Evoforce said:
Sorry, but people come here to talk about their cars. That covers the good, the bad, the ugly. There needs to be a healthy skepticism of those who are only Fanboys of any Make or Model and refuse to see the totality.
There also needs to be some skepticism of those that only see the bad in any Make or Model.
My personal experience with the Leaf (2014 SL) has been very positive. Somewhat because of the expectations I started with, somewhat because of where I live, and somewhat because the Leaf was a good fit.
My expectation was that the Leaf would only be a commuter car. I'd mostly drive it to work and back, and sometimes to the hardware store on weekends. The Leaf, as a commuter, is stellar. No stops for gasoline, low maintenance and never failed to go when I needed to go. Comfy, quiet, plenty of pep for city streets. Electric power is fairly reasonable for me, if gasoline averages $3 the Leaf might even been the cheapest choice over 10 years of ownership. And far nicer that the cheapest choice.
I didn't expect to make any road trips in the Leaf. The Leaf turns out to be a good choice out to the "not more than one QC range". One QC works out OK, usually a biobreak and/or food and drink is welcome while the car is charging. The second QC isn't as welcome to me, and the other people in the car often complain. As the battery starts out cool even after a top up charge before departure, the peak temperature stays reasonable.
I was worried about battery life before buying the Leaf. I've designed Li-ion battery powered electronics, and while I'm not a battery expert, I've listened to battery experts. Shared an office with one for a while. I'm in one of the better climates in the USA for battery life. North of Seattle, south of Bellingham. I waited for a year after the Leaf was operating in the worst climates, such as Phoenix. I was expecting about 4 times better battery life based on climate, and more based on treating the Leaf better than more aggressive drivers. So far, at least, battery life hasn't been a problem. I'm past 40k miles on the second Leaf and capacity is down about 10% +/- 3% based on recharge times. LeafSpy is reporting about the same. At this rate, I might make 60k miles 6 years before losing the first bar. And might make it past 120k miles 12 years before losing the 4th bar.
The biggest problem I've had is with the TCU. I need to pull the fuse about once every 3 months to preheat the car in winter to keep the spouse happy, be able to check charge level remotely, and start a charge without going to the garage occasionally.