Why would anyone buy a nissan leaf right now???

[DougWantsALeaf]

I did find that rather a funny deal. My wife nearly bought an Armada when we picked up our second Leaf Plus, so maybe there is an audience for people wanting both extremes.

It does feel like post the 2020 sales rush in Q1, the Leaf short of an unforseen makeover, likely has only 1 more Model year coming with few changes. Even Norway, has seen their Leaf sales tumble for 500-600 a month to 300 as MachE and and a bevy of new entrants come to market.

From my own selfish perspective, the longer the Leaf sells and the longer we go without an OEM Tesla CCS adapter, the longer we will have good Chademo support across the country.


All of that said, I do think it would be a shame for Nissan to stop the Leaf as they it is a significant part of Nissan's brand recognition now, both here and internationally.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Still basically 0 Leaf Pluses available around us on Carvana, etc.. looks like they sell as soon as they list.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Still basically 0 Leaf Pluses available around us on Carvana, etc.. looks like they sell as soon as they list.

I think that what is happening is the Leaf Plus is emerging - belatedly - as the polar opposite of the Teslas, and thus the main alternative for those whose priorities are comfort, familiarity and all around functionality as a family car, rather than performance and range. People buy Teslas when they want one car, and Leafs when they want a second car that won't be road tripped.

 

[SageBrush]

Still basically 0 Leaf Pluses available around us on Carvana, etc.. looks like they sell as soon as they list.

I think that what is happening is the Leaf Plus is emerging - belatedly - as the polar opposite of the Teslas, and thus the main alternative for those whose priorities are comfort, familiarity and all around functionality as a family car, rather than performance and range. People buy Teslas when they want one car, and Leafs when they want a second car that won't be road tripped.

The LEAF+ is cheaper. By every other metric it loses, and usually loses badly.

 

[knightmb]

I think that what is happening is the Leaf Plus is emerging - belatedly - as the polar opposite of the Teslas, and thus the main alternative for those whose priorities are comfort, familiarity and all around functionality as a family car, rather than performance and range. People buy Teslas when they want one car, and Leafs when they want a second car that won't be road tripped.

I probably pass hundreds of Tesla Model 3, S, X, etc daily. I've never seen one with a hitch on it or more than 1 person in it. I pass hundreds of Leaf (both Gen 1 and Gen 2) daily, and half of them are either wrapped in a company logo for (cab, reality, small business, etc.) or are pulling trailers with everything from construction supplies to local deliveries for food and other industry. Leaf is the "truck" to the Tesla "car" here. :lol:

 

[LeftieBiker]

Interesting. Maybe Nissan once again missed the boat by not offering a Leaf Pickup - or at least a Leaf station wagon. A 40 or, especially, 62kwh Leaf with serious cargo hauling capability would be great.

 

[GaleHawkins]

https://japantoday.com/category/business/overseas-investors-sue-nissan-over-ghosn's-financial-misconduct-cases

Nissan missed the boat and why's is spelled out in comments.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

If they could have jammed the 62 pack with forced ac air cooling into the eNV200 and brought it here in mid to late 2019, it would have sold like hot cakes. Even Amazon would have bought hundreds....but yet no vision in the post Carlos era.

In any cases, the Leaf (and discounted Bolt) are the value mid/longish range vehicles in the ev space. At 25K for a Plus (post incentives new), they fill a space needed. I was happy to see the couple instantly sold used Plus models going for 25-27K.

Leafs in general fill the entire sub 20K spectrum for used evs, as there are not many other real choices, especially bow 10k. Used M3s and early Model Ses are only just getting below 30k now. Early Bolts can be had for teens, but not much else out there.

 

[user 10599]

I seriously considered the Leaf Plus. But for my long commute, decided I wanted a larger vehicle, longer wheelbase, and more comfortable suspension for our bumpy freeways.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I seriously considered the Leaf Plus. But for my long commute, decided I wanted a larger vehicle, longer wheelbase, and more comfortable suspension for our bumpy freeways.

How far is your commute?

