Benedict Arnold: Goodbye LEAF, hello Sentra

It saddens me a bit to turn my back on the electrification movement but for a number of reasons the best decision for us at this time was to replace the leased LEAF we turned in with a cheap ICE car. We still have the Volt, and the Sentra will enable us to put more EV miles on it. From a household perspective we should only see a minimal increase in total gasoline consumption.
We look forward to hopefully getting back on the EV bandwagon in the not too distant future.

I'll be jumping ship too- getting a 2016 Chevy Volt. Should be perfect timing- lease expires August 2015.

Now I feel like I have started an exodus.

kubel said:

I'll be jumping ship too- getting a 2016 Chevy Volt. Should be perfect timing- lease expires August 2015.

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Same here. My lease is up in September. If the wife likes the new Volt (I already do, but I don't shop on style), that's our next car. If not, I'm not totally sure yet. Maybe an Outlander PHEV or used Tesla. Most likely, we'll buy a different 2013 Leaf to hold us until someone makes a 150-mile EV we can afford.

ILETRIC said:

Now I feel like I have started an exodus.

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Not really. The RAV4 EV and Volt have always been considered an alternative and a few former Leafers have gone to those. It's just that there are so many more alternatives available now, especially if you live in a CARB-abiding state, and those 3 year leases are expiring.

When my lease is up next year, yes I will consider the Soul EV. As well as the eGolf. I might even consider a Spark EV, or even sell my current range extender for a PHEV like a Volt or an A3 eTron. I'm holding out hope that VWoA will bring the Golf GTE wagon here (it's been spotted doing testing in the Bay Area) as a lower-priced alternative to the Audi.

But I may also consider another Leaf or even extending the lease on my current one until the next gen model comes out. About the only thing I will not consider is a Smart ED (too small), iMiEV (too weird), or any current Tesla (too expensive).

I found the Sentra's specs to be good, at least on paper. Does it really feel like a roomy, comfortable car for its size? Does it really get 40MPG on the highway? Would you say that driving a Leaf eventually helped sell you the Sentra?

It feels really disingenuous to start singing the praises of a cheap little ICE car after years of being an advocate of advancing automotive technology into electrification and the importance of the cause I've learned from people like andyh and tonywilliams. But at the same time I can't make too many poor personal finance decisions with retirement on the horizon, and being a perpetual car leaser is usually high on the list of things to not do.
Regarding the Sentra, before the LEAF we had no affinity with Nissan so I would have to say yes, the LEAF definitely got them into consideration. I had that extra $1000 "spring it on them at the last second after you have already negotiated as much as you can" incentive (which worked by the way to my amazement) and also didn't mind getting out of the $399 NMAC disposition fee. I squeaked by with zero excess wear on the LEAF lease but that could have been another $500 benefit. So in effect former LEAF leasees have a $1400-1900 motivation to stick with Nissan.
Regarding the 2014 Sentra, I had had them a couple times as rentals and was impressed with how not horrible they were for a little POS car. They are quite roomy, quiet and smooth riding, not much engine noise at all unless you punch it. Obviously this isn't any sort of driving enthusiasts car, but it seems like a hell of a value. With the extra $1000 incentive applied my bottom line was $16,005 (taxes, dealer fees, everything) with zero down financed for 36 months through NMAC at 0%. That was for the SV model with floor mats. The "driver package" would have been nice, mainly for the Bluetooth, but in the end I skipped it to keep it as cheap as possible. My hope is that sometime in the not too distant future there will be an improved version of the LEAF or the volt and this car will get passed along to a family member who will be happy to have decent transportation and won't care if a couple frills are missing.
It's really too soon to say about MPG as I have only had the car less than a day and maybe gone 50 miles. If that meter on the dash is to be believed it was actually getting over 40mpg. I doubt it will be that good in mixed driving but I will let you know.

I doubt that I will ever purchase a new ICE-engine vehicle again. I simply do not wish to promote their manufacture. Lately I've been encouraging family members to purchase used Honda Civic Hybrids and Ford Escorts (depending on budget). The HCHs are a great deal since they have low value due to the battery issues. Since high-quality third-party batteries are available for a reasonable price, it makes for a good way to pick up a quality used Honda! The Fords are cheap and efficient, but not so reliable.

My LEAF has been relegated to an occasional grocery store trip, at this point. I did take it to the airport last week, and it went from a full charge to low-battery-warning in 45 miles.

I rented a Nissan Versa when I was out in Reno, last week. Not a bad car. Struggled a bit to climb up I-80 and Mt. Rose Hwy. It was a bit amusing to step on the accelerator and have to wait a second for the engine to rev up before it would go. Forgot about that little artifact of driving an ICE car.

LEAF goes back to Nissan in about six months. If I put another 500 miles on it between now and then, I'd be surprised. The 11th capacity bar refused to fall, in spite of the car's short driving range. Keeping the Volt through the end of the lease in June 2016, then getting another Volt, assuming GM didn't screw up on Volt 2.0.

