Used 2018 Nissan LEAF Consumer Reviews
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Flawless in first 10 months
Ryan Gildersleeve, 02/28/2019
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
28 of 30 people found this review helpful
Excellent pep and super fun to drive. Haven’t had a single glitch or quality issue after 10 months and 7k miles. Super reliable. Added snow tires and it tackles bad weather with the ease of my former compact SUV. The eco-pedal is life altering; I never have to use the brake pedal. The interior heater is amazing, fires up super quick in winter. The adaptive cruise control is great and works all the way down to 0mph. Lastly, the car is SO quiet. There is very little wind, tire, or road noise and zero interior squeaks or rattles. A couple of negatives though. The lack of telescope steering wheel really sucks. The A-pillars can block the view so be sure to check for that. The Bose subwoofer in trunk sounds good but a terrible design of the placement by Nissan. Sometimes Apple Car Play doesn’t load. I just have to plug it back in a second time and it works. Passenger seat is slightly less comfortable than driver. The 151 mile EPA range is easily met if mainly city driving. If driving on interstates at 70mph or more, the range is more like 130 miles.
5 years in--the worst car I have ever owned
Dan, 05/25/2018
updated 12/05/2022
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
33 of 36 people found this review helpful
This is an update after 5 years--I truly hate this car--and given the resale value so does everyone else. The battery continues to be the main problem--it just cannot make for a reliable drive. Once the battery warms up--about 75 miles, the range nosedives. MANY times on my drive home I get an excessive heat warning--and a little turtle icon lights up on the dashboard and power is cut to the point that passing another car is difficult. (The fact that there even IS a turtle icon shows that Nissan anticipated this problem). I live on a hill, and getting the car home is a challenge due to extremely low power. NISSAN knows this--they don't care. Here is my original post:: There are some things prospective buyers need to know. The range is overly optimistic--I am a smooth--non-hot-shot driver--I get about 120 miles on a charge--not 150. Be wary of planning a trip that involves hills--the incline eats energy. The car is very comfortable and the interior--while not a wow factor is well above average. The problem? NISSAN dealerships and support. After only 2 weeks the pro-pilot assist went out, and the pedestrian braking never worked. One dealer had it 3 days saying they were waiting for Nissan corporate to look at it--but couldn't say when that would be. I returned it to the dealer where I purchased it and have been told it will be 7 business days to get a new sensor that "might" fix it. I called Nissan EV support--the first complaint never got logged--the second one did, and at least they agreed to reimburse gas. I was without my new car for 3 weeks because of weekends and a holiday not included in the business day estimate. At this point I wish I had put those dollars elsewhere. I paid cash. So that was my review almost 3 years ago. UPDATE--NOW?? I hate this car! Everything I said previously still stands but with more insight: The battery thermal management makes driving anywhere over 50 miles a crap shoot because once the car goes that distance adding more energy for the return trip becomes problematic. The battery simply will not accept a full charge, possibly only allowing 10% charge with each "fill-up". Without going into the details; a return trip from a location 90 miles away took 7 hours! Once the battery decided it was too hot I limped from charging station to charging station and towards the end max speed was only 40 miles an hour. That doesn't happen anymore because I don't drive that sort of distance. Yes---this is a runabout town car--no more than that. The autopilot assist is also very sketchy. It barely keeps the car "centered" in a lane--often wandering over the line. (In its defense--the car is not considered self-driving) but the function is mostly useless. Through all of this? Nissan continues to be unsupportive. DO NOT buy this car! Update after 3 1/2 years: The car continues to underwhelm. My range has dropped from 120 miles on a full charge (when newly purchased) to about 100. This glorified golf cart is nothing a modern electric car should be. At least when it was new I had free charging for two years--now that I am paying I am careful about nonessential trips. I never drive more than 75 miles from home since recharging is so difficult due to issues prviously discussed.
