looking to buy my first leaf

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slmooreok

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
8
Location
Oklahoma City
Hello. I am looking to buy my first Leaf. I have been lurking in here for a while reading and learning. I live in Oklahoma City. My daily commute is about 13 miles one way. 99% of the time it is just me driving to and from work, with an occasional errand to run in the evening and/or a short drive for lunch. I probably average about 12,000 miles per year.

My wife drives a minivan that we would use for road trips or any time we need more room for our two kids 11 & 9yo. We also test drove a Volt, which I liked, but the back seat was so cramped that we ruled it out. I am hopeful that we can choose to take the Leaf out to dinner or other family outing once a week or so, and maybe take some of the load (and gas cost) off of the minivan.

This will be replacing an old 2000 Malibu with 140,000 miles. I would like to drive it for a while, and would NOT plan on replacing it in 2-3 years.

I am looking at two low mileage CPO cars here locally. Having longer powertrain CPO warranty seems nice to me, especially since I won't be able to take the Leaf to my mechanic. The first is a 2015 S with 4700 miles. The second is a 2016 S w/ 30kwh battery and 2700 miles. Right now the 2016 is listed at $4000 more than the 2015. Both of these cars were locally owned.

From what I can tell, the advantages of the 2016 are:

1) 30kwh battery means longer range and more years before battery degrades below my useful limit
2) I think the 30kwh battery gets longer battery degradation warranty?
3) 10 more months of bumper-to-bumper warranty
4) The stock stereo seems to have NissanConnect Mobile Apps - not sure what the advantages of this are vs the 2015 S. If my phone can send bluetooth audio I think I am happy

To me right now I don't think the 2016 seems worth an extra $4k, but I would imagine they would come down off of that price (likely the 2015 dealer would also though). Are there other advantages I am missing? How much $ would the longer range of the 2016 be worth to you? Should I get an OBD scanner and leafspy to check out the batteries on these, even with the low miles? Any other things I should be thinking about?

Thanks!
 
Why not split the difference and get yourself a 2014 or 2015 Leaf SV. It's definitely worth the price difference over the S model, IMHO
 
List prices are $16k for the 2016 S-30 and $12k for the 2015 S. I'm sure they will come down some. In fact Cargurus showed the 2016 listed at $14,500 over labor day (surprising it is that much higher now).

There really aren't any SV or SL models in town. There is a used non CPO 2015 SV w/ 15k miles listed about 4.5 hours away listed at $12,750. Seems like the things that are valued in these lines are the nav system and more efficient heater, but those don't interest me too much, as it doesn't get very cold and I wouldn't take the Leaf far enough out of town to need the navigation. Are there other things that I am missing?
 
Extras you get on an SV with Charge Package:

  • 6.6 kW onboard charger, twice as fast as S trim
  • 16" aluminum alloy wheels look nice and are lighter
  • Navigation system
  • Cruise control
  • B-mode, which provides more aggressive regen
  • LED headlights and automatic features thereof
  • Fog lights
  • A 6 speaker stereo
  • Heat pump, more efficient in mild winter conditions
  • Auto-dimming rear view mirror

I probably forgot a few...

The heat pump is actually more beneficial for milder winter climates as, when it's extremely cold, the resistive heater kicks in on an SV - the same resistive heater on the S (which is why they call the heat pump system a hybrid).
 
I'm sure you're right about the CC, I have a 2013 SV and I honestly haven't looked at the specs for newer models. I'll do that someday, when I'm ready to buy a newer Leaf :)
 
The SV or SL heat pump is a real advantage in moderate climates like Oklahoma City. The navigation system also allows remote access via smart phone or computer to check status of car and start climate control. The charging and climate control timers in the navigation system also offer more programming flexibility than the timers in the dash display of the S. Since you probably won't be pushing daily range to the limit for a 24 kWh LEAF, I suggest you look for a 2015 SV or SL. There are reports on the forum of early capacity loss on the 30 kWh batteries while the "lizard" batteries in the 2015 seem to be doing better in hot climates. The 30 kWh batteries do have a longer capacity warranty so you would be covered for 8 years or 100,000 miles compared to the 5-year, 60,000-mile capacity warranty and 8-year, 100,000-mile defect warranty on the 24 kWh batteries. Keep in mind that warranty is from original in service date regardless of model year and manufacture date.

I personally would not pay $4,000 more for the 2016 S, but would pay that much extra for an SV or SL.
 
Well I wound up buying the local 2016 S-30. Will put details in the I got my leaf thread. Super excited! Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply
 
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