 

[cwerdna]

If they could have jammed the 62 pack with forced ac air cooling into the eNV200 and brought it here in mid to late 2019, it would have sold like hot cakes. Even Amazon would have bought hundreds....but yet no vision in the post Carlos era.

Not clear about that. Minivans have been a dying segment in the US for at least 15 years. It's been in decline and many players have exited that market or put little focus into it. This is far cry vs when Chrysler invented that segment in the US w/the Caravan, Voyager, Town & Country, etc.

Minivans (dying) coupled w/tiny subset of auto market?

but not much else out there.

There are numerous other BEVs, but you aren't in a CARB state (https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a1719091/autoweek-explains-carb-states-zev-states-smile-states/) and some of the sellers of BEVs in the US haven't been or were no serious about selling BEVs in the US. HyunKia's BEVs had been CARB state only. Ditto for e-Golf. There are likely a few others I'm forgetting.

Too bad there will be no more of https://insideevs.com/news/343998/monthly-plug-in-ev-sales-scorecard/. The ones w/the green battery icon are BEVs. https://insideevs.com/news/344007/monthly-plug-in-ev-sales-scorecard-historical-charts/ are older ones. I'm guessing you never in your state as new had any HyunKia BEVs (e.g. Ioniq EV, Kona EV, Niro EV, Soul EV) or e-Golfs or Fiat 500e or Fit EV (lease only), or Clarity Electric (dead now, might've been lease only). And, if there were Ford Focus Elcetric, they were rare as they barely sold.

 

[cwerdna]

Still basically 0 Leaf Pluses available around us on Carvana, etc.. looks like they sell as soon as they list.

I think that what is happening is the Leaf Plus is emerging - belatedly - as the polar opposite of the Teslas, and thus the main alternative for those whose priorities are comfort, familiarity and all around functionality as a family car, rather than performance and range. People buy Teslas when they want one car, and Leafs when they want a second car that won't be road tripped.

The LEAF+ is cheaper. By every other metric it loses, and usually loses badly.

:roll:

Sure, I will agree with you that on many metrics Leaf+ loses, but (this applies to Bolt too), what if I want a cheaper car that has these but Teslas don't?
- AM radio - yes I use this
- aux input jack - yes, before COVID work from home, I was using this on both my cars for a 2nd phone (that would be changed from time to time that wasn't paired to my head unit since my personal phone already is)
- real physical wiper controls for all the speeds and settings
- speedometer in front of me
- not everything on a touchscreen, want physical controls
- virtual overhead view (Nissan Around View Monitor or GM Surround Vision)
- XM radio -yes, I subscribe
- do NOT want a glass roof

My Leaf and my Bolt has all of the above. How about CarPlay or Android Auto?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Don't forget heated steering wheel and ease of entry & exit. And a reasonably soft, compliant ride. The funny thing is that Teslas could have all of these, but Musk, like others here, only values what Musk thinks is valuable. He has tunnel vision, with the other end of the tunnel apparently being Mars.

 

[GaleHawkins]

Nissan not being around to honor an 8 year battery warranty is a huge risk today.

After driving Nissans for 47 years now I see the continued treatment of father of the Leaf looking more and more like human abuse to those outside of the Japanese legal system.

Many USA dealerships are down for the count we read and still are anti EV. Some of the 600 EV makers in China will break out into the world market place.

In the USA there is serious talk of $7500 to $12,500 EV rebates until new car car sales are 50% EV's as we try to get serious about EV's.

Nissan doesn't even plan to show up and play in coming massive sub $30K USA EV market.

Still Tesla is the value player in the EV world and plan to own the sub $30K EV USA market.

Nissan will not be the only old line OEM to miss the EV paradigm shift in the world market place.

 

[Flyct]

Don't forget heated steering wheel and ease of entry & exit. And a reasonably soft, compliant ride. The funny thing is that Teslas could have all of these, but Musk, like others here, only values what Musk thinks is valuable. He has tunnel vision, with the other end of the tunnel apparently being Mars.

Ease of entry and soft compliant ride is why I chose Leaf over a.Tesla model 3. I had a deposit on a 3 but after the test drive I cancelled my order. Getting in and out of it was not comfortable for my 70+ year old body.

