Possible Leaf Purchase in Austin, TX

Hi everyone,

One of our current ICE transmission is about to die and the cost to replace is pretty much more than what the price of the vehicle is worth and our other car is a Prius.

We are looking into putting our money where our mouths are and getting an electric car. The Leaf appears at the top of the list of options. My concern is that the transmission could go at any moment but we do know that the 2013 is coming out. Does it makes sense to limp along and wait? It appears the 2012 price points might even be cheaper since they want to sell them so is the money that will be discounted also worth skipping the 2013?

I was also hoping that you all maybe had some information on range in the summers of Austin since I had see some issues regarding the battery in hot areas.

Thanks for all your comments and I look forward to them.

I would just keep driving the ICE until the transmission does go out - the price of the 2012 LEAFs may cont. to drop in the meantime. It would be nice to have the 6.6 kw charger on the 2013 - but I don't think that will be standard, you will have to pay more for it.

Regarding range: I have had my LEAF for over 15 months and 14K miles. I have lost some capacity - as per the 1 bar loss, but I still get about 60 miles on the 80% charge

Hopefully I won't lose much more capacity, but that is the big unknown now, so right now I'm wishing I had leased instead of purchased. Go get some quotes on what leasing a 2012 will cost you - for the shortest time period. Then if all goes well you can purchase later.

Hills will affect your range, so keep that in mind with Austin driving. I would either lease a 2013 or lease a 2012 Volt, but I wouldn't buy a Leaf until they get all these heat-related issues sorted out. The deals on the 2012 Volt, if you can find one, are excellent.

Let this Austinite get his two cents in. Send me a pm if you want to call and meet to discuss/drive my 2011 Leaf picked up here in Austin in jan 2012. Have about 5k miles as I work out of house. No battery loss here. Drive during lunch daiy in hot weather. Zero problems with car, just flawless. I do recommend you lease to guarantee you get full $7500 rebate. You may not get full amount if you purchase and file the taxes at the end of year. You can always lease and after a couple of payments come back to dealer and turn into a purchase. You will absolutely love this car. Stay away from 360 as the hills are battery drainers. Mopac, research and IH-35 are your friends. Averaging between 4.9-5.2 m/kw. I am leasing as I believe new more efficient, longer battery range cars will be available and the Leaf range by then may or may not be what they currently advertise. Mine was purchase from Town North Nissan. By the way, my 85 year old dad loved my car so much, he traded his Lexus for a silver Leaf.

Good luck,

Ian B

Thanks everyone for the quick comments.

I am glad to hear that you are having such good luck Ian. I live south and work north so I head up through Mopac to the Domain area so I figure I am okay. I will have to learn to be less of a lead foot since I don't get the mileage out of my Prius that my husband does

I have never leased a car before and have heard horror stories about it so I am hesitant to go that route. What happens if you do want the 2013? I know there is the balloon payment etc.

Keep it at 60mph on mopac and your range will be good. The balloon payment at end of the lease only comes to play if you want to keep the car, that amount can be paid in full or refinanced. At the end of the lease, if the car is worth less than the balloon payment, give it back and walk away, you will be only responsible for disposition fee, excess miles and any damage to car. Typically you set an appt couple months before end of lease to bring and assess the disposition costs if any. Now on the other end,if the value of the car is more than balloon payment, that is equity you can use as down payment for another car.

Ian B

My Leaf is fantastic and I would lease another one. However, at this point, it might be worth waiting for the 2013 -- the 6.6 charger will be useful and having other interior options will good, too -- I have about 27.5k miles on my car and the interior is showing some wear. I also second (third?) the idea of leasing vs. purchasing to shield yourself from potential expensive battery work/replacement down the road.

Got back from the dealership and I got my 2012 Glacier Pearl White Leaf SL.

We love it and we decided to buy but get the extended warranty in case of any oopses.

We talked to the dealership and they said that most likely not a lot of changes will happen in 2013 since there regional managers have heard nothing yet. Also felt it was an off year to add drastic changes. We just decided to say the heck of it and get it.

Haven't regretted yet but I have only owned it for a few hours. Ha Ha

Where did you buy it at?

Ian B

I bought it at Town North Nissan. They are giving good deals and also a Chargepoint card for 1 yr free charging. We still need to get the charger installed at the house.

gmlawrence said:

Got back from the dealership and I got my 2012 Glacier Pearl White Leaf SL.

We love it and we decided to buy but get the extended warranty in case of any oopses.

We talked to the dealership and they said that most likely not a lot of changes will happen in 2013

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Congrats on your new LEAF. I hope it serves you well.

