Wed Aug 02, 2017 12:33 am
Well, I got my Leaf last November, hope I can still tell how happy I am about it.
I got it used. 25,000 miles on it, a 2012 model. Creampuff condition. Paid $8,000 at a Hyundai dealer used lot in Metairie, LA (Greater New Orleans) It's not a plain S model, I thinks it's a fairly top of the line model, has heated seats, heated steering wheel, smartphone interface, map system, lots of bells and whistles I will never use.
I had been watching Cargurus for some months. Seemed like there were a lot of used Leafs in the Pensacola area, I was thinking about buying one there and having it delivered via truck. But finally one came up right here in New Orleans. Initially it was posted at $9500 but I just treated it like a "Dutch auction" and waited for the list price to drop, which it did after about 90 days sitting on the lot.
I took a taxi to the dealership and was in and out in about the time it takes to get a rental car. Well, okay, it took longer than that once you count the test drive, but I would have been willing to skip that part, I only did it to be polite to the sales guy, who had gone to a lot of trouble to learn the car's feature even though it was just used and wasn't on his own dealership lineup.
I work nights and my employer lets me plug it in for free, so I am saving about a thousand bucks a year compared to the fuel costs of my former gasmobile. At night the power here in New Orleans comes almost entirely from the Waterford 3 nuke facility just up the river so I am fond of saying my car is "atomic powered."
The car had 10 bars of capacity at time of purchase. I charge it to 80%, it gives me all the range and more that I need for all of my activities of living, and I expect many good years of use out of the thing. (I don;t live but about 9 miles from work and everything I need is between there and home)