Could someone in the Loveland, CO area check out a car for me?

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maria0510

New member
Joined
Jun 27, 2020
Messages
2
Hey! I'm looking into potentially purchasing a Nissan Leaf located in Loveland, CO. I live in Pennsylvania, so I was hoping someone in the area would be willing to take a look at the car and let me know what they think. I'm hoping the dealership is on someone's route home from work or something so it's an easy 15 minute stop. This is my first time buying a car, as I'm about to start college in the fall, so I'm hoping to get someone to look at this car for me.

Here are the things I’m most concerned about that I'd like to be checked out:
Damage or blemishes on the outside and interior of the car
Any obvious mechanical issues
Condition of the tires and tread depth
Any other obvious issues

Let me know if you think you could help me out by sending a reply or private message!
Thanks!
Maria
 
Not to say that the above is one, but lately I've rejected a few posts that were copy & pastes of other posts, by spammers. The OP half-raises a red flag by not including anything Leaf or even EV specific.
 
Good afternoon. I'm Maria's parent, and am helping guide her through her first car purchase. We appreciate the responses and I just wanted to jump in and help provide some additional information.



LeftieBiker said:
I suggest that you read my used leaf buying guide. I'll link it below. Also tell us your range needs. At worst you will be better prepared to look at the car yourself.

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662&p=538030
This is great information Leftie. We had found this guide this morning and read through it. It answered a question that I've been wondering since we started our search: namely how to judge battery health and what to expect of future battery performance.

Range needs are mostly to school and back; 27 miles each way. The school can offer at least a 120v outlet, and we spoke to someone who heads maintenance that said they'd be open to installing a 220 outlet (probably a NEMA 14-50). So even in deep winter we expect range to be fine with a 30kw battery. We rejected the 24kw 2016s as too limited.



cwerdna said:
+1 on what Leftie said.

Why a Leaf from so far away?

We have a few on our shortlist. The leading candidate was from Carvana, which would make the whole buying experience so easy. However, especially after you add Carvana's delivery fee, this one that we found in CO has far less miles, is slightly cheaper, and looks like it likely has better battery health. The Carvana one also has a few dings and blemishes, and I had a mediocre experience with my own Carvana purchase experience. Given all that, it seems like a distance sale may be worth it...if we can find a way over all the obvious hurdles.

The dealership has a vested interest in selling the car so I don't trust anything they say about subjective metrics, like paint quality or interior condition. I suggested to Maria that maybe a fellow Leaf enthusiast in the area could help. I bought my Camaro and my Tesla from a distance, and in both cases I had fellow community members help by checking the prospective cars out. And I've done the same for a few Pittsburgh cars. I figured it was worth a shot in this case as well. :)



goldbrick said:
I don't see anything on the local CL in Loveland, FWIW, although not all dealers advertise there of course.
We found it on Autotrader, and the person I spoke with Friday said that it was still available. The same car was not on Cars.com, so maybe this dealership doesn't advertise them real well. It's possible they sold it over the weekend; we're hoping it's still available Monday so we can move on it quickly.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Not to say that the above is one, but lately I've rejected a few posts that were copy & pastes of other posts, by spammers. The OP half-raises a red flag by not including anything Leaf or even EV specific.
Yep. Earlier, I did some searching and it didn't seem like copy paste.

I suggest we stop responding until we get more info from the OP.
 
I apologize, I do have some more information about this car. It is a used 2017 Nissan Leaf S, being sold at the MINI of Loveland dealership. If I purchase this car, I am planning on getting a flatbed to transport the car to my location. I stumbled across this car in my search for a Leaf, and the existing mileage, price, and condition of this car is what made me interested in possibly purchasing it, and I was hoping someone could look at it for me before I go through with purchasing it. My commute for school is about 60 some miles total, and I know a 2017 Leaf of good condition has about a 100 mile range. I would just like to get someone with good knowledge about this specific type of car to take a look and inform me of the general condition before I take the next steps.

cwerdna said:
LeftieBiker said:
Not to say that the above is one, but lately I've rejected a few posts that were copy & pastes of other posts, by spammers. The OP half-raises a red flag by not including anything Leaf or even EV specific.
Yep. Earlier, I did some searching and it didn't seem like copy paste.

I suggest we stop responding until we get more info from the OP.
 
Sorry for the delay in approving your posts. I sleep days and there apparently wasn't another Moderator available today.

Thanks for the info on the situation and the car. One thing that you need to clearly understand (you may now as I think the guide mentions it) is that the S version of the Leaf will get substantially less range in milder Winter temps - say down to about 25F - than the SV and SL, because it lacks a heat pump and has only a resistance heater. Interestingly enough, in colder weather it should go just as far, because below about 15F they are are getting virtually all of their heat from the same kind of resistance heater. So in Pennsylvania Winters an S would get less range most of the time the heater is used. How much less? Assume an overall average Winter range of about 70% of the Summer range for an SV or SL, and about 50% of the Summer range for an S. That is a very rough estimate and you can improve it by preheating the car at home (or at school) while plugged in to 240 volts, and then setting the heat to a low setting while driving.
 
We've had lots of spammers who copy and paste posts from elsewhere.
maria0510 said:
My commute for school is about 60 some miles total, and I know a 2017 Leaf of good condition has about a 100 mile range.
Can you charge at home, school and/or any other places where you will be for many hours at a time? How much of that commute is highway vs. city?

