Used 2015 Nissan LEAF Hatchback Consumer Reviews

Surprised it's So Nice

We bought our 2015 Leaf SL for an around town car. It's perfect for any trip of 35 miles radius from home (70 miles round trip). When traveling further there are loads of Free charging stations to be found. Home charging cost is about 2 cents per mile driven based on the local FP&L 10.6 cents/kwh electric cost. I'm a big guy with a bad back. I looked hard at the Chevy Volt but due to the lower roof line it was hard for me to get into it without contorting my neck to duck under the roof. The Leaf roof is tall and actually is easier to get into than my Lexus RX450h. Acceleration is ample and very quiet. It just pulls. In ECO mode the accelerator is remapped to make response pretty dull but acceptable. Turn off the ECO mode and the accelerator is very responsive. ECO doesn't reduce acceleration it just takes more pedal movement to get the same response. We installed a 240 volt charging station at the house which cost about $500 for the box and $150 for electric installation. It is well worth it. It fully charges the Leaf in about 3 hours vs the 15 hours it takes using the supplied trickle charger. Without the offered rebates the car would not be one we would have considered. We negotiated a $5,000 dealer discount, A $6,000 Nissan rebate and a $7,500 Federal tax credit so that reduced our real cost to $20,000 for a $38.500 MSRP Loaded SL. Or SL has Bose Stereo, Navigation, Leather etc. We estimate the car will be worth only $10,000 after 5 years but that is not bad considering depreciation after rebates are factored in is only $2,000 per year. Maintenance cost should be minimal since no oil changes etc. The only issue may be battery degradation over time Fuel (Electric) is costing us about $20 extra a month on our electric bill for 1,000 miles driven. NOT BAD. The car has a free iPhone or Android APP that allows you to view charging status, battery status and even start the Air Conditioner remotely. In Hot Florida we use the AC remote start up all the time before leaving a restaurant to make sure he the car is cool by the time we get to it. Update: 20 month of ownership update. It's still our go to car for local trips within a 30 mile radius of home. Range has reduced very slightly due to exoected battery degradation. In 20 months battery and range has degraded 6%, and this is in Florida heat. The only problems so far is the 67 cents CR2025 coin battery in our key fobs needed replaced and a recall on the passenger seat pressure sensor. Update: after 36 months traded it in on. 2018 Leaf SV. The 2015 was a great car but the 2018 has almost 2x the range due to the larger 40 kWh battery vs the 24 kWh battery in the 2015. . THEN after owning the 2018 for a year I traded it in on a 2019 SL Plus with the 62 kWh battery. These Leafs are great cars.

Zippy, fun car!

The Leaf is a really fun car to drive. It handles well, feels very solid and well made. I think it's zippy- I don't understand the 'slow acceleration' comment from Edmunds. I loved my previous car but sold it to friends in order to go with new technology. I leased rather than purchased- you want to be able to move on to a higher range vehicle in a few years. Hope Nissan comes out with a 150-200 range version in 2018 - I'll be waiting in line... If you don't like the odd look of the Leaf (many don't) it's all the more reason to be driving it - you won't have to look at it! Inside, it is a nicely appointed, spacious car. As far as charging it - I plug it in to a standard outlet in my garage and it charges overnight. Just like my iPhone and iPad.... A regular, nightly procedure. 100 percent charged by 7 a.m. Love it. Leased January 2016. Adding a comment here.....LEASING is a better deal than purchasing.

Never Going Back to Gas

I'm extremely happy with the Leaf. While I appreciate the car's low environmental impact, I mainly bought it because it was a financial no-brainer. While the MSRP was around $33k (for the SL), I negotiated a price of $25k. Deduct the federal tax credit and a $2,500 rebate in MA, and the final cost was only $15k. So it's just about the cheapest new car you can buy. I'm fortunate enough to have access to free charging, so all my driving is now free. And there's virtually no regular maintenance or repairs to worry about. Of course the main limitation of the car is its relatively short range. I find I can get 100 miles in warmer weather, more like 70-75 in colder weather, with mostly suburban driving. For commuting, errands, and other short trips, the Leaf is just about perfect. We have a gas car as well, but hardly ever use it. I would say the Leaf makes a perfect second car, but you may find that it quickly becomes your first car. Driving the Leaf you really do feel like you are driving the future, and all gas cars seem both rather primitive and overly complex. EVs are simply better vehicles - quiet, smooth and quick acceleration, low maintenance, reliable, and better for the environment. I hope to never own another vehicle that uses gas. I'm also smitten with the heated steering wheel, making winter driving much more pleasant. What's the downside, besides the limited range? Well, the exterior design might not suit everyone. The steering wheel doesn't telescope - a strange omission. The armrest could be larger and adjustable. It could include a spare tire. But really that's about it. The Leaf is easily my best vehicle purchase, and I highly recommend it.

