The new Nissan Leaf is a better car than the Tesla Model 3?

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Lothsahn said:
It's unclear what the total repair cost over the lifespan of the vehicle will be for a Model 3 or 2019 Leaf.
Obviously, although my Tesla warranty is reassuring in conjunction with a long lived battery.
I'm not actually suggesting that the LEAF could never be a reasonable purchase if the price is right and the use profile accommodates battery degradation. My earlier point was that I do not compare the cars.
 
webeleafowners said:
We will if we drive in winter but the reality is we do this trip to escape winter (or at least part of it) and head to our place in Palm Springs.

Is there any particular reason you are concerned about winter in the Eplus?

The car is heavier than the 40kwh Leaf, and reviews have noted that it feels heavier. That doesn't bode well for cornering on slippery roads.
 
LeftieBiker said:
webeleafowners said:
We will if we drive in winter but the reality is we do this trip to escape winter (or at least part of it) and head to our place in Palm Springs.

Is there any particular reason you are concerned about winter in the Eplus?

The car is heavier than the 40kwh Leaf, and reviews have noted that it feels heavier. That doesn't bode well for cornering on slippery roads.

So this reaffirms my assertion that I need to avoid snow the rest of my life. :)
 
LeftieBiker said:
A snow-hating Canadian, eh? Sort of like a Floridian who doesn't like humidity. ;)

Yah here’s the thing. 80 percent of my Airforce career was with NORAD usually in very cold places. I have literally had my eyelids freeze while doing ILS checks on a runway. Soooooooo, that’s enough of that. :)
 
webeleafowners said:
LeftieBiker said:
A snow-hating Canadian, eh? Sort of like a Floridian who doesn't like humidity. ;)

Yah here’s the thing. 80 percent of my Airforce career was with NORAD usually in very cold places. I have literally had my eyelids freeze while doing ILS checks on a runway. Soooooooo, that’s enough of that. :)

I know that not all of Canada is snowy, so I hope you're in a coastal temperate zone. I'm guessing that that's the case in a BC valley...
 
LeftieBiker said:
webeleafowners said:
LeftieBiker said:
A snow-hating Canadian, eh? Sort of like a Floridian who doesn't like humidity. ;)

Yah here’s the thing. 80 percent of my Airforce career was with NORAD usually in very cold places. I have literally had my eyelids freeze while doing ILS checks on a runway. Soooooooo, that’s enough of that. :)

I know that not all of Canada is snowy, so I hope you're in a coastal temperate zone. I'm guessing that that's the case in a BC valley...

Yepir. We live in the Okanagan valley. Very mild for the most part but hot summers. 245 wineries and a lot of orchards within 150 km of us if that gives you any idea. Grew up here, did a military career and now on career number two here. This career (RV industry...sales manager) allows for 3 or four months of winter off so we head state side. We have a place in Palm Springs.
 
webeleafowners said:
LeftieBiker said:
webeleafowners said:
Yah here’s the thing. 80 percent of my Airforce career was with NORAD usually in very cold places. I have literally had my eyelids freeze while doing ILS checks on a runway. Soooooooo, that’s enough of that. :)

I know that not all of Canada is snowy, so I hope you're in a coastal temperate zone. I'm guessing that that's the case in a BC valley...

Yepir. We live in the Okanagan valley. Very mild for the most part but hot summers. 245 wineries and a lot of orchards within 150 km of us if that gives you any idea. Grew up here, did a military career and now on career number two here. This career (RV industry...sales manager) allows for 3 or four months of winter off so we head state side. We have a place in Palm Springs.

In Palm Springs mid to low 20’s while we are there. Cool at night though. The desert can be quite chilly early morning.

Kind of ironic though. In our valley in BC it can get to mid to high 30’s in the summer. Hence all the wineries. Last year I saw my temp get to 8 bars after a 350 km trip and two DCFC’s. We hit 27 last week. Most of the time we are 6 temp bars though.
 
For clarity, your temperature numbers are in celcius, correct?

webeleafowners said:
In Palm Springs mid to low 20’s while we are there. Cool at night though. The desert can be quite chilly early morning.

Kind of ironic though. In our valley in BC it can get to mid to high 30’s in the summer. Hence all the wineries. Last year I saw my temp get to 8 bars after a 350 km trip and two DCFC’s. We hit 27 last week. Most of the time we are 6 temp bars though.
 
