Between Nissan discounts, dealer discounts, state rebates, and federal tax credit, the Leaf can be a best value EV, depending on your needs. Build quality is consistantly very good, and safety is excellent (and gets accoladed for it).
Even in warmer weather (we have some board members in Phoenix, and managing pretty well, given the temps), the newer (2018+) Leaf has been doing pretty well from a durability/usability perspective. I don't want to dismiss the thermal mgmt question, but if you get a Plus, it becomes an issue only on days over 500 miles in some climates. A little planning can often mitigate many of the issues reported, depending on driving style.
No, its not Tesla fast or cool. But it is fully capable enough for most needs. We have 2 Leaf Plus models (2019 S+ and 2019 SV+). We had a 2013 Leaf we tried due to the super cheap Leases from that era (though you can find similar leases now in some places). We traded our 2013 for a 2019 Leaf Plus SV and then this year traded our Kia Sedonna (2007) minivan for a 2019 Leaf S+. Our kids our 18,16, and 12. Yes, we will cram them in at times, but with more drivers, having two capable EVs for College, school, appts. was key. We dumped the minivan, because no one wanted to drive it anymore. Because the Leaf has great cargo, we can do most things we could haul with the minivan (costco, pingong table, buffet tables, camping, etc.). After discounts/credits, I jumped too soon on our SV+, and paid a net 31K+tax last year and this year bought our 2019 (new) S+ post discounts/credits for 23K. If we lived in CA, CO, or NJ the price for the S+ would have been in the teens (that would have been sweet). Because the S+ has android auto, I find I don't really miss too many of the features in the SV+ (though the remote heat/AC is a must for my wife).
While I have done multi day driving trips in the SV+ last year (college visits in the midwest, Door County), our trips this year have been in the 200-250 mile range, so we have been able to do them on 1 charge. A little technique when driving can help get you 10% farther without compromising reasonable highway speeds (70).
The Model 3, Niro, Kona, Polestar, Bolt, Ionic, are also all very cool, and if fit your needs also possibly very good values. We have stuck with the Leaf as our 2013 was great (battery held up very well), and everyone likes to drive it. We did test drive a Bolt and Tesla prior to the trade ins, but always came back. Having a good local dealer which gives us free charges, snacks, car washes, and service doesn't hurt either. If Niro was available in the midwest (and dealers supported it), I might have been tempted to get that as it has a bit better range and battery capacity....hard to tell if price would have been much different. Wife hated the Telsa, so that was a no go. I personally, am not a fan of Tesla retaining some control over your car features, of which you can't always control. Coming from the software business, it feels more like a limited license, not a hardware purchase. None of care about the power or cornering as our cars, certainly not for an extra 10K or more (the difference in cost at the time). But in LA, you might feel like the Leaf Plus is only barely enough....
Chademo and CCS (for us) right now are kind of at parity, though within my immediate circumference Chademos still outnumber CCS slightly. I haven't had the need for more than 2 Chademo charges on a trip (with destination L2 filling in at longer stops), so haven't had any notable chargegate issues, even in summer. That may feel very different in 3 years. For now, the Chademo options we have now vs. 2013 are night and day.
Good luck with your decision