In the meantime...

[CTreast]

Morning all,

So, Tuesday I went out and bought an off-lease Nissan Leaf. After a few discussions with a few co-workers who took CRAZY advantage of the $5,000 GA tax on top of the federal I thought it was time to join ranks. I got a good deal on a 2013 with only 23,000 miles on it.

I was just so jazzed up to live the EV lifestyle and my commute is a whopping 12 mi round trip I figured this was my best solution to see if the Model 3 is going to be for me. I'm one of the guys that pre-ordered on the 31st in store but at the time I hadn't even driven electric yet.

Day 2 and I haven't had any concessions and that's on the paltry range the Leaf provides. The future looks electric!

 

[roguenode]

As a Leaf owner I'll say it's a nice introduction to BEV's. It's been enough to convince me I won't go back to ICE, but the Model 3 will be a HUGE and welcome upgrade. I've been playing a bit of a game investing my $12k tax rebate (fed+state) to see how much of my Model 3 it will cover by the time it arrives.

 

[CTreast]

Very nice! Playing with house money so to speak. I have a very nasty habit of buying high and selling low so I better stick to couponing at Kroger for my Model 3 money fund.

I have an FJ Cruiser I'm going to let go of because the car just never got sacked by depreciation and the wife has some student loans outstanding. I'd like to be wholly debt free by the time I go nuts on my Tesla lol. Oh and she'll get a new ICE too. It's only fair.

Good luck with your investments!

 

[SureValla]

Morning all,

So, Tuesday I went out and bought an off-lease Nissan Leaf. After a few discussions with a few co-workers who took CRAZY advantage of the $5,000 GA tax on top of the federal I thought it was time to join ranks. I got a good deal on a 2013 with only 23,000 miles on it.

I was just so jazzed up to live the EV lifestyle and my commute is a whopping 12 mi round trip I figured this was my best solution to see if the Model 3 is going to be for me. I'm one of the guys that pre-ordered on the 31st in store but at the time I hadn't even driven electric yet.

Day 2 and I haven't had any concessions and that's on the paltry range the Leaf provides. The future looks electric!

do the tax credits apply to off-lease (used) cars?

 

[Skotty]

I hope to see Nissan step up their EV game soon. I'd be perfectly happy to see Nissan being way ahead of the other Japanese companies on EVs and being competition for Tesla. Despite some of their arguably goofy looking cars (Cube, Juke), I'd love to see Nissan become top dog of the Japanese some day and have Toyota eat a little humble pie.

I hope you enjoy your Leaf. I never considered one, but only because I'm in the minority that really needs a longer range.

@SureValla -- the federal up to $7500 tax credit is only on new cars. Not sure about any of the state rebates and credits though.

 

[CTreast]

I don't believe they do. but the KBB residual is very reflective of this in the used market. Full disclosure I got the car for 9k. I just checked Nissan's site and they say "starting at 29,010" for the 2016's S base version. Assuming you could get that down to 25 minus the government's 7.5 credit that's still about 17.5 before taxes and tags. Georgia no longer gives their state tax credit so that was another factor in buying used.

Craigslist is getting flooded with dissatisfied owners (expecting too much) and I talked to a 1 man dealer who says he's processing up to 20 per week from the off-lease wholesale business. This is who I purchased from paying a little more than private party for the safety and convenience.

 

[CTreast]

I hope you enjoy your Leaf. I never considered one, but only because I'm in the minority that really needs a longer range.

Thanks! And I completely agree. It'll be two years of staying pretty local for me. I sometimes drive to a lake in AL but that won't be happening unless I'm in my wife's ICE from now on.

 

[McHoffa]

My son will be 16 in two years and this is what I told him he should do if he wants to drive electric. He says the first car he buys once he's done with school will be a Tesla, but something like a Leaf would be sufficient during his teen years, and by then a 100 mile range Leaf will probably be fairly cheap to buy used.

We also have an EGO pushmower so it's possible that in his life he will never know anything about gas engines.

 

[Skotty]

Battery powered mowers still set a bad example for battery powered equipment. I soooooo want a high quality battery powered mower (preferably riding, but I'd take a push model), but I'm still waiting for someone to build one.

Well, on the flip side, my backfiring gas leaking riding mower sets a bad example for ICE mowers, so I guess it's a draw.

 

[CTreast]

^ hahahaha

And @McHoffa, that's so exciting for your son! I remember back in highschool (2000) when the original Prius launched, it was the only car I wanted. I begged my parents to help me afford one but my father wasn't trusting of the technology. I still remember sitting at the off ramp during the test drive and the car was silent - how cool. Took 16 years to get back to my mpg mindset but although still early in ownership, I'm very happy with this Leaf. My constant stop and go commute is a lot less angering because I know technically I'm getting more miles/charge. It's odd that it's a mindset enough to calm me down.

As long as he has somewhere to charge during school I think it'd be a brilliant plan.

 

[SureValla]

Battery powered mowers still set a bad example for battery powered equipment. I soooooo want a high quality battery powered mower (preferably riding, but I'd take a push model), but I'm still waiting for someone to build one.

Well, on the flip side, my backfiring gas leaking riding mower sets a bad example for ICE mowers, so I guess it's a draw.

