A thread for people happy with their Leaf

[cornbinder89]

Sure there are better ways, but most will not have the tools and equipment to do so at a sellers address. I am pointing out that you CAN (not have to) make a good assessment without those tools. If you have Leafspy than sure use it, many don't and can still make a valid assessment using other methods. Most don't have a current shunt they can install on the HV battery or the tooling to do that, even if the owner would allow.
There are some higher end test equipment that can do a lot more than Leafspy, but they will not be useable at a driveway.
As I pointed out there can be failures that neither a test drive nor Leafspy will be of any help in predicting.
You seam to think I am saying don't use Leafspy, I am not, but am pointing out that many (most) will not have it, know how to use it, and understand what it is telling them on their 1st EV purchase. Unless you had a buddy with a Leaf, that could show you how to set-up your phone and Leafspy and tell you what all the things mean, it is unlikely to be of much help to someone looking to buy their 1st Leaf. Bringing the said "buddy" would likely be of more help then the program to the 1st time buyer.
However, if they go in knowing that the dash meters aren't that accurate, know how they plan to use the vehicle, and take it on a test drive that mimics as close as possible their expected use, would be of more help. If it does what you are expecting it to do with a prudent reserve, to account for cold weather and other unexpected use, it will likely not disappoint.
The best test equipment is of little value in the hands of the inexperienced. I have hemostats and an exacto knife, that doesn't make me qualified to remove my appendix.
Buying your 2nd, 3rd or 4th EV you'll have experience and hopefully some tools to help guide you.
Nothing, not Leafspy nor Nissan's Consult-3 is going to be able to tell you that there are no problems coming.
The reason I started this thread was to see how many owners are happy with their purchase like I am. I am willing to wager that most didn't have or even know what Leafspy was when they bought their 1st Leaf.

 

[garyacrowellsr]

Bought a 2012 Leaf in 2020 for $7500. It had a battery replacement in 2015 and had 11 bars when I bought it. And, only 8000 miles. After about 3 1/2 years, it's lost one more bar and is now at about 18000 miles.

After getting a slow leak repaired I noticed that it has original Ecopa tires on the rear and new 2020 tires on the front - all look good, and the brakes look good too. (I think the fronts were replaced because somebody bumped a curb - there is some very slight cosmetic front-end damage,)

A few years ago it had a water pump failure that I replaced myself for about $350. (The 2012 has two pumps in series, so I could drive (carefully) on one while the new one was in the mail.) Simplest water pump I've ever replaced; more like an aquarium pump than an automotive pump. A couple of tire repairs and some washer fluid and that's all I've spent on it. Oh, I bought a cabin filter but haven't dared to dig into replacing that yet.

As you can tell, I don't drive much and my Leaf serves 100% of my needs. L1 charged in the driveway, it costs nothing to run and practically nothing to maintain. It is far and away the most economical and reliable car I've ever owned (in almost 60 years and dozens of cars).

My only gripe is the $140 annual Idaho EV surcharge, which per mile costs more than the electricity I put in it.

 

[Drew21]

I bought a cabin filter but haven't dared to dig into replacing that yet.

Don't be scared of this job. The only hard part is that it requires a decent amount of flexibility. Here's a video tutorial.

 

[Marius25]

Don't be scared of this job. The only hard part is that it requires a decent amount of flexibility. Here's a video tutorial.

This is not hard to do, it is just so badly designed by how much space there really is behind there. Nissan could easily put a 10degree angle on the housing to clear the brains, and a full slot instead of the origami madness.

I have driven the leaf for two years now and fairly happy with it. The ride quality is what i expected from car in this class, nothing exceptional, and the car itself is practical, fun to drive, nimble-ish, stable on ice and snow.

Chademo has not been a problem at all, it is only used on longer rides where I charge once on route, takes about 50min from 10-70% since most stations barely give more than 45Kw, good enough for a stretch and some food.

