramming the air bags. There is also a voluntary advisory about upgrading the Carwings system to 3g cellular network. However after reading the negative reports here on this forum I declined the upgrade to the Carwings TCU until I start to see people here saying that Nissan has fixed it. If you are not sure what I am referring to then search for TCU upgrade here on the forum. The service department at my local dealer was very easy to work with to get the car scheduled and to get the recall done. I am happy with the way that worked and how easy they are to work with. The only limitation was that they only have 1 Leaf certified technician to work on the cars so I had to wait for his availability. I hope that changes in the future.

I have seen many examples here on this forum where Nissan has stepped up and offered to fix things, or offset the cost of repairs even with cars out of warranty. I see them offering batteries that we can buy that seems reasonable compared to what I have seen for other EV's out there. So it seems to me that Nissan is stepping up. But I see a lot of negativity toward Nissan which I question if all of it is warranted. I do see some failures that honestly probably shouldn't be happening so it is good that Nissan does address these. Overall the Leaf does appear to be a very solid car.

The car I bought still has all the battery bars, but I know with the miles it has on it that I am probably pretty close to losing a bar. I just hope that my battery continues to hold up and function in the capacity I need it to for the next 3 or 4 years with my limited miles that I drive. If the battery holds up then I would be happy to consider buying a new battery if it is still available.

My needs and wants are very modest. So I am not a person looking for a self driving car, and lots of bells and whistles even thought my car comes with a lot of toys. I didn't buy it for the toys and won't use a lot of the things that are on the car. So I would be thrilled to see something like a solid state battery offered for our car or even a higher capacity battery retrofit to our car as time goes on.

I am odd, for some reason the look of the current Leaf has grown on me and the new spy shots of the new 2018 Leaf don't do anything for me. So I would be very happy to be able to extend the use of this car for many years into the future if Nissan will offer support and upgrades for this car. I like the modern and unusual look to our Leaf over the more conventional look of the car they are flashing to us right now.

So far I am pretty happy with the Leaf. If you do your homework and know the limits of the car and if they will work for your circumstances I think you might find this car will work very well for you too. It is a pretty nice car. Don't let the negativity of others influence you about this car until you have evaluated it for yourself and if it will meet your needs. For many people the Leaf is a great daily driver.

Also I think if people know that they are going to be driving a lot and may be bumping into the range limits of the car consider a L2 power option for your home. The ability to put enough juice quickly into your car throughout the day is a game changer for those who are constantly on the run to and from home running errands. The flexibility of the car opens up greatly if L2 charging at home is an option for you. Of course everyone's circumstances are different so evaluate your situation to see what would be the best fit for you.
 
rthurlow said:
Cheaper and faster - I can get a 6-50p plug and some wire at Home Depot.

I got this wired up last night with 8-3 wire and did my first charge :D And I have Leaf Spy Pro with an LELink OBD
thing to show me how it's going. My 2015 Leaf with the fast charge option got charged to 277 GIDs / 98.6%
for a 97.3% state of charge and 21.5 kWh for a 84.8 mile range to low-battery warning (corresponding to 96 miles
on the dash display). The battery is better than I thought, good for 9600 miles and the price I paid.

Rob T
 
Got my leaf yesterday, last week i finished Elon Musk book and a week later I bought an electric car. hehe. I did a lot of research and for the driving I do, i decided I would get over the anxiety range because I will be fine the leaf range for the 95% of the driving i do. I mainly drive kids around and do the mom thing.
I got 2015, almost 14000kms, SV or SL (can't remember), no leather and no solar panel, so whatever that is, but it has bose and navigation. I will figure all that out.
We live in Chilliwack and my family of 5 have a trip to seattle planned for tomorrow. Its 241kms from our home, car is supposed to get 120kms at its best, so we unsure if we going to try it out. I have mapped out all the level 3 charging stations, so we may just go for it.
I am so excited. I am going to drink coffee with my new car and figure things out on it. i am mainly confused about this climate control stuff.
 
Congratulations! I'm surprised you wouldn't want a Tesla after reading the book, but the Leaf is nice EV. Be aware that the fast highway speeds reduce range quicker than city driving. I have the 107 mile range Leaf and I have make it from Salinas, CA to San Mateo, 92 miles of highway driving with about 10 miles remaining. As long as you have enough fast chargers along the way, allowing for some leeway, you should be OK.
 
