happyelectric
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- Aug 12, 2014
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I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
Can you charge at work all day before returning home? How many bars are left (battery condition)? What is your climate? Will you have access to a L2 charger?happyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
Why a used Leaf. You can lease a new one, and with the rebates, not pay that much more than you are for the used one with questional battery condition.happyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
rjmm82 said:Hello
I am also considering buying a Nissan Leaf, an ex-demo 2013 model with 10,000 miles on it.
My daily commute is around 50 miles return - with a mix of 30mph/40mph/and 60mph zones. Do you experienced users think this car would be suitable to my needs? I am a single woman with no children and it would be my only car. I do not do a lot of driving aside from my commute to work every day - the low running costs are attractive to me since I pay about £200 a month on petrol at the moment!
Thanks for your time
Rjmm82
Where are you located? How much are you going to pay? Have you compared the cost to excellent leasing offers? Like LeftieBiker said, that should work for you assuming the car hasn't lost significant capacity and you don't live with extreme weather.rjmm82 said:... Do you experienced users think this car would be suitable to my needs? ...
Graffi said:Why a used Leaf. You can lease a new one, and with the rebates, not pay that much more than you are for the used one with questionable battery condition.happyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
without l2 charging at home and the ability to charge while at work you will not be able to make your commutehappyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
maybe because at the end of a lease you don't own anything but at the end of a few years with a used leaf you can pay $6000 to put a new battery in it and have a like new car?! Maybe because if the commute is short enough you can keep it more than a few years and not even bother replacing the battery?!
Sorry those of us that aren't insanely rich and don't live in a state with large EV rebates have to think about the total cost of ownership. Leasing just isn't going to happen for most of us in fly over country.
LeftieBiker said:maybe because at the end of a lease you don't own anything but at the end of a few years with a used leaf you can pay $6000 to put a new battery in it and have a like new car?! Maybe because if the commute is short enough you can keep it more than a few years and not even bother replacing the battery?!
Sorry those of us that aren't insanely rich and don't live in a state with large EV rebates have to think about the total cost of ownership. Leasing just isn't going to happen for most of us in fly over country.
I used to think that about leasing, but consider this: if you get a decent lease deal, and then buy the car for the residual value at lease's end, you can end up paying exactly what it would have cost to buy it new, with financing - no extra cost. So what's the difference? With the lease you get the full 2-3 years to decide whether or not you really want to own that car, or if you would be better off buying or leasing a Gen III Leaf, or another vehicle entirely. If you ask people here who bought the first Leafs, instead of leasing them, if they made the right choice, about half of them will say "no", by my estimate.
that's not an accurate statement, I have been leasing cars for 30 years and I have never been hit with ANY damage feesMrelectric said:Everyone forgets about getting dinged for damages when you return the car at the end of lease. Get ready to pay a few hundred for every little scratch and ding. You can end up paying more than expected. If you own dogs, have kids, smoke or park on the street in busy urban areas the lease may be surprisingly expensive.
happyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
LeftieBiker said:maybe because at the end of a lease you don't own anything but at the end of a few years with a used leaf you can pay $6000 to put a new battery in it and have a like new car?! Maybe because if the commute is short enough you can keep it more than a few years and not even bother replacing the battery?!
Sorry those of us that aren't insanely rich and don't live in a state with large EV rebates have to think about the total cost of ownership. Leasing just isn't going to happen for most of us in fly over country.
I used to think that about leasing, but consider this: if you get a decent lease deal, and then buy the car for the residual value at lease's end, you can end up paying exactly what it would have cost to buy it new, with financing - no extra cost. So what's the difference? With the lease you get the full 2-3 years to decide whether or not you really want to own that car, or if you would be better off buying or leasing a Gen III Leaf, or another vehicle entirely. If you ask people here who bought the first Leafs, instead of leasing them, if they made the right choice, about half of them will say "no", by my estimate.
dhanson865 said:pawneepawn said:The difference is I pay $4457 more to own the leaf at the end of 3 years. Is it still a good idea to lease?
If that is the difference on a brand new car I'd buy because the car would be worth more than $4500 even if you wanted to sell it at the end of year 3.
Right now a 2011/2012 that is coming off lease is worth more than $10,000
The only way I see the lease making sense is if you think you'll drive it / store it hot killing the battery and then refuse to let Nissan replace it under warranty and still want to get rid of the car.
Scenario A. you hit the 4 bars lost and Nissan replaces the battery before year 3 is up you have a car near the end of that period that is like new and you came out better buying than leasing. You get to decide if you want to Sell it or keep it with less pressure on timing (you know your degradation rate but you don't have to deal with lease termination).
Scenario B. you don't hit 4 bars lost and the car is still worth $6,000 to $12,000 depending on condition and you came out better buying than leasing. You get to decide if you want to Sell it or keep it with no pressure on timing.
Scenario C. You lease it and turn it back in even though it's worth more than the difference in pricing because the residual value on the lease contractually keeps you from reaping the value of the car at end of lease.
The bet on leasing is that scenario B somehow leaves you with a 3 bar loser at the end of 3 years that won't sell for more than $4,500, I just don't see that happening. Too many traditional gasoline vehicles on the road that need to be replaced, tons of fresh converts that would be willing to buy a cheap EV down the road.
The range limited leaf is better than most beaters because it has
* no oil change, spark plug, brake job, antifreeze/traditional radiator issues
* working AC
* cabin air filter
* heated seats
probably more that I missed. Lots of reasons why it is a better car than so many 10-15 year old gas beaters, someone will consider an old Leaf a luxury car vs the beater they currently hate maintaining all the time.
happyelectric said:I am about to buy a 2011 Nissan Leaf with about 27K miles. I have a commute of 40 miles to work each day - one way. Am I crazy to think that the Nissan can handle this range?
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