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Gale Hawkins
Super Member
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2009
- Messages
- 8,268
- Location
- Murray, KY
- Tractor
- 1948 Allis Chambers Model B 1976 265 MF / 1983 JD 310B Backhoe / 1966 Ford 3000 Diesel / 1980 3600 Diesel
Other than a Suburu (not a brand that's ever rung my bell) you mentioned earlier, I don't know what you're comparing it to. I do know that any reviews I've read have been very tepid with their praise, and I saw an article recently that mentioned that the leaf was third from the bottom as far as resale value after 5 years went. That's gotta say something.
I thought you only have had this car for a couple months...you haven't even seen a cold morning yet. See how well that heat pump works in Minnesota in February!
Oaktree one thing that it says is let the first owner take the depreciation hit by buying a high end car at a much lower price. The Nissan dealer did not come down from $16,000 to $13,416 in only one step because they had 12 people lined up that was willing to pay the $16,000.
From your posts about EV's I take it you do are not speaking from first hand knowledge about any EV. It took me about a month or two just to read through the bulk of 10 years of web postings about the Nissan Leaf. After deciding I was good to go with a first time EV getting our sixth Nissan was an easy choice because Nissan is a high value for the working class folks. It not having a gas tank or transmission did feel different for sure.
It was amazing to find a used deep blue pearl (new color added in 2016) Leaf SL not only with the top level trim package but with all the factory options offered by Nissan. 2/5 years of Nissan coverage on the drive train/battery was a nice bonus. I was sold on the Leaf before making the 4 hour drive in the F-150 so I could pull it home. It took them about 30 minutes to decide what they wanted my money or their car the most.
Now that EV's are moving more mainstream and more options are coming to the market the fad status is going away. Nissan does not have the high end sound to it as saying I just bought a 2016 Tesla with 22K miles on it that looks new.
When it comes to used cars I do my research then lay my money on the table. Mentally when I buy a used car I ask myself if it is a dud and a total loss will life go on more or less as before. That way I take the full loss upfront mentally so there is no stress down the road if things do go south. I practice making fast decisions after I do my research and then being slow to change my mind after the fact. The opinion of others besides my wife are not something that I use in buying a used car especially that is for taking her to work daily since she hopes to be able to work until 70 to max out her social security and other retirement income. That should about get the daughter out of graduate school potentially.
Looking as if a vehicle is new was a plus with this 2016 Nissan Leaf SL as well as the leather heated seats and steering wheel. After the car was parked about an hour at about an hour at 10 pm tonight the air temp was 24F and I could start to feel the heat pump working some in 20 seconds but in 30 seconds there was good warmth. Front and rear decks and the 4 doors have great fitment with a nice solid sound when they shut. The handling and ride are awesome just comparing it to the 50 years of used car ownership. While the sound system is awesome it was the 4 exterior cameras was the part of that $1500 option package that I wanted to help limit the impact of my limited physical range of motion. Now full self driving is on my list sooner than later but they are not out there on $10K-$15K used EV's just yet.
It sounds like to me you are thinking about EV's more and more. That is a good way to wind up owning one. I do see one in your future.