A number of sites have posted first-drive reviews of the new Leaf, and it looks interesting to me. I like small cars (currently have a 2020 Hyundai Kona Electric), and there aren't many little EVs for sale in the US right now. I won't be looking for a new car for at least a year, but when I do, I will definitely consider the new Leaf. Anyone else?
I owned two Leafs. A 2016 and 2018. They were both good. I traded in the 2016 when the over the top generous Ontario incentives were coming to an end so the upgrade only cost me $8G. I opted for the lowest trim not aware that it used resistive heating instead of a heat pump so my winter range when I had to heat or defrost was pretty bad. All in all though it was a great car for the 5 years I had it. Never any hardware/software issues. In Jan 2024 I went to a VW id.4 for the extra range as I was fed up with public charging experiences. My reason for not upgrading to the Ariya is that the lower cost trims were almost unavailable and the shitty experience early Leaf owners had when their batteries failed prematurely. Ok if under warranty but if not OMG! It would be hard to trust Nissan after that. I would like any EV I buy to have a servicable battery pack and to be assured that a replacement is available if needed during the service life of the car.
Obviously a premature battery failure would be disturbing, but I am not aware of that happening with the Ariya or more recent Leafs. Did I miss something? Many manufacturers had major battery issues as they were starting down the EV path, including Chevy and Hyundai. Is there some reason to be more wary of Nissan?
I don't think there's any reason to be wary of the current crop of Nissan batteries. With me it was more of a case of being disgusted with their business practices relating to those owners whose batteries had failed after warranty. As such I didn't want to patronize a company that abandoned it's customers like that.
In effect that's what they said but I think it was something like "Well you need a new car!" It was very difficult to get them to commit providing a new battery and the prices quoted were a significant fraction of replacement of the whole car. to You'd have to go back into the archives in this forum and the CBC to get stories from actual owners.