 

[tricia.collick]

There seam to be no end of people who have a problem with their Leaf. Not surprising, as this is a forum to help those with a problem, but I would love to hear from those that the car is doing well and fitting their needs.
I had been interested in the Leaf and EV's in general since before they became mfg. Back in the '80s I donated some parts to a local collage group that was electrifying a Dodge van with help from the DOE. I recently saw that same van on Ebay, some 40 years on!
Not being one who buys new vehicles (I bought 1 in my life so far and ran it over 200K) I knew a new Leaf was not in my cards. In 2013 or so there was an EV day, near by and I went and rode in a few different cars and sat in just about all. I found the Leaf fit my large frame well and had good visibility. I went to the dealer and test drove a few (new and used) but they were out of my price range.
I was well aware of the shortcomings of the early electrics esp their range. I logged my trips and found that 98% or better were under 25 miles, more or less the perfect match for the early Leaf.
I have had several cars, and our "daily driver" is showing its age, it is currently 24 years old. Time had come to think about a replacement or retiring this for another daily driver.
I read though Lefty's "Before you buy a used Leaf" and learned that the newer "post 2013" had some improvements worth paying extra for. 2014's and 2015's were at the upper end of what I was willing to gamble on a car that has a limited market.
I found a very lightly used '15 with "horror of horrors" only 9 bars and upper 60's to low 70's on the GOM.
Test drove the car (private sale) and agreed on a price.
NO LEAFSPY, check, but I have been very happy ever since. I still haven't put a Leafspy on and unless there is a problem with the car, I see no reason to obsess over what it can and cannot tell me. Unless and until the car can no longer preform its function, I don't need to know what it says.
May be it is because I went in with realistic expectations on what the car can and can not do, but it has never let me down, even in -15F weather.
Yeah, I would love it if it could do the longer trips, all 2% of them, but I knew going in it would not.
I costs around $1.40 for our daily trips to town, down from over $3.00 for our econbox gasoline, and I can "fill it" at home!
Someday I may be faced with the choice of buying a replacement traction battery or moving on from the car, but today that day seams a long way off and I thought about and researched it before I bought. I know it will cost close to double what I paid for the car if I choose to replace with a 40Kwh pack. I could re-up with a "rebuilt" 24Kwh pack for about what I paid for the car. These were known's when I went looking to buy.
As I was buying an 8 year old car, I had no expectations that Nissan would cover anything, so no disappointment there.
Even before I bought, I wired in a 50 amp feed to my detached garage as I knew someday I would have some electric vehicle.
My used Leaf came with two EVSE's, the OEM 120 volt unit and an adjustable aftermarket unit. I have settled in to a 16 amp charge current for right around 2 hrs in the middle of the night. This keeps it near full every morning. As the weather moderates I may have to cut it back some more. My monthly electric has gone up around $35-40 a month, and my gasoline bill has all but disappeared. It has been months since I filled anything.
So lets hear others success stories!

we were interested in electric cars and as the Leaf is built in the UK we saveed up to buy one, after a few teething problems (what the brits might call a friday car probably) we have been happy with it for 4 years and following all advice have a healthy battery (accordind to servicig reports). The only problem may be for the future is the european take over of charging points and forcing CCS on everyone, as far as I can see this is like the old VHS/Betamax wars, Chademo is better but CCS has german car manufacturers behind and is forcing CCS forward by sheer size. We are retired and happily use type 2 charging at home mostly. I realise this isn't so easy for working people.
The Leaf is wonderful ! I wish someone could design a CHADemo to CCS convertor for longer journeys.

 

[cornbinder89]

The Leaf is wonderful ! I wish someone could design a CHADemo to CCS convertor for longer journeys.

There is work being done on it, and Dala (A poster and Leaf guru) is Beta testing one now. I think the question in the long run is how many Chademo vehicles will be able to still run long distance by the time the adapter is out and all the bugs are out of it.
I, like you, am retired, and do my level 2 charge at home for all my needs (so far at least).
I am very happy with mine, and glad to see a good many others are happy with theirs.