Bought used 2015 for $9300 and love it

I have been looking at the Leaf for several months. We just wanted one for our local driver (4-6K miles a year) to replace our 15 year-old Camry. I first considered buying new for $20,000 off MSRP ($10,000 Fed/State tax credit and $10,000 dealer discount) bringing an SV or SL model down to $16 - $18K, but that was really more than I wanted to pay for a light local driver. I never found a $33K S model listed for $10,000 off MSRP, otherwise I may have bought a 2017 for $13K. In the end, I opted for a one owner, off lease, 2015, with 27,000 miles, 12 bars, and certified by the dealer. The car is indistinguishable from new and cost $9300. I bought it for my wife, but find I have been driving it a lot more than her, even though I am a big guy (6' 4", 235) and love my 2013 Toyota Highlander Limited. I love the value, the power, and mostly that it doesn't have a tailpipe. We have seen the future.

A Fun car to drive and you save money too! Update!

UPDATE: Having the car for 7 months now I would like to update a few thing. Upgraded charging station: Had the electrician run a 220 line to the garage and installed an electric meter in October. Found a Clipper Creek HCS 30 charger on eBay for a 435 and had the electrical hook it up. From October 13 until March 15 we have used 1390 kW for charging and preheating the car. Winter: Bought Michelin Ice tires for the winter and they have worked well. We lost a bit of miles per kW, dropping from 3.8 to an average of 3.5. While my wife can drive it to work and back, with side trips, for two days before we charge it, we ended up plugging it in most nights just so it could be warm for her drive to work. Then she just uses the seat and steering wheel heat. On trips across town I used the heat and the energy display tell how much milage you loose - I'd rather be warm. Electric usage: for the first two months of usage, I tracked how much electricity we used compared to how much gas we would have used. We would have paid 2.5 times more using gas at 22mpg. I saved $108.52. With the meter installed, which includes heating most days this winter, gas would have cost twice as much, saving just under $400.00. Our cost of a kW, including distribution and the like is currently $.15. This savings paid for my Clipper Creek charger and part of the electrical work. How many miles? In the winter, I figure my wife has about 70 miles. The tires reduce some and she does use the heater for longer trips. Lately it said I have 78 miles. I do not know how it figure this, if it goes on past performance or what. I have been taking the freeway across town at 70 mph over the week end, now I am using to drive my mile to work since my wife is out of town. She has come home several times with the dashes showing . I use SpyLeaf to give us the exact milage they say is remaining. Charging: The Flint area is dismal for electric cars. Thankfully Consumers Energy has one public charger 3 miles away and down town has two on the university, though I do not know how accessible they are to use. The local Nissan dealer is a mile away from where my wife works so she could away stop in and charge for 20 min if she needed. A trip to the Detroit area would include a stop at the Nissan Tech center for their fast charger: 20 min to 80%. A 20 min walk is nice in the summer. We greatly enjoy having the car and I alway look for a reason to drive it. If I could find a low battery one dirt cheap, I would use it to drive to work (1.7 mile round trip) and around town. ORIGINAL REVIEW: If you are looking for a LEAF, do your homework. Figure out how many miles you drive a day to help you decide if this car will work for you. Batteries seem to be a biggest problem after a number of years of use and there are forums for the LEAF that will tell you what to look for and how to check them. It is such a different car, from your internal combustion engine car, that you need to think different. If you want to follow manufacturer recommended service, you take it in every 7500 miles and they check a few things. Every 14,500 miles they change the break fluid. That's it. On my 2015 I figure we have 85 miles to use even though it says we have 110 miles available. That is more than enough to get to work 10 miles away and run errands along the way. We are now charging every other day. The day after we bought it, we had gone 75 miles and still had 20% of the battery left. As it gets cold, expect the milage to go down - part in heating the car and part due to how cold can effect a battery. For us, even if it is cut by half, it would still serve our needs. As with every electric vehicle, this one has a sweet spot: 38 mph. If you could drive that on a nearly level road I have read you can get 134 miles out of it. Meanwhile in the real world, be conservative and decide if the milage it will normally achieve based on the number of bars left on the battery are right for you. If so, get it. If not...your choice. Oh, I didn't rate the safety cause we have not had it over a winter and I do not know what they mean by active safety.

