At the beginning of the cold season in late 2020 I was getting tempted to trade the Leaf in on a 2020 Kia Niro which has far better range in the cold. The dealer didn't have a colour I liked and by the time they "found" one my enthusiasm had cooled. The Niro doesn't have heated seats and steering wheel in the base trim level which meant I would have had to purchase a higher trim level. The difference would have been $37G !!! First of all heated seats and steering wheels are needed for all EVs sold in areas where it gets cold as they greatly reduce the need to use cabin heating which sucks up range. Secondly I have a well maintained 1999 Saturn wagon which I bought brand new. It turns out it wasn't getting enough use and the brakes rotted away. Discs, calipers and one cylinder had to be replaced so that wasn't cheap for a car not used much at that point. I might add I need this car to declare as a "personal" car for tax purposes so I can claim the hefty depreciation on the Leaf as a business expense. Thirdly the Leaf is really super comfortable and reliable. I've had no issues that have required an unplanned trip to the dealer. A break down with a vehicle used for business means the cost of lost billable time as well as repair costs. The Leaf is a real trouper in the cold and I've had no battery overheating issues during the hot weather as I don't take long trips that require more than one DCFC along the way. I am nearing the end of my own "service life" as well. I had hoped that maybe a few more good years might enable the purchase of a Tesla model Y but the COVID has dashed all that with a loss of about $70G in revenue by the time the dust settles. At my age my next vehicle is likely to be my last so I'll keep the Leaf until the battery gets too weak or the "wheels fall off" as the saying goes. I've also "inherited" a second ICE vehicle from a sibling. I'm using both ICE vehicles for the long runs to keep the mileage down on the Leaf and preserve the brakes on the ICE cars. The Leaf is truly the Rodney Dangerfield of EVs in forums like this. His famous line was "can't get no respect". Indeed it is a favourite target for trolls who have no experience with one but like to dump all over it to perhaps gain some sense of importance. It seems to get little respect from Nissan either. And their attitude towards the early adopters was truly deplorable. So I have no idea at this point what my "last vehicle" will be.
They sell the EX here with the cold weather package. So I'm not sure why you would have to buy the premium model. https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=589499201&zip=98401&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D98401%26fuelTypeGroup%3DELE%26city%3DTacoma%26incremental%3Dall%26makeCodeList%3DKIA%252CNISSAN%26listingTypes%3DNEW%26sortBy%3Drelevance%26location%3D%255Bobject%2BObject%255D%26state%3DWA%26firstRecord%3D0%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26relevanceConfig%3Ddefault%26searchRadius%3D50%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse&listingTypes=NEW&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0&makeCodeList=KIA%2CNISSAN&searchRadius=50&clickType=spotlight I don't understand where the $37G comes from. I can see a $5,000 difference, but not $37G. https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=578225614&listingTypes=NEW&fuelTypeGroup=ELE&city=Tacoma&state=WA&zip=98401&location=&makeCodeList=KIA%2CNISSAN&searchRadius=50&marketExtension=include&isNewSearch=false&showAccelerateBanner=false&sortBy=relevance&numRecords=25&dma=&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fnew-cars%2Felectric%2Ftacoma-wa-98401%3Fdma%3D%26makeCodeList%3DKIA%252CNISSAN%26searchRadius%3D50%26location%3D%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse%26showAccelerateBanner%3Dfalse%26sortBy%3Drelevance%26numRecords%3D25&clickType=listing
The $37G is the difference I would have to pay to trade in my 2019 Leaf S on the Niro. Perhaps you thought I was comparing the price of a new Leaf to the Niro. I was being offered something like $17G trade in value for my Leaf. BTW the figures are Canadian dollars.
I agree with your take on the Leaf. I've had 3 and they were all amazingly reliable in the extremes of Canadian seasons. My only beef has been with using DCFC multiple times on a trip, but trips like that are once a year and if the trip is particularly long I borrow my daughter's VW Tuscan. Like you, I'm looking at my options for my last car --currently hanging out for the Ariya which I hope doesn't turn into a disappointment in itself, after what had become a disappointing length of time of its release.
Very well said. I agree the Leaf gets constantly dumped on by those with zero Leaf ownership experience, and by those whose only ownership experience came from early models with unfortunately poor batteries. Newer models have very low rates of repair and the traction batteries fair far better than the earlier models. My 2018 has over 96,000 KMs in 3 years and still nowhere near to dropping its 1st bar. It will regrettably be my last new Leaf for 2 reasons: The F150 Lightning I have on reservation with be my families 2nd EV and we henceforth will be “iceless” after that. Secondly, it is deplorable the way Nissan has failed to support Leaf owners by not offering them reasonable access to affordable replacement traction batteries. Unless Nissan has a sudden last minute change of heart about this, I feel they don’t deserve a second chance and I will not be considering the Ariya as a Leaf replacement when the time comes. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