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2018 Nissan LEAF for sale near you
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- SL 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $12,790In-stock online
- SV 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $13,590In-stock online
- SV 4dr HatchbackMSRP: $12,998In-stock online
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Not turning over a new LEAF. Update 23,000
Jim, 08/18/2018
updated 09/13/2023
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
8 of 8 people found this review helpful
Great economy and performance. First thousand miles required $25 of electricity vs $75 in gasoline for an ICE AT 30 mpg. E pedal is great for hilly driving. Poor cross traffic alert system. No hooks for bags in cargo area. Ongoing problems with popping and cracking noise from front of the car. Four attempts have been made to correct the problem under warranty. Repairs included new front hub, servicing front breaking mechanism, repair/replace transmission and replacement of left front axle. Last repair three weeks ago. So far, successful. No other problems. Car continues to be extremely economical to operate. Finally in the fall of 2020 the popping and cracking noise was fixed. The solution was replacing the left front axle. Overall the car continues to perform very well. Over 5000 miles on odometer. Excellent suburban runabout. Extremely quiet and very efficient. The 150 mile range works very well for us. Usually charge the car at home two or three times per week. Recent six months service amounted to tire rotation and car wash only. Over a year old. Tire rotations have been the only service. Full charge range is about 160 miles. Very inexpensive to operate. Perfect second car. Now over 13000 on the Leaf. Extremely economical to operate. We took the car in to the dealership for warranty work two times to fix a popping noise in the front end of the car when applying the brakes or accelerating from a stop. During the first repair attempt something was replaced in the hub assemblies free of charge. During the second repair attempt the brake mechanisms were cleaned and lubricated. Neither attempt worked satisfactorily. The popping noise continues. 23,000 miles on odometer. Continues to be perfect second car. No issues after front axle noise was fixed. The LEAF will travel 150 miles on $5 worth of electricity. At current gas prices of $4/gal, my Honda needs $20 of gas to travel 150 miles. Odometer now at 27,000 miles. Almost no service required other than tire rotation. This car was my best performing investment over the last twelve months with its value increasing over 25%. Battery range on a full charge continues to be just over 150 miles. Very satisfied. Now over 34,000 miles. Going strong with no issues other than minor maintenance. still running the original tires. The battery continues to charge to over 150 mile range. The Miles per kilowatt hour continue to be over 4/kWh. The leaf continues to be an excellent second car.
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Great to drive, but poor cockpit design.
Chris Harnish, 11/12/2018
updated 05/18/2022
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
I love driving this car. Responsive, quiet, I love the e-peddle and Adaptive Cruise Control, But it's missing the small storage spaces in the driving compartment that changes from liking the car to Loving the the car. My former Prius, had a much bigger storage compartment under the right arm rest, a 2 door glove box that allows me to store little conveniences like my hairbrush, lip balm and aspirin in an organized way. The Leaf has none of these. In addition, the center console arm rest is too small and too far back and between it and the shift, where your arm should normally rest, are the two water bottle holders, so if your arm is resting on the arm rest, it has to be on top of the water bottle! What were they thinking??? 2 years later and I agree with everything said above: I love driving the car and the cockpit is a big disappointment. The new news is how economical the Leaf is to drive. Maintenance is rotating the tires! The 150 mile range of of my model is plenty for me for around-the-county driving. I installed a level 2 charging system at home for around $100 and use that almost exclusively. I love never having to go to a gas station. A good car, which I would buy again.
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Unacceptable at the price range
J, 09/21/2020
updated 09/23/2021
2018 Nissan LEAF SL 4dr Hatchback (electric DD)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful
At 28k miles, a little over 2 years lease I've had problems since day 1 with a noise coming from the front right wheel when turning, dealerships have looked at it and could never find the issue with it, still happening today. AC does not cool nearly fast enough, steering wheel heating is unreliable. Range, in real life driving scenarios it's not 150, more like 100-110. Charging on the road is definitely not up to what Nissan promises (rapidgate). Steering wheel bubbled and needs to be replaced. Front seat upholstery is already damaged, I wear cotton clothes and park inside a garage so there's really no excuse for this. The infotainment system... clunky, the mobile app, awful, slow and unreliable. My 2003 BMW does not have any of the problems exposed above, 2003 with 150k+ miles Good things: Really nice drive, very responsive and quiet. Doesn't look like a frog . Charging at home is very nice. All in all, your money is better spent elsewhere.
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