Hi all - first post here. We bought our 2011 Ocean Blue SL on Sunday, and so far I am absolutely loving it! We didn't go through the normal order process like most of you - just showed up at the dealer, found the one we wanted, and bought it. Apologies in advance if this post is a little long, but this is our story if you care to read it...
The saga starts a year or two ago, when our 2002 Nissan Altima started having engine problems. Long story kind of short, it was a design flaw in the early Altimas of that generation which causes scratches/cracks to form in the cylinders and gradually kills the engine. The problem was livable until sometime in October, when the car was no longer drivable on the freeways and struggled mightily up any little hill. It needed a new engine. With over 160,000 miles, we had to decide whether to dump big money into an aging car or just replace the whole thing. We stopped driving it and put off that decision for a few months.
I'd never given the Leaf much thought, other than thinking it was a cool car and hoping it would help push EV technology forward. As a cycling fan, I also liked the Lance Armstrong advertisement. But never thought about owning one myself.
Last week my wife took in our 2007 Altima Hybrid for service and mentioned that the dealer asked if she wanted to buy a new car with 0% financing. And then it clicked. I knew the Leaf wasn't part of the 0% promotion, but I started thinking about it. I'd recently noticed EV charging stations at my work and verified that they are free for employees to use. I've spent the last week scouring this site and getting all kinds of great information; thank you to everyone who posts here! The more I read, the more excited I became, thinking that the Leaf would be the perfect replacement car. Perfect for my commute, in particular: 40 miles round trip with free charging.
Sunday we headed to Empire Nissan in Ontario (California). We thought about going to Fontana since I saw them posting here a lot, but they had all 2012s. Since the 2011 is a bit cheaper and we don't really need the cold weather package here in So Cal, that would be a great opportunity for some savings. Empire had 5 2011s listed on their website. And we hoped they would be willing to deal since we bought our Altima Hybrid there.
I have to say the entire experience at the dealer was outstanding, by far the smoothest car purchase I've ever had. Much of that was due to the fact that we only dealt with one person, the internet sales manager, from test drive through final paperwork. None of the usual BS where you have 4 or more people involved, all throwing different numbers at you and playing games to confuse and see how much profit they can get away with. We lucked out because he said that only he and 2 other people were trained to sell the Leaf; otherwise we'd have gotten one of the vultures camping out and waiting for victims to arrive at the lot (one approached us immediately on arrival, but went and got the manager as soon as we said Leaf).
The sticker on the model we wanted (SL with quick charge port for future proofing) said DEMO, which concerned me a little bit - would it already have 1000 miles or more and would they still try to sell it as "new"? Thankfully, it must have been mostly a show model and not a test drive model because the mileage was only 23. That works!
I already knew pretty much everything the sales manager showed me (and he was really impressed by that) but it was nice to see in person and verify what I'd read. It was clear that this was a great fit, so we quickly started talking deal after the test drive.
And here's where it really got good: I told him about our dying '02 Altima but assumed they wouldn't touch it, as they'd have to put in more money to repair it than what they could probably sell it for. But the dealer offered to take it for the Kelley Blue Book "Fair" condition price (calling that car's condition "fair" would be a real stretch; more like "poor"). As long as it got to the dealership on its own power, he said, mechanical issues were not a problem. We were both surprised and ecstatic at getting a better offer than what we'd realistically hoped for, and removing all hassle of selling it ourselves.
After settling terms of the deal, we went home to clean out and bring back the trade-in car. Boy, was that a nerve-wracking return trip! The car barely had power to get up to 25 mph most of the time (on surface streets with 50 mph speed limits), and I could swear it sounded like the engine was going to blow up for good on multiple occasions. But it made the 18-mile trip, limping into the dealer after nearly an hour.
Finalizing the deal went smoothly and I felt like we were really taken care of for being loyal customers. We got the price we wanted (under MSRP), a good deal similar to Santa Rosa's pricing on an extended warranty that we already knew we wanted, no surprises or funny math, they let us put a large down payment on a credit card (cash back bonus!), and that trade-in was a HUGE relief. By dinner time the Leaf was home in our garage.
I've probably bored you all, but thanks for letting me share. I've never been so excited about a new car before. I love driving it, love the features, love the low maintenance without an ICE, love the very low energy cost, and love the fact that it helps push us off of fossil fuels, one car at a time.
