Opnions requested: Purchased 2011 Leaf that turned out to have a 2G TCU

[jmleaf2011]

Looking for opinions here - just purchased a used 2011 Leaf last month. Here are the facts:

1) Purchased the car from a Nissan dealership.
2) Car was 100 miles from where I live, so I basically bought it sight unseen - took the train, did the transaction, drove it home ( with a stop at an EVGO w/Chademo charger, of course!)
3) When I looked at why I couldn't connect to Carwings/Nissan Connect, I thought it was because the car had the original owners login. Maybe it was disabled?

So, from that, I learned that it had a 2G TCU and about the TCU replacement program that Nissan put into place with the $199 Copay from customers with older Leafs. Since I bought it from a Nissan dealer, I felt they should know better (even though they don't know jack about these cars) and had an obligation to represent what they were selling to me.

Bottom line: I want them to pay in full for the TCU replacement. Spoke with the General Manager of the dealership this afternoon and explained the situation. He really didn't understand since he thought it had to do with having an AT&T phone, but he downright refused to do anything. So, my question to the forum is whether you agree with me and whether I should try pursuing with Nissan Corporate? If it had been a private party or anything BUT a Nissan dealership, I wouldn't even consider pursuing it.

2nd part to my question is for those that have older Leafs and whether they think the Nissan Connect is worthwhile on these cars?

Thanks!

Josh

 

[cwerdna]

I don't think Nissan dealers are obligated to perform the $199 3G TCU upgrade on used vehicles in their inventories before putting them up for sale. Re: disclosure, I guess you'd have to find some law that mandates such disclosure.

All US Leafs of model year 2015 and earlier unfortunately only came w/the 2.xG TCU hardware which stopped working once AT&T shut off their 2.xG service.

 

[baustin]

It's an optional upgrade. It is not required for the car to function. It does not involve a life/safety issue. The previous owner was not willing to pay for the upgrade. If you want the convenience offered by the Nissan Connect service, you need to pay for the upgrade.

The modem stopped working due to the actions of AT&T, not the actions of Nissan. Nissan provided a way to continue the service, for those that wanted it. The $199 upgrade fee is actually pretty cheap, considering that Nissan pays the monthly service fee to AT&T to make it work.

Yes, it would have been nice to know it was needed, and have it done before you left with the car. That is the risk you take when you buy an eight year old car sight unseen.

If you do pay for the upgrade, make sure they print out the Service Bulletin and follow exactly all the steps required to perform the upgrade and make the equipment operational.

I like the convenience of being able to remotely start the Climate Control and Charging System. I paid for the upgrade when it became available.

 

[lkkms2]

I sold my 2011 to someone who wanted a used EV. She only needed it for short trips. She got it with a fairly new battery replacement. I did tell her about the upgrade on The TCU to 3g with AT&T, and the features, but she didn’t really need them and decided not to pay for the upgrade.

I personally did like that I could remotely start the heater in the morning before I took my son to school on chilly days, Also I could start the charging (if it was already plugged in), or check the battery status (how many bars it was charged up to and an estimate on range. But since I parked my car mostly in my garage and had easy access from the house, these features had work arounds.

Don’t know if I would have paid for the upgrade myself as instead I found a good deal on a new 2017 Leaf before I sold my 2011.

Hope you can enjoy your Leaf for short trips around town. And hope you weren’t told it would go a100 miles or more as that would not be realistic or true for an older 2011 (even when they were new.)

 

[Nubo]

I like the feature but for $199 I could do without it. For the non-subsidized price I'd certainly do without it. Nissan had no obligation to upgrade the radio on a used vehicle. But on the other hand I think it was a poor move by them to choose to save a few dollars by using 2G cellular radio when they knew they were handing customers an impending expensive problem.

 

[jmleaf2011]

Thanks for all the responses! I pretty much agree with the responses and won’t harass Nissan (anymore ) to throw in the upgrade

Final question on Nissan Connect: Will it tell me the current location of the car? Just like to know where the car is when one of my kid’s takes it out! . Any other functionality besides the ability to remotely start charging (when plugged in) and starting the heater?

Btw, absolutely LOVE the car! I purchase a Tesla M3 a year ago (May), installed solar in October and decided to get rid of an ICE car and replace it with this for short commutes. I live in San Diego and now my wife loves that I rarely fight her for the Tesla as I’m pretty happy just driving my cheap leaf ($4600 with over 89% on the battery)

 

[cwerdna]

Final question on Nissan Connect: Will it tell me the current location of the car? Just like to know where the car is when one of my kid’s takes it out! .

Not that I'm aware on anything that old. There's more functionality available on '18+ Leafs but AFAIK, it's quite limited on pre-'18 SV and SL.

You can also check charging status (e.g. charging, plugged in) and how many battery bars there are along w/the charging time estimates. Well, the bars UI changed. It now is a round display with a % but it's not actually the true % and doesn't match w/the % SoC display on '13 to '17 Leafs. Instead, if you have 11/12 fuel bars, it'll say 92%. If you have 10 fuel bars, it'll say 83%. So, it can be off quite a bit from dash % Soc display, which '11 and '12 Leafs don't have anyway.

You can get notifications of charging stopped, fully charged, and plug-in reminders if you're near saved charging locations and haven't plugged in.

FWIW, I did pay the $199 for the 3G upgrade and my 2G TCU was working until AT&T killed the 2.xG service.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I'm pretty sure that the Nissan website used to show me my 2013 parked here, on Google Maps.