Well, my trusty old 2000 Buick LeSabre's tranny died (and I really loved that car), so we were in the market for another car. My wife found a 2012 Leaf SL with 2,545 miles for sale locally on Craigslist which came with an uninstalled AeroVironment 240V EVSE. We did the research and decided to go for it. One thing we discovered after the purchase, was that maybe low miles wasn't such a good idea since we don't know how the car was stored. Manufacture date is 11/11. After ditching Eco driving for more fun in D (I'd read somewhere in the forum that Eco driving isn't necessarily good for the batteries and aggressive driving is?), I've gained back some of the battery stats that I'm seeing with Leaf Spy Pro. Using the 240V EVSE with Leaf end-timer set for 9am and charge to 100%. At the moment after 3 weeks and about 1,000 miles I get AHr= 60.02 SOH= 91% HX= 89.53 odo= 3,586. Early days yet... Oh, and we both love the Leaf!
 
redcottage said:
My wife found a 2012 Leaf SL with 2,545 miles for sale locally on Craigslist which came with an uninstalled AeroVironment 240V EVSE. We did the research and decided to go for it. One thing we discovered after the purchase, was that maybe low miles wasn't such a good idea since we don't know how the car was stored.
Where it was stored and where it was driven are perhaps even more important. Incidentally, it is helpful to post your location in your profile so it appears to the left. That gives others some idea of the conditions under which your LEAF will be used.
 
Profile updated I think. In any case I'm the third owner, the second owner bought it from her neighbors, a celebrity couple earlier this year, which leads me to think it was garaged and maybe properly "maintained/stored" by the original owners. She says it was just driven on weekends. She decided it wasn't for her and we ended up buying it. New Paltz is about 70 miles north of New York City.
 
What matters is what the stats are now, and they are great for a 2011. Don't worry about past storage, and try to store it at 80% or less yourselves. Also try to avoid getting the battery hot (above 6 temp bars on the gauge).
 
Yep thanks, I've been reading all about the badness of batteries and heat. So far it runs between 5 and 6 heat bars. Now the build date stamped on the door plate is 11/11 but I believe the car is a 2012 model year? Regardless, that makes the battery pack almost 6 years old, I've also read that Li-on batteries are affected by age. It'll be interesting to see how much life we can squeeze out of this car down the road (no pun intended).

My wife racked up 75 miles today (way more than she'd typically drive) in all types of hilly terrain and a mix of highway and around town driving, mostly in D with 3 passengers and some light cargo. She texted a picture showing 2 bars and a GOM of 11 miles from my daughters apartment, and wondered if she'd make it the 8 miles back to home (in ECO mode). I said I think so, and sure enough we got our first LBW about a mile from home. The car suits our needs perfectly, the 75 miles today was an unusual amount of daily driving. There are 45 GIDs,
20.9% SOC and 3.5kWh left in the batteries.
 
So last Saturday I took Sonoma Clean Power up on their rebate offer ($2000 plus $8500 in dealer and Nissan incentives) and went and bought a brand new red 2017 SL. A fitting replacement for my 2002 Subaru, which has a broken catalytic converter and a smog check and registration due soon
So far it's pretty cool. I don't know if the Solar Panel is useful or not but I'm glad I have it. I never thought I'd own a car with leather seats but those are pretty cool too.
I did a lot of research and test drove an e-golf which I liked a lot but the VW dealer with the clean power deal didn't have the color I wanted and I liked the Leaf's color and the fact it didn't look like all the other cars. The only thing the really bugs me about the LEAF is that it doesn't have CarPlay which the e-Golf and of course the 2018 LEAF does. The Nissan Connect system is pretty lousy bit my Subaru just had a radio and a cd player so even the crappy NissanConnect is quite the upgrade.
I live in a condo with a parking garage so I can't charge at home but Luckily there is a free public charging station in the parking lot where I work and where I work is only 11 miles away from home. So all in all I think I got a pretty good deal even if I didn't get Apple CarPlay.
And did I mention the cool solar panel?
 
Nice going Coollibrariandude!

Same thing with me-- we live in a condo and can't charge at home. We just charge at the nearby Whole Foods. No problem with my short commute. I've been on lots of trips to Monterey and back from the peninsula-- no problems.
 
