What do you wish you had known before purchase?

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Boourns

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 25, 2013
Messages
141
Location
Austin/Round Rock, TX
Hi from a prospective Leaf owner. My question is this: What do you wish you had known (or thought to look up) before you bought/leased your leaf?

I put the question first for the tl;dr types, but here's a little background. My name is Matt and I live in the Austin, Texas area. The lease on my current ICE vehicle ends in March 2014 and I'm researching a replacement. Currently the Leaf is at the top of my list. I think EVs are the future, and I'm tired of struggling to reach 22 mpg.

I drive 32 miles round trip to work every day on a commute that involves a little rush hour highway, a little city, and about half what I'd call country road driving, with speeds about 50 mph. My average speed on the trip is 29-31 mph. I think all things considered the Leaf would be a good choice for me, since my wife will keep her ICE small SUV. I am leaning toward a 24-month lease, since in the summer it's hotter than Hades' pantaloons here, and I see that can result in substantial battery degradation. My lease return is a Nissan product, so hopefully I can get a good deal on the Leaf lease.

I have time to thoroughly research the purchase, so I hope to be as informed as I can be about obvious issues. I suspect that the Leaf was many of your first EV, like it would be mine, so you researched things to the best of your ability before your purchase. I would appreciate your input on anything you wish you had known before you bought the car that may not be so obvious.

Thanks and I look forward to learning a lot more about the Leaf here.
 
i wish i had known that nissan would steal the battery i bought when i purchased the car in 2011. this was not disclosed.

that is effectively what nissan is doing by refusing to sell or price a new battery and instead telling owners, who need a replacement, that they can lease one for $100 a month.
Oh, and you have to give them your old battery for free. that is the steal-my-battery part.

regardless of that downside, and it is a big one; yes, i love my LEAF. But wonder why nissan is trying so hard to ruin the brand with their battery tricks and pr gaffs.
The car is great in my situation and would be in yours. It works really well here in temperate Coastal L.A.
I commute 50 miles roundtrip, have gone 27k miles, and still have all my bars.
 
Welcome! There have been lots of others ask the same or similar questions. Spend a few hours/days searching and reading previous threads and you will learn more than you can imagine. Only two things I wish I knew:
(1) How slowly quick chargers would be installed, especially out here in the sticks. I decided to upgrade to the 2011 SL with QC and all the bells and whistles. Part of that was based on a belief that DCQC stations would be installed at ALL Nissan dealerships, not just in the larger metropolitan areas. Now it's pretty obvious that eastern WA will be skipped over. I like the extras, but ended up paying for a QC that I will likely never use again. Oh well, live and learn.
(2) How quickly the prices would drop. Paid MSRP in 2011. Now new prices are $5000 less and used prices are even lower.
 
Boourns said:
Hi from a prospective Leaf owner. My question is this: What do you wish you had known (or thought to look up) before you bought/leased your leaf?
Winter range (but that wouldn't have changed my decision, obviously).

I think your commute distance is ideal - similar to mine. You can easily make it - and you should lease so that you can take advantage of the improving technology in the coming years.

Oh BTW, ignore people who try to spread lies, like the above poster about "stealing battery". Reminds of how Obama is supposed to come and steal your guns.
 
im in round rock ,also. no regrets. the 2014 ford focus all electric is offering some also awsome deals. Prior to lease i found out the deals on the leaf. presented them to Jerry at round rock nissan & he met their price. { california dealers have the lowest pices. they met them , no questions asked}Talk to jerry. He is good. Their service is lacking---But, jerry is good-jerry krider.
 
evnow said:
Oh BTW, ignore people who try to spread lies, like the above poster about "stealing battery". Reminds of how Obama is supposed to come and steal your guns.

nice.

Riddle me this, EVNOW:
How much is nissan going to pay you for your old battery core, when you trade in your battery to buy a new one?
 
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.
 
Boourns said:
I drive 32 miles round trip to work every day on a commute that involves a little rush hour highway, a little city, and about half what I'd call country road driving, with speeds about 50 mph. My average speed on the trip is 29-31 mph. I think all things considered the Leaf would be a good choice for me, since my wife will keep her ICE small SUV.

Very close to my situation in terms of commute distance, and 2nd car. This is really the sweet spot for an EV like LEAF. It will handle your commute distance with ease, and even if you charge to only 80% you'll have leftover range for errands or other local trips in the evening. And of course you have the other vehicle for long distances.

