Past Leaf Drivers Users Group

[ninpb]

Im actually a present leaf and 3 driver, having gotten the leaf as a lease first 2 years ago and that's how I ended up in this rabbit hole.

Would be fun to discuss thoughts and experiences with the move to the 3.

For instance, lack of bms, my leaf lost 2 bars already, about 16.6% of battery capacity. That I think about constantly with the 3 despite data from high mileage S showcasing Tesla's battery technology. I still can't believe I just charging whenever I want without timing for heat, cooling etc. This is why I would never get an ipace or etron without having years and miles of data to prove it's battery technology first. Purchase that is.

 

[bedoig]

I had a lease on a '13 and re-upped into a '16. I was planning on waiting for the $35k version after my '16 lease ended in late 2019. Then late last year I had a random thought to ask Nissan how much it would cost to get out early. Turned out it was only around $2k. Then I convinced myself it would be worth it to get the full tax credit. Then I convinced myself I should get the AWD version, lol. Didn't quite spring for Performance but if I had known I could get a P3D- with a $5k refund a couple months down the road I would have jumped on it.

Both of my Leaf's had pretty bad degradation, but the 30 kWh '16 was really bad. I was at like 64% SOH after two years and 30k miles. I drove my 3 for about a week before I turned the Leaf back over to Nissan. In that short time I had already gotten used to the 3 and the drive in the Leaf back to the dealership felt so weird. Skinny little numb steering wheel, absolutely no power, weird seat position, etc. So happy to have picked up my 3 in November (like 2 weeks after I ordered)!

 

[C141medic]

Leased a 2013 Leaf for 2 years. Was a great car to drive but unfortunately for me it wasn’t practical so I turned it in at the end of 2 years. My commute is approximately 70 miles round trip and during the winter it was very difficult to commute due to the limited range.
There was no workplace charging so that just compounded my range anxiety. Summers were less of an issue as I always had at least 20 miles of range left when I got home, even with A/C. The Leaf is a great city car, in my opinion. For more rural areas not so much. Even the new extended range models are still limited in their practicality due to the lack of a charging infrastructure unlike Tesla.
Last year I test drove a 2018 Leaf with pro-pilot and was very disappointed in the tech. That same day drove a Tesla Model 3 and placed my order.

 

[bedoig]

My commute is approximately 70 miles round trip and during the winter it was very difficult to commute due to the limited range.

My commute was just over 100 miles when I leased my '13. I usually took the park and ride bus though and could sneak in a charge at work occasionally. One time the stars aligned and I actually made the round trip with no charging. I got to work and had ~55% left so figured I had to try it. Drove a little slow at the end but didn't even hit turtle. Actually I never hit turtle, too cautious I guess

 

[ninpb]

For the first 2 years, buying out the car after the lease was still an option after hearing about huge discounts by nmac fincial. I thought, hey, a cheap work commute car especially with free charging at work. So I babied the battery. Only charge about 80%. Minimize heat by not charging immediately after a drive. Timing charging so I start to drive after some time finishing charging.

When I made up my mind about getting a Tesla and not buying out the leaf, I stopped all that battery babying. I swear less then two weeks at about 30k miles I lost my first bar. 2 months after that lose 2nd bar.

I think the leaf e plus still doesn't have a bms?!

 

[iluvmacs]

Still have our '13 Leaf alongside our 3. It still fits our needs perfectly well, and still has 12 bars at ~45K miles. Many scoff at it compared to the Model 3, but I still point out a few things it has that are superior to our 3: hatchback, heated steering wheel, heat pump, all-around cameras. So I can't quite say our 3 is better in every respect...

We have, however, started wondering "what's next" for replacing that car in the next few years... The Model Y could be a great fit, though pricey. The Bolt is fairly compelling. Neither my wife nor I like the new Leaf, despite absolutely loving the one we have. They just tweaked the design in just the wrong ways for us...

 

[exLeaf]

I drove my 2011 Leaf for about 8KM, but because my commute was about 35 miles one way, and I was not able to charge at work I bought Civic CNG. I bought Leaf because of technology and efficiency. Can’t complain about Civic it cost me about 2.9c/mile and initial cost was very reasonable. I do not plan to switch to EV in near future, very simple reason for me is cost and fuel efficiency. Not really thrilled about speed, ludicrous mode, car for me is just transportation. As of climate change, pollution I think I am very reasonable because what I drive and how I drive.