Reliable-No Maintenance-Low operating cost

We bought this car in Dec of 2015. After 6 years 7 months, and 59K miles, it runs as good as the day I bought it. Since I've had it, it's never broken down. The only maintenance I've done is I put in a new 12-volt battery at the 5-year mark because that tends to be their limit. I also put on a set of winter tires. So far there hasn't been any battery degradation. (There's a bar indicator on the range gauge). Nissan provides a once-a-year free battery check to maintain the battery warranty which is good for 8 years. Since we put solar panels on our roof in April 2021, 100% of our electricity has come from the Sun, which of course includes charging the LEAF. A lot of people that don't know anything about electric cars or the LEAF think it's slow. The LEAF can easily keep up with traffic, and accelerate quickly into traffic from onramps. The only shortcoming of this 2015 LEAF is the limited range. For me, it doesn't matter because it's a 2nd car used for errands and I don't need to travel more than 50 miles from home. The new LEAFS and most EVs now have ranges between 200-300 miles and can recharge to 80% from nearly empty in about 15 minutes. Overall I'm sold on EVs, the low cost from virtually zero maintenance, excellent reliability, free kilowatts from the sun to power it, and excellent performance are a winning combination.

Very Pleased

**UPDATE** I've driven my Leaf for about 5 1/2 years, and have about 62K miles on it. Battery degradation is still 10 our of 12 bars. With a "full" battery on a 60 degree day, I probably have a range of about 68-70 miles. I have not had any repairs in the last few years. Maintenance every 7,500 miles has been very inexpensive. One anecdotal thing of interest--my 14 and 17 year old kids HATE the Leaf because they think is looks dorky and uncool. Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but their disdain for the Leaf does not bode well for Leafs and young folks. On an unrelated note, I think my resell value remains low due to low battery capacity and newer EV's having much, much more range. All that said, I will have paid it off this December 2020, and it's still ultra-efficient, ultra-low cost to maintain, ultra-reliable, and is still beautiful to my eyes. : ) **UPDATE** My Leaf has been my primary daily-driver for almost 5 years now. Overall, I'm still very pleased with it. Very rarely are there any issues (in fact, I don't remember the last time I had a problem--probably 2-3 years ago.) One negative and one thing to note. Negative: Battery degradation has gone down to 10 (out of 12) bars. So when I'm 100% charged, my range is approximately 72 miles. (I have the 24KWh battery pack.) I think this is normal. Note: Given recent EV cars with bigger battery packs, I must admit I have "battery range envy." But in all fairness, the new Leaf + (60KWh battery) has a very long range. I think for this reason, the resale value of my Leaf is pretty low. **UPDATE** I've owned and driven my Leaf daily for almost 4 years now. I'm pleased to report that my Leaf has proven to be very frugal and inexpensive to own. Very few repairs--none out of warranty. The 7,500 service intervals have been inexpensive. Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase so far. I should note that my battery has lost 1 bar, so on a 60 degree day with a full battery my range displays about 72 miles. I have approximately 41K miles thus far. ---------- (written 3-4 years ago) While I care about the environment, I didn't buy my Leaf for environmental reasons. I bought it for financial reasons. When you add up all the financial and efficiency aspects of this car, it's really quite amazing. Local Nissan Dealership rebate: $3,500. Federal tax rebate: $7,500. Texas rebate: $2,500. Austin rebate on home charging station: up to $1,500. Nissan finance % over 72 months: 0%. Austin Energy has a deal where for $25, you get unlimited charging at over 200 stations scattered all over the city for 6 months. With average mixed hwy/city driving, it gets the equivalent of 115 mpg. All in all, I'm very pleased with almost everything about the car.

