Used Nissan Leaf

[Pistonheader101]

what to look out for when buying a nissan leaf?

thinking of getting a cheapish EV car for the household, which we can use to nip into town with. Range doesn't need to be massive, as most journeys will be under 5 miles each way.

Any tips on what to look out for?

by used i'm talking sub 5k

[SWoll]

Plenty of buying guides for these that'll tell you everything you need to know.

https://www.drivingelectric.com/nissan/leaf/349/us...
https://insideevs.com/news/325877/used-nissan-leaf...
https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/162003/...

[TooLateForAName]

Sub 5K means either ex-taxi starship miles or gen1- with battery degradation in either case.

Gen1 cars have an electric parking brake which can go very expensively wrong.

Only isue i can think of with high miles is the differential - seems only to be an issue with malteated/v high miles.

Generally they are excellent city/runaround cars if the range works for you.

At sub 5K you can probably break it if anything goes wrong. motor/controller/charger etc all worth good money and even a half knackered battery is saleable as a house battery storage system.

[SCEtoAUX]

SWoll said:

Plenty of buying guides for these that'll tell you everything you need to know.

https://www.drivingelectric.com/nissan/leaf/349/us...
https://insideevs.com/news/325877/used-nissan-leaf...
https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/162003/...

From the first link:

"Expect to get around 70 miles from a charge on the earliest Leafs, while updated 2013 cars will do around 100 miles in the real world".

Utter tosh. Replace those figures with 40 and 70.

[R129 300SL]

I have a 2011 Leaf.

I get 55 or so miles from a full charge currently. In the summer I can squeeze out 70 plus.

[Toaster Pilot]

Bear in mind that the circa £5k 2011 cars with pretty beaten up batteries aren’t worth that and do change hands for sub-£3k in private sales if you’re lucky enough. Some traders are chancing their arms.

[motco]

R129 300SL said:

I have a 2011 Leaf.

I get 55 or so miles from a full charge currently. In the summer I can squeeze out 70 plus.

My Good Lady has a 2014 Tekna 24kWh Leaf with c.45,000 miles on and 12 bars. Before we understood the detrimental effects of cold weather on range we managed about sixty miles from 80% charge to the dashboard flashing warnings and screaming STOP! at us. It was November. I was driving like an undertaker and there was no speed over fifty at any time. In summer the efficiency rises from about 3.7 miles per kWh maximum to about 4.4 miles per kWh.

[R129 300SL]

Toaster Pilot said:

Bear in mind that the circa £5k 2011 cars with pretty beaten up batteries aren’t worth that and do change hands for sub-£3k in private sales if you’re lucky enough. Some traders are chancing their arms.

The batteries are worth over 3000 so unlikely to available that cheap.

Webuyanycar price was 4400 when I checked a couple of months ago.

[Toaster Pilot]

R129 300SL said:

The batteries are worth over 3000 so unlikely to available that cheap.

Webuyanycar price was 4400 when I checked a couple of months ago.

A Gen 1 battery with sub 80% SoH is definitely not worth £3000.

I bought a car like I describe for £2600 in October, saw one change hands for £2500 last month - they are out there.

Edited by Toaster Pilot on Thursday 6th May 16:41

[Pistonheader101]

Toaster Pilot said:

R129 300SL said:

The batteries are worth over 3000 so unlikely to available that cheap.

Webuyanycar price was 4400 when I checked a couple of months ago.

A Gen 1 battery with sub 80% SoH is definitely not worth £3000.

I bought a car like I describe for £2600 in October, saw one change hands for £2500 last month - they are out there.

Edited by Toaster Pilot on Thursday 6th May 16:41

thanks for the heads up. I'm certainly excited about the EV proposition.

Is there any way to check the battery health before purchasing? I saw somewhere mentioning seeing the X/12 bars rating? how do i see that?

[SCEtoAUX]

motco said:

R129 300SL said:

I have a 2011 Leaf.

I get 55 or so miles from a full charge currently. In the summer I can squeeze out 70 plus.

