Nissan Leaf

12v cabin heaters are without exception absolute rubbish, they put out a pathetic amount of heat if you could even call it that, so unfortunately not a solution.

Whatever about cost, on hassle grounds alone he should forget about EVs unless he has guaranteed home charging any night he wants it, a few chargers in an apartment block is never going to guarantee that.

Work charging makes it more viable alright, but relying on public charging at all is not to be recommended. The local charge point could be in use regularly or broken down for weeks at a time. If he can charge at home, then the decision becomes easy.

If getting an older Leaf, it would be better to get a 2014 or newer model. They have a better battery chemistry and are much less likely to suffer the broken heater issue discussed on this page. Insurance for a first timer will be a lot easier if the car is younger than 10 years as a lot of insurers won't quote older cars.

Charging the car daily is fine. Also ideally the Leaf should have the 6.6kW OBC rather than the 3.3 version. Not a deal breaker, but the former charges twice as fast on L2 chargers (most home and slow public chargers).

Just to follow up. Got the battery checked and surprise, surprise its fine! After hanging around for an age, I got presented with a printout saying battery had lost 3 bars but was otherwise healthy. So I know no more than the dash display already told me. I asked about the voltage variation and if this could be caused by weak cells but was told no way of knowing as they can't see behind top level health report. So it looks like I have to stick or twist with the car. Would love to hang on a bit longer and hopefully pick up a slightly more affordable used M3 but the ever decreasing range is becoming a pain to live with. Having said that the ever diminishing financial status is of even greater concern at present!! I may just have to wait until eldest flies the coup and I can consign the 7 seater to the history books.

While I was there I took a 2018 L40 for a spin. Wasn't too bad an experience, although it was so easy to spin the front wheels, which might be somewhat due to the shite already forgotten Chinese brand tyres. The dash screens are getting really dated looking now as well, they really should have upgraded the from the L24/30 models. The one pedal driving was a bit strange at first but you would get used to it pretty quickly. However I couldn't see myself dropping €27k on a 5 year old model with 106k on the clock (couldn't believe they were looking for €42k for a 2021 L60) Leafspy showed that battery at 88% SOH which was better than expected, certainly a lot better than the 71% of my 2 year older L30. In any case my experience with the L30 battery means that I wouldn't buy another Leaf unless it was an unmissable bargain which no car is these days.

I'll have another chat with him but he was pretty adamant there was no warranty issue to pursue as car had only lost 3 bars. I think I'll push the leafspy data harder this time although I doubt he knows too much about leafspy tbh.

BTW Ive just realised how ridiculous that nearly €43k price is for a 2021 SV premium L60 given that the new list price after grant is €42,300. Similarly paying €27k for a 5 year old L40 SV with 100k km on clock is crazy when new price is €33k. Either I'm completely out of touch with reality or there must be fair riggle room built into the pricing

3 bars lost means its down a minimum of 15%+6.25%+6.25%=27.5% but could be as much as 33.75% as it could be just about to drop the 4th bar.

The warranty is 70% remaining so the warranty actually kicks in BEFORE that 4th bar disappears. You are right on that now, so he needs to acknowledge that warranty is in play here. As I said, dig in. Dont take no for an answer. If you get no satisfaction tell him you want to talk to Nissan Ireland and then state your case directly to them.

A Leaf SV Premium with the 62kWh should not cost you more than 35k, and ideally 30k. Any more than that is inflationary fantasy money. There is a 2021 SVE 62kWH 5000km on DD for the last month for 34-35k EUR, private sale. Also a UK import on Adverts for 29k EUR. As a guide, for an 2021 SV premium 62kWh, pay no more than 33k from a dealer, and 31k private. Even that is generous.

The Nissan capacity warranty is based on number of bars remaining (8 or less). The exact percentage as reported by leafspy doesn't matter, it varies a bit anyway, and won't even be visible on their diagnostics.

Unless there is an EV system fault indicated on the dash (like when there is a sufficiently large discrepency between the cells) Nissan can't/won't do anything if you still have 9 capacity bars showing.

Tbf to the dealer, he acknowledges that chances of success are slim but he said he will put through a goodwill claim to Nissan and see what happens. As I said the main issue is the unpredictable nature of the battery remaining % displayed in that a regularly made journey can take anything between 20% and 40% of battery so it's very difficult to have confidence in whether the displayed % remaining will be sufficient to complete a given journey.

We have known this for some time. Beggars belief they held onto CHAdeMO for the facelift Leaf when the writing was all over the wall. You can have a CCS installed in its place, but for most people driving the 40 Leaf, the fast charger will rarely be utilised. I find this to be the case in my 24 Leaf. Have used a fast charger less than 50 times in 5 years.

I'm sure they'll drop CHAdeMO when the refresh CUV LEAF emerges in 2-3 years (or less?). I wonder will sales of LEAF become impacted now that FB is alive with discussions on CHAdoMO provision. For the moment, it is almost a privileged network as many of the fast 150kw chargers have both standards. Partly because of this, and the opportunity of the great migration of M3->MY, I sold my 62kWh to a dealership and grabbed a pre-refresh 2020 Model 3.

Have a 2014 Nissan Leaf. It has one of the 'foot pedal' parking brakes (where you press with your foot to engage)

It failed the NCT yesterday, the parking brake was essentially not pulling on the left had side according to the tester. Has an imbalance of 93% 😬

Will book it in today to be looked at.

Would anyone have any idea if this is a simple or complicated fix or more so the rough cost?