Now if I intended to do road trips a Tesla would have won out only due to Tesla charge station availability. For road trips we use either our Lexus Hybrid of one of our 2 trucks. If I could buy a Toyota RAV4 Prime. In Florida that’s what I would buy one in a minute. I really liked the Chevy Volt but 6’ 230 lbs it’s too small for me. I fit in the Leaf fine.

Our Leaf meets our mission perfectly. In almost 6 years and 4 Leaf ownerships I’ve never used DC fast charge. Only twice did I need to charge outside the home to get back snd those times were with smaller battery models, not the pluses. The Plus range made the 120 mile one way trip from our home to our cabin range anxiety free because we have 80-90 miles remaining and can plug in at each location when we arrive.

Our 2020 Leaf is our 61st new car purchase since 1970.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Agreed in points above. For the driving we do, the Leaf Plus has really met every use case we have thrown at it pretty well. It's also A very good car for young adult drivers given the safety equipment.


Here was a neat find. A Russian is putting the Leaf systems into a Trabant. As a kid, I really wanted wanted an East German Trabant as kind of a weird tiny car. The joke always was that it was the quietest car, because it was so small your knees were over your ears to block the sound...with an ev drive train, it can now finally live up to the joke.

I have to imagine there is a business to be had to throw ev drive trains into old fun cars. You see one offs, but imagine more could be done.

 

[DougWantsALeaf]

Agreed in points above. For the driving we do, the Leaf Plus has really met every use case we have thrown at it pretty well. It's also A very good car for young adult drivers given the safety equipment.


Here was a neat find. A Russian is putting the Leaf systems into a Trabant. As a kid, I really wanted wanted an East German Trabant as kind of a weird tiny car. The joke always was that it was the quietest car, because it was so small your knees were over your ears to block the sound...with an ev drive train, it can now finally live up to the joke.

https://youtu.be/Rq1Qh9MmUPk

I have to imagine there is a business to be had to throw ev drive trains into old fun cars. You see one offs, but imagine more could be done.

 

[Marktm]

Our Leaf meets our mission perfectly. In almost 6 years and 4 Leaf ownerships I’ve never used DC fast charge. Only twice did I need to charge outside the home to get back snd those times were with smaller battery models, not the pluses. The Plus range made the 120 mile one way trip from our home to our cabin range anxiety free because we have 80-90 miles remaining and can plug in at each location when we arrive.

Ditto for both points. In the 5 years of 2012 ownership - one fast charge at the local Whole Foods and one on the road in Houston. Charged at home really cheap with Griddy contract (cheap until the "big freeze" in TX!). However, could not make it to the cabin one way without a charge stop. Now, with my 2021 SV Plus, I can go to the cabin and back on one charge (although I have a charge outlet at the cabin).

After getting used to the multitude of information displays, I am really impressed with the new Leaf. The interior design, the ride, the ease of driving (my wife likes it also), the good looks, the phenominal A/C unit design (hot TX!), all make for a great EV (IMO).

I also have to recant my recollection of the highly dangerous auto braking incident from a related post about a car turning right in front of me. There was no right turn lane - rather a sharp right turn off (a well marked) rural - high speed highway. I'm sure the Leaf thought that the car was still in the road way and braked very hard even though it was an easy pass on the left for any driver. It could have resulted in a serious rear-end collision, so please do be aware!

 

[Flyct]

I also have to recant my recollection of the highly dangerous auto braking incident from a related post about a car turning right in front of me. There was no right turn lane - rather a sharp right turn off (a well marked) rural - high speed highway. I'm sure the Leaf thought that the car was still in the road way and braked very hard even though it was an easy pass on the left for any driver. It could have resulted in a serious rear-end collision, so please do be aware!

The automatic braking saved my wife one dark night in a rural dark road. The car auto braked for a 200 lb black wild hog that crossed in front of the car. My wife didn’t see the hog and without the auto brake she would have hit it.

 

[Flyct]

Also let me add that our 2020 Leaf SL Plus replaced our 2019 SL Plus that was totaled after being T-Boned by a uninsured, meth head. The side air bag features saved my wife’s life since the impact was directly on the passenger side doors.