The official "I got my Leaf" thread

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I am signing the papers on a '13 SV Certified Pre-Owned for $9,100+taxes in the Twin Cities, Minnesota today, 27k miles, has the 6.6kW charger on board, 12/12 bars on the battery gauge, CPO warranty goes through September 2020.. The only thing I'm wondering about in terms of "buyer's remorse" is how much I may be missing out on by not having the quick charger on board.

The car is for my wife, who should have a less than 20 mile one-way commute, and we plan on having level 2 charging installed in our home.

Those who don't have QC installed - have you found yourselves missing that feature regularly, or is it not a big deal? I figured that we wouldn't need to QC much if we're charging at home every night.

Thanks!
 
dbrie said:
I am signing the papers on a '13 SV Certified Pre-Owned for $9,100+taxes in the Twin Cities, Minnesota today, 27k miles, has the 6.6kW charger on board, 12/12 bars on the battery gauge, CPO warranty goes through September 2020.. The only thing I'm wondering about in terms of "buyer's remorse" is how much I may be missing out on by not having the quick charger on board.

The car is for my wife, who should have a less than 20 mile one-way commute, and we plan on having level 2 charging installed in our home.

Those who don't have QC installed - have you found yourselves missing that feature regularly, or is it not a big deal? I figured that we wouldn't need to QC much if we're charging at home every night.

Thanks!
The twin cities has very few QC stations so even though my Leafs have QC I don't really use it, the 6.6kw charger is very nice though on my '13. I only used QC on my '13 once, it was last week in the bitter cold. I regularly make a trip from Burnsville to Plymouth and in the summer I'm able to do it with less than a 80% charge but in last weeks extreme cold I charged to 100% in Bville but it was down to 30% by Plymouth(never a good sign to take more than 50% of your charge at your halfway point :( ) and this was with very minimal heat. Anyway I charged 1hr in Plymouth on a 20a 240v circuit which got me up to 50% but I figured not enough to get back to Bville. I thought of waiting around another hr but wanted to get going before evening traffic started, so on the way home I swung by Wayzata Nissan(where I purchased my '12 SL) and made use of their free QC. No one was using it and 20 minutes later my charge went from 42% to 82%! very cool. Needless to say my trip home was nice and toasty warm as I had power to burn.
While it was nice to charge for only 20 minutes and gain 40% charge, this is by far the exception and not the norm for me, I normally plan my trips and charging so I don't have use the QC option and the only reason it worked was because there was a place right on my way and it was free, if it had cost I'd have probably just hung out another hour charging for free with my L2, while the QC was nice, I don't think I'd really pay much more for it. Now if I lived in CA or places with lots of QCs around it might be a different story but not around this frozen tundra.
While your wifes 40 mile RT commute should be doable in most all circumstances, even with a 100% charge it could get close in sub zero temps. It would be nice if she had the option of even a lowly 120v outlet to charge at work in those cases but it should probably be fine without too. My trip is/was 60 miles RT and again I normally do it with no problem in the bitter cold the range was more like 50 or even a bit less range.
Have you picked out a 240v(L2) EVSE? with a 40 mile commute it will be a MUST, 120v just won't cut it, the car would need to be charging basically all the time it wasn't driving, L2, especially 27.5a(max for your car) is very very nice, preheat also works much better, that is you don't actually lose charge preheating like you would with a 120v or even <16a L2 EVSE.
 
dbrie said:
I am signing the papers on a '13 SV Certified Pre-Owned for $9,100+taxes in the Twin Cities, Minnesota today, 27k miles, has the 6.6kW charger on board, 12/12 bars on the battery gauge, CPO warranty goes through September 2020.. The only thing I'm wondering about in terms of "buyer's remorse" is how much I may be missing out on by not having the quick charger on board.

The car is for my wife, who should have a less than 20 mile one-way commute, and we plan on having level 2 charging installed in our home.

Those who don't have QC installed - have you found yourselves missing that feature regularly, or is it not a big deal? I figured that we wouldn't need to QC much if we're charging at home every night.

Thanks!

Congrats! Interesting as I drove one similar to what you described at Eden Prairie. Nice car but with my teenagers driving needed a darker interior. Ended up with a very similar car from Wayzata last Friday. Love the car and also don't have the quick charger but I don't live in the cities and in my area there are no QC options except for Tesla's, surprisingly. That's fine for me though as 90% of our daily driving falls nicely within the limits of the car's range. Enjoy!
 
Those who don't have QC installed - have you found yourselves missing that feature regularly, or is it not a big deal? I figured that we wouldn't need to QC much if we're charging at home every night.

I didn't miss it while we had no QC stations. Now that we do, I do miss being able to use it, but I drive much farther than you will be driving. I think that a 30 amp L-2 station will work just fine for you. If you plan on only charging overnight, even a 16 or 20 amp L-2 station should be fine.
 
