2013 LEAF Pricing and Features-S:28,800 SV:31,820 SL:34,840

[TimLee]

I would never buy a car without cruise control.

Nissan is counting on folks like you to pay thousands of dollars extra.

I almost never use cruise control, if you plan on hypermiling and wringing the most out of your car cruise is a total waste.

If I could sell my existing cars a leaf would be in my future at current pricing, but I would rather wait for the 2012's or 011's with cold weather package to get nice and cheap (maybe a couple years) and pick one up.

I have been actively looking for a salvage leaf, too bad they sell for $12k+, no way you could ever justify salvage at that price, ah well.

I noticed several 012 MIEVs out east for $11k after rebates, I wasn't able to get ahold of them fast enough to snag one though I am wondering if the leaf pricing will continue this effect on volts as well ?

To each his own.
The last vehicle I owned / drove without cruise control was a Volkswagen Beatle in high school. 1978.
There were one or two good things about that vehicle, but not having cruise control was not one of them.
But cruise control on my previous vehicle a 1994 Taurus SHO had become unreliable, part of why I bought a LEAF.
I don't plan to go back to no cruise control.
But to each his own.

I tend to think LEAFfan is correct, that the inefficiency of cruise control is grossly exaggerated. On relatively level roads it is probably about the same as careful throttle control in Eco or maybe even coasting in Neutral.
If you want to hypermile, Great, as long as you're maintaining a somewhat steady speed and not impeding traffic flow.

I think your opportunities to buy a LEAF at a very good price are numerous. Some people bought 2012 LEAFs for just a bit over $15,000 at the end of last year. With over 1/3 of the 2011 LEAFs being leased instead of purchased, and an even higher percentage of 2012 LEAFs being leased, soon there will be a lot on the market at very attractive prices.
I think most of those are a far superior value compared to the 2013 LEAF S.
I believe you are correct that the salvage value of a LEAF will remain surprisingly high. There are a lot of people doing conversions of ICE vehicles to electric. Bargain basement conversions start at around $15,000 and can easily hit $25,000.
So curiously, a used LEAF is in a strange market position. Taking a beating down to really low resale values. But with a surprising floor that it doesn't seem to fall too far below, probably driven by people wanting to do conversions or pick up a perfectly serviceable used LEAF at a bargain compared to a conversion.

 

[carolle]

http://www.nissanusa.com/st/nissan/pdf/compare/2013/2013_Nissan_LEF.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm considering leasing 2013 LEAF S or SV model. But, have questions on choosing the model.

(1) Does SV base (w/o any packages) has a rear camera? Do I must buy premium package for rear camera?

(2) Do you believe SV is worthy? So far, I never owned a car with navigation system. So, wondering whether the nav system is comparable to my Google maps.

(3) In particular, I'm wondering Nissan's SV navigation system charges annual fee.

Thank you in advance.

 

[LEAFfan]

http://www.nissanusa.com/st/nissan/pdf/compare/2013/2013_Nissan_LEF.pdf

I'm considering leasing 2013 LEAF S or SV model. But, have questions on choosing the model.

(1) Does SV base (w/o any packages) has a rear camera? Do I must buy premium package for rear camera?

(2) Do you believe SV is worthy? So far, I never owned a car with navigation system. So, wondering whether the nav system is comparable to my Google maps.

(3) In particular, I'm wondering Nissan's SV navigation system charges annual fee.


Thank you in advance.

1. No and Yes
2 . Yes, absolutely
3. No

 

[TimLee]

http://www.nissanusa.com/st/nissan/pdf/compare/2013/2013_Nissan_LEF.pdf

I'm considering leasing 2013 LEAF S or SV model. But, have questions on choosing the model.

(1) Does SV base (w/o any packages) has a rear camera? Do I must buy premium package for rear camera?

(2) Do you believe SV is worthy? So far, I never owned a car with navigation system. So, wondering whether the nav system is comparable to my Google maps.

(3) In particular, I'm wondering Nissan's SV navigation system charges annual fee.


Thank you in advance.

