New Member Intro

Just a quick new member intro. Purchased a used, blue, 2011 Leaf on May 18, 2012 from a Nissan dealership. Car was originally placed in service as a rental. 5,000 miles on the odo. Cost: $29,000 exclusive of tax, license, etc.

I thought I would never find a used Leaf. This was the only 2011 model available for sale in San Diego County and one of only three used for sale in all of Southern California. I'm in the low tax bracket so buying a new one would have bankrupt me.

Love the car. Sorry, but all of the media naysayers are full of $hit. :lol:

I cannot decide on whether to drive in the D mode or in the Eco mode. My round trip commute is 22 miles with only an occasional short side trip. 80 percent freeway/20 percent other.

My first 100 miles in the standard commute gave me a 4.4 miles/kwh. Wall to car usage was 26.7 kwh. SDG&E kwh cost was determined to be 14.4 cents/kwh. That gives $3.85 cost for the 100 miles. With fuel in my area currently $4.30/gal, that's 111.7 mpg-e. Yeah, baby!

Will drive the next 100 in ECO to compare using the same parameters as closely as possible.

Just had the software update done today after my first 100 miles. Interesting. When I started the car AFTER the update I had a 55 mile range. Within less than a minute it went from 55 to 33! I've read all the posts about how this is supposed to be more accurate given drain, terrain, etc. and give you a longer "fudge" range before you go broke, but...

Anyway, very happy with the car. I've owned 32 cars in my lifetime. This is by far the nicest one I've ever had. To me, it is the equivalent of a luxury car. Sold my 2001 Honda Insight and 1994 Mazda Miata within five days of the Leaf purchase. All electric now.

welcome to the forum!! if you have any questions, dont hesitate to ask. hope you continue to enjoy your Leaf!

Chieftan68 said:

I cannot decide on whether to drive in the D mode or in the Eco mode.

Click to expand...

They're not that different. Anything you can do in D you can do in Eco. It just feels different. Think of it like having a passenger. You drive a little differently when someone's watching. And your efficiency will be subtly affected.

...I had a 55 mile range. Within less than a minute it went from 55 to 33! I've read all the posts about how this is supposed to be more accurate given drain, terrain, etc. and give you a longer "fudge" range before you go broke, but...

Click to expand...

...but, what you want to pay most attention to is the advice to mostly ignore the Guess-O-Meter. It gives only the broadest of hints. Watch your Miles/kW as the GOM goes up and down.

Welcome to the LEAF gang! And you're right about the press!

Also it will help for you to charge to 80% by default and charge to 100% only if you need the extra 15 to 20 miles of range.

Chieftan68 said:

I cannot decide on whether to drive in the D mode or in the Eco mode.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum.

There is a big difference between D and ECO - regen - much greater in ECO. I normally drive in ECO because I like the braking, and shift between N, D, and ECO to get the braking called for.

I will use D when I want a more sporty feel.

Bill

Welcome, Chieftan68! Wave @ the gas stations as you cruise on by. I've been doing it for almost a year now. Your commute seems perfect for your Leaf---and timer charging to 80% is a good idea if it serves your driving needs. This forum has a lot of really useful information for you, so stay tuned. Of course, you'll see some "obfuscation" once in a while also. :mrgreen:

Hope to see you're car at our next San Diego LEAF meeting June 9 (Sat) at 9 am in Poway.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=155193#p155193" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hi everyone,
purchased a glacier pearl '12 leaf sl yesterday with 5800 miles on it from a lexus dealer in atlanta. drove her the 150 miles back to birmingham charging at a nissan dealer halfway for 2 & 1/2 hours. made it back with a whopping 4 miles to spare( turtle never came).absolutely love the car on my first day. also have an '03 honda insight so i've already been trained on getting great mileage out of a car. was almost gonna lease a ford focus electric but just too expensive. Benton Nissan in oxford,alabama was amazing at letting me hang out and charge for an hour after closing, wouldn't have made it home otherwise. obviously no A/C could be used.
Haven't bought a charging station yet and considering the upgraded 240 cord at evse. had to drive at 45mph the last 50 miles on the freeway to make it home but there was lots of construction and lowered speed limits to give me a little cover.

Chieftan68 said:

Anyway, very happy with the car. I've owned 32 cars in my lifetime. This is by far the nicest one I've ever had. To me, it is the equivalent of a luxury car. Sold my 2001 Honda Insight and 1994 Mazda Miata within five days of the Leaf purchase. All electric now.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the club. The Leaf and Volt we own are both the most expensive cars we've ever owned, by far. Most of the cars I've bought over the years ranged anywhere from $3,500 to $20,000. Now we have two cars that are $33,000 and $46,000. The paradox is that we are actually saving money with this configuration over those cheaper cars due to a combination of tax credits, leases, and gas savings. But I know what you mean. Both cars are quite fancy.

150 miles with only 2.5 hours of intermediate L2 charging on the very first day is pretty good.. You will love it.

bamamarc77 said:

hi everyone,
purchased a glacier pearl '12 leaf sl yesterday with 5800 miles on it from a lexus dealer in atlanta. drove her the 150 miles back to birmingham charging at a nissan dealer halfway for 2 & 1/2 hours. made it back with a whopping 4 miles to spare( turtle never came).absolutely love the car on my first day. also have an '03 honda insight so i've already been trained on getting great mileage out of a car. was almost gonna lease a ford focus electric but just too expensive. Benton Nissan in oxford,alabama was amazing at letting me hang out and charge for an hour after closing, wouldn't have made it home otherwise. obviously no A/C could be used.
Haven't bought a charging station yet and considering the upgraded 240 cord at evse. had to drive at 45mph the last 50 miles on the freeway to make it home but there was lots of construction and lowered speed limits to give me a little cover.

Click to expand...

Welcome!
If you had 4 miles left on the GOM, you may have had VLBW. When ever I get down to 4 miles left on the GOM, it always goes to VLBW with --- and the BC is 8.5%. You won't hit turtle at slow speeds until 1.4%.

bamamarc77 said:

hi everyone,
purchased a glacier pearl '12 leaf sl yesterday with 5800 miles

Click to expand...

Welcome!! I just leased a '12 SL on Monday with 5 miles on it :mrgreen:

It sounds like you'll do very well with the LEAF, considering how far you pushed it on day one.