Advice on this Leaf for sale?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Apr 18, 2021
Messages
1
Hi All

We just put solar on the house and would love to have an EV to remove our ICE car from the road.

My wife has a 26 mile round trip commute to work on back roads. It seems like a used Leaf would be perfect for this use.

I found this on our local Craigslist:

https://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/d/durham-2012-nissan-leaf/7299903960.html

Can you weigh in on whether this car would be good for our needs? We don't need huge range just enough to get her there back and forth.

What is the likliehood that this car could last 4 years for this purpose? Will the battery last that long?
 
It isn't a good bet. "Charges to 52 miles" means that the inaccurate range estimator is giving that figure, NOT that it will actually go that far - especially in Winter. It would likely work ok for one year, maybe two. Beyond that...? The dash shows only 7 capacity bars remaining, indicating substantial degradation in the Southern heat. I'll link my buying guide shortly.

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26662&p=538030
 
7 capacity bars, I can't remember the translation from bars to capacity, it's somewhere on this forum, but that means it has a lot of degradation and it's a 2012, so it has the very first generation of batteries that lose capacity quicker than the later generation +2013 models. I would suggest looking for anything 2013 or newer in the price range you want, provided of course the battery is in good condition, would met your travel needs and keep you comfortable in the Winter/Summer time. Try to find the SV or SL trim Leaf, at least you'll know it has the heatpump to help with range when running the climate control. If it was me, I wouldn't buy the one you linked for sale, I'd look for something in the +2013 or newer range models.
 
Wow! 7 capacity bars is pretty bad, I thought our 8 bar '12 was bad. As others have said the '11-early '13 batteries were bad, especially if used in warm climates. We've lost 2 bars in our relatively cold climate since purchasing it in '16, although most of the degradation was done in our cars home state of So. Cal, so pretty bad.
Someone asked and a 8 bar Leaf has a <42AHr battery, my chart only goes down to 8 bars but looking at higher bars I'd guess a 7 bar Leaf could be <38AHr. Another thing with a '12 is it lacks a SOC% gauge which is very handy, well unless you purchase Leafspy($20) and an OBDII adapter(~$20) and use your cell phone to look at SOC%, the cars GOM(range indicator) is really bad and shouldn't be relied on. A new 24kwh Leaf battery probably had 66AHr so almost half the capacity as new, new the Leaf was rated for around 70 miles under good conditions like you are talking about so expect maybe a 35-mile range, less on the freeway.
To answer your question, yes that Leaf would do your wife's 26-mile commute but not with heat, the pre-'13 Leafs heater really gobbles up power big time and I'm not sure for how long she could make her trip. In your climate, it may only be a couple/3 years at that.
As others have said, I'd look for a post '12(actually post 3/13' Leaf) preferably one that has at least 10 bars although maybe 9 might be OK too. Good luck, the Leaf would really be good choice in your case, you just have to make sure to get one that's basically not on it's last legs like the one you linked.
 
knightmb said:
7 capacity bars, I can't remember the translation from bars to capacity, it's somewhere on this forum, but that means it has a lot of degradation and it's a 2012, so it has the very first generation of batteries that lose capacity quicker than the later generation +2013 models. I would suggest looking for anything 2013 or newer in the price range you want, provided of course the battery is in good condition, would met your travel needs and keep you comfortable in the Winter/Summer time. Try to find the SV or SL trim Leaf, at least you'll know it has the heatpump to help with range when running the climate control. If it was me, I wouldn't buy the one you linked for sale, I'd look for something in the +2013 or newer range models.
Yep. Look for a 4/2013 or later built month with battery in good condition and w/o questionable previous locations (hot climates) on Carfax/Autocheck.

The price is too high for a 7 bar car. That's worth maybe $3K to $4K.

https://web.archive.org/web/20151108034159/http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/Battery#Battery_Capacity_Behavior has the table. I made a bit more of a comment on this at https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=597866#p597866.

kolmstead kinda tried to sell his 8 bar '11 for $4500 in 2016 and got no takers. He donated it.
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=454921#p454921
https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=8802&p=475234#p475234
 
alozzy said:
Expect to spend at least $8k for a 2013 with a decent battery pack.
My 10/2013 build LEAF with 11/12 capacity bars, QC and back-up camera is up for sale locally in Albuquerque for $7,250 on Craigslist. The 1st weekend 3 people came by but did not buy. No interest since.

My wife, on the other hand, has mostly decided she wants to stay in the LEAF so I expect to stop the sale in the next few days. Funny how things sometimes work out.

In any case, my post is to say that LEAF prices vary a lot by locale.
 
For sure, prices vary a lot. I looked on autotrader.com for the OP's zip code, that's where I got the $8k figure from...
 
alozzy said:
For sure, prices vary a lot. I looked on autotrader.com for the OP's zip code, that's where I got the $8k figure from...
The online car traders are trying to sell 7 - 9 capacity bar LEAFs for over $10k in Albuquerque. The people who viewed my car realized that the car traders are not being realistic. And incidentally, they offered me $5,400 but did not even ask about battery capacity. They remain completely clueless and I presume are preying on clueless shoppers.

One young man who came to see my car told me that his next stop was a guy selling a 30 kWh , 10 cap bar LEAF for $6,000. I told him that was probably a better deal than mine and explained the caveats.

My babbling aside, I don't think you can rely on trader prices to guess what private sale prices are going to be. The LEAF is an unusual beast because part of the buying public are way more informed than the dealers.
 
Back
Top