easy way to tell a 2013 from a 2012?

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gross150k

New member
Joined
Nov 28, 2018
Messages
2
Good Morning,

I am looking at a 2013 sv . When I run the VIN it says it was manufactured in 2012 . Is there an easy way to confirm it is a 2013?

Thanks

Jim
 
Yes. A 2012 would have a hump in the cargo area where the onboard charger is located. That charger was move to the front in 2013 and the hump vanished. (A Bose subwoofer may be in its place.) There are also auxiliary turn signals on the fenders of the earlier Japanese-made cars that aren't there on the 2013+ cars.

Now the bad news: even a Leaf made in 2013 should be avoided if manufactured before April of the 2013. The battery chemistry in that period is the same terrible mix used in the earlier cars.
 
The 2013 Leafs built AFTER March of 2013 are fine - I drove one for 5 years (made in April) and turned it in with 12 bars (although it was nearing 11 bars). The 2013 has a couple of advantages over the '14: an 80% charge limit option, and the ability to have both option packages installed - in '14 you had to choose one. The battery is the same for the later 2013 and all of 2014.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Yes. A 2012 would have a hump in the cargo area where the onboard charger is located. That charger was move to the front in 2013 and the hump vanished. (A Bose subwoofer may be in its place.) There are also auxiliary turn signals on the fenders of the earlier Japanese-made cars that aren't there on the 2013+ cars.


Also, a '13 would have pull-out extensions on the sun visors. These were introduced with the '13 model year, so would be absent on a 2011 or 2012 unless you were to happen on one of the handful modified by a previous owner. :D
 
Also, ’11 and ’12 Leafs were made in Japan, so their VINs began with a J.

US market Leafs ‘13+ were made in the US, so their VINs would NOT start with a J.

The side marker lights front fenders are the easiest way to tell from the outside. They only exist on US market ’11 and ’12 Leafs. They were removed for the US market versions once production shifted to the US.
 
In my opinion avoid the 13. The 12V charging was tweaked for the better after that. The 13 barely keeps the battery alive.
 
GlennD said:
In my opinion avoid the 13. The 12V charging was tweaked for the better after that. The 13 barely keeps the battery alive.

Good point, but except for a few cars with phantom drains, installing a larger capacity AGM battery seems to solve the poor charging issue. The problem seems to have been that Nissan used the wrong battery for the car's charging algorithm.
 
SalisburySam said:
My 2012 has an electronic parking break; I believe 2013 has a manual one (foot operated).
Correct. Parking brake is a foot pedal on the left on '13 to '17.

It was a large switch on the center console on '11 and '12. Removing that made way for a nice little tray or something that fits small Chinese food containers.

http://sfbayleafs.org/commentary/2013/09/2013-vs-2011-nissan-leaf-whats-new-whats-gone-whats-changed/ has some visual aids for a '13 SL. You can see the parking brake under "Foot operated emergency brake pedal replaces electric emergency brake switch".

Also, the black interior didn't exist until '13. '11 and '12 only had light cloth interiors. '13 to '17 S came in black cloth. '13 to '17 SV had black cloth or light cloth interior (I've had one of each). '13 to '17 SL was black leather only.
 
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