Leaf for Family Car

How many of you use your leaf as the family car, to haul kids around, etc.? How do you like it? Do you find the space sufficient, either rear seat or trunk space? My spouse and I are looking to get another car in addition to our ICE car and really like the idea of an EV and particularly the Leaf seems to meet our needs on everything except space, potentially. We have one child so far, but possibly another down the road. This car will be used for hauling the kids around and I can foresee us using this car over our ICE on weekends and such due to efficiency and fun factor. Looking for any input or experiences.

I would put us at the more extreme end.

We have 3 kids, 17, 15, 11 (none with a licenses...but that for a different generational discussion time). We have had a Leaf for a little over 6 years (2013 SV and then 2019 SV Plus). Since getting our first Leaf we started moving most of the driving off of our old minivan (2007 Sedona with about 60K miles) to the Leaf.

In the 2013 Leaf we would do any family travel in the Leaf. Our youngest started out in a car seat in the back of the 13, but obviously no need now. We continued to take road trips in the Van though for obvious reasons until we bought the Plus. We have done with family 2 car seats, but never had the need for 3. I have seen online 3 done though, but you might want to pick the brand based on size as well. If the kids are in the booster stage, and you have a mid size car or smaller with 3 in the back, buy a "bubble bum". Its a few inches narrower then the hard plastic seats and is easy to pack for air travel. The leg room in the back is pretty good, and if my wife liked to drive, I honestly prefer to sit in the back of the new leaf giving one of teens the front, as it is quite comfortable (I am 6' 2" for reference). I know some taller folk touch their heads on the ceiling in the back, but my proportions haven't had an issue.

Now with the 2019, I have started taking the kids on longer hauls for some college visits. We did one (from Chicagoland) across Iowa, One to Wisconsin, and one to IU in southern Indiana. Chicago Land to Iowa City and Chicagoland to Bloomington IN were both on single chargers on the highway. For the longer hauls, its important to have Leafspy and watch driving efficiency. With just the dash gauge, I would keep single legs to 200-210 miles, but that is still 3 solid hours of open driving, or 4 if you have traffic (as we often do around the city/border). We did Chicago - Waukesha - Chicago in 1 charge with plenty to ride around town and over 25% reserve, so being able to to that kind of day trip is fantastic. (again, driving style and weather may affect individual results) . Those runs are just with 4 of us. The wife enjoys the breaks while I take the kids for the college visits.

For running around town, we still use the Leaf exclusively, unless a schedule conflict forces us to use the old van. No one wants to drive it any more. We just put all 3 kids in the back. My teens know if they want to sit in front or not always sit 3 across, they can get a job and buy a car.....ha...but I digress. For 15-20 minute rides, it works for all 5 of us. I don't know that we would go beyond Milwaukee area with all of us in the car just because the kids are bigger now. When they were younger, putting the 3 across wasn't an issue. They just fight more now.

The Niro and Tesla 3 have similar sizing in the back, so you could look at the other options as well. The Tesla was quite a bit more expensive (this was our first 30K car - post rebates, and Wife had not interest in a Tesla, especially for the extra 10K...Niro is not coming to the midwest anytime soon).

I haven't noticed any significant range impacts to having 4 or 5 passengers vs. 2 in the new Plus, which I did notice in our 2013.

Hope this is of help.

The Leaf is a great family car. My 2015 SV can seat up to 4 adults and 1 child comfortably. We use it for all in town errands whenever possible.

DougWantsALeaf said:

For running around town, we still use the Leaf exclusively, unless a schedule conflict forces us to use the old van. No one wants to drive it any more.

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Thanks for the reply. Exactly what I was looking for as we are also considering a minivan. Could you explain more why you forego the minivan most times. Is it out of principle (being more environmental/economical) or just enjoyment of the leaf, etc? I'd imagine with 3 kids the minivan would be the default choice.

fasteddie911 said:

DougWantsALeaf said:

... forces us to use the old van. No one wants to drive it any more.

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just enjoyment of the leaf

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For me, it's this

Good question

1. Driving preference - The leaf is quiet and you don't feel like you are driving a tank (like our minivan). So driver preference is the biggest factor.
2. Seating - Three kids across (even big one) works fine for the 15-20 minute drives, but they do start fighting after that. They will sometimes ask for the van as it offers a bit more room, but then they fight as no one wants to be in 3rd row in the van...so really no better off.
3. Convenience of not going to the gas station - Every additional trip we take in the Leaf is one more day I don't have to make a special trip to the gas station. My goal is to have fill ups in the van 6 weeks apart. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. I do have a 2 mile commute to the train station in the van a few days a week, so even sans other trips, I do eventually have to do fill ups. The awesome beast gets between 150-200 miles between fill ups as its all short driving on a cold engine (the new Leaf gets more range..ha).
4. Saving Money and the Environement - I don't want to sound un-green, but this isn't really our daily motivation to drive the Leaf. There is a tech aspect of showing our kids the future which was one of my original motivations, but 6 years on, is no longer novel. The saving money side was also an initial motivation on our 13 Leaf, but that quickly changed once we started using the car. Its really all just convenience and ease. Its just so much easier to use an EV for day to day driving. And now with 200 - 300 miles (to do 300, you need to drive fairly conservatively..aim for 5+ miles kWh) I almost forget to plug in the car on occasion. Even when we get down to 10% range (which on Leafspy is really 18-19%) you have a good amount of mileage to use.

