Second car, owning vs renting vs borrowing vs avoiding.

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All very good reasons why something like a pusher trailer of some sort would be ideal for you. Sure it might have a relatively high initial cost but I don't think you'd have insurance to contend with and I'm also not sure about tab fees in your state. In my state I believe anything that touches the road(so not something like a receiver basket) needs to have tabs. True it would probably be pretty cheap($20 ish) and with some trailers your able to purchase lifetime tabs for not much more. The other option of a receiver basket and 30a 240v generator to charge when not driving, this is again somewhat costly(~$1000??) and I personally wouldn't feel too comfortable carrying around a 250-300lb generator a foot or more behind my Leaf.
I know you kind of nixed a PHEV and I don't believe there is currently a good choice of one that is spacious and has as long of a EV range as a Leaf. The newer Volt would somewhat work but it's range is 20-30 miles less EV than a 24kwh Leaf and is quite cramped IMO, all around. The older used Volts are somewhat reasonably priced($12k range in my market) but they even had less EV range(40 miles I believe) and they were also only 4 passenger. Another disadvantage of a PHEV like the Volt is I believe keeping it on EV only gets to be rather tricky in the winter, it keeps wanting to start the ICE for heat! If your willing to put up with maintaining a second ICE vehicle, a single PHEV wouldn't give you any more maintenance such as oil changes and would save on insurance/tabs, etc but again in the cold could be an issue.
Another option but even less of a EV range than the Volt and definitely more costly would be a PHEV Chrysler Pacifica. 30 mile EV only range, decent ICE MPG, room to haul 4x8 sheet goods or 7 passengers. The downside other than the 30 mile EV range would be ~$40K cost, including the $7500 federal rebate due to it's >16kwh battery. I was/am seriously considering this option although I'm not sure I'd want to drive around/park something as large as a full sized minivan for my daily driving. I'd also kind of like a 60 mile EV range but I guess you can't always get what you want.....

AFA a decent full amperage EVSE, in your case I'd strongly suggest something like my ZenEVSE which is very portable(about the same size and weight as a OEM Leaf EVSE) works on both 120 and 240v and is adjustable to 4 amperage settings that you chose when built. You'll have to be kind of handy, making various outlet adapters such as I did, they end up costing ~$20-30 in parts. You may be able to purchase them too, I'd guess they might end up costing $30-60, if you can find what you want. My Zen EVSE ended up costing a shade <$300 including shipping from China.
I chose mine to be fitted with a L6-30p(plug) because IMO thats the easiest, cheapest and most compact end to adapt to various other plugs although you could also go with the most common 14-50p which Tesla has kind of standardized and your most often to see in a RV campground.
 
An advantage to the pusher trailer over the PHEV is that if the engine breaks down I still have a functional car that I don't have to take apart to fix it take to a mechanic to fix. I can simply detach the pusher trailer and drive the Leaf and then figure out how to fix the pusher trailer on my own time. But if there's a problem with the PHEV's engine then I have to either not fix it and keep driving it in EV mode or get it fixed and while waiting for it to get fixed rent or borrow another car.

Another idea I have up my sleeve is to see if my mom will trade cars for me for the week I'll be gone. She could drive my Leaf for her normal commuting and I could take her Chevy Sonic and enjoy the experience of driving a stick shift once again. :D

I think a lot of what any single person decides to do depends a lot on their reasons for owning a Leaf. If it's all about the environment then for those long trips they'll be looking for whatever uses the least amount of fossil fuel, be that a better range BEV, a PHEV, a hybrid or simply a very good fuel mileage car.

For me I'm happy to be doing less damage to the environment via an electric car. But the other reason for owning it is for economic reasons. $6,000 to $8,000 for a car that is practically brand new (to my standards anyhow) and gets 115mpg is a no-brainer for someone wanting to pinch pennies and have a nice vehicle. Because of that reason I'm more in favor of either renting, borrowing or finding a cheap second vehicle that might not get to great of fuel mileage, but since I wouldn't be driving it all that often it wouldn't matter as much.
 
IssacZachary said:
...Another idea I have up my sleeve is to see if my mom will trade cars for me for the week I'll be gone. She could drive my Leaf for her normal commuting and I could take her Chevy Sonic and enjoy the experience of driving a stick shift once again. :D

I think a lot of what any single person decides to do depends a lot on their reasons for owning a Leaf. If it's all about the environment then for those long trips they'll be looking for whatever uses the least amount of fossil fuel, be that a better range BEV, a PHEV, a hybrid or simply a very good fuel mileage car.
Thats also a good idea, which I was going to suggest but wasn't sure if you have anyone near you that would be OK with the swap.
I do this for our weekly summer camping trip. I let my mother use my Leaf(which I've setup a 240v charging in her garage) while we borrow her older Ford Freestyle. We get a 6 passenger car that with a receiver rack and bike rack will carry all our gear(for the 600 mile RT) and she gets to drive for a week without buying gas :) Of course we kind of get the better end of the stick as we put on more miles(even if it's only in the mid 20s MPG :( ) but she's OK with it and really likes my Leaf. I've been trying to talk her into getting a Pacifica PHEV so she could cut her gas bill way down but the $40k price tag kind of has her scared.....
 
jjeff said:
I've been trying to talk her into getting a Pacifica PHEV so she could cut her gas bill way down but the $40k price tag kind of has her scared.....
From an economical standpoint going all electric doesn't always make the most sense.

I'd say wait until there are three year old Pacifica's that cost around half but have only some 30,000 miles on them.
 