Just a heads up; neither the standard 3 year / 36,000 mile warrantee, nor the extended Nissan warrantee will cover battery capacity loss. That is THE number one Achilles heal to the LEAF in hot climates. We have already had dozens of LEAFs within 6-18 months of service that are losing double digit capacity in hot places like Arizona and Texas. One owner is currently at 33-40% degradation in Phoenix (4 or the 12 battery capacity bars missing).

We already know virtually every change anticipated for the 2013 LEAF; optional 6.6kW charger (double the speed of your 3.3kW), optional leather and power seats, two interior colors, North American styling cues (whatever that means), same exact battery, to be built in Tennessee.

gmlawrence said:

I bought it at Town North Nissan. They are giving good deals and also a Chargepoint card for 1 yr free charging. We still need to get the charger installed at the house.

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That's where I got both of mine from. Anthony was my salesman but Dana is now handling the leaf sales. I would consider the EVSE upgrade for about $300 bucks and have a 240 outlet put in vs charger unless free or cheaper. Have not noticed an increase on my utility bill yet. The heat is what's causing my a/c to run and increase electric bill. I work out of the house so the cars get charged 2-3 times a week.

Ian B

Just visited Austin in my Volt (the Leaf wouldn't make it there). The thing that occurred to me is that all the hills would wreak havoc with the GOM (that thing that gives you a wild estimate of your expected range based on recent driving), you would have to be very careful if you were ever cutting your range close.

I know it is too late, but I also would have advised that you lease given the hot weather battery concerns. I'm almost certain I'll be seeing range issues over the 3 years we are leasing our Leaf, and hope Nissan comes up with some kind of solution for those of us that are going to be affected. I leased for tax rebate reasons, as the hot weather issue hadn't flared up yet. If I had known that in advance, I may actually have 3 Volts.

Just wanted to add a note for future consumers of this thread, since it's too late for the OP. Our LEAF, after just 18 months of ownership can now only travel 65 miles on a 100% charge down to very-low battery warning. This is with VERY conservative 5 mi/kWh driving. Nissan tells us this is normal, nothing will be done. Also, as far as I can tell, ALL cars in Phoenix have lost 100% of their value in that no dealer will take them as a trade-in because of the issues. They are literally worthless as a purchased vehicle. Those who leased affected cars are able to return them early with very little premium, but I am stuck in mine, as are many here, even if I end up having to get another car to make it to work. The heat issues are prevalent in southern California and Texas as well.

If you dont mind, how much was the extended warranty?.. others here in the forum have paid $1100 for the 96 month 100k miles factory extended warranty.

As for the ext warranty we got the "Gold" which I think was 72 months and it was about 60 more a month. We refused at first and they came down and they removed road hazard which they felt we didn't need anyway. We already knew about how the battery warranty works but the sales guys Dana and Larry also assured us that if something is out of the ordinary other than the normal battery wear and tear of a lithium ion then Nissan will work with us. Also my Dad worked in the car battery business before retiring so we have a good knowledge of a lot of how it works.

We did a lot of reading on our own about the battery capacity issues and how to help get around that in the hotter climates. The lease they offered us did not make sense for us since it was a 48 month lease and by that time you might as well own the car. We are going to be adding the 240V charger to the house when Austin Energy contacts us with the application information.

My husband and I did not go into this sale blindly and did a lot of work up front so I am really happy with our purchase. With new technology like this you never know what is going to happen and we might get burned but at least we went for it and are helping move a frame of mind and a new technology forward....

Congratulations!!!

Welcome to Team EV :mrgreen:

I was charging at a Walgreens in Cedar Park on Saturday and a lady in her Toyota 4runner parked next to me and said, what a cool car. She asked if a hybrid and I said no, 100 percent electric. Spent about 5 mins explaining it all to her and she was impressed and good for people to get off the oil.

Had the A/C repair guy at the house on Thursday and he said my 2 Leafs were the first ones he had seen. Believed in the tech to get off the oil.

Ian B

MrIanB said:

I was charging at a Walgreens in Cedar Park on Saturday and a lady in her Toyota 4runner parked next to me and said, what a cool car. She asked if a hybrid and I said no, 100 percent electric. Spent about 5 mins explaining it all to her and she was impressed and good for people to get off the oil.

Had the A/C repair guy at the house on Thursday and he said my 2 Leafs were the first ones he had seen. Believed in the tech to get off the oil.

Ian B

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That is such good news. I love spreading the word of my new car. Just showed a co-worker the new toy and he was impressed and was thinking of getting one. Didn't realize the room and the size of the car.

The only thing that we were worried about is upgrading the house's electric box. We have a 60's house and I know it is gonna cost a few extra pennies. It is one of those things though that I know it needs to get done anyway so I guess we bite the bullet and do it now. Plus apparently we have one of those old boxes that were known for burning your house down so it is a plus all the way around.

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