Yep, I would expect the type of range loss that Leftie's talking about in the worst cases (e.g. well below freezing, snow on the ground, having to run the heater and/or defog the whole time). And, over time, the battery will degrade. That started the day the battery was manufactured.

It looks like the OP's talking about https://www.miniofloveland.com/used-Loveland-2017-Nissan-Leaf-S-1N4BZ0CP2HC309220. There is a Carfax link on the right. It had some sort of frontal damage. Too bad the dealer doesn't know what they're doing and they didn't post any pics of the charging inlets and then mixed in some generic pics that aren't from an S trim later.
 
Assuming that the main pic is of the actual car, the lack of "fog" lights indicates that it doesn't have the Charge Package. I'm pretty sure that in 2017 the Leafs all still came with the heated seats and steering wheel, but I'm not 100% certain. Can someone verify that? The OP would not want a Leaf without those in her climate. Also, a Leaf S without the Quick Charge package is worth less than one with it.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Assuming that the main pic is of the actual car, the lack of "fog" lights indicates that it doesn't have the Charge Package. I'm pretty sure that in 2017 the Leafs all still came with the heated seats and steering wheel, but I'm not 100% certain. Can someone verify that? The OP would not want a Leaf without those in her climate. Also, a Leaf S without the Quick Charge package is worth less than one with it.
Specs tab of https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/release-f6fcf40f78a54118a8a01526272638f0-us-2017-nissan-leaf-press-kit claims that you can't get fog lights on '17 unless you go SL.

Looks like you can't get heated steering wheel on '17 S either and only the front seats are heated on '17 S and '17 SV.

Agree on the bolded part.
 
I was afraid that there were some drawbacks to a '17 S. Thanks for the info on the auxiliary lights, Cwerdna. It didn't occur to me that the heated steering wheel wasn't available at all on the '17 S! Given that, and the reduced range, I suggest that the OP look for an un-optioned '16-17 SV, to get the heated steering wheel and the heat pump. Or maybe a '16 S if it has the 30kwh pack (early 2016 Leaf S cars don't) and preferably the charge package, for faster L-2 charging and the fallback option of a DCFC station. Unless the student in question is fine with just gloves in a chilly cabin...
 
For context, https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1106593_nissan-leaf-s-quietly-gets-30-kwh-battery-upgrade-higher-price is the '16 "S 30" (107 mile EPA range rating) as opposed to the original '16 S that was only 24 kWh (84 mile EPA range rating). '16 SV and '16 SL were 30 kWh.

Specs tab of https://usa.nissannews.com/en-US/releases/release-bc61419969d1446daf58c4f84915aad3-us-2016-nissan-leaf-press-kit for '16 model years may help.

TSBs at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=566296#p566296 can help identify if a '16 S is 24 or 30 kWh.
 
You can tell the battery from just the VIN, but I'm afraid I don't remember how. Anyone?

With charging at both ends and a 60 mile RT commute, a 24kwh SV or SL with 12 bars would work, although at least L-1 charging would be needed at both ends in cold weather. I can understand the OP's parent's reluctance to go that route, but if the drive is low speed it might not be an issue. Highway or freeway driving for more than a few miles would definitely rule out a 24kwh car. I remind them, in looking for a 30kwh Leaf, that they want one with either a solid 11 or 12 bars with no BMS update ever having been done, or a 9 bar car AFTER the update has been done, so that it will shortly be eligible for a new 40kwh battery under warranty. The former would be the minimum hassle route, the latter would provide a great car eventually, with no range worries with the 40kwh pack, but with a fair amount of effort and hassle likely involved to get there.
 
LeftieBiker said:
You can tell the battery from just the VIN, but I'm afraid I don't remember how. Anyone?
See page 19 of https://testing-public.carmd.com/Tsb/Download/126060/NTB14-059c. I pointed to it at https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=566296#p566296.
 
Thank you all; this is great information.

We missed the frontal damage listed on the Carfax report. This is enough to make us reconsider this particular car, considering the charging hardware is located in the front bumper.

LeftieBiker said:
... I remind them, in looking for a 30kwh Leaf, that they want one with either a solid 11 or 12 bars with no BMS update ever having been done, or a 9 bar car AFTER the update has been done, so that it will shortly be eligible for a new 40kwh battery under warranty. The former would be the minimum hassle route, the latter would provide a great car eventually, with no range worries with the 40kwh pack, but with a fair amount of effort and hassle likely involved to get there...

I've yet to fully research the battery replacement warranty. It sounds like you're saying that any Leaf that lists 9 bars after the BMS update will qualify for a whole new 40kwh battery pack, which is also how I read the section in the thread you linked earlier, but I would expect Nissan to put some further limitations on these replacements. Do they really cover all cars, or will it be only for a subset (such as original-owner only) that we need to take care of when car-shopping?
 
You need to be at 8 capacity bars before capacity warranty expiration to receive a replacement battery. 30 kWh cars need to have https://insideevs.com/news/338528/update-nissan-has-software-fix-for-2016-17-leaf-30-kwh-battery-reporting-issues/ applied first.

Nissan's warranties are transferable to future/other owners.
 
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