 

[buzz]

Reacting to the title of this post... I guess we have been the exception to the rule because we've had a positive experience with our 2017 Nissan Leaf SV. I bought it 2.5 years ago with ~45k miles as an experiment to see how if our family would enjoy owning an EV. There were only 7 bars (range about 75 miles) so I was counting on Nissan to replace the battery, and they came through with flying colors with a free 40kwh replacement! Yes, it took a LONG time, but this was not an issue for us because I had planned to keep my other vehicle until the Leaf was finished. Now, I get 130+ miles on a full charge.

I thoroughly enjoy driving the Leaf zipping around town to drop off kids, get groceries, grab takeout, etc. without having to pay for gas! I wish more of you had a similar, positive experience as well.

We've only had to do basic maintenance (replaced tires and wipers) on our Leaf. My only two complaints are related to this being a no-frills car. First, the cabin materials are bare bones cheap. The plastic and fabric (floormats and seats) never look that great even after you have given it a decent cleaning. Second, I really wish the US version had a removable headrest for a 3rd passenger in the backseat.

Unfortunately, I am selling it because my wife loves her Tesla more (which is a total money pit, in case you're wondering). *sigh*

 

[buzz]

This forum offers reassurance to new buyers. There are satisfied people out there. After 13 years of ownership I can say my Leaf has had fewer issues than the string of vehicles that preceded it: VW(3), Jeep(1), Volvo(1) Mini(1). It does what it was built to do. Maintenance free other than the 12V battery.

 

[FrancoVecchi]

I'm very happy of my Leaf Tekna e+ 2020. I take it used last year. Everiday use 70-100km for work, sometimes 150-400 km of trip for holidays. Zero problems, only refill glass-cleaner liquid and changed tyres. Very good quality in general.

 

[lutefisk]

I bought my 2015 SV new after my 21-year-old Saturn SL2 was no longer viable to keep. I've been using it as I did the SL2 - commuting around the area. It's not even 29,000 miles yet and I've lost only 1 bar. I've been very pleased with it. I treat cars strictly from a utilitarian perspective, and the Leaf has been very useful.

 

[Steve52]

Bought our Leaf new as a town car, running around town and charging at home. We're retired so no commuting and for our usage it's the perfect vehicle. It's probably the worst use for an ICE vehicle since it would almost never warm up properly, running to the store a few miles away but for an EV it's perfect since there's no emissions nor warm up. For long trips, we have an ICE vehicle which doesn't get used for months at a time. We've never had any issues with the Leaf in 5+ years of ownership, just goes into the dealer annually for the HV battery check. The tires will probably age out before they're worn out but that's not the Leaf's fault. I can see keeping this vehicle another 10 years at this rate so we're very pleased with the Leaf!

 

[MikeinPA]

We have two 2013s. One bought new, and about 22k after rebates. The other was 8.4k. All in costs to operate both has been about 50 cents per mile, and going forward will be much less than that. Both have many years left. Every time I drive one I say "damn, I love this car". Except for the A pillars and lousy visibility side and back. Ours don't have back up cameras (yet).

 

[cornbinder89]

The shape is the same in most cars of this size. I find the viability better than my brothers Prius, where I have to look under the drivers visor to see out!

 

[MikeinPA]

Agreed, the poor visibility issue is common across many cars. This has happened because more steel and less glass is the cheapest way to improve side impact results. However, they could splurge a little and add some more glass, like this wagon: https://www.motor1.com/news/709165/volkswagen-id7-tourer-debut-specs/ . Otherwise, love the car.

Also, totally agree with your earlier comment about how most drivers have just accepted all the new safety features and become correspondingly less alert drivers.

 

[cornbinder89]

Also, totally agree with your earlier comment about how most drivers have just accepted all the new safety features and become correspondingly less alert drivers.

Doesn't help that Tesla and now GM have ads that are promoting the features as essentially "self driving" while being very careful not to use those exact words.