Sorry, I get on my soapbox a lot. My only quazi-regret was not getting the SL with leather seats. I didn't do it, not because of the small cost difference between an SV+tech+weather and an SL, but because of the stupid sub-woofer that sits in the middle of the cargo area. I don't think you can get one without the other.

I would suggest doing the Plus over a 40 Leaf, just because the range is priceless, and with planning you can do interstate trips (still a bit of an adventure). $5K for going from a 2x to a 3x range leaf (from the original version range) is pretty cheap.

Tesla charges $5K for a 5kWh addition between an SR and SR+. And an additional 10K for going from a 55kWh to a 72-5kWh battery. (admittedly they have other feature differences, but range is the biggest add).

Thanks for the great, detailed reply, good stuff.

My son used the Leaf for his driving test to get his license. The DMV guy was impressed with how quiet it was.
The leaf is kind of small, so I would not do long trips.
I would never go back to an ICE car. it is like going back to a land line once you have a smartphone.

DougWantsALeaf said:

because of the stupid sub-woofer that sits in the middle of the cargo area.

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We just did a road trip today, ~300 miles over hilly terrain through Kentucky and Tennesee. When packing the car the sub woofer did seem like it would be in the way but we were able to fit lots of smaller items behind the coolers on top of the sub. We had to stop twice because we had an additional 600 lbs to my "normal" commute so it had an impact on our economy. I feel like even though we had the car packed full it was both more than I could ever fit in my old sedan and everyone was comfortable for the long trip.

Definitely love the Leaf plus for its comfort and the space in the trunk without the cargo organizer is awesome. We see it as a family car for us when we do eventually have children of our own.

I will agree with everyone here about the LEAF as basically the perfect small family car. In my situation, I've been driving one since 2015. Since then, have had 2 kids, their car seats, their strollers, groceries, etc stuffed into the car with extra space to spare.

I will disagree on the price differential between the PLUS and regular versions. It isn't just $5K if you factor in price negotiation and dealers trying to get rid of stock. In my situation, I got a 18 SL + tech for $18.5K OTD after taxes / fed reb. Even in the BEST possible scenario of a PLUS with Tech / Weather, I would be OTD $32K. That's a $14K differential!!! In most other scenarios it's probably close to $9K to $10K.

If it's your only car it's worth it, but we have TWO LEAFs and still keep our long range ICE SUV solely because it's cheaper that way.

A couple of things to add to the comments above...

• It's easy and inexpensive to add a hitch to the Leaf. We did that and then purchased a cargo carrier that we use when we go camping. With two kids, lots of camping crap, and a black lab that weighs 70 lbs, we somehow manage to make it work
• The 24 kWh pack is actually a blessing on longer trips, as I've found my stress level goes way down with the frequent charging breaks. We previously had a Hyundai Santa Fe, but the cargo space wasn't much bigger and four or five hours of non stop driving with a crammed car and an energetic dog is no fun

If you are interested in exploring the hitch and cargo carrier option, look for a Curt 11396 hitch and a MaxxHaul 70355 hitch adapter. The latter raises the height of the cargo carrier for better road clearance.

Thanks for the links.

The Leaf is the best car for all commuting and errands, especially when it is only one or two adults.. With 1 child, the Leaf is the perfect transportation vehicle around town.

We leave the minivan for taking the family around.

Even if the minivan uses more gas, if you do not go long distances, The extra family comfort is worth it with multiple family members.

jdcbomb said:

I will agree with everyone here about the LEAF as basically the perfect small family car. In my situation, I've been driving one since 2015. Since then, have had 2 kids, their car seats, their strollers, groceries, etc stuffed into the car with extra space to spare.

I will disagree on the price differential between the PLUS and regular versions. It isn't just $5K if you factor in price negotiation and dealers trying to get rid of stock. In my situation, I got a 18 SL + tech for $18.5K OTD after taxes / fed reb. Even in the BEST possible scenario of a PLUS with Tech / Weather, I would be OTD $32K. That's a $14K differential!!! In most other scenarios it's probably close to $9K to $10K.

If it's your only car it's worth it, but we have TWO LEAFs and still keep our long range ICE SUV solely because it's cheaper that way.

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I went from a 2018 SV with tech/weather to a 2019 SL Plus. We actually traded in the 2018 SV and a 2018 Ford Focus Titanium hatchback for the 2019SL Plus. We needed the focus to make the 125 mile trip the 3-4 times per month trip between our house and our cabin. So without the Focus we save insurance cost and additional depreciation on an extra Vehicle. I find that we charge half as often with the plus due to the extra range.

I probably would have been able to make the trip to the cabin with the 2018 SV but I would have needed to watch my speed and weather. In addition I considered that with battery degradation after a while I would not be able to make it.

I understand that the cost difference for a Plus doesn’t make sense for everyone but it did for us. If I had to do it again I would do it without question.

Same with us. We only charge maybe once every 7-10 days now. With the 40, it would been every 2-4 days.

We have also found that we actually drive more now that we have the plus. We have never put 3k miles on a car so fast. Even with our old ice cars.