I have just sold my diesel car as It doesn’t fit with my reduced mileage and changed driving habits these days.

Needed in the region of £850 to be spent on its annual service, cam belt, water pump and suspension bushes. Was also losing a small amount of coolant which indicated that the water pump was on its way out.

Sold to the trade at a reasonable price, but in all honesty the diesel is the wrong car for us these days.

Been very interested in the Leaf for a while.
No road tax.
No fuel cost, or very little cost at the occasional rapid chargers. Also have solar panels to offset any at home charging costs.
90% of our driving is a radius of about 25 miles these days.

Interested in opinions of anyone who has bought the Leaf.

We’ve got one that replaced our ageing Fiat Multipla, I worked out that the cost of running, repairing, taxing and putting fuel in the multipla was the same cost as a Nissan Leaf on a PCP and fueling it.

We got a PCP deal for a mid-range leaf for £175 per month.

It’s our only car (although we’ve got a camper) and 99% of the time is more than adequate. When we need to do lots of miles quickly I generally borrow a car.

I have to say try carwow website and play the dealers off against each other. My local Nissan dealer wanted over £225 per month. Got it a lot cheaper and just had to collect from Bristol..

I don’t own one but I build them!

Looking to buy outright, used , but less than 2 years old with extremely low miles.

My maths worked out like this.
Keeping the diesel and paying for diesel was about £60 per month.
Servicing was beginning to get expensive , had the ERG valve fail recently due to the changed driving habits really.
Local independent garage that I use recommended getting rid of the car, as the driving habits will only cause expensive DMF, DPF, issues,

Was costing me about £1000 a year to run, not accounting for any unforeseen stuff, which does happen.

The main difference in getting the Leaf is virtually no running costs, well perhaps £250 a year absolute max.

I can get a 22% discount off the list price for “friends” on a new one

Make sure you get the new 300km version rather than the old 200km. They’ll only do half that in Winter when the battery is a few years old so IMO it’s not worth buying the older version.

Get a quote for the new Zoé 40kWh.

I’ve used Fluence, Kangoo and Peugeot 106 electrics. The more kms you have in reserve the less stressful the driving experience.

They’ll only do half that in Winter when the battery is a few years old so IMO it’s not worth buying the older version.

Although if it’s purely for a short commute, he could snap up a bargain with the older version.

I don’t own one but I build them!

Cool 8)

OP as you’ll lease one from new there is no worry about residuals or battery replacement. Seems well worth a dabble imo. I am not an early adopter but if we where still in London with the congestation charge zone I would look seriously at hybrids. Have friend who has gone full Tesla, his longest drive is typically 60 miles to a second home at which he has a charger too and otherwsie just around London. So far he is loving it and the 0-40 (and higher) acceleration is outstanding.

Haven’t they all blown away in the winds we’ve just had ?

I use to borrow the one we had at work sometimes.
surprisingly fun to drive, goes like stink from the lights but soon runs out of puff (which isnt really a problem in town is it). my next motor will be electric or hybrid

Bought a used one last week – 2014 Tekna 24KWh

Will be used as a second car with typical 50 mile a day usage.

First impressions:

Pros – Quiet, Nippy acceleration up to 50, lots of toys, I like the looks, Comfy seats, no road tax and minimal fuel costs, bigger inside than it looks

Cons – range really is low. 70 miles is a realistic estimate at 40-60 mph and driving over 60 mph is a waste of time as wind resistance will kill your range

Rubbish bose sound system, 80’s dash layout.

On the whole I think its great but you need another car as well.
Nissan are offering some stupid deals on used ones at the moment with free home chargers, 0% and free servicing etc etc. probably the best value car you can buy at the moment as long as you can live with the range

If you are serious about buying one get Leafspy on your phone and a dongle off ebay – then you can really check out the battery before purchase

best place to find out about them is the Speak EV forum

^^^ top post, thanks

Just as an update.

Bought a 2015 24kw Tekna with low miles and 6.6 charger.

0% finance and two dealer services , no added cost to the purchase price, in fact it’s a little lower than many Leafs for sale at the Acenta grade.

Will be picking it up later next week.

Good choice. I wish mine had the 6.6 charger but there were none with it for a reasonable price near me except an Acenta and I wanted the leather heated seats and 17″ wheels – the leaf is one of the few cars that rides/handles better on larger rims. Plus they look better!

did you get a chance to check the battery?

I didn’t get a chance to check the battery, but the car has been in reasonable use and belonged to the Managing Director of a large chain of motor dealers.

Car is immaculate and very hard to tell from new really.

A 65 reg from a dealer with low miles will be fine anyway. Leafs start with about 66-67Ahrs of capacity. Mine only had 4k on the clock but unfortunately being 2 years old has lost a few percent of capacity. Its age and storing batteries at 100% that kills them. I guess mine had been kept topped up for too long. Still in the scheme of things its no drama as it doesn’t seem to have impacted the range at all.

You’ll love it!

That’s makes an electric car and a ebike.

Perhaps I should change my username to electric den