Leaf saved my life

I loved the car. I had a 60-mile commute once a week, as well as local driving, and was proud that put 10K miles / year on the car. We have a Prius as a second car for longer trips. I totaled the car in a head-on collision during into oncoming traffic. The car saved me from serious injury (one broken rib), absorbed the shock, spun 150 degrees. Frame was unbent so that I was able to open driver's door and get out. Seatbelt worked fine, not sure about air bag. I am waiting to replace the car until I pay off the car. That will take 15 months or more. Meanwhile I am driving a 15 year old spare car. It is a station wagon and more practical that the Leaf for hauling. Depreciation is the major negative. Insurance company said it could only give me $13K for a car that I paid $36K for. They had never seen a depreciation rate that extreme. I guess I should have leased the car. But that seemed too expensive to me. I also bought warrantee; they have yet to reimburse me now that the car is dead.

WOW, this is like a dream.

So we brought our 2015 Leaf home in October 2014, it is now January 2016, the car has 17000 miles and we have not gone back to the dealer for anything. This has never happened with any new or used car we have owned. The car is like a miracle. The Leaf is smooth and powerful. Range is adequate for the daily commute and recharging at home is a plus and simple to do. Easier than pumping gas. UPDATE FEBRUARY 2017.. still no repairs or maintenance to speak of after almost three years and 30k miles and it still feels like new. FEBRUARY 2018..44k miles,still no repairs or battery degredation

READ ME BEFORE YOU BUY THIS CAR!!

It depreciates QUICKER than any other vehicle, so don't buy it if you plan on selling it. However, the return on investment doesn't take into consideration the money you get from a state rebate, plus the money you save in not paying for gas or oil, or repairs associated with gas and oil. Don't be fooled by the federal tax credit. It is a credit, NOT a rebate OR refund. You can't roll it forward or backwards in tax years. You must actually owe that amount or more in taxes to get the full credit. The salesman will try to tell you that makes the car cheaper ( state tax rebate plus federal tax credit equals $10,000 off cost of car) NO IT DOESN'T! You have to pay for the full amount of the car up front and interest accrues on the full amount. So if you go and try to lower your tax liability in the NEXT tax year, by buying this car for the federal tax credit, you are kind of actually paying for the tax ahead of time in the form of an interest accruing loan on a rapidly depreciating car to MAYBE get UP TO $7,500 off of your tax liability in the next tax year. My car cost $32,000 and 18.3 months later the private party resale value in really good condition with only 15,000 miles on it is only valued at $13,436 and I only got $2,500 for the tax credit, plus you get a 1099 from the state for the $2,500 rebate you got naturally adding to your income changing how much refund you qualify for. On the good side, my electricity bill only went up $10/month while my fuel cost of $1,972 / year (oil changes and repairs not included) went away completely! ;) ON THE VERY BAD SIDE. .. the fast charging stations are very limited so if I wanted to go to Frisco or Plano from Denton starting with a full charge (118-123 miles on my gauge-a 64 mile round trip to REI or whole foods-should easily make it) If I didn't stop to charge at 380 Walgreens on the way up, I would be white knuckling it on the way back because the only way there is freeway or 55+ speed... no 35-45mph roads so dashboard reports mileage lost 2-3 miles for every 1 mile driven :( The sweet spot for this car is 37 mph. I can drive for free (no miles lost even though I've driven 10-20 actual miles! Sometimes I'll go that distance and sometimes I actually GAIN miles! !! Lol totally cool!

Love my Leaf

I bought my 2015 Leaf used in November 2016. The purchase price was very affordable even though as a used car it is not eligible for any tax incentives. My commute is 35 miles each way and while I can drive to work and back on a single charge my office parking lot contains EV charging stations. I generally use them for 2 hours because I like to leave work on a full charge in case I want to make side trips on the way home. My main reason for this purchase wasn't the price of gasoline but rather low maintenance. Given that I have 3 other high mileage vehicles, maintenance has always been an issue. This is a no brainer for me. Just unplug and go. In six months I've driven 13,000 trouble free miles. The ride is great and acceleration very brisk. Overall I'm very pleased with this purchase. This is the perfect commuter car for me. After another 36,000 miles since my last review, no issues and no maintenance except tires. Love this car.

