Buying second hand Leaf or Zoe?

peaceboi

Looking to get one of them, as our second car.
Travel 25-30km per day round trip. Mainly school runs, shopping & work.
But would use 6 days a week. Budget is 14-15k ready cash.
Thinking of getting from UK. Which one you guys think would suit me?
Is there significant difference in range between the 2011-12 Leaf and the mk2 2014 one?
Also please recommend on whom to contact to install charging points at home, approx cost also.
Thanks

beazee

Start here:
EV Purchase and Import Guide

air

Hard to justify bringing in one from the UK at the moment with the current strength of the £ sterling.
If you had a car that qualifies for the scrappage allowance of 4k new ones are looking very good value at present here.

peaceboi

air wrote: »

Hard to justify bringing in one from the UK at the moment with the current strength of the £ sterling.
If you had a car that qualifies for the scrappage allowance of 4k new ones are looking very good value at present here.

Hmm....unfortunately don't have any car for scrappage. I think it will still be out of my budget with the scrappage.

14-15 K is a good amount to fork out in one go, where as on PCP if something happens you hand back the car, put minimum deposit down based on what you can afford to pay per month.

Downside of PCP is you won't own it, if that's what you want and it will cost you more than 14K usually over the 3 years but doing 25-30 Kms per day means the monthly payments could be low. You will of course have the option to buy at the end of the contract if you want.

On the pluss side, you do very little daily mileage so the battery would last you many years, even with a reduction in battery capacity it would take a very long time before any capacity reduction would become a burden to you.

The MK 1.5 Leaf (current Gen) has more range due to the efficient heater, maybe 8-10 kms, or slightly more due to the more efficient heat pump in the SV and SVE trims. But in Summer there would be little difference and at your low daily mileage of 25-30 Kms it would only matter if you want to go on a very long trip.

There are not many 2nd hand zoe's yet and they don't sell nearly as many as the Leaf. It is a good little car with a brilliant charger built in. It can charge from the non fast chargers ( the normal street chargers) to 80% in about 1 hour compared to about 7 in the leaf for the 1st gen and 3-3.5 hrs for the Mk 1.5 leaf with the optional 6.6 Kw charger.

You have to lease the battery in the Zoe based on mileage per year.

peaceboi

Thanks mad_lad very informative post.
Ye I think am leaning towards the Leaf.
I haven't dealt with PCP before so not much familiar with it. I don't know which one would work better for me. As I said, the leaf will be used as our second car for the short runs, we have the 1.6 diesel people carrier for long runs.
Do you have any info regarding how much it will cost to install charging points at home?
The person selling me the leaf (2011)said he have the cable as well.

peaceboi

peaceboi wrote: »

Thanks mad_lad very informative post.
Ye I think am leaning towards the Leaf.
I haven't dealt with PCP before so not much familiar with it. I don't know which one would work better for me. As I said, the leaf will be used as our second car for the short runs, we have the 1.6 diesel people carrier for long runs.
Do you have any info regarding how much it will cost to install charging points at home?
The person selling me the leaf (2011)said he have the cable as well.

PCP is great if you want to get a new car every 3 years, for instance, based on a new top spec SVE with 6.6 Kw charger the cost per month is 450 based on 25 K Kms per year and a 5 K deposit. If I were to do around 12-15K Kms per year I would pay a lot less PM Around 300-350 Pm but I don't know the exact figure.

If I were to get a bank loan I'd be paying 710 Euro's PM. But the difference being I would own the car, the main difference is I don't want to own it because the MK II Leaf and more EV's will be available by then. But you still get the option at the end to pay the balloon and own it or get a new one.

I don't know how much the home charge point would be to install, if the person you're getting the unit off is giving it to you then that will save 600 Euro's if he's not adding it on to the cost of the car in the first place.

You could ask an electrician what cable to buy and run it yourself and all he'll have to do is connect it either end.

When buying 2nd hand make sure you've got all (12) capacity bars as in the pic below, loosing one means a 15% loss of capacity. At your daily mileage you could live with that, if you get 60 winter miles on a new battery at 100 Kph and subtract 15% capacity loss and that's an idea of what range to expect.



Also remember that the Leaf will be a very expensive car to fix out of warranty if it goes wrong and you could be waiting weeks to get it repaired due to the shortage of parts. There may be more parts available now though in general it is a very reliable car.

peaceboi

Great....got the picture now. Ye he said the cable is included in the price, and ye it has all the 12 capacity bars, 2011 with 19k miles.
I will enquire with local Nissan dealers regarding PCP option, I believe the monthly payments would be low for me as I do low annual mileage. Many Thanks

air

Someone on here got a 2011 for £8500 around a year ago when exchange rates were better. Just for some perspective.
I'd not pay more than €9-10k for a 2011.

