An ICE based car as a second car...

I plan to carry an Ebike on the back of the Leaf, put it on charge at the Nissan dealership on the edge of town and do my local chores on the bike. For longer trips I will rent or borrow an oldfashioned ICV or take the train.

BTW, trading cars with a neighbor might be an effective way to please everyone.

Rat said:

Held for Ransom (Kindle ebook)

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Rat, I just bought this book to be supportive - I hope it's a good read!

My second car will be my daily driver now, a black 2006 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with a Go-Rhino push bar. Plenty of room for long distance trips, great on the highway (people tend to behave on the road around me for some strange reason), and it's got enough power to tow just about anything including a LEAF.

Roughly two weeks and I'll have my LEAF (hopefully).

Years ago I went from Long Beach to the San Diego Sheriff's in a black and white Crown Vic. It was the slowest I have ever gone there. Everyone went the limit or slower.

I made the same trip in a borrowed un-marked car much faster since I could exceed the limit.

I am a public safety radio tech, not a cop.

GlennD said:

Years ago I went from Long Beach to the San Diego Sheriff's in a black and white Crown Vic. It was the slowest I have ever gone there. Everyone went the limit or slower.

I made the same trip in a borrowed un-marked car much faster since I could exceed the limit.

I am a public safety radio tech, not a cop.

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:lol: :roll: :mrgreen:

I put some new wheels and tires on my daily driver:

LTLFTcomposite said:

At our house, LEAF is default choice. Other cars are only taken when LEAF is already taken or trip is beyond LEAF range. When multiple cars are needed, LEAF is assigned to the person with the longest trip within LEAF range. Basically all decisions are to minimize gasoline use. The exception is times when I want to drive the LEAF, in which case I get to take it regardless of other considerations, as I'm the one who pays for it.

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+1

Almost exactly how we manage it, although I haven't quite asserted my veto power the way you have!

Same here. My wife always takes "my" Leaf rather than "her" Acura for most shopping, errands, etc., which I didn't expect when we bought the Leaf. I think her main motivation is to avoid the hassle of going to the gas station often. The cost of gas really isn't a factor with the low mileage she drives, although she's happy to save the money. The handiest gas station to our house, and the cheapest near us, is an ARCO, which means cash only. Using the Leaf not only saves having to gas up but also having to get cash at the bank or grocery store for the ARCO. I used to fill me wallet from our cash stash about once a month. Now it's about once every three months.

However, I still have dibs on the Leaf if I need it, and there are times when I ask her not to take it for some oddball reason. One silly example: I had a CD audiobook in the Leaf and I didn't want her to change to AM radio, which she always does, and lose my place. She tends to be slow to change the audio so that it plays my book for a minute or so before she changes. When I come back and switch the input it can take me awhile to find the right place in the story. Also, she sometimes changes the seat position when she drives, which requires me to change it back. This is inconvenient in the Leaf since there is no automatic memory for two drivers the way we have the Acura set up. Perhaps these are trivial reasons that shouldn't deter us from maximizing EV time over ICE time, but the fact remains that the Leaf has become our primary vehicle.

Interesting thread ...

Leaf is our split commuter car for my wife and I and our weekend errand car--3,800 miles (5 months usage)
'09 VW Routan SEL is 'my' second 'primary' car (for insurance purposes)--23,000 miles
'08 smart fortwo passion coupe designated as my son's commuter car--34,000 miles
'99 Mazda Miata spring, summer, fall swap car with the wife--58,000 miles

In the midwest rust belt, the Miata gets stored anytime there is salt on the roads and still looks great because of it, but over the years the ride isn't all that great as we've gotten older so will eventually be replaced by a more cruiser oriented roadster (have a new gen Z4 ('09 and up) in mind but need to wait for the son to go on his own insurance). The Routan is still needed from time to time and it's our designated long trip car; ride is quite nice and you never have to worry about 'if it will fit' --- it simply does whatever it is! Recently needed to take two massive loads of old PC's for rehab & donation and was simply amazed at how much the thing can hold. No question the LEAF is our primary 'go to' car much more than the car it replaced (an '06 Mazda3 GT hatch) as it so much more quiet and rides better as well as the almost zero cost to run, etc. As we have three drivers all needing to go different directions at different times, etc. we could probably get down to three cars instead of four but having the flexibility of something bigger and longer range will always be a top concern -- I did some research on renting for long trips or using the Home Depot / Menards option for short term truck rental and we think the best option would be a plug-in hybrid utility type vehicle once more (or any) choices come out. Something flexible enough to run short runs on EV power only but also have the range (as well as comfortable ride) on longer trips --- as gas prices go up and down, I'm always reminded when I need to gas up the Routan (highest was $66 not too long ago) but as three seasons out the year its getting driven only when we really need it we're probably OK until other options really come to market. Have seen that you can pre-order the Ford C-Max hybrid (not plug in, that comes later) but would like to see some real world tests and it may or may not be 'big' enough, already road tested a Prius V 'wagon' and while it has decent space the fit and finish wasn't all that great for the price they wanted (was a fully loaded '5') as well as the ride was just OK (again as compared to a much bigger Routan so perhaps not a fair comparison). As with others I think our possible usage of the LEAF is way up to over 95% of annual mileage possible but we'll see how it goes.

eHelmholtz said:

Rat said:

Held for Ransom (Kindle ebook)

Click to expand...

Rat, I just bought this book to be supportive - I hope it's a good read!

Click to expand...

Well, thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

+1 on the veto power, otherwise, +2

Cheezmo said:

LTLFTcomposite said:

At our house, LEAF is default choice. Other cars are only taken when LEAF is already taken or trip is beyond LEAF range. When multiple cars are needed, LEAF is assigned to the person with the longest trip within LEAF range. Basically all decisions are to minimize gasoline use. The exception is times when I want to drive the LEAF, in which case I get to take it regardless of other considerations, as I'm the one who pays for it.

