VAG plastic parts never go bad.
VAG plastic parts never go bad.
Tom Suddard said:After years of trouble-free service, I sold it to a fellow GRMer in 2021, and you can follow its journey here:
HI, hello, that's me. I guess I need to update that thread more. But, the car has mostly "just worked".
mtn said:Matt B (fs) said:FYI at this time it seems like a lot of first-gen Leafs are pretty close to challenge pricing. My neighbor just picked one up for his teenage son for $2500. His take on it was the range is so abysmal compared to modern EVs nobody wants them. Seems like a non-issue for the money if you just need a commuter, but I don't pretend to know much about them.
What kinda cold weather range are we talking about?
Sleepyhound requests your patience while I warm my fingers up from being out in 25degF Temps for 1.5hours getting the kids to the bus stop and then going on the requisite thrice-weekly "smell hunt"
I like the designs so far I've seen of the Rivian R3X. Not that I'll be in the market for a car anytime soon or that I would be able to afford a Rivian, but I like the idea.
The '23 BRZ only has 4300 miles on it and the fiance's '23 CX-5 only has 30k on it. And since we both work from home they aren't driven much. Even when she travels for work, she typically just takes an Uber since the company will pay for it and then I don't have to wake up at 5am on a weekday.
not quite EV, but the new body style Prius is sharp, and the plug in "Prime" version has 40+ miles EV only. My office happens to be 20 miles from my house, and my garage is already wired for 220. Seems like the best of both worlds. Charge at home, EV only most days, and unlimited range. Appliance life does seem appealing at times.
The current mk6 Golf R daily is a riot shifting gears going slideways in the snow though... I'm still a child at heart. It's also currently leaking oil from the oil filter housing... again (thanks VW plastics).
mtn said:What kinda cold weather range are we talking about?
Alright, some background. This is a 2012 Leaf with ~68,000miles on it, third owner, that (iirc) had a Factory Warranty replacement pack put in circa 2017 w/ the first owner (?). It's currently sitting at 8 out of 12 bars of "health". Generally in warmer weather (i.e. in September) it will show 70-72miles of range.
I've got a 6.3mile (180feet of elevation change) one-way errand to run, and my outside thermometer currently reads ~34degF.
Garage thermometer reads 37degF
(High of 68 is because it was in the house earlier)
Starting up the car it shows:
Turning on the HVAC, that goes to:
(also, see, I've zeroed the trip meter for this)
Apparently I took a slightly different route, that shaved .2mi off the trip. I surprisingly didn't have to use HVAC to de-fog the windshield. I stayed under "2 circles" (i.e. 20kW) for acceleration... which was faster than GarbageTrucks and a pokey Jeep Commander... and even-ish with other traffic. Speed limits were 30mph for half, and 45mph for the other half, other than 0.2miles at 25mph.
Ignore the time, it's wrong on that display.
Also, my toes are cold... but not quite uncomfortably.
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Hmmm.... I'd need about 50 miles round trip in as low as 10° F, mixed highway and city. I don't care about being comfortable, and would have a backup vehicle.
This is something tempting to look into. I don't have the best driveway/garage setup for an EV though. But you, Tom, and everyone else have sent me down a rabbit hole.
xflowgolf (Forum Supporter) said:not quite EV, but the new body style Prius is sharp, and the plug in "Prime" version has 40+ miles EV only. My office happens to be 20 miles from my house, and my garage is already wired for 220. Seems like the best of both worlds. Charge at home, EV only most days, and unlimited range. Appliance life does seem appealing at times.
The current mk6 Golf R daily is a riot shifting gears going slideways in the snow though... I'm still a child at heart. It's also currently leaking oil from the oil filter housing... again (thanks VW plastics).
I recently spent a week with a 2024 Prius as a rental and I put 450 miles on it with about an 80/20 highway/roadway split.
I really liked the drive train...solid acceleration with a pleasant torqy, linear feel to it...52 mpg overall (my Mazda CX-3 which is smaller and slower would get 32 mpg under the same conditions).
