2012 Leaf SL?

[EVracerhead]

Aloha! New member from Hawaii. I am really learning a lot here and this thread is pretty much exactly what I am looking at purchasing, except that the specific 2012 SL I am negotiating on has already had its battery replaced (2 weeks ago). With that small change would folks still recommend the 2013 as strongly? I have a 35 mile commute (round trip) and lots of charging options along the way and at both ends. The vehicle is pretty clean, has 29,000 miles on it. Interior is pristine. Ac runs cold.
But, seriously, brand new battery?

I have done a lot of research, but Any words of wisdom are appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[LeftieBiker]

You should have no need of the heat pump - the A/C is actually slightly more efficient on the 2012. Unless the charger "hump" in the cargo area is a deal breaker, the car should be fine, if in excellent shape. The 80% charge option in the charge timer will be useful.

 

[GerryAZ]

Aloha! New member from Hawaii. I am really learning a lot here and this thread is pretty much exactly what I am looking at purchasing, except that the specific 2012 SL I am negotiating on has already had its battery replaced (2 weeks ago). With that small change would folks still recommend the 2013 as strongly? I have a 35 mile commute (round trip) and lots of charging options along the way and at both ends. The vehicle is pretty clean, has 29,000 miles on it. Interior is pristine. Ac runs cold.
But, seriously, brand new battery?

I have done a lot of research, but Any words of wisdom are appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

A 2012 SL with a new battery is a good fit for your climate and commute length. The light color interior absorbs much less solar energy (heat) while parked than the black interior on later SL models. I made my 52-mile round trip commute with normal A/C use in my 2011 when the battery was down to 8 capacity bars before Nissan installed the new battery. Therefore, you should have no issues with your commute for a long time. Original batteries in 2011 and 2012 models lost capacity early, especially in hot climates. The 2015 batteries (which you should have) are better. My 2011 was down to 8 capacity bars after a little over 2 years and less than 30k miles while my 2015 still has 11 capacity bars at 27 months and 41k miles.

 

[jjeff]

Aloha! New member from Hawaii. I am really learning a lot here and this thread is pretty much exactly what I am looking at purchasing, except that the specific 2012 SL I am negotiating on has already had its battery replaced (2 weeks ago). With that small change would folks still recommend the 2013 as strongly? I have a 35 mile commute (round trip) and lots of charging options along the way and at both ends. The vehicle is pretty clean, has 29,000 miles on it. Interior is pristine. Ac runs cold.
But, seriously, brand new battery?

I have done a lot of research, but Any words of wisdom are appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

One thing you will lose, besides the ability to turn off the heat when running the fan in colder weather, is no SOC% display. I really use my SOC% display, really the only display I look at, other than spedo. Now you can easily add it with a OBDII adapter and old android smart phone, but it won't give you the built in look. Well I guess you'll also lose the double the speed L2 charging but even with the '12 charger you can charge the battery from low SOC to 100% in a bit over 6hrs, not much over 3hrs with a '13 and 6.6kw charger. It's nice to be able to pull up to a commercial L2 EVSE for an hour and gain 30% SOC, a '12 will only net you ~15%.
A couple real irritating things(to me anyway) with the '12 is you must double shift it every time to get it to put it in ECO or more regen mode and upon EVERY!! start, you must also push an OSD about accepting the NAV.
Other than those few quirks if you could get a '12 with a new battery for a decent price, I'd say it was a no brainer.

 

[Reddy]

...I have a 35 mile commute (round trip) and lots of charging options along the way and at both ends. The vehicle is pretty clean, has 29,000 miles on it. Interior is pristine. Ac runs cold. But, seriously, brand new battery? ....Any words of wisdom are appreciated.

BUY IT!

 

[EVracerhead]

Leftie, Gerry, Jeff & Reddy, thanks for the quick and thoughtful feed back! I think i am going for it, but...

