OrientExpress said:
My pleasure.
I must say that despite the low prices, I really can't recommend buying a 2011 or 12 LEAF. And my advice at this point is not directed generally about the car, but rather the Gen-1 battery. The rest of the car is the most reliable trouble-free car that i have ever driven. This is the first car that I had ever had that had NO warranty claims on it for it's entire warranty.
So if you don't care about the battery, or the many inefficient ways it does thing s, then by all means get one.
But remember, the vast majority of 11-12 LEAFs on the road today have some amount of noticeable battery degradation. Eventually the battery will become unserviceable for a whole host of issues. A replacement battery will cost somewhere between $0 & $6000. And most 2011 LEAFs will be going out of battery warranty next year.
So, why not just spend that the $8K that you were going to spend plus the $6000 or less that you will need to spend on a replacement battery and get a 2013-15 LEAF instead? You will get so much more; A better Battery, a better HVAC, a better charger, a better motor, better software, a better ride & handling, a better body structure, A lot of betters!
And so it is, the life of a Version 1, rev 0 product.
If you think you can buy a used 2015 or very late year 2014 at that price go for it but 2013 battery packs are degrading at roughly the same rate as 2012 packs did as far as I can tell.
The 2014 packs are mostly the same as the 2013 (rumor is some late 2014 leafs got the 2015 pack but we have no idea on how many or where the changeover started).
There is a fresh query in another thread from a user looking at a 2013 in San Jose with SOH of 90%. 1 bar loss happens at 85% and there are two 2011 Leafs in the wiki with the first bar lost around 22 to 36 months. The poster didn't give us date of manufacture so if we guess June then that car is around 24 months in and on track for losing the first bar within the first 36 months. Nothing impressive to me there.
I'm willing to say there might be a very slight improvement for a 2013 Leaf but I wouldn't pay any extra for the pack change.
In fact I just bought a 2012 SL with SOH of 83% earlier this year and it is down to 81% now. I have no regrets vs the data I'm seeing coming in for SOH on the 2013 Leafs discussed on mynissanleaf.com. At the time of purchase I got it for $8995 and the cheapest 2013 Leafs were several thousand more. If I could have found a 2013 with a higher SOH at a close enough price I would have payed more for higher SOH% but not because it was a 2013.
So in short
* don't pay more for 2013 vs 2012
* do pay more for SOH % if you need it and can trust it (beware of resets)