1. No and Yes
2 . Yes, absolutely
3. No

A little input on 2.
I believe the SV is a far better choice than the S, but the primary driving positive is availability of the heat pump heating system. I would never buy a LEAF again with the high energy consumption of the heat system on the 2011 LEAF / 2012 LEAF / 2013 LEAF S.
I have the navigation system on both my 2011 LEAF SL and 2009 Altima. I like the convenience of it, and use it a lot.
But both have significant deficiencies. In general the 2011 LEAF navigation is better than the 2009 Altima, in particular it ususally tells you whether your destination is on the left or right. The 2009 Altima doesn't, and often will tell you that you've reached your destination a 1/4 mile or more before you get there. Sometimes the destination can be hard to find with this poor level of detail.
But the 2011 LEAF navigation voice control is useless. Far worse than the 2009 Altima.
The Nissan navigation equipment supplier (Clarion?) is relatively pathethic.
But I still like the convenience of built in nagivation and do use it a lot on both vehicles.
No annual subscription.
But maps are pretty out of date.
I've only bought one update on navigation on the 2009 Altima, bought it after 2 years when they cut the price from $150 to around $70. Still is fairly out of date.
Accuracy of portable navigation units or of using maps.google.com are far better than what Nissan has.
But you can send maps from google to the LEAF navigation. I've done that once when driving to a rural area where the Nissan maps are particularly bad, and it was a pretty good option. I don't have a smart phone yet, but with a smart phone google maps sent to the LEAF is a good work around on the quality of the maps.

 

[planet4ever]

First, the place I always go to answer questions like this is 2013 Nissan LEAF Press Kit. Click the Specs tab to get all the facts. This is an official Nissan website, and hasn't led me astray yet.

Second, I was surprised by LEAFfan's "Yes absolutely" response to your question 2. He was quite likely responding to the "Do you believe SV is worthy?" part. I haven't heard anyone claim that the nav unit is as good as Google maps.

One correction, I believe, to both responses above. Navigation and Carwings are free for three years, but after that there will be a subscription price, that hasn't yet been announced, so far as I know.

Finally, like TimLee I think there are other more important factors to weigh when choosing between an S and an SV.

• Neither has a rear camera standard. For the S you would have to add the Charge Package. For the SV you would need the Premium Package, which gives you an "Around View" camera.
• Neither has the Quick Charge Port standard. The Charge Package would give it to you on the S, but for the SV you would also have to get the LED+QC Package.
• Depending on your location the heat pump may or may not be very valuable. It is standard on the SV and not available on the S.
• Cruise control is something people tend to expect on modern cars. It is missing on the S.
• Some people are excited by the faster charger, though I'm not myself. It mostly depends on how much L2 charging you expect to be doing away from home. It's standard on the SV, optional on the S.

Ray

 

[TimLee]

One correction, I believe, to both responses above. Navigation and Carwings are free for three years, but after that there will be a subscription price, that hasn't yet been announced, so far as I know.

Ray

Good summary Ray.
You are correct that Carwings will be subscription after three years.
But for Navigation, the standard Navigation will work forever without subscription.
If you have Navigation with Traffic Updates, that part would be subscription after three years.
Of course, the maps will gradually be more and more out of date.
I haven't seen prices yet for LEAF navigation SD card maps updates.
For Nissan DVD based navigation, the updates are usually $150, although towards the end of the year they'll usually sell you the nearly one year old update for $75.

 

[apvbguy]

since a very high number of people are leasing their Leafs wouldn't the carwings subscription thing be a moot point?

 

[dgpcolorado]

since a very high number of people are leasing their Leafs wouldn't the carwings subscription thing be a moot point?

It would for those people. But some of us purchased our cars and plan to keep them and there are some people here who have purchased used LEAFs, a number that figures to increase over the next few years.

 

[Petecomp1]

I've leased a 2013 SV (Premium package, Bose, camera, delivered March 12 2013) so was very interested in the comments in this thread, thanks to all!
Here is my experience, hopefully will benefit those considering purchase or leasing:
1) There are so many variables in the decision to acquire a Leaf! Here were mine: a) Cheap electricity in this area (.072/KWH); b) Range anticipated, less than 50 miles round trip maximum; c) Gov't incentives ($7,500 federal, no sales tax WA); d) Fuel cost avoidance; e) Smooth, quiet and fun driving experience, I love small quick cars.
2) Here are the things that made me feel lucky to have the 2013 SV model: a) Heat pump heater works great, AC also works well; b) Bose stereo is magnificent to my ears; c) 6.6KW charger means quick charging (I installed a Nissan 6.6KW L2 charger in my garage); d) Updated NAV, no lawyer disclaimer update as on earlier models; e) Cruise control
3) I leased for one reason only: I anticipate new battery technology in 2 years at the end of my lease. I accept the added costs of the lease (interest, turn-in fee) as the cost of staying up to date. If Nissan had a planned battery replacement/upgrade program I certainly would have purchased rather than leased - but they don't.
After 40 days with this car my feeling is that I wonder why more people would not want one of these...
unless they are just unwilling to do the little bit of homework needed before getting one.
Bill P
Benton City, WA

 

[oobflyer]

-I wouldn't get a Leaf that didn't have CHAdeMO charging capability. This changes the car from a local commuter to a practical vehicle. If you don't have CHAdeMO chargers in your area now - that may change. I got my car last year and a CHAdeMO charger was just installed 30 miles from my house - which just opened up a whole new pathway for me.