So after 1 year and plenty of lurking on this forum and asking questions, I finally purchased a Leaf. I got a 2015 S w/QC package.
I finally got a chance to use Leaf Spy Pro and it was working so here are the stats:

AHr = 57.26
SOH = 92%
389.21V
Hx = 87.47%
odo = 22163 mi
12 QC & 797 L1/L2s
27 mV

229 GIDS 81.5%

Not sure what all this means....just want to know if I'm good for basic city transportation for the next 5 - 7 years. Bought it to transport kid to school...which is now a 100 mi/week endeavor.

orsadude2
 
Hi everyone!

New Leaf owner here as of Monday (Sept. 11, 2017)! Traded in my old Ford Fiesta (which had a ton of transmission problems) and bought a used 2013 Leaf S, which had the quick charge installed.

I know it's only been 2 days but dang, I'm already in love with it.

This forum has been invaluable in my decision and for research. So thanks for everything and can't wait to talk about m my new EV!
 
H e l l o !
I got a 2015 Leaf S on Saturday. I like it. I wanted at least a 2015 S for the eco, B mode, and cruise. I did not need nor trust Carwings/Nissan Connect.

the search
I spent a month talking to the three area Nissan dealers that had new and CPO leafs and never got a good deal. Even with the 10k discount and 7.5k rebate, the dealers were jacking up the prices so best I could get was 18k net on a Leaf S. The lease offers were total duds. I did not think another 23 miles of range was worth it. Local used dealers had older stock and were no better on average.

purchase
Finally I broke down and bought it on Carvana. I never thought I would do such a thing. Red and 24000 miles, beautiful really. Delivery was painless and the thing looks and feels showroom new. Whatever they are doing to recondition the cars is worth it.

driving
So far so good. I drive it to work either 18 fast miles or 24 slow miles and either way uses 20% of charge. Over the weekend I drove 23 miles to the lake and back on 25% of charge. That seems right on the EPA estimate. New charge guess o meter is about 95 miles. I charge at work on an L2.

Leaf spy
did not work with my old obd (Veepeak) so I bought a new one coming in tomorrow, will check stats then.

With current prices, a used Leaf is a great deal. I'm tempted to buy another.

What do you think, is there any more reason to take it to a Nissan dealer ?

Cheers.

PS. Got the LELINK obd tool and it works fine. whew. Stats seem average .... ?
AHr= 56.25
SOH= 90% 385.3V
Hx= 85.38
odo= 24199
362 QC (seems like a lot ?)
371 L1/L2
---
SOC= 76.5%
202 GIDs 71.9%
15.7 KWh remain
---
temp= 86.6
(just got home from 17mi at 70mph)
 
I've been looking at the leaf since December of 2016. Based on advice of a few members (because of my 80 mile round trip every day) I've been looking for a 2016 SV or SL (the resistive heater in the S is kind of a downer and the added cost of an S with the 30kWh battery and QC I might as well get an SV)

I finally found a CPO pearl white 16 SV with 1045 miles on it. It was a dealer loaner car at Lee's summit nissan in Missouri. I have to ship it to Utah but I got the car for $18,600 (including shipping and taxes) I'll post pictures as soon as it arrives. My wife helped me pull in the wire for my 14-50 outlet in the garage, I wired that up and assembled my openEVSE this weekend. We're ready to start using electricity and keep miles off the Odyssey.
 
Taking delivery tomorrow of a new 2016 Leaf SL with 41 miles on it. Was able to purchase it for $23,000 before the federal tax rebate. The car will be my primary transportation to and from work. Was planning on looking for a used Leaf at the end of this year, but couldn't pass this one up after finding it.

Did a lot of research before purchasing a Leaf, but just found this site. Appears to be a lot of good information on here. Looking forward digging into it all.
 
Chadrph said:
Taking delivery tomorrow of a new 2016 Leaf SL with 41 miles on it. Was able to purchase it for $23,000 before the federal tax rebate. The car will be my primary transportation to and from work. Was planning on looking for a used Leaf at the end of this year, but couldn't pass this one up after finding it.

Did a lot of research before purchasing a Leaf, but just found this site. Appears to be a lot of good information on here. Looking forward digging into it all.

Welcome Chadrph!

And that was an awesome deal!
 
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