Weatherman said:

My LEAF has been relegated to an occasional grocery store trip, at this point. I did take it to the airport last week, and it went from a full charge to low-battery-warning in 45 miles.

I rented a Nissan Versa when I was out in Reno, last week. Not a bad car. Struggled a bit to climb up I-80 and Mt. Rose Hwy. It was a bit amusing to step on the accelerator and have to wait a second for the engine to rev up before it would go. Forgot about that little artifact of driving an ICE car.

LEAF goes back to Nissan in about six months. If I put another 500 miles on it between now and then, I'd be surprised. The 11th capacity bar refused to fall, in spite of the car's short driving range. Keeping the Volt through the end of the lease in June 2016, then getting another Volt, assuming GM didn't screw up on Volt 2.0.

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FWIW: I am ditching the LEAF, now know as the twig, when the lease comes up in april, I am looking at replacing it with a Volt/ELR or a small ice crossover type SUV.
the LEAF is a great car that is severely limited because of the range issues. it's best usage is by someone in a very urbanized location that only needs 20-40 miles per day. expecting anymore from the car will only result in the frustration that very many are expressing on the forum. I wonder if Nissan hears us?

Nope, the 2016 Volt has been on my short list for a while too... I'm not yet sure what I will do in March but another Leaf it definitely will not be. I'm tired of playing Nissan Battery Roulette(tm) and I now demand more range, both initially and throughout the ownership of the car.

ILETRIC said:

Now I feel like I have started an exodus.

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Mine is going back tuesday. Loved it while it lasted, but cant see myself struggling between range and the heater for another winter. Still have all the bars, but subjectively I did loose A LOT of range.

At the end, after getting my state rebate, I ended up owning the cheapest car of my life - and fully enjoed it)) but I concur - we need more range, and AWD.

$16k seems a lot for a "cheap" little car with 'no frills' though! I'd probably buy a Civic or Corolla at that price. Or a Yaris and a motorcycle!

LeftieBiker said:

$16k seems a lot for a "cheap" little car with 'no frills' though! I'd probably buy a Civic or Corolla at that price. Or a Yaris and a motorcycle!

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$16k was out the door with tax, tag, dealer fees, everything, 0% finance, and waives the $399 termination on the LEAF. Civic and Mazda3 were priced thousands higher from what I saw. Not that it matters at this point since it's done, but if anyone finds a better deal I'd like to know how they did it for future reference.

LTLFTcomposite said:

It saddens me a bit to turn my back on the electrification movement but for a number of reasons the best decision for us at this time was to replace the leased LEAF we turned in with a cheap ICE car. We still have the Volt, and the Sentra will enable us to put more EV miles on it. From a household perspective we should only see a minimal increase in total gasoline consumption.
We look forward to hopefully getting back on the EV bandwagon in the not too distant future.

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Now just for kicks, lets say LEAF 2.0 was in the showroom with a 150 miles of EPA range and had a reasonable price tag, would you have shopped for a new LEAF or a new Sentra?

After our experience with the 2011 Leaf, we seriously considered abandoning Nissan in favor of some other type of plugin (probably another Volt) However, the deal we got on the 2013 Leaf was just too good to turn down. We have been very impressed with the performance of the 2013 compared with the 2011. Time will tell, but so far it appears the 2013 has a better battery and is overall a better car. The range it has right now is just about perfect. The trick is, will it still have that same range at the end of 3 years?

KJD said:

Now just for kicks, lets say LEAF 2.0 was in the showroom with a 150 miles of EPA range and had a reasonable price tag, would you have shopped for a new LEAF?

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Hell ya! Range, range, range. Except I'd lease it, never buy it.

As of today, the only 100-mile car is MDD and Soul EV. Not counting RAV of course, it's no longer made. 150-mile anything would beat them all.

In part it was bad timing on the lease ending... It would have been a lot tougher decision had there been better cost effective ev options that would have been a safe bet to buy. Hence the cheap stopgap.

KJD said:

lets say LEAF 2.0 was in the showroom with a 150 miles of EPA range and had a reasonable price tag

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Nissan will have to prove to me that their batteries don't suck. Otherwise, this is a 2-year lease car only, and I can't afford to be getting a new car every 2 years.

ILETRIC said:

KJD said:

Now just for kicks, lets say LEAF 2.0 was in the showroom with a 150 miles of EPA range and had a reasonable price tag, would you have shopped for a new LEAF?

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Hell ya! Range, range, range. Except I'd lease it, never buy it.

As of today, the only 100-mile car is MDD and Soul EV. Not counting RAV of course, it's no longer made. 150-mile anything would beat them all.

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I just drove over 100 miles today, at 65mph... in the Mercedes B-Class ED.