91040 said:
For clarity, your temperature numbers are in celcius, correct?

webeleafowners said:
In Palm Springs mid to low 20’s while we are there. Cool at night though. The desert can be quite chilly early morning.

Kind of ironic though. In our valley in BC it can get to mid to high 30’s in the summer. Hence all the wineries. Last year I saw my temp get to 8 bars after a 350 km trip and two DCFC’s. We hit 27 last week. Most of the time we are 6 temp bars though.

Yepir.
 
We just bought a new 2019 Leaf SL+. Before deciding we drove the Tesla 3, the Bolt and the Leaf. The wife and I both chose the Leaf, hands down.
Every buyer looks for different things in a car. The wife and I are both retired (ie, of a certain age ;-)) We both have bad joints.
We keep cars for a LONG time - my kids will probably take my keys before I'm ready to sell/trade the Leaf.
That means I need to be able to get into and out of this car when I'm in my late 80's.
I could barely get into the Tesla NOW. I had to use my arm to lift my leg over that side rail. And I had to fold double and duck to get in under the roof. For someone my age, the Leaf was a breeze to get into / out of.

The technology of the Tesla didn't bother me (I was in technology and entrepreneurship for 45 years). But I also thought it was overdone.

Back in the day when Word Processors replaced typewriters (ie the dark ages) there were people who would send letters and inter-office memos that used 20 different fonts. Why? Well, because they could. It was SO cool!

When I got into the Tesla Model 3 I asked the salesman how to move the steering wheel up and out of the way. He proceeded to tap the screen to wake it up, tap about 3 layers down into some menu, then use a wheel on the steering wheel to make a motor move the steering wheel up out of the way. Seriously? My Ford F150 has a simple lever under the wheel that works just fine and takes considerably less time.

Of course in fairness, I should point out that the Leaf steering when doesn't move at all :-(.

But the point is - there is a point at which technology for technologies sake is more trouble than it is worth.
 
BuddyRayAtl said:
We just bought a new 2019 Leaf SL+. Before deciding we drove the Tesla 3, the Bolt and the Leaf. The wife and I both chose the Leaf, hands down.
Every buyer looks for different things in a car. The wife and I are both retired (ie, of a certain age ;-)) We both have bad joints.
We keep cars for a LONG time - my kids will probably take my keys before I'm ready to sell/trade the Leaf.
That means I need to be able to get into and out of this car when I'm in my late 80's.
I could barely get into the Tesla NOW. I had to use my arm to lift my leg over that side rail. And I had to fold double and duck to get in under the roof. For someone my age, the Leaf was a breeze to get into / out of.

The technology of the Tesla didn't bother me (I was in technology and entrepreneurship for 45 years). But I also thought it was overdone.

Back in the day when Word Processors replaced typewriters (ie the dark ages) there were people who would send letters and inter-office memos that used 20 different fonts. Why? Well, because they could. It was SO cool!

When I got into the Tesla Model 3 I asked the salesman how to move the steering wheel up and out of the way. He proceeded to tap the screen to wake it up, tap about 3 layers down into some menu, then use a wheel on the steering wheel to make a motor move the steering wheel up out of the way. Seriously? My Ford F150 has a simple lever under the wheel that works just fine and takes considerably less time.

Of course in fairness, I should point out that the Leaf steering when doesn't move at all :-(.

But the point is - there is a point at which technology for technologies sake is more trouble than it is worth.

Thanks for the post Buddy. Can you post a pic of the Jade green?

I would live to see Coulis red come back.
 
Er... the Tesla salesman didn't know what he was talking about. Most Tesla salesmen don't drive a Tesla because they do not make commission so they have very low wages, too low to afford a Tesla.

Actually, you're supposed to program a "profile" for yourself. When the car stops in "park", the car's steering wheel automatically moves out of the way and the seat back for easy entry and exit. When you get in the car, it should be on "easy entry". Then, when you switch from "park" to drive, if you've chosen the "profile" with your name on it, then it'll move the wheel and seat automatically for the optimum position for you to drive.

I actually bought both cars without a test drive. Both the Tesla store and the Nissan dealer did not have any for me to test drive. Electric cars are not popular in Texas, where gasoline is super cheap ($2.30 at Sam's Club in DFW).

BuddyRayAtl said:
When I got into the Tesla Model 3 I asked the salesman how to move the steering wheel up and out of the way. He proceeded to tap the screen to wake it up, tap about 3 layers down into some menu, then use a wheel on the steering wheel to make a motor move the steering wheel up out of the way. Seriously? My Ford F150 has a simple lever under the wheel that works just fine and takes considerably less time.
 
