2012 Nissan Leaf

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Just spotted a 2012 Nissan Leaf, the sky blue color, lower of the 2 trim levels.

It is said to have belonged to an old man who died. He only pooped around town (a small town) with it.

It has UNDER 3,000 mi. and the seller is asking $6,000. It comes with the charging hardware (a house unit and a 12V plug in I think).

Were these any good or were they bad?
 
But where you live, I'd do some research as the vehicle might pay for itself depending on your driving habits vs what your driving now.
 
Originally Posted By: Kira
Just spotted a 2012 Nissan Leaf, the sky blue color, lower of the 2 trim levels.

It is said to have belonged to an old man who died. He only pooped around town (a small town) with it.

It has UNDER 3,000 mi. and the seller is asking $6,000. It comes with the charging hardware (a house unit and a 12V plug in I think).

Were these any good or were they bad? Seems very tempting to me, though I would be concerned about the batteries with such little use.
 
Originally Posted By: gman2304
Originally Posted By: Kira
Just spotted a 2012 Nissan Leaf, the sky blue color, lower of the 2 trim levels.

It is said to have belonged to an old man who died. He only pooped around town (a small town) with it.

It has UNDER 3,000 mi. and the seller is asking $6,000. It comes with the charging hardware (a house unit and a 12V plug in I think).

Were these any good or were they bad? Seems very tempting to me, though I would be concerned about the batteries with such little use.
 
Sorry, Don't know what happened with my post. I would be tempted, Though the batteries might be a concern with so little use.
 
Hi, Kira. Check out the reviews on Edmunds, Car and Driver, etc. Edmunds has a good valuation tool if you know the vehicle's options. Sounds like it COULD be a good buy for a driving around town car, not a long distance traveler.
 
I had a 2014 Lease for 3 year. Great car and super reliable. Time is not what kills batteries. The number of charge / discharge cycles is what ultimately kills the battery. The range isn't spectacular but for a commuter it is good for 95% of your average trips. 6K is an awesome price.
 
My suggestion is get the battery tested. I think new that car was near 40K. If you're only using it to get around town and you have a garage I'd look more closely.
 
Being 5 years old the battery is going to be a little weak. It is still a great car for short trips, just priced a little high $4k would be more like it. The electric parking brake is known for failing, so avoid using it. If it fails it's about $1000.
 
You must be thinking of a different car. The LEAF's parking brake is a mechanically operated foot brake. I used the one in mine every time it was parked with no issues. I did a nationwide search on AutoTrader for the LEAF and none are priced below $6000 Everything in the 6K to 7K price range has 40,000 to 70,000 plus miles
 
2012 is the earlier version battery that is not lizard. It usually age worse than the 2013 and later ones. If you can ask them to show you a photo of the dash and count the number of grid on the right, you should see 2 red and then 10 other blocks on top if the battery is 100% life. The top block is 15% and then 6.25% (or something like that) for every one of the remaining one. Check for how many is left and see how much range remains. There is a chance that it has been very depleted and the life is permanently reduced. Also check if it has been in a hot climate area in CarFax history, they don't age too well in heat.

But $6k is almost the cheapest you will find and it may be a bargain even if it has 5 blocks of battery life remains. If you don't need the range it can be a good teenager car or a retiree car.
 
Originally Posted By: DerbyDave
You must be thinking of a different car. The LEAF's parking brake is a mechanically operated foot brake. I used the one in mine every time it was parked with no issues. I did a nationwide search on AutoTrader for the LEAF and none are priced below $6000 Everything in the 6K to 7K price range has 40,000 to 70,000 plus miles


Once in a while you'll see some $5.5k ones with 1/2 battery life gone, but for perfect battery you won't see one that cheap.
 
Originally Posted By: DerbyDave
You must be thinking of a different car. The LEAF's parking brake is a mechanically operated foot brake. I used the one in mine every time it was parked with no issues. I did a nationwide search on AutoTrader for the LEAF and none are priced below $6000 Everything in the 6K to 7K price range has 40,000 to 70,000 plus miles


My early model had an electric parking break. I'm nnot sure which year they changed it over to mechanical. Autotrader values are normally higher. Craigslist has them lower.
 
I've been doing a bit of reading on EV cars. The Nissan Leaf is not the pick of the litter. It is said to have: a relatively short range especially for the early models, a battery that is not cooled (and which gets overheated in use, shortening its life), and an expensive and non backwards compatible battery. But it's also fun to drive and (aside from an expensive replacement battery every few years) very economical to operate.

In practice, it may be possible to have a bad battery rebuilt or to find a good used battery when the time comes.

All that said, that is one really cheap EV and if there is a lot of remaining life on the battery, a screaming hot deal. But I'd check the cost of a new replacement battery before buying it.
 
Originally Posted By: ecotourist
I've been doing a bit of reading on EV cars. The Nissan Leaf is not the pick of the litter. It is said to have: a relatively short range especially for the early models, a battery that is not cooled (and which gets overheated in use, shortening its life), and an expensive and non backwards compatible battery. But it's also fun to drive and (aside from an expensive replacement battery every few years) very economical to operate.




The Leaf was marketed as the first electric car that wasn't an experiment, expensive or a Tesla. It has a short range, but Nissan marketed it as a city car - it's built off the Versa platform but since the batteries had to fit into the same space for a fuel tank as well as the fact it was 1st gen Li-Ion tech the range isn't spectacular. It certainly sold more than the Fit EV and Toyota's RAV4 EV(which was basically a Model S in a RAV4 shell, Tesla built the battery packs and drivetrain what was shipped to Toyota in Canada).

I've ridden in one, it's not a speed demon but it felt good even though Nissan is the king of cost cutting. At least it wasn't an insult to the driver like the Chevy Spark EV was.

The Prius hackers are already hacking together "replacement" batteries from known-good cells but with so-so quality. Nissan isn't using 18650 Li-Ion battery cells in the Leaf's battery pack from what I've heard. The next Leaf could be using a battery pack with commodized cells, given Nissan's ties to Samsung via Renault Samsung Motors and LG is already tied up with GM and Hyundai.
 
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Originally Posted By: SeaJay
But you will not be getting the pick of the litter at that price point.


This.

Any EV with better battery than earlier non lizard Leaf will not be selling for $6k. Many people have to give up their Leaf, and many buyers pass these worn out Leaf (battery only) because the range is not enough to cover their commutes, where EV going on carpool lane with only the driver is the huge benefit (one of my coworker cut down commute time by 1 hr), free charging at work being a close second, saving the earth not really.

As a result, these EVs are only good for short distance driving, not really that beneficial. A new lizard battery trade in is $5500. $5500+6000=11500, makes $6000 pretty much the bottom of the price point these things will be in unless the battery replacement price changes drastically.
 
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