Interesting development, in going forward with the transaction, i took a test drive. We stopped for a minute outside my wife's office so i could run show her the car I am so excited about. When i came out and started to drive, I noticed it had thrown an error light.
Three lights:
yellow warning triangle in the upper display (i believe this is just a general "warning" light- saying look below)
a yellow circle with "!" in the middle surrounded by parenthesis (if i am reading manual correctly- brake warning)
VDC warning (car with two snakes following it)

A little digging and I found a thread here ( http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=17939&hilit=VDC+warning+light )

I was totally honest about the info & shared with the owner. He was grateful, and offered to knock off $1k, dropping the price to about 7k usd.

It did give me a bit of pause, but the car felt good, looked good, the battery is exactly what i want... I am inclined follow Reddy's advice

BUY IT!

despite the lights..
am i crazy?

 

[Reddy]

Hmmm now you should be a bit more careful. I'm not completely familiar with those codes, but you should check the voltage on the 12V lead acid battery. If it's still original, it's likely close to dead and is perhaps responsible for most, if not all of those error codes. Do some surfing on this site and you'll find lots of examples. Personally, I've been charging my 12V about once a week with a trickle charger since I read about the poor 12V charging algorithm.

 

[EVracerhead]

Hmmm now you should be a bit more careful. I'm not completely familiar with those codes, but you should check the voltage on the 12V lead acid battery. If it's still original, it's likely close to dead and is perhaps responsible for most, if not all of those error codes. Do some surfing on this site and you'll find lots of examples. Personally, I've been charging my 12V about once a week with a trickle charger since I read about the poor 12V charging algorithm.

That actually kind of fits what i my initial thought was, actually. the present owner was sitting in the car while i went in to get my wife. the car was on, with the AC on...

i appreciate the word of caution as well, Reddy. I didn't mean to put you on the spot! i didn't pull the codes from this vehicle, just searched on the engine light sequence.

I am already set to spend a few bucks to make it mine and ready for prime time. i think the tires are original, i just ordered the OBDII device to run LeafSpy

 

[warrenc]

I'm not sure about the error codes, but the new battery would be a huge plus in my mind! The price seems pretty reasonable, too. That's what I just paid for my 2013 here in Washington, and mine has lost one bar. I would expect they would be a little more pricey in Hawaii?

 

[GerryAZ]

If you had the yellow triangle in the top display and the yellow car with squiggly lines and "OFF" under it, you might have bumped the traction control disable switch. If the round yellow symbol that looks like a brake drum with exclamation point in the center is also on (left center of lower display), then there is likely an issue with the traction control system.

 

[EVracerhead]

well..........
I went to check it out again this morning. I couldn't get the OBDII unit i borrowed from by friend to give me a reading & the one I ordered from Amazon won't arrive until monday. I double checked that the regen works (it do). I checked the battery voltage and it was sitting just above 12.3 (hoping that is the source of the error)... well, long story short... i paid the man and took his car, well, er, now my car... :?
I just drove to work and i really like this car.

Thanks to all for the good advice. I am going to replace the battery tonight, and read up to see if i can reset those errors without Leafspy or if i must wait for the dongle. I am not sure when i get to graduate out of the newbie question area, but I will be lurking in the trouble shooting area for a little while.

here goes nothing!

 

[Reddy]

Congratulations. Here are some threads on the 12 V:
http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19471&hilit=CTEK#p417031
http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=22752&hilit=CTEK#p472830
http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=23180&p=481225&hilit=trickle#p479681
http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=22259&hilit=CTEK#p465679

 

[EVracerhead]

Thanks again Reddy!
brief update:

I replace the 21v battery yesterday. & my DTC code reader came in the mail last night. this morning i reset the errors using leaf spy pro (on an iphad) to see if they would come right back. So far nothing... I may move the rest of this conversation to the troubleshooting section- since i have a couple more technical questions about DTC codes and that whole process. But, i am really glad to have received the support here already. THanks for the awesome welcome to a great community.
(i feel like i just made the jump from => :ugeek: ) :mrgreen: