Lease over, advice needed

I have a 2013 Leaf SV (+quick charge/HID and Bose) that I leased on 2/2/14 here in San Diego. It was a standard 3 year and 36,000 mile lease with $2500 down (with a $2500 rebate from CA, so effective $0 down) and $265/mo. My round trip commute is 42.7 miles at an average speed of 25 mph (gotta love rush hour) and an efficiency of 4.6 mi/kwh. I'm at 35,200 miles and all 12 bars of capacity left, so range is not a problem at all. My lease is due to be turned in in 4 days, so I need some advice.

My local Nissan dealerships have no stock left of 2016 leafs, so 2017 only. Current deal on 2017 S30 leaf is $1999 down, $220/mo but that is based on MSRP, so I'm sure I could probably get that down <$200/mo. My local Chevy dealers have Bolts in stock and I haven't negotiated yet but it looks like I'd be at about $300/mo for the stripped version and maybe $400/mo for the loaded version.

What do you folks think? I'm obviously fine with the lesser range as it's worked fine for me for 3 years on a 24 kw battery (don't get anal on kw vs kwh, you know what I mean ) and the new packs are 30 kw. I'm a bit nervous about leasing a 1st year model of a new technology (for Chevy) but it would be nice to buy out the car at the end and pass on to my oldest daughter who is currently 13 and still have plenty of useful life ahead. It would also be nice to save $100 to $200 per month on what would be totally acceptable appliance transportation and get another leaf.

If YOU were in my situation, which would YOU choose and WHY? Thanks in advance !

I'm a bit nervous about leasing a 1st year model of a new technology (for Chevy) but it would be nice to buy out the car at the end and pass on to my oldest daughter who is currently 13 and still have plenty of useful life ahead.

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Here is the problem with that: GM has, for whatever reason, decided to structure their Bolt leases so that the residual is far too high to make it worth buying the car at the end, and the payments are too high to save extra for that. The only Bolt lease that makes sense is one that is going to be for 39 months only, with another lease to follow, by someone with cash to burn. Right now they are just NOT good leases. With the Leaf (the 2016 at least - I'm not sure about the 2017 - the residual is low so you can buy the car easily for your daughter. Depending on your needs, you might want to try for a lease extension on the 2013, to get you through to better lease deals in 6 or 12 months.

Great advice, thanks! I have seen the shenanigans GM is playing with the residual and cap cost reduction on the Bolt, very disappointing. The Leaf will definitely be the more economical choice and based on degradation of my current Leaf, there will still be plenty of range left for my daughter to get to school/work/home/friends houses. Plus I like the idea of not having too much range so she wont be going to Tijuana, at least in the leaf However, at that point the Leaf will be a 10 year old design without all the current safety features and none of the teen driver stuff the Bolt has. I'm leaning towards the Leaf but I keep reading things along the lines of "The Leaf is dead" and "who in their right mind would buy a Leaf when the Bolt is an option" and "The Bolt is a Leaf killer", which are all causing me FUD.

I would check the Ah on your LEAF with LeafSpy and if I like the result I would offer $6k to buy the car. You would then have the following advantages:

1. $6000 over 36 months until the daughter gets the car, at $166 a month
2. Then a no cost car to the daughter limited to about 50 miles range. Perfect ;-)
3. Savings of Comp & Collision Insurance from the day you finish the lease since the car's insurance value is too low to pay for.

Save up the savings, and you have a good chance of it paying for one year of your daughter's college tuition. She will be thrilled

Why $6k ? Because Nissan is getting 5-6k at auction

As I said (or implied) if you can extend the 2013 lease another 6 or 12 months (try telling them you want a Leaf 2) your options should be much better then. Maybe even including a Leaf 2, with actual comfortable seats. You could also buy the 2013, drive it for 6 months, get a better Bolt lease, and then let your daughter drive the Leaf until you want to pass on the bolt to her and sell the Leaf for a reasonable loss. As it stands, the next few months won't be a good time to lease an EV other than a Leaf. I'm lucky, in that my last lease extension ends Memorial Day weekend.

I am in a similar situation. What exactly happens at the end of the lease period? If it is open-ended, and I can just continue to pay monthly indefinitely that is the lowest cost per mile that I can imagine... (I started a new thread on this: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23354)

Just to address one of the concerns that dnatek mentioned, the safety features haven't advanced that much in the past 3 years. A 2013 is still going to be vastly safer than most of the cars on the road today. Short of getting a Tesla, safety shouldn't be an issue.

To address your original question, I would extend the lease or take any buyout offer that prices the 2013 below $7k. I had the opportunity to get a 2016 leaf, and am thrilled with it, but if that opportunity isn't available to you, then keeping the 2013 sounds like it would work for you. But the residual value on the 2013 leases are too high, so unless NMAC/Nissan-dealers offers you a discount, don't buy out the lease. If you're cheap like me, then I would not consider the bolt, because you don't need the range. After finance and federal tax incentives (but before state tax rebate) - $30k + tax for a 2017 bolt, or $15k + tax for 2017 leaf? Not even comparable.

The safety features I was referring to that are available on the Bolt but not the Leaf:

Low Speed Forward Automatic Braking
Lane Keep Assist with Lane Departure Warning
Forward Collision Alert
Following Distance Indicator
Front Pedestrian Braking
IntelliBeam® headlamps
Teen Driver
LED Daytime Running Lights
Rear Cross Traffic Alert
OnStar Features
Turn Signal Indicators on Mirrors

These aren't that valuable to me, I've never been in an accident (that I caused) nor had a speeding ticket, but it would provide peace of mind for my daughter when she starts driving. However, I am cheap too and total payments on 3 year Bolt lease are $15,000 vs less than $7000 on a Leaf. Most likely going for the Leaf, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't making some obvious mistake.

ObiQuiet said:

I am in a similar situation. What exactly happens at the end of the lease period? If it is open-ended, and I can just continue to pay monthly indefinitely that is the lowest cost per mile that I can imagine... (I started a new thread on this: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=23354)

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The leases are closed, but extensions are usually (but not always) available to bring them up to 4 years total.

I just got back from the local Chevy dealer who actually had about 9 Bolts on the lot. A lightly optioned Bolt LT with $2500 drive off resulted in a monthly payment of $426. I'm pretty sure I can get a 2017 S30 for less than 1/2 of that, so pretty sure that's the route I'm going to go. Other than price, no knocks against the Bolt at all. I thought the seats were fine and although the interior was full of low grade plastic, it didn't bother me.

I don't want to extend the lease on my current Leaf because:
1. The Leaf 2.0 has been coming "soon" for the last 2 years, so I'm not confident it will actually be out "soon"
2. When the Leaf 2.0 does come out, it won't be drastically price reduced like the current model and it will likely be a year until the price comes down more than an insignificant amount.
3. My Leaf was rear ended and although the repair was well done, I feel like its damaged goods now.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback to help me feel confident in my decision.

Just thought I'd follow up and say I ended up with a 2017 S30 with quick charge, floor mats and splash guards for $2500 down and $199/mo (total, including tax, title and license). I did like the Bolt but for literally 1/2 the price, I think the Leaf is the better decision (assuming you don't need the range). Hopefully in 3 years, I'll be deciding between (a more reasonably priced) Bolt, Leaf 2.0 and Model S.