What do you know about the Nissan Leaf?

[cantdrv55]

Wife and I will be driving about 250 miles a week and no trip will be farther than 75 miles round trip. Otherwise, we’ll take her SUV or my truck, both get about 16 mpg only.

Leaf’s are pretty cheap so I’m wondering if they’re reliable. Got any thoughts on them?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Yes, I've not given up on life enough to make me own one

What about a used BMW I3 or new pimped golf cart instead, you'll keep your friends too

[Bill Douglas]

Something about the batteries don't like fast charge...

I think they are more of an excellent shopping cart, than a 75 miles round trip car.

But if you were organised enough to charge them up overnight at your own home, who's to say they are not suitable.

[flipper35]

Do you live in the cold?

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2018-nissan-leaf-long-term-update-polar-vortex/

[Steve Carlton]

It's the crummiest of the EVs, but also the most affordable, depending on what's going on with the Chevy Bolt. Reliable as far as I know. I've seen leases close to $200/mo with minimum cash up front. So you don't get what you don't pay for. The i3 is a fun car. There might be some new ones left over (retired loaners are usually good deals), leases you could assume, or used.

[id10t]

No idea on the Leaf, but I'd say for that use get a Nissan Versa (also small and inexpensive) and enjoy 40mpg

Other than damage from hitting a deer and a racoon and some nasty electrical issues involving sitting closed for 6 months last year and getting moldy and then having glitter spread everywhere mine has been dead reliable even through some abuse


"nasty electrical issues involving sitting closed for 6 months last year and getting moldy and then having glitter spread everywhere"

Ok, so I didn't need to drive during the quarantine work from home stuff last year. There had been a cooler with a 10lb bag of ice and some bottles of water in my car from going fishing, since there were no fish guts, etc. I didn't even think of it, and then parked the car and it sat in my yard while we all lived at home, using the wife's car to go get groceries etc. only.

Car interior got moldy. When I discovered and went to clean it all out, apparently the youngest dropped a whole jar of very fine glitter in the back seat, which I didn't notice until it had been spread EVERYWHERE by the person that was helping me clean. Radio was acting screwy until I blew the whole thing out with canned air, my door locks and remote act funny, my back window still has glitter all over the inside (stuck it seems to the tint), etc.

[thor66]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

It's the crummiest of the EVs, but also the most affordable, depending on what's going on with the Chevy Bolt. Reliable as far as I know. I've seen leases close to $200/mo with minimum cash up front. So you don't get what you don't pay for. The i3 is a fun car. There might be some new ones left over (retired loaners are usually good deals), leases you could assume, or used.

good summary

people with the little Fiat EVs love them, so look at those too

[mistertate]

My buddy the electrical engineer has one and is on his second battery. First one was under warranty. Now he plugs it into solar panels and a homemade DC-AC charger in the dirt lot if he wants to go anywhere after work. He drives slow everywhere with no AC and is more acutely aware of the effects of aero drag on range than anyone you will ever meet.
Have fun!

[Deschodt]

At this point, I feel anyone who buys a Nissan has given up on life. Crappy ride, cheap, ugly designs, ugh. As an EV, same - cheap.. At least the gen 2 doesn't look like a nose anymore.

[cantdrv55]

Ok thanks for the feedback all! Lol

[SCadaddle]

Knew a young man that had a 50 mile daily commute. He leased a Nissan Leaf and was happy to give it back. Just didn't work out for him.

I'm sort of intrigued by the Honda plug in Clarity. Looks pretty slick if you can get over the rear fender skirts, totes it's own generator and less than 25k for a used 2018 model with low miles seems to be the ask.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

At this point, I feel anyone who buys a Nissan has given up on life. Crappy ride, cheap, ugly designs, ugh. As an EV, same - cheap.. At least the gen 2 doesn't look like a nose anymore.

No offense to ID10T, but I think you're right. I have gone test driving cars with and for my kids a couple of times when they were on tight budgets. Because of the budget we were looking at things like the Versa, Corolla and Chevy Sonic. The Versas that I drove seemed horrible. A Corolla is nicer, but for comparable money, you get the absolute most basic transportation, roll up windows, basic radio, etc...
We went through it twice and ended up with a Sonic both times.

[aschen]

used prius are almost as cheap as used leaf's and make alot more sense to me for economy

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by aschen

used prius are almost as cheap as used leaf's and make alot more sense to me for economy

Yea, exactly. I would choose a high mileage Prius over a newer Leaf...

[beepbeep]

no trip will be farther than 75 miles round trip

I got myself a used Chevy Volt (first gen, called Ampera overhere). Leaf are OK but suffer from battery degradation due to bad cell temp management.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/29/nissans-long-strange-trip-with-leaf-batteries/

[MrBonus]

The early ones had insufficient cooling which caused rapid battery degradation. As noted previously, it's basically the Yugo of EVs.

[MysticLlama]

As above, the Leaf is known for battery cooling issues.

The Fiat 500E doesn't have that issue, are pretty fun to drive, and can be had cheap, but they top out around 90 miles. So that 75 miles driven with stoplight jackrabbit starts in the cold would be right on the edge probably.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Yes, I've not given up on life enough to make me own one

What about a used BMW I3 or new pimped golf cart instead, you'll keep your friends too

Originally Posted by Deschodt

At this point, I feel anyone who buys a Nissan has given up on life. Crappy ride, cheap, ugly designs, ugh. As an EV, same - cheap.. At least the gen 2 doesn't look like a nose anymore.

Exactly. In Az they are always at the head of the traffic jam, holding everyone up.

New Leaf / Sentra / Altima - someone who aspires to be a Librarian, someday

Trashed leaf /Sentra / Altima- given up on life.

rjp

[recycled sixtie]

Nissan was one of the early producers of EV vehicles coming out with the Leaf around 2011 or thereabouts. The earliest ones have minimal range so can be had pretty cheaply. Plus the older they are then the big batteries may need replacing.

For those of us that don't do long trips then an EV vehicle makes a lot of sense. Having said that then to have rapid charging then I would need to upgrade our electrics in our old house. Then you need a special cable. Apparently around $500. The EV can be charged with standard wall plugins but apparently takes a long time to fully charge it. Around twelve hours or so but a lot less with upgraded electrics and the special cable.

Probably the Nissan Leaf is pretty boring compared to the Tesla. Having said that there are several manufacturers of EV's now. Look forward to my first test drive in one. Just have to make sure the battery is fully charged.

[Tobra]

I was thinking about an electric car and kept ending up thinking a prius would be the commuter pod to get. A plug in electric would be fine for at least 95% of the driving I do, which has me thinking about it in the first place. I see a Fiat e500 around that I sort of have a yen for, jellybean color. It is still a Fiat,

What happened to Nissan? Fairlady roadster, 510, 240 Z and they are doing what now?

Hell, they even had cool commercials for a while.