Soarer

air wrote: »

Someone on here got a 2011 for £8500 around a year ago when exchange rates were better. Just for some perspective.
I'd not pay more than €9-10k for a 2011.

If you can find one for that price anywhere in the UK or Ireland, you might let us know.

air

Soarer wrote: »

If you can find one for that price anywhere in the UK or Ireland, you might let us know.

I didn't say I could, just that I wouldn't pay any more than that given what they're available for now new.
However there's one on Carzone for €11k, so near to 10k may be achievable.
I've also read anecdotal references of 2011s selling for £6k at auction in the UK.
The boards poster that bought for £8.5k mentioned that good reductions from list prices were available for straight deals.

Soarer

Could you post a link to that car? Can't find it.

air

Soarer wrote: »

Could you post a link to that car? Can't find it.

Sorry, adverts not carzone

http://touch.adverts.ie/car/nissan/leaf/2011-nissan-leaf-for-sale/7565961

Soarer

air wrote: »

Sorry, adverts not carzone

http://touch.adverts.ie/car/nissan/leaf/2011-nissan-leaf-for-sale/7565961

Mucho gracias amigo.

reboot

peaceboi wrote: »

Looking to get one of them, as our second car.
Travel 25-30km per day round trip. Mainly school runs, shopping & work.
But would use 6 days a week. Budget is 14-15k ready cash.
Thinking of getting from UK. Which one you guys think would suit me?
Is there significant difference in range between the 2011-12 Leaf and the mk2 2014 one?
Also please recommend on whom to contact to install charging points at home, approx cost also.
Thanks

In spite of what the Leaf owner says, Best selling car in Europe, Zoe, talk to Dexter on Boards.

peaceboi

Finally bought a 2014 Leaf acenta from UK.Does not have the 6.6kw charger option.
Got the Irish plates & very impressed with drive quality. Can somebody recommend any good installers to set up an external 32amp charging point please? Many thanks

air

If you didn't get the 6.6kW charger then a 32A charge point won't give you any advantage over a 16A one.

homer911

Did it come with a granny cable or a SC cable?

air

I'd be interested in how much it cost taking into account travel, exchange rate, ferry etc.
The new ones are quite attractive here given the PCP deals and scrappage etc.

cros13

air wrote: »

If you didn't get the 6.6kW charger then a 32A charge point won't give you any advantage over a 16A one.

There is no additional cost to getting a 32A charger. Do it once and do it right.

peaceboi wrote: »

Finally bought a 2014 Leaf acenta from UK.Does not have the 6.6kw charger option.
Got the Irish plates & very impressed with drive quality. Can somebody recommend any good installers to set up an external 32amp charging point please? Many thanks

I've PMed you details of someone in Dublin who can do the install.

air

cros13 wrote: »

There is no additional cost to getting a 32A charger. Do it once and do it right.

Can't argue with that if it's the case!

peaceboi

peaceboi wrote: »

Finally bought a 2014 Leaf acenta from UK.Does not have the 6.6kw charger option.
Got the Irish plates & very impressed with drive quality. Can somebody recommend any good installers to set up an external 32amp charging point please? Many thanks

Great news, well wear !

Where in the U.K did you get it ? and how did you manage driving it back ?

It is definitely a great car to drive, Electric drive is vastly superior !

zerohero2015

peaceboi wrote: »

Finally bought a 2014 Leaf acenta from UK.Does not have the 6.6kw charger option.
Got the Irish plates & very impressed with drive quality. Can somebody recommend any good installers to set up an external 32amp charging point please? Many thanks

Welcome to the EV world,i bought mine in Uk a month ago, It didnt have any cables with it.I got a good discount so didnt mind.
I got my charging station from a guy on the FB page
www. TheEVcompany. com
Done a deal with type 1-2 cable and home charging unit.
I was buying a cable in UK but the pound is too strong

peaceboi

air wrote: »

I'd be interested in how much it cost taking into account travel, exchange rate, ferry etc.
The new ones are quite attractive here given the PCP deals and scrappage etc.

I bought from a private party, near Leeds cost around 17500e. 8100km.141 acenta leaf with granny cable.
Used transfer mate, to transfer to my brother's UK a/c and made online transfer to seller ac, after viewing & test drive. Used p&o ferry from Liverpool to Dublin 140e with car.Used the ecotricity motorway quick charge station @ Blackburn to charge.