 

[iluvmacs]

I drove my 2011 Leaf for about 8KM

I totally read this as 8 kilometers... LOL

 

[krusen]

My observations on the benefits of each model comparing my 2018 Nissan Leaf S to my Model 3 SR+.

• 1 Pedal Driving - The Leaf has a much better implementation that lets me come to a complete stop without rolling backward on a slight hill. I'm hoping that Tesla takes note and offers a software patch to match the Leaf.
• Price - Leaf wins; but only because of Federal Rebates and frequent power company related discounts. Also repairs on the Leaf are cheaper - e.g. Windshield is $300 on the Leaf, and $1200 on the M3. Insurance was cheaper on the Leaf too by $400/year.
• Interior - M3 has the overall win; but the Leaf came with floor mats
• Ease of Charging Hookup - in town the leaf wins because it does not need an adapter at most public locations
• Supercharging - M3 wins by a landslide since I did not order a fast charger on my Leaf.
• Acceleration - Leaf ties the M3 - when the M3 is in Chill mode
• Fear of Shopping Carts - The M3 is a beauty queen who fears dings; the Leaf is a grocery getter you'll be comfortable parking anywhere.
• Ugly Hubcaps - it's a tie in my opinion. But the M3 pulls ahead for the win when you pull them off.
• Rear Visibility - The Leaf has great visibility; in the M3 I feel like I'm in a bathtub and can't see the pavement behind me. Note that I'm also coming from a Miata that has my favorite seating position, and the best visibility.
• Vertical visibility - M3 glass roof prompts you to keep your chin up.
• Fit and Finish - Leaf has much better panel gap consistency. I can also close the doors on my Leaf on the first try; while the M3 is workout machine forcing you to do reps.
• Ease of entry and exit - Leaf has a nice seat height and lower door sills making it the one to choose to run to the mailbox or grocery store.
• Fart machine - Leaf wins for affecting not only the auditory senses but the olfactory senses on a higher percentage of those detected in the vehicle.
• Vampire battery drain - did not notice any in the Leaf; but in the Tesla we're paying when we're not playing.
• Longevity - M3's battery will likely last longer.
• Auto Driving - The M3's auto steering is not yet ready for prime time. It zig zags annoyingly and forces you to exert more pressure on the steering wheel than if you were to just steer manually. And when passing semi's it hugs the center of the lane instead of giving them a bit more room. So I'm going to drop it once the trial is over. And on the auto speed adjustment when following others, I like the Toyota implementation on their Rav4 better than the Tesla. (I don't have adaptive cruise on my Leaf)

End result is that I've got a lot of respect for the Leaf. Around town the lighter steering and 1 pedal driving on the Leaf is very well implemented. And if Nissan had priced the SV plus model at $33K list I likely would have skipped the Tesla for a couple more years. But alas, the Leaf lacks the passion and pizzazz of the Tesla so I took the step up.

So if your budget is constrained, or you're interested in just getting from point A to point B with minimum drama; don't be afraid to look at the Leaf. But after having a couple electric cars, I'm now a torque junkie and am looking forward to my baby Tesla; and hopefully a performance model some day in the future.

 

[elasalle]

After I got my LR M3, my neighbor got a Leaf last year. After recent price drop he is regretting his Leaf purchase.

 

[ninpb]

I like how you can be more efficient with energy in the leaf through low regen setting and mad coasting skills.

I understand that the only place Tesla regens is through coasting so it has to slow you down more and it doesn't fuzzy up the breaking functionality like the leaf. In the end, Tesla is more performance so I'm glad the breaks work straightforward as breaks.

 

[SageBrush]

For instance, lack of bms, my leaf lost 2 bars already, about 16.6% of battery capacity.

The capacity bars are not equal. The first and last bars are 16.5% loss, and the the bars in between are 6.5%:

16.5 * 2 = 33
6.5 * 10 = 65

By bars you have already lost at least 16.5 + 6.5 = 23% capacity. However, some 30 kWh LEAFs came with a BMS bug that reports more capacity loss than actual. Your dealership can tell you if your car is affected and offer a free of charge firmware update. It is the only reason I can think of to voluntarily get anywhere near a Nissan dealership. Do NOT let them sell you anything, including the useless yearly battery health assessment.

Our LEAF is an excellent 20 - 30 mile commuter. It is a bit embarrassing to ask much more of it.