Ive had a battery powered mower for 3 years now, its awesome. It doesn't have the power to cut super tall grass but as long as you mow 1/week or just raise the blade there's no issue. It runs for about an hour, plenty of time for me to finish my lot. In the event it runs out sooner I just finish the next day.

its a push black and decker, even has forward assist that I use for a hill

 

[MP3Mike]

Battery powered mowers still set a bad example for battery powered equipment. I soooooo want a high quality battery powered mower (preferably riding, but I'd take a push model), but I'm still waiting for someone to build one.

I have a Solaris battery powered mower, and I can say I really like it. Way more power than the old plug in one I had, and it has no problem getting through all my grass unless I really let it get too long. The bad news is I don't know that they make them any more. (I've had mine for ~7 years and had to replace the lead acid batteries once.)

 

[Boourns]

its a push black and decker, even has forward assist that I use for a hill

I've had the same one except without hill assist since 2013 and it's been great.

To the OP, I think you made a fantastic choice. A Leaf is a really good introduction into the BEV world, and their residual value plummeted way more than Nissan was anticipating, so I think you got a great deal. I think when I leased mine back in 2013 (2013 SV Ocean Blue with premium package) they had the residual at something around 55%. In reality they seem to be below 40.

If you haven't already, sign up for Plugshare. It is a very valuable tool, especially with the Leaf's range.

 

[tga]

Anyone buying a used Leaf should run a carfax and figure out where the car was registered. You only want a car from a cool climate. The Leaf's battery has no active cooling (unlike Tesla's), and hot climates really beats it up. So you don't want a car that spent time baking in the sun in AZ, TX, FL, etc.

Never trust the battery capacity meter on a used Leaf. Unscrupulous dealers are known to reset that, showing a full 12 bars of capacity, even on a beat up battery. After a few cycles (ie, after they've sold the car), the meter resets and the buyer realizes they got screwed.

 

[Borgholio]

I still have a year and a half of payments to break even on my Prius, but I am antsy as hell about waiting for the Model 3. I'm bugging the living hell out of nearby Chevy dealers to see if one of them is desperate to get me into a Volt so I can have my EV fix until 2019 or whenever. I mean my Prius gets 52mpg consistently and I love it, but it's like I can't wait to get rid of it.

 

[McHoffa]

Battery powered mowers still set a bad example for battery powered equipment. I soooooo want a high quality battery powered mower (preferably riding, but I'd take a push model), but I'm still waiting for someone to build one.

Well, on the flip side, my backfiring gas leaking riding mower sets a bad example for ICE mowers, so I guess it's a draw.

You should check out the EGO. Mine is the new self propelled model. Works really well on my hilly half acre.

I would like to get the cub cadet electric riding mower but saving toward the two Model 3s I preordered gets priority.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Anyone buying a used Leaf should run a carfax and figure out where the car was registered. You only want a car from a cool climate. The Leaf's battery has no active cooling (unlike Tesla's), and hot climates really beats it up. So you don't want a car that spent time baking in the sun in AZ, TX, FL, etc.

Never trust the battery capacity meter on a used Leaf. Unscrupulous dealers are known to reset that, showing a full 12 bars of capacity, even on a beat up battery. After a few cycles (ie, after they've sold the car), the meter resets and the buyer realizes they got screwed.

So what can you do to uncover this? Anything?

We're looking to pick up a used Leaf while we wait for the 3 because of the HOV access and the cost. They depreciated so quickly, it seems like there's a lot of good deals out there if you don't need a lot of miles. I'm wary about figuring out if the battery has been abused and what is still under warranty, though.

 

[xmetal]

I did something very similar, though I obsessively planned it to time out juuuuussst sooo. Knowing that the Model 3 was on track for a (realistically) early to mid 2018 timeline I took advantage of the some crazy lease deals and picked up a Leaf that will go off lease in June of 2018. Being on the east coast, that will probably be right around the time my Model 3 is ready. In the meantime, we got rid of one of our gas cars and took our family monthly fuel costs from about $250/mo to perhaps $30 (maybe even less now that I work from home) and drive the Leaf almost exclusively, and both my wife and I love it. In fact she had to take our gas car out today and a couple min after she left she called me and said, "I'm glad you that reserved two Tesla's because I hate this thing and feel like I'm driving a tractor!"

So yes, if you can get a deal a Leaf is a great, cheap intro to EV and will make the Tesla feel like a rocket-powered dream mobile once it arrives. I think I'll just maintain our current ICE until it dies (is been paid off for years) and hopefully just fill the garage with Model 3's in a couple years time.

 

[tga]

So what can you do to uncover this? Anything?

We're looking to pick up a used Leaf while we wait for the 3 because of the HOV access and the cost. They depreciated so quickly, it seems like there's a lot of good deals out there if you don't need a lot of miles. I'm wary about figuring out if the battery has been abused and what is still under warranty, though.

Pull the carfax? Fly to Seattle to look for a car (and hope they didn't get a lease return from AZ)?

A CA car might be a crapshoot. Not sure how you would know if it was from Napa or San Diego.

 

[eloder]

Currently leasing a Leaf which will be done in summer '08 (hopefully my very early reservation and an optioned car will have delivery in time!), and I love it. It's definitely a very nice car, just be sure you use it for purposes well-suited to its limited range. Awesome commuter / daily driver.