My wife and I have a 2015 SV without the QC and don't miss it at all. I have the level 2 in my garage and that is where it has charged 100% of the time. There is only one QC station in our town - Bakersfield, CA (at the Nissan dealer) so even if we had a QC we would have never used it. The only time I anticipate regretting not having the QC is when I go to sell it. ;)

Cheers
 
Picked up a sweet lease on a 2016 SV. 12k miles, 3 yr, $0 down, $10300 residual for $257/month inclusive of all taxes & fees. Going from a 1 bar loser in our 2013 to a new 30kwh pack is a breath of fresh air.
 
Phatcat73 said:
Picked up a sweet lease on a 2016 SV. 12k miles, 3 yr, $0 down, $10300 residual for $257/month inclusive of all taxes & fees. Going from a 1 bar loser in our 2013 to a new 30kwh pack is a breath of fresh air.


If you get the chance, please run LeafSpy on it. I'd consider a deal like that, but only if the pack isn't degraded.
 
In San Diego, one dealer told me that 90% or more of their sales were leases nowadays. if I remember right, the lease deal I was offered for an SV for three years added up to around $9300

Anyway I still wanted to buy if I could find a really good deal. I worked with three dealers, one in L.A. And two in San Diego. I told them I had just gotten a new battery for my 2011 SL last April under warranty so didn't really need a new car, but if I could find a really good deal....

One dealer offered me a dealer discount of 3030 and Nissan Rebate of 7000. The L.A dealer offered a bigger dealer discount, about $6500, but only a Nissan Rebate of 3000. I liked the bigger dealer discount because you pay less taxes and DMV registration. I was finally able to get one San Diego dealer to give me $7000 dealer discount and $3000 Nissan Rebate off an SV with premium package (surround view and Bose stereo) and Pearl White - As an end of month/end of year deal on 12/30/2016.

I am selling my 2011 SL with 62,000 miles and new battery to an interested friend for $6000. I am still getting the federal tax credit and $2500 CA Rebate. I feel like I am getting a new improve EV for the price of a used vehicle!

That's my story.

Now in 2017 I need to get solar!
 
Congrats! The range of the 30kw battery is a welcome improvement. Regarding lease vs buy. The technology advancements in the next 6-12 months will significantly push down resale more so, IMO than the last few years. If I look at the out of pocket expense, buying out my lease will cost about $3000 more than purchasing outright. However I'm a gambling man and realize that Nissan has been offering some significant residual discounting near lease turn in. I suspect this will continue in about 2-3 years upon gen 1 lease turn ins, particularly as the competition will be fierce and 150-200 mile range vehicles will be the baseline at an even lower entry price point than today's discounted Leafs.

My $0.02
 
Phatcat73 said:
Congrats! The range of the 30kw battery is a welcome improvement. Regarding lease vs buy. The technology advancements in the next 6-12 months will significantly push down resale more so, IMO than the last few years. If I look at the out of pocket expense, buying out my lease will cost about $3000 more than purchasing outright. However I'm a gambling man and realize that Nissan has been offering some significant residual discounting near lease turn in. I suspect this will continue in about 2-3 years upon gen 1 lease turn ins, particularly as the competition will be fierce and 150-200 mile range vehicles will be the baseline at an even lower entry price point than today's discounted Leafs.

My $0.02

Yes, I agree on two points. Because of the recent competition:

1) Your gamble may be a good one and the purchase price on the residual may come down nicely in 2-3 years, and
2) thanks to the competition (Bolt, Ioniq, M3), the current Nissan Dealer discounts and Nissan rebates are MUCH better that 5 1/2 years ago when I got my first Leaf in 2011.

In a few years I may decide to upgrade again while giving one of my friends a good deal on my 2017 Leaf :) and continue the spread of EVs.
 
Yesterday I picked up a Silver 2015 S with 24,000 miles and 12 bars on the battery for 7,900 + taxes = 8,900. Basic charger and everything else, but I was surprised to learn today that it has one rear heated seat (not both).
 
bongo2 said:
...but I was surprised to learn today that it has one rear heated seat (not both).
Never heard of that :? note it may just have one switch but it should heat both rear seats(I don't believe any do the seat backs).
 
Oh, maybe they are both heated. It's one switch and I thought that when I moved from one side to the other it wasn't heated but it may have been the influence of my butt on the one seat that made it feel different!
 
bongo2 said:
Oh, maybe they are both heated. It's one switch and I thought that when I moved from one side to the other it wasn't heated but it may have been the influence of my butt on the one seat that made it feel different!

I think there's a sensor so the seat only heats if someone is sitting there.
 
Just picked up a 2017 Leaf SV in Silver

Couldn't resist. Local electric company offered a 10k rebate off MSRP.

so far, going to work and back actually GAINS distance remaining. I'm liking it.
 
Deathwater said:
Just picked up a 2017 Leaf SV in Silver

Couldn't resist. Local electric company offered a 10k rebate off MSRP.

so far, going to work and back actually GAINS distance remaining. I'm liking it.

Going to guess that you meant that you charge enough at work to cover your round trip commute usage plus a little extra?
 
Back
Top