The Perfect 2013 Used Leaf Search Begins! My Checklist:

Hello everyone! Just joined the forum. I have finally decided to look for my next car: The 2013 Nissan Leaf! It meets and exceeds all of my requirements for my daily commute and weekend sprints. I did quite a bit of reading on these forums covering many discussions regarding the info needed for the perfect used Leaf purchase. I live in Southern California so using the heater year round wont be an issue.

The sweet spot between price and reliability seems to lean towards the 2013 model with a strong battery. I am hoping on getting some feedback on key things to look out for I may not have outlined. I know I want the SV package as it has the 6.6KW option and that seems to be included with all 2013 SV, SL models. I also would like the better battery so build date needs to be 4/13 and up. Bose stereo would be a bonus.

Here is my quick required checklist I will bring on my daily searches around town:

6.6 KW Battery
Quickcharge Port
Backup Camera
11-12 Bars Remaining Minimum
Manufactured Date Minimum - 4/13 for upgraded Battery.
NAV SD Card Required
2 Key FOBS
LeafSpy App and Wifi Dongle (Not sure which dongle yet)
VIN Warranty Check

Will the LeafSpy app report the correct battery info if a dealer did the 12 Bar reset cheat?

It seems like mileage is not a big factor but it also makes sense to find one with lower miles as that would buy more time for the 60,000 mile warranty to last. Perhaps keep the search under 35K?

I am really looking forward to finding the right one and say goodbye to all the lovely gas stations I used to visit!

I already bought the perfect used 2013!! Haha but seriously I just picked up a sweet '13 SV and I love it.

Get Leaf Spy and a bluetooth OBD scanner and use it on every Leaf you test drive. You will soon start to understand the numbers and build a database of battery health. From my reading, the best number to look at is the Ah number, I believe you can only see this with the Pro version, but you can calculate it with the free version, or use the kwh number. When I was looking I limited all the cars I would buy to 60Ah or more, if it was under 60Ah I didn't even consider it. 60Ah will be about 18 - 18.5kwh IIRC. The 1st bar is lost at around 54Ah, some less some more but that's also about 10Ah less than they came new, so you can see why the Ah is a better measure. They came new at 66Ah FYI. The Ah number is also immune to bar-resetting. It will always be the true capacity of the pack, at least measured by the computer.

Mileage also does not scale with battery health. I would go for the best battery you can get, it will likely keep 12 bars until well out of warranty as long as you don't overheat it.

Good call on the CHAdeMO and 6.6, with an EV you want the fastest charging you can get anywhere, any time IMO. CHAdeMO is awesome but very rare in my area but the few times I've used it it's been invaluable.

Leather, meh. It felt pretty cheap in the few SLs I drove. Japanese leather just isn't that great but their cloth seats are usually awesome.

Since you are in CA a good 2015 S might fit the bill. In my area the SL and SVs definitely fetch a premium but the S models are dime a dozen and dipping into $7k and less even for a 2015. Most likely because it gets cold here and the heater is a deciding factor (was for me).

I just got my Carwings working today and I can say I am totally stoked to have this ability. Being able to check on the charge status, pre-heat/cool, etc are going to be incredibly useful.

Also I hate hubcaps!

Thanks for the feedback. My budget is up to $8k. I didn't even consider a 2015 as I thought they would be well over $10k. I will check it out. I forgot to include the VIN warranty check as my last step. Need to make sure the car is covered with Nissan.

I attached a photo of the Leaf Spy Pro Screen 1 where it actually shows the AH reading. I am assuming AH is the same as AHr on the application screen for reading the Amp Hours?

Yep that's the number you should be keeping track of.