I did quite a bit of reading before I got the car. Can't say that there were any nasty surprises from the car itself. It cost a bit more than I'd hoped to get an L2 EVSE installed but that was just from the particular electric situation in our home.

All in all I'm quite pleased with the car. Nissan could do better in its handling of early adopters. But for me that's mostly a concern about promoting EVs in general. Then again, how many manufacturers have gone all-in and are making EVs for national consumption?

With a 2-year lease you needn't worry about the battery replacement debate unless you have serious thoughts about buying at the end.
 
thankyouOB said:
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.

Will you stop already? Your views on Nissan's battery replacement program are well known. No need to clog up additional threads on the subject.
 
Boourns said:
Hi from a prospective Leaf owner. My question is this: What do you wish you had known (or thought to look up) before you bought/leased your leaf?

I put the question first for the tl;dr types, but here's a little background. My name is Matt and I live in the Austin, Texas area. The lease on my current ICE vehicle ends in March 2014 and I'm researching a replacement. Currently the Leaf is at the top of my list. I think EVs are the future, and I'm tired of struggling to reach 22 mpg.

I drive 32 miles round trip to work every day on a commute that involves a little rush hour highway, a little city, and about half what I'd call country road driving, with speeds about 50 mph. My average speed on the trip is 29-31 mph. I think all things considered the Leaf would be a good choice for me, since my wife will keep her ICE small SUV. I am leaning toward a 24-month lease, since in the summer it's hotter than Hades' pantaloons here, and I see that can result in substantial battery degradation. My lease return is a Nissan product, so hopefully I can get a good deal on the Leaf lease.

I have time to thoroughly research the purchase, so I hope to be as informed as I can be about obvious issues. I suspect that the Leaf was many of your first EV, like it would be mine, so you researched things to the best of your ability before your purchase. I would appreciate your input on anything you wish you had known before you bought the car that may not be so obvious.

Thanks and I look forward to learning a lot more about the Leaf here.

It sounds like you've already researched the matter well. I think he biggest negative surprises for most people are the two that have been mentioned. First, for those of us in colder climates the range on very cold days is a lot less than I'd expected. Second - and by far the biggest issue with the LEAF - for those in climates with very high temperatures the fast battery degradation.

The second point has really upset a lot of LEAFers in those hot climates - and even more so due to the fiasco around the pre-announced battery lease program last month. A few of those LEAFers are so upset that they post complaints many times per day on many different threads in this forum - but fortunately that's a tiny minority of LEAFers so take that into account.

Since you are in a hot climate it is best if you have a short lease or perhaps consider a car with a thermal management system to keep the battery cool. The Volt and the Ford Focus Electric both have such a system. Even with a 2 year lease you will likely find that your LEAF range is a lot less at the end of the lease than it was at the start.

Otherwise fourlesser points I can mention. First, the charging timer set-up is needlessly complex. Eventually we settled on configuring the car to charge to 80% by default and then use the cancel timer feature (a button in the car, or via the carwings app) when we need a charge to 100%. You do want to avoid having the car sit for a long period of time with a 100% charge. Second, I wish I knew about evseupgrade.com before I got my Schneider home EVSE (a.k.a. "charger"). The Schneider is great, but the EVSEupgrade is cheaper and offers more flexibility as it is portable and can work, for example, at RV campsites. Third, this didnt trip me up but has tripped up a few other people. If you buy an EV and get the $7500 tax credit you almost certainly won't be able to also claim the 30% EVSE credit the same year due to AMT. This issue applies to all EVs, not just the LEAF, but does not apply to a lease, as the leasing company takes the credit in that case. Finally, you'll probably use the car a lot more than you think you will. This is a common experience - you get the LEAF thinking you'll just use it on sub-50 mile round trips and the ICE car for everything else, then you love the LEAF so much you start testing the range limits and planning trips around charging stations. For that reason definitely consider the 6.6kw charging option (standard on SV and SL).
 
RonDawg said:
thankyouOB said:
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.

Will you stop already? Your views on Nissan's battery replacement program are well known. No need to clog up additional threads on the subject.
Amen! It's getting kinda old, thankyouOB.
 
RonDawg said:
thankyouOB said:
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.