BuddyRayAtl said:
When I got into the Tesla Model 3 I asked the salesman how to move the steering wheel up and out of the way. He proceeded to tap the screen to wake it up, tap about 3 layers down into some menu, then use a wheel on the steering wheel to make a motor move the steering wheel up out of the way. .
Set once (including side mirrors and seat) for each driver and save to the car memory. Then one tap on the screen changes the seat, wheel and mirrors to the driver's preferred choices.

Works really, really well.

I actually have 3 'profiles' (groups of settings saved to memory.) One for me, one for my wife, and a setting Tesla put in called 'easy entry.' Easy entry moves the seat back and steering wheel up when the car is placed in Park for easy exit and entrance. The settings change back to the last driver's preferences when the brake is depressed, or as I said to a chosen profile.

Tesla uses software and the screen to great advantage, and it gets better with OTA updates as they come up with new ideas. Last week the entire www browser was swapped out for chromium (aka 'Chrome'.) A few weeks before that, the car's power was jacked up another 5%. Before that, extremely useful battery range software was overhauled. People rave about the OTAs for good reason. A truly outstanding car just keeps getting better.
 
BuddyRayAtl said:
We just bought a new 2019 Leaf SL+. Before deciding we drove the Tesla 3, the Bolt and the Leaf. The wife and I both chose the Leaf, hands down.
Every buyer looks for different things in a car. The wife and I are both retired (ie, of a certain age ;-)) We both have bad joints.
We keep cars for a LONG time - my kids will probably take my keys before I'm ready to sell/trade the Leaf.
That means I need to be able to get into and out of this car when I'm in my late 80's.
I could barely get into the Tesla NOW. I had to use my arm to lift my leg over that side rail. And I had to fold double and duck to get in under the roof. For someone my age, the Leaf was a breeze to get into / out of.

The technology of the Tesla didn't bother me (I was in technology and entrepreneurship for 45 years). But I also thought it was overdone.

Back in the day when Word Processors replaced typewriters (ie the dark ages) there were people who would send letters and inter-office memos that used 20 different fonts. Why? Well, because they could. It was SO cool!

When I got into the Tesla Model 3 I asked the salesman how to move the steering wheel up and out of the way. He proceeded to tap the screen to wake it up, tap about 3 layers down into some menu, then use a wheel on the steering wheel to make a motor move the steering wheel up out of the way. Seriously? My Ford F150 has a simple lever under the wheel that works just fine and takes considerably less time.

Of course in fairness, I should point out that the Leaf steering when doesn't move at all :-(.

But the point is - there is a point at which technology for technologies sake is more trouble than it is worth.

As another person of a certain chronology, I echo your thoughts about Model 3 ingress/egress. It is very considerably harder to get in and out of the Tesla than my LEAF, and that was probably the biggest surprise for us when we first saw the vehicle. The other LEAF advantage for me is the heated steering wheel. Even though it goes from off to nuclear and back in odd ways, it is still a very nice luxury to have and quite noticeable when you don’t. That said, the Tesla wins us over in every other possible category.

I agree with your posit that technology for technology sake is not necessary a good thing, but what that is today becomes standard tomorrow. Take the heated steering wheel example. A dozen years ago I could not name a more useless “feature” on a car, now I really miss it in the Tesla. For my driving experiences, I think the technology in the Model 3 went a step too far with the windshield wipers controls. For me, the AutoWipers would be far easier to use as a physical stalk/knob combination than as it is implemented on the screen interface. Others find it just fine though. I also find the radio controls to be cumbersome at best, especially when driving, but again that’s likely just me.
 
For those that asked for pictures of the Jade Green with Grey interior - I'll take some when I get the car out of the shop.
With 750 miles on it, a deer hit my wife on the front right. It didn't seem like that much damage but due to delays in getting parts for a 2019 Leaf Plus it has taken forever. That and we've been through 3 bad front bosch radar sensors. They can't seem to get one that works. So it's been in the shop for 10 of the last 13 weeks.

In case you can't guess - I'm NOT happy.
 
This thread has inspired me to go do a comparison thread for my BMW Z4 and Jeep Liberty. They both run on the same fuel, so they are direct competition for each other... obviously. Totally apples to apples, I'm thinking.
 
Best depends on what you want and what you need.

If you need backseat headroom, the Leaf is the winner.

If you want 0-60 times, the Tesla Model 3 is the winner.
 
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