However, I really dislike the HVAC and infotainment interface. I'm 60 and I've spent decades driving Mazda products so I assumed it was an old dog, new tricks issue until I talked to a co-worker. She's late 20's, just completed her MS in mechanical engineering, drives a Camry as her daily, and she literally described the interface to me as "dangerous".
She told me that the interface is so poorly configured that she has to get everything setup the way she needs before starting to move.
I love the looks of the car and they're reasonably priced but the interface is such a piece of E36 M3 that I'll need to pass.
I have returned (home)!
I started the return trip sitting for 2mins with the defrost on, and had another 2mibs of defeost at "3" fan speed to clear the windshield.
(It still showed ~54miles at the end of using the fan, iirc)
End of 12.6mile loop, results screen:
Same route, in reverse, same acceleration profile... even pretty much caught the same lights.
So, 12.1 miles ended up using 20miles of range.
if "we" do some math on that result... 20/21.1 = 1.65
thus, if 64miles is the range, one would get ~40miles out of a charge with this battery (OG 24kWh capacity*) in this weather, to empty. Which tracks, since Sleepywife did a 30mile loop around this time last year, and came home with 10miles of range left. She hasn't been using it since then if the temperature outside is below 50degF, preferring to take the X1 instead.
Benefits the Leaf has:
Good Heated Seats, Good Heated Steering wheel (I actually can't keep it on for a whole trip). But, considering how much of a hit running the HVAC does, means we don't heat the interior air... and the footwell (being exposed outside, and lowest point on the car) ends up real cold.
mtn said:In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Hmmm.... I'd need about 50 miles round trip in as low as 10° F, mixed highway and city. I don't care about being comfortable, and would have a backup vehicle.
This is something tempting to look into. I don't have the best driveway/garage setup for an EV though. But you, Tom, and everyone else have sent me down a rabbit hole.
over in Curtis' thread:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/5k-commuter-for-a-tree-hugger/275938/page2/
nocones indicated seeing Bolts with "recall fixed batteries" advertised at $7500. That's probably a much better option for most people than a cheap Gen1 Leaf. Although, the previously reported "high school new driver" actually makes a bunch of sense to me, since the car inherently limits how far they can "go" 
.
edited to add:
*I should probably note that we got the car after 3G died, so we weren't able to really "get into" the car via the app, so we can't change the charge limit away from the 80% set by Tom. Which is fine, since it's probably helping to preserve battery life... but we can't add another ~10miles of range "on a whim/as needed", afaik (I haven't gone looking to find a solution to this since it works well enough, as-is).
In reply to sleepyhead the buffalo :
Hmmmm... Not quite good enough. But maybe good enough for enough of my trips that it could be doable.
dean1484 said:I know an EV would work for me as a work/DD vehicle. If the prices of the Tycan keep falling or maybe an etron I may have to take a serious look. The way the power comes in to my house and the location of the breaker box is extremely well suited to install a charger should I get an EV.
How much further do they need to go. I have seen them around 50k lately and the eTrons are on massive lease discounts right now.
I am in the market for a low miliage Polestar 2. I will probably pull the trigger this spring.
In the shots of the Leaf's dash, it looks like you've charged to 100%. It would say something like "to 80%" and only charge 80% of the battery bars if a charge limit was set.
It's been years, but IIRC you can also modify the charge limit through the infotainment system. It definitely wasn't an app-only thing.
Tom Suddard said:In the shots of the Leaf's dash, it looks like you've charged to 100%. It would say something like "to 80%" and only charge 80% of the battery bars if a charge limit was set.
It's been years, but IIRC you can also modify the charge limit through the infotainment system. It definitely wasn't an app-only thing.
Hmm, interesting. It's been a couple years since I mucked around with that as well... and the 12V system has definitely been crapped out twice in that time. I'll maybe look into that a bit tomorrow.
I talked with my friend again and he mentioned that you can get a 2021 Bolt for as low as $8k with the used EV credit right now.
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