Great for what it is, but obsolesced by newer EVs

The obvious overriding constraint with this car is its limited range. It will go 80-100 miles on a charge in warmer weather - or only 50-60 miles in our Minnesota winters. You would not want this as your primary family car, even if you're otherwise okay with a Fit/Sonic/Kona sized vehicle. Where it really shines is if you have a moderate commute and/or mostly do errands within a radius of a few miles. We bought it as a commuter car doing about 1000 miles a month, and it is the cheapest car we could possibly own. By a wide margin. We looked at everything from used Priuses to used economy cars, and nothing came close. We bought a 3-year-old Leaf with 25k on the odometer for a third of what it cost new; admittedly, you would pay more for a used one today, but that's true of all used cars as of 2022. You still pay less upfront than for another car of the same age, and you save even more on energy and maintenance. We've since put another 50k of blissful miles on ours. Despite a soft, forgiving suspension it corners remarkably well. It is luxury-car quiet on the highway, and absolutely library quiet at city speeds. Its acceleration of 0-60 in 10 seconds might not sound quick, but between 10 and 40 mph - city speeds - it will suck you back into your seat. Which is wonderful for around-town driving. You can pick up 10-15 mph almost instantly at any time, with no waiting for a downshift and no dramatic engine roar to draw attention. Part of the reason for the 10 second time is that Nissan deliberately limits power off the line to avoid wheelspin, so under 10 it's not that quick and it starts running out of steam at highway speeds too, but around town it's a blast. It also uses more juice at highway speeds, so anytime you worry about the battery getting low, just pull off the highway and take the side streets. It might seem counterintuitive, but hybrids and EVs get much better mileage in town than on the highway, and that is very true of this car. And that's the biggest limitation of this car: the constant need to think about how much range you've got left, and when and where you're going to charge it. Although we have Level 2 charging it's only 3.3kW, the very low end of Level 2, and it takes 6-8 hours to fully charge the battery from as low as we'd dare let it get. Many Leafs were sold with the optional Quick Charge Package (6.6kW), but it uses the CHaDeMo connector which is rapidly being phased out in favor of CCS. Almost all the EV makers except Tesla are switching to CCS, and Nissan has also gone with CCS on its new Ariya. Yet bizarrely, even though they made significant design changes on the 2023 Leaf they’re sticking with CHaDeMo on that car. Makes no sense, but then again we don’t even have the fast charge on ours. Which, if you can manage the charge time, may be an advantage. It sounds like fast charging is fine if you only use it occasionally for longer trips, but fast charging generates a lot of heat, and the Leaf’s air-cooled battery may be the reason some people who fast-charge a lot of had their battery degraded a bit by 60-80k miles. I’ve heard many stories of batteries this age only charging to 9 or 10 bars instead of 12. Maybe because we can’t quick-charge it, we still charge to 12 bars and a full indicated 100% at 80k. We have noticed no loss of range AT ALL since we bought it. A lot of people are worried about the cost of replacing EV batteries as they age. That’s a concern, but battery prices are in free fall as technology improves, and the Leaf’s 24kWh battery is much smaller than the newer EVs. I could have my battery replaced today for $5k, upgrade to one with 30% more range for $8k. Those prices will continue to drop, and I would be very surprised if it is necessary for most vehicles before 150k miles. Pretty far down on my list of concerns. And by the way, the concern about fast charging is ONLY even an issue on the Leaf: most new EVs, including Nissan’s new Ariya, have liquid-cooled batteries that shouldn’t be degraded by fast charging. Energy costs? We live in MN, which does not have cheap electricity (about 15c/kWh after taxes), and we spend $40 a month to drive it 1000 miles. Even a Prius would cost more than double that, at today’s gas prices, and anything else would cost at least 3-4x as much. Maintenance costs? Only issue has been the brakes: although the regenerative braking on hybrids and EVs means their brakes typically last a lot longer, longtime owners of these cars in snowy/salty climates know that they will rust up after 4-5 years on the road whether they are worn out or not. Last year we spent about $1k having our brakes reconditioned and rustproofed (something the factory doesn’t do), but other than a new set of tires that is the ONLY expense we have incurred. Speaking of winter, this car is fantastic for a 2WD vehicle in ice and snow. It has the weight of a Camry or Accord pushing down on tires the size of the Versa on which it’s based. Skinny tires = great traction. What’s more, the traction control system is far more responsive than is possible with a gas engine. In snow you just put your foot down and let the drivetrain sort it out. No roaring engine or violent wheelspin: the car adjusts power to the motor within fractions of a second depending on the amount of wheelspin, also applying brakes to whichever wheel slips more to ensure that they both the right amount of power at all times. It just works. Like my Mazda, in a tight snowy turn the stability control will bring the back end around slightly, helping tuck the car into the turn with less chance of the front end plowing wide. They might not advertise that their ESC does torque vectoring, but it does. Really great on snowy Minneapolis streets. More about winter: Our Leaf S only has a resistive heater, not the heat pump offered on the more expensive models. The heater sucks a lot of juice (about 3kW by my calculations) and will reduce your range even further than what I mentioned above (which, by the way, is not because of reduced battery performance in the cold per se, but because of the energy used by the internal heater that keeps the battery at optimal temperature). But have our Leaf set to preheat the car on house power before we get in in the morning. So we start out with a full battery in a toasty car prewarmed to about 90 degrees, and even in MN cold that lasts a while when you’ve also got a heated steering wheel and four heated seats (thanks to the Cold Weather Package that is the only option on our base Leaf). We don’t end up using the heater that much. Fortunately AC (or presumably the heat pump, if yours has that option) is a lot less thirsty than the heater. By my calculations the AC only uses about 500-600 watts, and running it only takes 5-10 miles off the range. We use the AC all summer and don’t worry about it. Bottom line: great car to drive around in, as long as you’re okay with not driving it very far, and we’ve saved a fortune. We love it for what it is, but also recognize that for most people’s demands (most families seem to want all their cars to be roadtrip-capable, even if one or two is only used for commuting) it has been made obsolete by the newer EVs with 2-3x the range and anywhere from 7 to 100 times the charging speed. Summer 2023 update: 5.5 years and 65k miles in, still great, no major changes to above, but had to redo the brakes again. One of the downsides of driving in salty winter environment.

