Used Feb 2013 Leaf but only need low range

[leafygreens2]

Hi,
I read the buying used guide, thanks for that, super helpful!

I'm looking at a used 2013 Leaf with 72k miles listed for $8k, it has a February manufacture date so sounds like it would have the canary pack. The car spent half its life near LA an half in the bay area.

My range needs are very low, never need to go more than 35 miles in a day and mostly just 5 a day.

Is the concern with the canary packs just range loss over time and with heat exposure or full on battery death?

If I could get ~35 miles a day out of it for the next 5 or so years that would work for me, trying to weigh if it is worth taking for a test drive and running leaf spy on or if I should not even consider it.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Welcome. I'm not sure that we have yet seen a dead Canary pack. There are some running around with five, four, even three capacity bars remaining, but they keep going. It seems very likely, though, that somewhere in the 2 or 1 bar range, they will either become undriveable because the low cells are triggering shutdown, or because some sort of severe failure occurs. How many bars are there left on the Leaf that interests you?

 

[leafygreens2]

Does this pic mean it only has 3 bars?

I cant tell if they don't have it on all the way so its not displaying properly or if it needs to be fully charged to read the bars but i've requested the dealer send a pic of the dash fully charged

 

[LeftieBiker]

Assuming that the car had fully booted up when the photo was taken, then yes - that's a three bar Leaf. We've seen reports of them from Cwerdna, but this is, AFAIK, the first photo of a 3 bar reading seen here.

 

[cwerdna]

I've seen 3 bar Leafs at least twice. One was a crazy guy in LA driving around a 3 bar '11. Another I think was Bj0rn finding one in Thailand (he's Thai but lives in Norway).

I found a 4-bar leaf at a Hon-duh dealer: https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=552310#p552310.

The car the OP found might not be fully booted given the GOM isn't visible. And, they either didn't put it into READY mode (no green car with arrows) or couldn't (due to a dead 12 volt or other problem).

 

[LeftieBiker]

It's worth asking for a photo taken at least one minute after starting the car. If nothing else, it would make a 6 bar Leaf look great!

 

[leafygreens2]

Thanks yall, heard back from the dealer and it is indeed a 3 bar with only 25 mi on the GOM when fully charged, gonna steer clear of that.

In the meantime I found a 10 bar leaf from 2014 that looks good but I think its a bit overpriced at $13k (KBB is 6.5-8.5k, Edmunds says $13k is a fair price) it has the fast charge package and not sure if KBB accounts for that so I'm guessing around $10-11k is a more realistic fair value.

Does anyone have advice on talking a dealer down using LeafSpot data or other strategies?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Tell them that you are looking at another Leaf for that price, older but 11 bars. Then say that this one is closer and a little newer, though, and offer $11k. Be offhand about it, and act noncommittal. Say that the offer is for a couple of hours only, and that you'll look at the other car out of town if it's turned down. Again, act the very opposite of desperate or eager. Or, you can be completely honest, and say that you like the car but not the battery. Say that $11k is all you will spend in that situation, and again, make the offer time sensitive. Not immediate, but no more than one day.

 

[leafygreens2]

Thanks, this sounds good.

After some more digging sounds like they are one of those no haggle dealers but they did the drop the price to 12k since its the end of the month which feels more reasonable so gonna do a test drive / leafspy check.

Do you think I'd be able to get about 5 years of driving it 30 miles a day in the bay area? Its got 70k miles on it now.

 

[LeftieBiker]

It depends on the microclimate in which it will reside. The 'Wolf Pack' battery in it (a big improvement over the original 'Canary Pack' but not as heat resistant as the later 'Lizard Pack') degrades slowly in cool climates and much more quickly in Hot ones. So do you have cool ocean breezes, or does it feel more like the edge of a desert? If you have very warm nights, then 5 years is probably too optimistic. Cool nights, and it might well last that long, if cared for properly.

 

[GRA]

Yeah, living in the City (for non-locals, that's how Bay Area people refer to San Francisco) or somewhere like Pacifica is a hell of lot different than some place like Gilroy, Livermore or Fairfield. Oakland vs. San Jose is a somewhat smaller difference, but probably still enough to change the battery's remaining useful life by a few years.

 

[cwerdna]

Indeed. I've posted numerous times about our major temp differences in the Bay Area for a given hot summer day.

Examples at https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=606051&hilit=walnut+creek#p606051.

It's much cooler in places like near or next to the water like Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, city of SF or Santa Cruz. It's much hotter inland in places like Walnut Creek, Concord, Antioch, Livermore and Dublin. San Jose can get pretty hot and Gilroy tends to be hotter.

It can be pretty hot if you start from San Jose but if you go north, by the time you get to Daly City, it may have dropped 20+ degrees.

 

[leafygreens2]

Thanks, I'm in oakland so have cool nights and occasionally hot days but nothing too bad, only about a week in the 90s per year (for now)

a few other options have come up that i'm curious about your take on:

Now looking at a 2015 leaf with 80k miles and a 2014 leaf with 70k miles, both 10 bars, both roughly the same price and trim.

Is the 2015 definitely a better deal because it would have the longer lasting lizard pack? or does it depend more on an SOH check to see which is closer to dropping the 10th bar?

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 2015 should lose subsequent bars more slowly, provided you take care of the battery. If it's much lower in SOH than the 2014, the advantage may not show up for a few years.