Will you stop already? Your views on Nissan's battery replacement program are well known. No need to clog up additional threads on the subject.
I don't mind thankyouOB expressing his view. It may be well known to you but not to newcomers who are asking the questions like the OP here. Not everybody may want to read about everything in this vast forum before wanting to ask a question, so repeated information to newcomers should be considered normal. After all, the OP did ask for people's input.
 
Pay no attention to thankyouOB. If you lease you won't have to worry about it.

There are important differences between the SV and SL on one hand vs. the S on the other. Be sure you research them if you are considering a S. Find all the facts here: 2013 Nissan LEAF Press Kit. Click Specs at the top. (The 2014 will be very similar to the 2013.)

I was particularly reminded of this by the otherwise excellent cgaydos post above. Cancel timer cannot be used in the S model to switch between 80% and 100%, because the timer is very rudimentary. There are quite a number of other features missing from the S model.

Personally, I wished that I had insisted on seeing the S model backup camera in use before I got it. I might have gone for the feature anyway, because the QC port and 6kW charger are valuable, but I find the camera display almost useless, unlike the excellent display in the 2011-2012.

Ray
 
Volusiano said:
RonDawg said:
thankyouOB said:
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.

Will you stop already? Your views on Nissan's battery replacement program are well known. No need to clog up additional threads on the subject.
I don't mind thankyouOB expressing his view. It may be well known to you but not to newcomers who are asking the questions like the OP here. Not everybody may want to read about everything in this vast forum before wanting to ask a question, so repeated information to newcomers should be considered normal. After all, the OP did ask for people's input.
+1 I happily bought, but the bizarre Nissan battery monthly option does drive home an incentive to lease (there is always the buy out option). I predict by the time my own battery is toast, there will be other options...

Back to the topic... Furthermore, I have NEVER used my QC port... But wish I had the new faster charger for in the field charging.
 
I wish I had known what the car looked like before I leased it. Nissan forced me to wear a blindfold for the 24 month period before I got the car, when I finally saw it I didn't like it but it was too late I had already signed the papers and they wouldn't let me out of the lease.
 
I wished there was a long distance model with more space so I could ditch my remaining ICE SUV and never go back to using GAS.

It is quite addicting to have good torque, silent ride and never ever have to stop at a gas pump ever!
 
thanks to all; Volusiano and especially JimSouCal, who actually got my point, which was to point out the downside for those of us who prefer not to lease.

and i wont stop complaining about being told very very very late in the game by nissan that i cant buy a replacement for the key part of the car that I OWN.
NO I WONT.

nor will i stop complaining about the deception from nissan in promising a battery price and then refusing to provide one and in selling a car with a battery and only 2+ years later telling buyers that we CANNOT BUY A REPLACEMENT.

I am really really tired and very very disappointed in seeing so many of you roll over for this. or maybe you are leasers and dont care what happens to others.

i cut nissan some slack when the battery degradation was more severe than advertised, especially in hot places. that may have actually been a surprise. i dunno. but i will not cut them slack or stop complaining about a corporate deception that is fully within their control to correct.
i have no idea why anyone would.
 
Volusiano said:
I don't mind thankyouOB expressing his view. It may be well known to you but not to newcomers who are asking the questions like the OP here. Not everybody may want to read about everything in this vast forum before wanting to ask a question, so repeated information to newcomers should be considered normal. After all, the OP did ask for people's input.

There's offering one's requested input, and then there's repeatedly pounding one's in place with a sledgehammer. He already let his views be known once in this thread...what I replied to was basically him arguing with a mod.

This is not the only thread where he's done this.
 
thankyouOB said:
I am really really tired and very very disappointed in seeing so many of you roll over for this. or maybe you are leasers and dont care what happens to others.

I think I've made my position known elsewhere; I strongly dislike Nissan's announcement and they should keep their promise.

But it seems the OP is planning a 2-year relationship so probably not an issue for him. I do hope Nissan come to their senses and get over their terror of revealing the cost of the battery. Frankly the announcement was half-baked and obviously a last-minute attempt to save face; no doubt it will change.
 
RonDawg said:
thankyouOB said:
answer:
they wont sell you a new battery.
they wont pay you anything for your battery core or your used battery.
they will just take the old battery and charge you $100 a month forever to lease a new battery, which you cant keep.

Will you stop already? Your views on Nissan's battery replacement program are well known. No need to clog up additional threads on the subject.
++++1
 
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