2015 junk

Your battery pack Will degrade over time it’s just a matter of time. Ours are failing and Nissan will do nothing to help. Consider yourself warned!

Our second LEAF

This is our 2nd LEAF that we leased since 2012, and we decided to purchase it! Not only has it been an amazing and well-built car with no service issues, it’s saved us so much $ we can’t even begin to imagine! So easy. Just plug it in when we get home and it’s ready to go in the morning!

100% Reliability.

Bought this car in Dec of 2014. Since then I haven't had to do anything besides rotate the tires and add windshield fluid. This car has completely sold me on EVs. It's fast, quiet, reliable, virtually maintenance-free. All my future cars will be electric.

GREAT CAR

I really like the Leaf. It drives great and the best part is NO gas. You plug it when you arrive home. The same as plugging in your phone. I had them install leather seats. I still love my car. Will never buy another gas car. I have spent approx. 400 on annual maintenance over the past 2 years.

Zippy, eminently useful around town car -- love it

I bought our 2015 Nissan Leaf used with 45K miles on it. I love this car, for multiple reasons, listed in order of importance: 1) It was and continues to be an incredibly affordable car. I bought this car straight up with cash -- not having a car payment is a huge plus in my book. Not having to pay for gas and oil changes etc. is another huge cost savings. When the Colonial Pipeline shut down and gas shortages occurred this summer, it was a major relief to be able to get around town and zip past long gas lines. My employer offers free Level 2 EV charging and I charge exclusively there (takes 4 hours to charge fully--I unplug and move my car on lunch), so my electricity bill hasn't even increased. The only cost I bear for owning this vehicle is insurance ($29 a month). You can't beat that. 2) It's surprisingly fun to drive. Want to beat that Mustang off the line when the light changes? You can do it with all the crazy EV torque in regular drive mode. Want to extend your range on a longer drive without much stop-and-go? Eco+Drive mode is for you. Navigating city streets with lots of stop-and-go? You've got B-Mode to get all that power recaptured in your brakes. The spunky little Leaf will literally LURCH forward when you need to drop Eco mode--it's hilarious but also pretty thrilling. Also the low center of gravity caused by the battery pack in the floor makes this car carve turns like you wouldn't believe. 3) The cabin is spartan but eminently comfortable for drivers and passengers alike. It has everything you need, and nothing you don't. It's never so cold here (thankfully, I don't have to use AC or Heat, which, when flipped, decrease range a lot), but little details like the heated seats and steering wheel make up for it. C/D player/sound system work like a charm, and this little catfish has a ton of cargo room. I've hauled bikes, tables, bags of animal feed/mulch in this car with the second row folded down--it's a cavern on the inside. When you put all of that together, our 2015 Nissan Leaf is by far the best around town car I've owned. We have a Honda Accord for roadtrips, otherwise that would be the main limiting factor. I highly recommend buying this car used if the battery degradation isn't too bad (gotta watch out for that though when buying used), and if you need a peppy and affordable daily commuter/round town car.

