Love the Leaf but at what cost??

[rrsmith5]

I am / was an extremely happy owner of a 2013 Leaf SV.. In a little over 24 months Ive logged 25,007 miles.. I’ve have another 12 months until my lease expires so I’ve begun looking into my choices.
Should I lease again?
Should I buy?
If I buy .. New ? Used ??

Here are the final numbers on my 36 month lease..


$5700.00 down
$7500.00 Fed rebate
$13,200.00 INVESTMENT IN LEAF

36 Month lease @ $286.65 = 10319.40

$ 23,519.40 Total out of pocket for 36 months

$653.31 Actual cost to me to lease the leaf for 36 Months..

The buy out on the lease is over $17,000.00 in April 2016 .

 

[Bob]

Clearly, this is a personal decision. You need to do what is right for you.

From everything that I know, a 2016 or 2017 Leaf will be a better car than a 2013 Leaf. So if you really love the Leaf, have the money, and want something better, give them back the old one and get a new one.

If you are satisfied with the 2013 Leaf and see no real advantages to the newer ones, compare the lease buyout to retail purchase and you'll probably find that you can save money by returning the old one and buying a used one. Of course, then it isn't your Leaf. You won't know the history and won't have your personal peanut butter smear on the driver's seat, but instead have to deal with someone else's jelly stain.

If you like being adventurous, you might want to look at some of the other EVs on the market, just to convince yourself that the Leaf is right for you. For example, the BMW i3 handles and accelerates better than the Leaf...but it costs more. And a Tesla model S has even better acceleration and more range, but costs a huge amount more. Next year, there will be even more EVs on the market with more features.

I hope that this helps.

Bob