Click to expand...

+1

Almost exactly how we manage it, although I haven't quite asserted my veto power the way you have!

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I'm surprised the Volt hasn't been mentioned. IMO it would make a great second car. You know, drive the Leaf for the majority of trips, when you have to go further, drive the Volt. The gas mileage isn't as good as the Prius, but the biggest draw for me is the Volt drives like an EV.

We kept our Ford Escape Hybrid as our second car, the Leaf is our daily driver - we both work in San Francisco and we carpool in together...I also use the Leaf as my primary car in the evenings and on the weekends. We generally use the Leaf for everything unless we are driving to Lake Tahoe or San Jose to visit family/vacations, etc...I even let the wife drive it sometimes
I also have a 1964 Bristol 408 with a Chrysler Poly 313 in it...I won't even say what that car gets in mileage...but it only gets driven 2000 miles a year (if even that) for touring and car shows. I think I more than make up for that car by driving my commute in the Leaf (which is at 21,500 miles already!).

LKK said:

I'm surprised the Volt hasn't been mentioned. IMO it would make a great second car. You know, drive the Leaf for the majority of trips, when you have to go further, drive the Volt. The gas mileage isn't as good as the Prius, but the biggest draw for me is the Volt drives like an EV.

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There are a few people on here that own both a Volt and a LEAF, and threads that talk about their experiences and the synergy of that combo.

As of Aug 1 (estimated)

My car: 2012 Leaf - Cayenne
Wife car: 2012/13 Prius V

replacing
02 Escort Z
10 Corolla

We could probably do 2 Leafs but the wife's daily driving is all over the place. I don't mean all over town but completely unpredictable from 15 miles - 150 miles in a day. She does weird stuff.

Here's hoping that the LEAF can make this trip and back easily with the DC charger in place soon near this location in Santa Ysabel. For now, it's the ICE.

LKK said:

I'm surprised the Volt hasn't been mentioned. IMO it would make a great second car. You know, drive the Leaf for the majority of trips, when you have to go further, drive the Volt. The gas mileage isn't as good as the Prius, but the biggest draw for me is the Volt drives like an EV.

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That is exactly what I just did. Now the driver going the furthest within the Leaf's range takes that. The other driver takes the Volt.

Gas usage will be minimized but long trips are still possible.

eHelmholtz said:

There's been a lot of talk in the popular media about the LEAF as a second car but for many of us on this forum, our LEAFs are our primary car. In fact, I should think that ICE based cars ought to be second cars, not the other way around. For me, the LEAF is my daily driver and I have a bit of fun driving it daily. Still, I make trips longer than the LEAF's range once or twice a month to visit family. These trips aren't that far really ~100 miles from San Diego to the LA area and so I've managed to go a few times, taking a few hours to charge in between (while visiting friends). DC chargers would have been perfect for these trips but unfortunately, those haven't become available. For awhile, I thought about a range extending trailer like a micro-turbine but the costs were prohibitive (and I didn't have the expertise to build one).

SO my solution was to get a gas guzzler as a second car for occasional use. I decided on a roadster and it's been a blast to drive! so different than our LEAFs - not nearly as comfortable but much better connection to the road (and gas mileage is surprisingly OK at about 28-30miles/gallon on the highway). Has anyone else decided to buy a second non-electric car for longer range or weekend use?

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Recently, in addition to the roadster which is for weekend use, I added another ICE car which can go a bit further than my LEAF ;-)

eHelmholtz said:

Recently, in addition to the roadster which is for weekend use, I added another ICE car which can go a bit further than my LEAF ;-)

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I already owned 2 - 10 year old ICEs when I got my Leaf, a p/u and a SUV. They immediatly became the "second car". After experiencing the Leaf for the past 13 months, I hope to never buy another ICE again, and especially a new one. The two I have are in good shape and with limited use, will easily last until the next-gen long range EV batteries hit the market. :mrgreen:


Edit: Congrats, It was hard to tell you purchased a Volt. I don't consider the Volt an ICE. Although it has one, it is small. It is a viable alternative to the standard ICE until the nex-gen batteries arrive. A friend has 8,000 miles on his Volt and is still on the same tank of gas the dealer gave him.

saywatt said:

eHelmholtz said:

Recently, in addition to the roadster which is for weekend use, I added another ICE car which can go a bit further than my LEAF ;-)

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I already owned 2 - 10 year old ICEs when I got my Leaf, a p/u and a SUV. They immediatly became the "second car". After experiencing the Leaf for the past 13 months, I hope to never buy another ICE again, and especially a new one. The two I have are in good shape and with limited use, will easily last until the next-gen long range EV batteries hit the market. :mrgreen:


Edit: Congrats, It was hard to tell you purchased a Volt. I don't consider the Volt an ICE. Although it has one, it is small. It is a viable alternative to the standard ICE until the nex-gen batteries arrive. A friend has 8,000 miles on his Volt and is still on the same tank of gas the dealer gave him.

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i also "know" (actually only know him because we talked 3-4 times when we ran into each other at public charging stations...) someone with a Volt who got theirs last Oct/Nov and last i saw him about 2 months ago he was about to turn 10,000 miles and was on his original tank of gas as well. his dealer was recommending that he take a road trip. he was averaging about 1300 mpg on his reckoning.

he stated that he now runs the engine for a short period on his commute (16 miles one way 60% country road at 50 mph, 30% suburban at 35-40 mph and innercity 10% @ 25 mph)

i should run over and track him down. guessing by now he has done a fill up.