Save money YYYY

Go Green gas will b over $3 soon

Trickle charging is key for battery longevity

Great little car with loads of cargo space. As the title states, trickle charging is key for battery longevity. I bought my used 2015 Leaf in 2018. Four years later, I’ve only lost one bar of battery capacity, total, from mainly using a regular wall charger instead of a quick charger. I really do love this car. I don’t know why the review states “slow acceleration,” because I always beat everyone off the line from stoplights: this thing has some serious zip. As far as maintenance goes, in four years I’ve only gone in for a couple of tire rotations and I top off my windshield fluid. I highly recommend this speedy, efficient little wonder car for an around town or short commute vehicle.

Excellent for short commute

I purchased a few days ago Leaf 2015 with 11 bars. If you commute most of the time in the city, with no highway you will love this car. very responsive, no issue with parking. for highways, it's another story. driving at 60 mph probably will reduce your range by at least 30%. not to mention that cold weather will also impact your range. it is recommended to precondition the car. on overall, for small trips an excellent car with low maintenance.

electric car

The range is limited by cold weather. Takes out about 35% of range, if temperature below 30. In the 2016 model range is increased by 23 miles so this will help. I still love the car but you need a second car for long trips. Fast charging is a problem for long trips. Only Tesla has the infrastructure. However, for a commuter the Nissan works well. And best of all the only maintenance is to rotate the tires. That's it. Now that Nissan has a car with 150 miles range the commuting ability is much better. And in 2018 model the range is said to go beyond 200 miles. Tesla has cars with range of 350, but who can afford them at $80,000 for the Model S. The Model 3 will be under $50,000, so they are getting realistic for most of us. But Nissan still best value. I have noticed some drop-off in range since now the car has 36,000 miles on it. But it still has all 12 bars and the range is still around 80 miles. Plenty for my commuting needs. Obviously no good for trips. I am saving around $1,000 per year vs. having a gas car, and that is taking into account cost of electricity to charge the car. Now with Tesla have the model Y coming to production, that is a better buy considering the cost is close to the Leaf. Although the Leaf still has the $7500 credit, all things considered (especially resale value) I would go with the Tesla Model Y. With Tesla charging infrastructure, the Y can do it all. If you are making a lot of long trips every year, the gas car is still king. Even Tesla can't do a 5 minute fill up.

Not a range worth considering

The range promised is not the range delivered. Once driving 65 mph, expect to get a 45 mile range before you begin to panic and search for a charging station. This will be the worst purchase of your life. You think you are getting a car, but really it is a golf cart. I don't even think these should be sold as cars because they deliver so little range that it is unreasonable to expect that a person would be satisfied. It is the equivalent of having a 3 gallon gas tank at 22 mpg, if you are lucky. This fake car devastated my life because I could not afford to make a huge mistake. I planned on keeping the car for many many years, however, I had to get rid of it because I needed to drive to my elderly mom's house (35 miles away) and I couldn't make the trip back and forth without charging. That's not right. It was horrible. Just don't ever buy a Nissan. Bad company and I still have not been able to get into another vehicle since this financially devastating event. Terrible.

Leaf perfect most of the time; good storage, fun

Great car for everyday. Cold in Michigan winter first 10 mile.

Couldn’t be happier

This car was very inexpensive, but it has low mileage and drives like a dream. Only drawback is that the range is terrible but that was expected (that’s why it was so inexpensive!). But we use this car for shorter drives and it is nothing short of wonderful

It's a jewel for its price!

commuter car

Why did I wait so long

Great second car easy to drive in traffic, park and fit in a garage AC great even when sitting

best car ever

plan ahead for longer trips

Excellent!

How many miles you drive the car for a day!