I have been looking at this for a long time. Here are my thoughts
One thing you have not shared is your usage pattern. Every day use (20-40 miles every day), long road trips, short commutes to the grocery store?
We have tried the Leaf a couple of times, and thermal management is important to us as we live Arizona. However, Leaf has never made a compelling case even though it had a lower price than Tesla. Leaf has been sold in US for a long time, even may be longer than the Bolt. Yet they have not crossed the 200K mark where the have been selling cars since 2011 in the US
They have sold about 161,000 cars till 2019 (
https://carsalesbase.com/us-nissan-leaf/) and about let us 20,000 this year, leaving them with enough room to continue to enjoy the tax credit up to 2022. So popularity wise, there is no comparison. Resale value, will be higher on the Tesla than on the Leaf. After five or six years, the Leaf will be worth say $10-15,000, the Tesla should be worth twice as much, especially if you autopilot.
Second, the Tesla is a Sedan and can accommodate 4-5 people easily? Nissan Leaf is hatchback and smaller. Again, your preference, but value for money should be a consideration
Third, a reason for the lower price on the Nissan Leaf is due to some discounts that I see ((employer discount of $3000, state incentive of $2500). Would you get that on a Tesla. If you get that on a Tesla, the price difference is essentially the $7500 federal tax credit. If you only get it on the Leaf, then the difference is between $10,000 and $13,000.
Next question is autopilot. There is a hefty $8,000 for the autopilot. With autopilot, your costs are around $49,000 out of the door for the Tesla Model 3. (I am sure you can live without the autopilot, but ....... You could always add it later if needed, you cannot add the propilot later)
So here is bottom line as I see it.
Feature vs feature (even without autopilot or propilot), Tesla has a lot more going for it including size, comfort, handling, on going improvements, charging network, resale value etc.
From a pure price point of view, you could save between $7500 (federal tax credit) to over $13,000 with the Nissan. So it is simple, based on your usage pattern, you have to decide what makes more sense. If it is just one or two people traveling and you make short trips to the office or run small errands (less than say 800-1000 miles a month), the Leaf should meet your needs and saves you a lot of money. If you take long trips, more people, longer commute, Tesla is worth the money. It comes down to your usage, your preferences, dollars and cents. This forum can you help see the different sides of the coin, but the ultimate decision is your.