My Good Lady has a 2014 Tekna 24kWh Leaf with c.45,000 miles on and 12 bars. Before we understood the detrimental effects of cold weather on range we managed about sixty miles from 80% charge to the dashboard flashing warnings and screaming STOP! at us. It was November. I was driving like an undertaker and there was no speed over fifty at any time. In summer the efficiency rises from about 3.7 miles per kWh maximum to about 4.4 miles per kWh.

Quite. 56k driven in my 64 reg Acenta. Middle of winter, at a genuine 70mph, with the heater on means 35 miles maximum. Same in summer, no heater, I'd reckon on 55-60.

Drive like a saint, flat road, 45mph you might get 80 miles under absolutely perfect conditions.

Those are estimates for my car as it is now, 12 bars still showing. When new those figures maybe 10% higher.

[Toaster Pilot]

Using LeafSpy to interrogate the battery is the only true way, needs a cooperative seller though

The small graticules on the right hand side of the “fuel” gauge give an indication of the SoH but they can be reset.

[Pistonheader101]

Toaster Pilot said:

Using LeafSpy to interrogate the battery is the only true way, needs a cooperative seller though

The small graticules on the right hand side of the “fuel” gauge give an indication of the SoH but they can be reset.

thanks won't be a problem using apps/obd port etc.

[JurassicF]

Following this thread with interest as I am also looking into the possibility of a Leaf to supplement my weekend F Type and Macan to do the 3 to 5 mile shopping trip, driving to a nice walk with the dog or up to the golf club.

Rather than use the Macan to do all these short journeys, I would prefer to keep it pristine for the longer runs and Europe tours when we can.

Not fussed about trim, Acenta would do, but if I am looking at a 14, 15 or 16 plate car, is it really worth paying the extra for the larger battery over the 24kWh as we would almost never do more than 40 odd miles in one go, preferring to use the Macan for that.

Also are you better looking at a 40K mileage where the battery has been constantly used rather than a little used 20k car?

[aestetix1]

The main thing with used Leafs is that they were not always charged to 100% (for 24kWh models) or that they were not left sitting around.

So yeah, 20k miles on a vehicle of that age might be an issue.

Look at the number of bars left. Most that age will be down to 11 now (max is 12). Doesn't really matter to you for such short journeys. The ones with 12 bars will have a price premium that probably isn't worth it for you.

You can also use Leafspy to check the state of the battery in more detail, but again be aware that if it's been sat around for a while the battery might have become unbalanced and look worse than it really is. A few charge cycles will get it back to normal.

[lost in espace]

You probably want a 24kwh gen 2 car with a foot handbrake, the batteries are very robust. I had one and bought a 30 and regret it as I am suffering degradation unlike my 24.

Plenty around joing the Facebook Leaf group and post a wanted ad, and also SpeakEV is good. Buy a bluetooth ODB dongle and use free Leafspy to read the state of health on the car before you buy, don't trust the screen bars. And if it is low you can haggle.

[anonymous-user]

I just bought a Leaf for some friends of mine.

The sweet spot seems to be at around £7k in all honestly, getting you a high spec 2015 model with around 50k miles, and at least 11 bars.

A suprisingly decent car to drive,if not to look at, and probably the cheapest motoring you could do that isn't an ICE snotter/banger type thing

[JurassicF]

Thanks guys👍

[JurassicF]

lost in espace said:

You probably want a 24kwh gen 2 car with a foot handbrake, the batteries are very robust. I had one and bought a 30 and regret it as I am suffering degradation unlike my 24.

Plenty around joing the Facebook Leaf group and post a wanted ad, and also SpeakEV is good. Buy a bluetooth ODB dongle and use free Leafspy to read the state of health on the car before you buy, don't trust the screen bars. And if it is low you can haggle.

What year/s did they have the foot handbrake as the 3 I have seen so far were all electric?

[aestetix1]

lost in espace said:

You probably want a 24kwh gen 2 car with a foot handbrake, the batteries are very robust. I had one and bought a 30 and regret it as I am suffering degradation unlike my 24.

Plenty around joing the Facebook Leaf group and post a wanted ad, and also SpeakEV is good. Buy a bluetooth ODB dongle and use free Leafspy to read the state of health on the car before you buy, don't trust the screen bars. And if it is low you can haggle.

Have you had the firmware update for the 30? There was an issue with it showing too much degradation. Or are you using LeafSpy to check?