Kieran973
Well-known member
Oils4AsphaultOnly said:Kieran973 said:So after lurking on this forum for almost a year, I finally bought a Leaf today (4/30). I picked up a silver 2019 Leaf SV with the All-Weather package. The deal worked out like this:
MSRP: $35,195 (in addition to the All-Weather package, this car has $910 of add-on crap that the dealer refused to take out)
Dealer Discount: $1,195
Selling Price: $34,000
Dealer/Doc Fees: $270
Taxes: $2,092.29 (combined state and county sales tax is 8.875% in my area)
Total Price: $36,362
NY State Drive Clean Rebate: $2,000
Con Edison Discount (utility): $5,000
Trade-in Value (2016 Honda Civic LX with 30,000 miles): $10,500
Out the Door (not including the trade-in value): $29,362
Out the Door (after the trade-in): $18,862
Total out of pocket cost after $7,500 federal tax credit: $21,862
I followed your math up to the last part. Wouldn't your total out-of-pocket after Fed Tax Credit be $11,362? Assuming you qualify for the full credit of course.
Anyway, if the $11,362 amount is correct, with a $2300 per year savings, you made out nicely. At least you got some sort of discount, unlike the stories I hear from others.
Kieran973 said:My car insurance also went down $100 a year by switching from a 3-year-old used Honda Civic to a new Nissan Leaf.
Also, my best estimate is that my wife and I stand to save about $2,300 a year in operating costs by trading in my Civic for the Leaf. Part of these savings will come from aggressively using the Leaf almost everywhere we go, while limiting the use of her CRV to under 3,000 miles a year. Part of this will also come from massively cheap electricity through a Con Edison/Fleet Carma partnership that bills EV charging between midnight and 8 AM at effectively 2 cents per kWh in my area.
Did I do OK? This is the first new car I've ever owned. Two years ago I was driving a 2001 Honda Civic.
I debated for a long time whether to get a 40 kWh Leaf or 62 kWh Leaf Plus. At the end of the day, my wife and I drive about 19,000 miles a year, and through some smart reorganization of our car usage, we can do 16,000 of those miles in the 40 kWh Leaf, while we could do 17,000 miles in the Leaf Plus. The lowest total out of pocket cost I could find for a Leaf Plus S was about $27,000 (after the federal tax credit), and this was just too much money for me to spend on a car, especially for one that would only allow me to drive 1,000 more electric miles a year. I was also underwhelmed by the Leaf Plus' somewhat choppy ride and somewhat stiff driver's seat.
In terms of Leaf Spy, are these the things I should be buying?
OBD Dongle:
https://www.amazon.com/BAFX-Products-Bluetooth-Diagnostic-Scanner/dp/B005NLQAHS
Leaf Spy Pro:
https://www.amazon.com/Turbo3-Leaf-Spy-Pro/dp/B00PMLTPN0
Cheap Android: which ones are best these days? I have a Kindle Fire from 2014. Can I use that?
And it's my understanding that I need to get an extension cord that I would leave plugged in always, that was I don't damage the OBD port by constantly plugging in and unplugging the dongle. Is that right? If so, what kind?
Thanks for any and all suggestions.
As for the OBD dongle, why not just keep it connected? I've kept mine connected for almost 3 years now, and have only taken it out maybe 3 times to use on other people's cars.
Sorry, what I meant was that the total cost for me for the Leaf - before giving the dealership my Civic, but after factoring in the $7,500 federal tax credit - is $21,862. In other words, if I didn't have a car to trade in, the Leaf would cost me $21,862 in total (although the trade-in value of the Civic did knock about $1,000 off the sales tax, so the real total cost in the case of no trade-in would have been around $22.8K).
I certainly could keep the dongle connected, sure. I'm new to how all this works. I would like to run Leaf Spy at the same time as a program here in NY called Smart Charge, which also runs off the OBD port, because doing this is what makes my electricity rates so cheap.....