Edit: Between the time I wrote this, and the time I actually bought a car (January 2024), the price of a lightly-used Bolt had fallen so much that I bought a Bolt instead of a Leaf (Post #1924 ).
I’m trying to replace the gas vehicle I got rid of, about a year and a half ago, with an EV (electric vehicle).
Bottom line: Well-used Nissan Leaf is the best fit, for my needs.
I only need a grocery-getter. Something to get me around town, reliably, in all weather, when it’s not convenient to borrow my wife’s car.
I could just pick something in a pretty color, and lay my money down on something big, shiny, and new. ‘Tis the American Way. But that’s likely to give me more car than I need. I’d like to do this efficiently, with as little waste as possible. Odds are that whatever I buy, it’ll spend most of its life losing value and range, sitting in my garage.
Finally, my taste runs to hatchbacks, for their utility in transporting long or bulky items. I don’t want the standard American gargantuan SUV, and I have less than zero interest in upscale, luxury, sporty, or large vehicles.
So here I am.
Wait, is she packing heat in an ankle holster? I didn’t ask for that. Plus, her right arm/hand is like 5′ long. Typical IA art.
The used Leaf appeals mainly because it really is no more than a grocery-getter. If it wastes away in my garage, I haven’t destroyed much. But it comes with some risk of being a temperamental lemon, as discussed in earlier posts. It wasn’t a great design to begin with, by modern standards, with low range, no battery cooling, inefficient battery chemistry and design, and an obsolete fast-charging plug. On the plus side, Nissan still makes and sells a replacement battery, with a reported ~$8K price installed.
A new-ish Bolt appeals because it has good range and should have excellent reliability (plus or minus a near-fire or two). But it’s more than I need. For example, it has enough range that it can be used for long road trips. I’ll likely never use all that range. This option might have some resale value some years down the road, so the net price may overstate the true lifetime cost-of-ownership.
Then there’s the Volt, Chevy’s original plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. That gives me just enough electrical range in-town. It doesn’t use a huge battery, and it doesn’t have range anxiety. But it also has a gas engine, with all the complication that implies for judging the reliability of a used car. Finally, it’s something of a dead end in that Chevy no longer makes a battery for it.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if I just threw up my hands and bought a new small hybrid. I’d add a fraction of a ton of C02 to my annual household carbon footprint. And life would move on.
Finally, in the broader sense, with the recent shortage of driveable cars, by opting for an aged Leaf, I don’t think I’m depriving anybody of a needed commuter vehicle. Nobody who really needed a cheap daily driver would opt for this car.
Today I’m leaning Leaf-ish, despite the known flaws. Mostly because it’s just as much car as I need, and no more. I risk little in buying one. It will have lower upkeep in the form of insurance, property taxes, and maintenance. It may have higher upkeep in the form of normal auto wear-and-tear items.
It may or may not be a lemon, in the sense of not being an all-roads, all-season car. The small, aging battery may no longer be able to deliver the power required to do all types of suburban driving. I’ve ordered a $15 OBD-II bluetooth dongle to transmit data from the car to my phone. I’m going to get and learn Leaf Spy Pro. With any luck, that will give me the ability to weed out batteries that are in rough shape.
We’ll see how it goes. At least I feel I’ve done my due diligence.
All art in this post courtesy of Gencraft.com AI and freepik AI.