IssacZachary said:
jjeff said:
I've been trying to talk her into getting a Pacifica PHEV so she could cut her gas bill way down but the $40k price tag kind of has her scared.....
From an economical standpoint going all electric doesn't always make the most sense.

I'd say wait until there are three year old Pacifica's that cost around half but have only some 30,000 miles on them.
Exactly what she wants to do from talking to her yesterday :)
I do question how much the Pacifica PHEV will drop though, I mean it would have to drop $7500 day 1 to offset the federal rebate she'd probably get and as it also has a ICE I just don't see it dropping like the EV only Leafs. I mean even with the Volt you just don't see them dropping like a Leaf. A ~$40k Leaf can be as low as $8-9k after 3 years, a $40k Volt is more like $12k or more(at least in my market). While still a significant drop it's not nearly as much as the EV only Leaf. Another thing I notice is the PHEVs Volts are much higher mileage than the Leafs, which I guess makes sense as the Leaf is more or less a urban car while the Volt can travel all over.
 
Thinking along the lines of "my Leaf is a short distance car" I Googled (or should I say Binged) "Long distance cars." I had to laugh at the first search result:

Bing Result #1

Apparently the Nissan Leaf comes in as #4 for the best long distance driving cars! :lol:

I guess I'll just drive the Leaf everywhere I need to go then! Time for that trip to Alaska! :lol:
 
I spotted a 2007 Madza5 with a manual transmission, with 80,000 miles and for only two grand! I might make this my second vehicle to the Leaf! It has 6 seats, a 4 cylinder engine and a manual transmission and belongs to the mini-minivan category. I love it!
 
I have never owned a Mazda but I respect the company for their top flight engineering despite relatively limited resources and think they make fine cars. When the Mazda5 came out I thought it would be a hit since it offered so much utility in a car package.
 
SageBrush said:
I have never owned a Mazda but I respect the company for their top flight engineering despite relatively limited resources and think they make fine cars. When the Mazda5 came out I thought it would be a hit since it offered so much utility in a car package.

We had three cars with Mazda drivetrains: a '90's era 323 hatchback and two Mercury Tracers. I became much less enamored of Mazda's engineering when the hydraulic lifters started failing - not just in the 323 but in both Tracers. They designed them poorly, they all seemed to fail even before 100k miles, and as a result I haven't seen this drivetrain on the road in 15 years. Meh.
 
LeftieBiker said:
SageBrush said:
I have never owned a Mazda but I respect the company for their top flight engineering despite relatively limited resources and think they make fine cars. When the Mazda5 came out I thought it would be a hit since it offered so much utility in a car package.

We had three cars with Mazda drivetrains: a '90's era 323 hatchback and two Mercury Tracers. I became much less enamored of Mazda's engineering when the hydraulic lifters started failing - not just in the 323 but in both Tracers. They designed them poorly, they all seemed to fail even before 100k miles, and as a result I haven't seen this drivetrain on the road in 15 years. Meh.

I had a '93 323 that was my beloved car for several years before I got talked out of it by my father-in-law. The car cost me $250, needed a battery and a radiator and had a warped head. I found a receipt in the car with a warranty for the battery and went and had the head milled and put in a new radiator. The check engine light never came on after that and I got about 45mpg on the highway in it! I drove that car clear to Puerto Vallarta Mexico and back. I gave it to my father-in-law with over 200,000 miles on it. But he abused the poor thing and ended up taking it to the junkyard about 5 years later. I didn't think about the lifters but the problem he started to have with it sounds like that could have been the reason.

Speaking of Mazdas, I've always wanted an RX-8. There's just something about the rotary engine that intrigues me. But practicality keeps telling me "no!"
 
I assume you got new lifters when the head was done? I tried rebuilt ones, and they failed too. New ones were about $100 each, IIRC. That engine would probably have done much better on full synthetic oil. The cars were great, aside from that ultimately fatal flaw. The Tracers actually had nicer, larger bodies, with some cheaper bits and pieces.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I assume you got new lifters when the head was done? I tried rebuilt ones, and they failed too. New ones were about $100 each, IIRC. That engine would probably have done much better on full synthetic oil. The cars were great, aside from that ultimately fatal flaw. The Tracers actually had nicer, larger bodies, with some cheaper bits and pieces.
No, no new lifters. The mill job cost me about $50 (IIRC). But I was usually on top of my oil changes every 3 months.
 
We've got lots of vehicles. The Leaf is an excellent car, and for some places it would work as a solo car. Unfortunately for us, 300mi+ ski trips are common in a single day going up and down mountains through white out blizzard conditions. I don't care about 4WD, but I need enough stored energy onboard to carry a bunch of cargo and the vehicle up and down mountain passes at highway speeds for hundreds of miles with HVAC controls. The Leaf can't do it. A Tesla can't do it. Petrol is really good at storing energy, and that's why we take the Prius to the mountains. The other major non-Leaf driving is on weekends. We fly almost every weekend which involves a 90mi drive at highway speeds (90mph+ sustained) to the airport one way. After we fly we almost always rent a car (except in NYC because public transport FTW!) and it is always a pure ICE or HEV. I have yet to get a BEV or even PHEV as a rental, and it is not for a lack of trying.

So I could survive with 2 vehicles, a Leaf and a "something else" with an engine. But sometimes you want luxury, so you get in the Lexus. Sometimes you want fun and the unpredictability of an old terrible car, and then there's the DeLorean.

Looking to add a 2018 Panamera plug-in when they come out later this year.
 
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