-I used the CARWINGS feature a lot when I first got the car, but now I rarely use it - you soon learn about how long it takes to charge and you can set the timer for the heater/AC.

-The navigation, as mentioned before, doesn't have very current maps. I tend to rely on my smart phone navigation rather than the car's GPS.

-I didn't realize that the cruise control was optional - I use it all the time. The cruise control helps significantly on longer trips to improve range.

 

[dgpcolorado]

-I wouldn't get a Leaf that didn't have CHAdeMO charging capability. This changes the car from a local commuter to a practical vehicle. If you don't have CHAdeMO chargers in your area now - that may change. I got my car last year and a CHAdeMO charger was just installed 30 miles from my house - which just opened up a whole new pathway for me.

Or not. Depends on where one lives. The chance of DCFC where I live is zero. But I sure would like to see some L2 charge stations: an hour or so at 240 V would make my longer trips a lot easier in Winter over the coming years.

...-I didn't realize that the cruise control was optional - I use it all the time. The cruise control helps significantly on longer trips to improve range.

The base model S doesn't have cruise control and I agree that it is nice. I promised myself back in the '80s that I wouldn't buy anymore cars without cruise control. But for a short range car, as opposed to driving ten plus hours on the freeway in intercity travel, is it really that important? Nice, but not necessary. Comes down to how much one wants to pay for the extra stuff not available on the "stripped" S model.

 

[jstack6]

a few of my freinds and I are very disappointed we can't get the SL without leather. Nissan used to have a nice synthtic leather that cost less and lasted better. No dead animals in an ECO car is a big issue. :shock:

 

[evnow]

a few of my freinds and I are very disappointed we can't get the SL without leather. Nissan used to have a nice synthtic leather that cost less and lasted better. No dead animals in an ECO car is a big issue. :shock:

I recommend SV with the optional packages.

 

[cwerdna]

Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread on this...

Have people found that there aren't that many available light interior colored '13 Leafs? Let's exclude the S and SL which only come w/black interiors.

I'm in the market for a SV + QC package or SV + QC package + premium package and it so far seems that there aren't many w/that exterior colors that I like (silver, blue and white) which also have the light gray interior. The dealer I'm working with mentioned that most seem to have black interiors. By the time I got on the phone w/her, she said Nissan's system goes down at 8 pm (and it was 8), so she can't do more digging until tomorrow morning, including into Nissan's pipeline.

I know people wanted a darker interior (at least expressed at a SF BayLEAF's meeting when Kadota-san, Mark Perry, Nissan execs and engineers were present) since they've complained the light interior on the '11 and '12s got dirty looking too easily. I just don't like an all black interior. My 02 Maxima GXE I had a grey (darker than the Leaf's light grey, IIRC) interior which I found fine. I wouldn't mind something like that. My mom's 07 Altima Hybrid has a tan cloth interior which I believe is also darker than the Leaf's light grey. That's fine too. I think either of those would be a decent compromise between light grey and black.

My former 04 350Z had an all black interior but I had no choice if I wanted a cloth interior or that trim level (Enthusiast).

 

[RonDawg]

I wish my 2012 had the option of the black interior, as long as it's cloth. I had the same color cloth interior on my '03 Altima and I didn't mind it. Living in SoCal, I would never get a car with a black leather interior though

My Leaf's light colored interior does stay a bit cooler but as mentioned many times before gets dirty very easily.

 

[LeftieBiker]

a few of my freinds and I are very disappointed we can't get the SL without leather. Nissan used to have a nice synthtic leather that cost less and lasted better. No dead animals in an ECO car is a big issue. :shock:

It looks like they all have leather-wrapped steering wheels, though. I wear gloves and avoid thinking about it. ;-(

 

[SparkyD]

Speaking or residual value, Nissan's brand loyalty is only exceeded by 6 auto brands, but 16 auto brands exceed it for holding its value. See this chart that appeared in the Wall Street Journal this year. http://lorenzoawallace.blogspot.com/201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... value.html

I think I paid too much, too, at Capitol City Nissan in Atlanta. You can see my actual lease here: http://lorenzoawallace.blogspot.com/201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... lease.html

 

[TimLee]

I think I paid too much, too, at Capitol City Nissan in Atlanta. You can see my actual lease here: http://lorenzoawallace.blogspot.com/201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... lease.html

Its a market. Supply versus demand.
As the head of Nissan Electric Vehicles said today at the Society of Environmental Journalists meeting in Chattanooga, TN; there is huge demand in Atlanta.
Part is a knowledgeable market, part is the amazing $5,000 state incentive.
Nissan LEAF leads all other vehicles for sales in Atlanta, and several other US cities, but the others are on the west coast.
They can't put enough LEAFs into Atlanta.
And Denver is begging for LEAFs.
More demand than LEAFs.