 

[tashtibet]

Leaf was my first EV to experience EV driving while waiting for M3. I got my M3 and sold my Leaf to purchase a used Bolt EV. Just worried of Leaf's poor battery.

 

[jkoya]

We had a 2012 Leaf that suffered from major capacity loss - max range was about 35 miles. Unfortunately, we missed out on the Class Action Lawsuit by a few months. Sold the car after getting a Model 3 Performance. IMHO, the Honda Fit EV I leased was a better car than the Leaf. Still have a 2016 Volt which has been a great car.

The local Nissan service department didn't give me a huge feeling of confidence also.

 

[MrMassTransit]

I picked up at 2017 Leaf (with the 30 kWh pack) at the end of the year. Took the tax credit and got $10k off the MSRP (in addition to the tax credit). It was the first car I owned in a decade, having been exclusively a transit/bike commuter and relying on car sharing when I needed to drive. I mostly purchased the Leaf to play around with EV technology. Had I been able to do that with a carsharing program, I would have, but sadly there’s no EV carsharing in DC (other than things like Turo which don’t work for errands around town and such).

The Leaf was a good car, but ultimately I picked up an SR+ once they became available. There’s just no comparison between the two. I drive very little within the city and mostly use the car for trips outside the area. The Leaf was just very limited in that regard. I only put about 800 miles/year on it. I’ll probably put 3-4K on the Tesla, the difference being a lot more road trips. There’s also just no comparison in terms of power or design. The Leaf feels like a car, the M3 feels like the vehicle of the future.

All this being said, I have a two year old Leaf with less than 2,000 miles on it. Anyone looking to pick one up?

 

[Nfuzzy]

We still have a 15 Leaf with 47k miles and all bars. It was my gateway EV that got me hooked.
I find that LR RWD +aero is even more efficient. I would get maybe 5.4 mi/kwh at best commuting in the LEAF and in the 3 my best was 169 wh/mi or ~ 5.9!!!
The LEAF will be replaced with a Y eventually. Hanging on to it now as it is still a good cheap commuter. No way I'd buy a new one over a M3 SR though.

 

[Dynastar]

Still own an OG 2011 Leaf with 68k miles on it that I bought off lease. The battery pack was replaced under warranty two years ago so it has full bars. It's a great little errand runner, cheap and reliable, but there's no question this is an economy car. It's starting to get plenty of squeaks and groans, especially on cold days. Still, my family doesn't really need two long range cars so it's here to stay for the time being, faithfully doing its thing.

 

[Weedo]

I've had a few electric cars starting with the Fusion plug-in. The car was excellent for the ~24 total miles you could get on a charge. Quick, quiet, great interior, looked good on the outside, smooth... But once the electric ran out, the engine was terrible. Loud, buzzy, annoying.

Then I had a 2014 BMW i3. Of the 100+ cars i've owned (yes, i'm insane), it was one of the most fun. Drove like a gokart. Excellent handing FAR beyond what i ever expected with the skinny tires. The power was great (had the same 30-50mph time as BMW's own 335is). The kids would laugh every time i'd hammer it as it slammed their heads back. 0-60 in 6.7 didn't tell half the story. Ultimately i kept getting an error that would shut the car down and not allow it to be driven. The dealer couldn't figure it out. I traded it in...

Then a 2014 Leaf SL for my daughter. Overall i'd say it was a "decent car" as far as driving, looks, etc... The back seat was far too small (headroom, legroom), much less room than the i3 which was shocking (although that only had 2 seats). I kept getting error messages and it would cut the power down to almost nothing. Multiple dealer trips could not figure it out. They eventually replaced cells in the battery pack. This oddly dropped my range from about 65mi to 40mi. They couldn't figure this out either. As i bought the car from Carvana, and had purchased many others from them, they actually took the car back for what i paid for it.

All the odd electric car issues still didn't sway me from getting the model 3. Picking it up Sunday!

 

[ninpb]

Looked at leaf today after charging. Just lost my 3rd bar. Month 34 of 36 lease. So according to sagebrush, I have lost 29.5% battery unless it's a firmware issue.

 

[ninpb]

Looked at leaf today after charging. Just lost my 3rd bar. Month 34 of 36 lease. So according to sagebrush, I have lost 29.5% battery unless it's a firmware issue.

Maybe if I lose my 4th bar within the next month, I'll entertain going for warranty replacement and see if buying out is a good deal... With steep discount of course.