 

[bowthom]

We went electric early on. Started when we purchased a Prius in 2003. Along the way I picked up a used 1995 Toyota Tercel and began researching and designing all electric drive train for it. The biggest expense was the battery pack and as I was saving up for that Nissan announced the Leaf for just about the same price. So I sold the Tercel to a student and waited. We pre-ordered as soon as we could. Went to the “event” in October of 2010 where Lynn decided she wanted a red one instead of silver. This delayed its arrival until February 2011. We picked it up the 3rd week. We were also part of the EV Project so had a free Clipper Creek EVSE installed in December. As part of that program we allowed them to gather data from our Blink EVSE when it was swapped in March. I also created a spreadsheet every month that correlated data from our Leaf via Nissan, Blink, and my own wall to wheels. At this time the Blink network had a 50% fail rate as did their public chargers. The Nissan data failed 25% of the time so my spreadsheet allowed the EV Project to gather accurate data. I rather hoped others did something similar. I kept this up for the 4 year span of the project. In June of 2011 the onboard charger popped a diode in the prox circuit and only the 120V EVSE cord would charge it. Factory engineers flew in and tested the car convinced it was my fault somehow or the fault of the Blink EVSE. Little did they know, when they arrived at my house the Blink engineers were already there. I had hooked an oscilloscope to the prox circuit and it clearly showed the diode was open. It took 2 weeks to get the new charger and install it under warranty.
Since then we have been enjoying a fault free ownership. Vin# 305 is still going strong and it’s currently my granddaughter’s student driver vehicle. In 2022 I opted for a 40 kWh battery upgrade from EVRides. $12k for a 100% life battery from a wrecked 2020. 130 mile range in the cold of winter running the heater, yay. It has 100k miles on it with a lot of life left in her running on original brakes and her 4th set of tires.
Cheers
Don & Lynn

 

[rogersleaf]

I've never owned a vehicle that was not a compromise between design attributes vs costs. Both the LEAFs I've owned ('14 SV and '19 SL 40KWh) would rank among the best I've owned in achieving that balance. Personally feel the greatest detractor now is an engineering platform that is over a decade old. A makeover with some of the design attributes of the Ariya would make LEAF a solid winner for another decade.

 

[JimInBoulder]

My wife and I have a 2017 Leaf and love it. The only maintenance has been tire rotation and windshield wipers. We're retired. The Leaf is our only car. It serves our purposes for driving around the Denver metro area. When we go on road trips, we rent a car. It's far cheaper to rent a car for a week or two than it is to keep an ICE car in the garage that would rarely get used but would require extensive maintenance compared to an EV.

 

[Dooglas]

There seem to be no end of people who have a problem with their Leaf. Not surprising, as this is a forum to help those with a problem, but I would love to hear from those that the car is doing well and fitting their needs.

In fairness, all on-line owner/user sites attract a disproportional share of those who are experiencing issues. As you observe, that is one function of such sites. Having been a long term member of this site, I'll go one step further and observe that MyLeaf seems to have accumulated several members over time who are virtually non-stop Nissan bashers which is really not so useful to the rest of us. I'm glad to see this attempt to encourage more positive (and balanced) discussions.

I have been a LEAF owner and driver for 12 years now. The vehicles have served me well. They have been reliable and economical to own and operate. When it came time to consider my 3rd EV, I studied a number of options but ultimately decided that a low mileage, well equipped LEAF with the 62 kwh battery would serve my continued needs (and desired capabilities). Some combination of good timing, discounts, rebates, and serendipity has also meant that all 3 vehicles were cost effective acquisitions. We continue to own a Prius hybrid which is my wife's car and our choice for occasional longer trips. That pretty much avoids issues with range limitations and the frustrations of remote charging. None of the 3 LEAFs I have owned has ever required major repairs. The actual periodic maintenance has been surprisingly minor. I have never been left at the side of the road in a LEAF, or in a Prius hybrid for that matter . My assessment of my LEAF is that the vehicle is well built and a credible exposure to EVs. The only serious warning I would give to other potential owners is to understand your needs and requirements, and be sure those match up with the capabilities and limitations of the vehicle.

 

[SageBrush]

We went electric early on.

Awesome story. Mine is similar although I have less technical competency than you.

Thanks for sharing