Considering Leaf as our 2nd vehicle

Currently the line supplying my garage is on 20A breaker with a freezer and lightings connected to it. It is not big enough for both Prime and Leaf to charge at the same time, I don't think. My thinking is that if I have to bump-up the breaker, as might as well install dedicated 240V L2 in the garage. Still, it is not going to be very cost effective for our needs of second car. Preferably, I want a car/van/truck (AWD with cargo space) for winter drive and hauling stuff, but I just hate to buy another ~20mpg gasser again. We use to have AWD Sienna which got 19mpg. Used Leaf is definitely NOT the car fitting our needs, but I just wanted to explore the idea a bit. Thank you for all the info.

 

Wasn't it just released last year? Even if I find it used, the price would be pretty high, I would think. And as used, I will not get the tax credit. If there is a stripped down used cheap Pacifica plug-in without rear seats and all the bells and whistles, I would jump on it.

 

Moving toward getting 2018 Leaf as our second car, but before I can decide on this, I need some input from current LEAF owners. According to official 2018 Nissan LEAF | Service and Maintenance Guide | Nissan USA, the scheduled maintenance suggest brake fluid change EVERY YEAR or 7500 miles for Schedule 1 (more severe). I have never heard of any car needing brake fluid changed this frequently. Are people really following this schedule? And if you do, what is usual cost of 6 month interval scheduled maintenance at dealer? Having had Toyota vehicles, I never had to pay for first 2.5 years of scheduled maintenance, and even after that period, most of maintenance were pretty cheap like less than $100 for doing only listed items on manual.

 

We have a 2016 Nissan Leaf. There is no scheduled maintenance like this.

The first scheduled maintenance is for tire rotation at and every 7500 miles; next at 15,000 miles the in cabin microfilter replacement. No fluid changes needed at that time.

I would recommend that you head over to mynissanleaf.com and setup an account. This is the primary Nissan Leaf message board site essentially equivalent to PriusChat. There are many technically minded members over there that can easily address this. In fact, there may already be a topic posted on this.

 

Yap, I just did that. I will ask the same question there. Thanks. But just FYI, here is the page from official 2018 Nissan LEAF | Service and Maintenance Guide | Nissan USA https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuides/LEAF/2018/2018-LEAF-service-maintenance-guide.pdf. Basically, they are recommending brake fluid change every 12mo/15kmile for more severe condition or every 24mo/30kmile for less severe condition.

 

I have read that a brake fluid change every two years is recommended for all cars. I have never done it that frequently. This could easily be outdated info like, the 3 month oil change interval. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, so it readily absorbs water from the air, and that water tends to settle at the brakes. If you keep cars for a long time, you should be doing doing a brake fluid change at some time during ownership.

Toyota doesn't specify a set time or mileage for it, but the "inspect and adjust all fluids" for every 5000 miles footnote mentions the brake fluid condition as one of those checks. I believe there are testers for measuring the water level in it.

There is also the dealership factor. The established car companies have to use third party dealerships in the US; they legally can't sell directly to customers. The increased brake fluid change for the Leaf may be there to appease the dealers, who make their living on service.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought too. It was just so strange to see brake fluid replacement for every year as scheduled maintenance for an EV which should use less friction brakes. I thought maybe there is something special about 2018 Leaf e-Pedal that requires such a frequent fluid changes.

BTW, my current plan is to lease LEAF for 3 years, so I would not want to pay for anything that is not needed. That said, I need to maintain the car during my lease, so if that means taking to a dealer for brake fluid change every year, that could add up the cost of maintenance well beyond that of Toyota's new cars.

 

Maybe get something like this (markings show "battery" but it is listed under brake fluid and $10):

 

I have not pulled trigger yet. I just found a car that fits lease term I was looking for. It is a S model basically just one step above the very base model with Quick Charge and All Weather Pkg. In fact, I have not even seen actual 2018 Leaf in real life. The dealer is over 100 miles from our home, so haven't had chance to drive down for test drive. Even if I get it, unless it is fully charged, I will not be able to drive it back home, LOL.

BHW, how do you like e-Pedal? According to some article I read, if you release the pedal fully, that will engage friction brake as well as regen brake and stop the car in motion even going down hill. That must feel very weird for someone not use to it.

 

I believe the one year interval is just a scare tactic to get you into the dealership to spend money. The friction brake system isn't any different than what is on a hybrid, turbocharged, or diesel car; there are some extra parts because those cars don't produce enough vacuum from the engine alone for power brakes.

Really, water in the fluid is the main reason to change the fluid, and only really high humidity climates would require such frequent changes as that severe schedule.

 

Nissan not offering similar service as Toyota Care, if I have to take leased Leaf back to a dealer six times during 3 years lease period, that could easily cost $600 or more with brake fluid changes. Amount of money saved on fuel could evaporate very quickly.

 

That’s unlikely but true, not as good as Toyota Care, but there is potentially at least one other big perk.

I don’t know if this offer is available in your area, but we used it and still seems to be available. We got free DC fast charging for the first two years of our lease with EVgo:

Nissan No Charge to Charge | EVgo

There are some crazy Leaf squatters in our area who would just nap in their cars while charging to maximize this benefit.

 

Ahhhh, another one of Freebie I have no use, just as my $100 free Charge Point credit that came with Prime, at least for now. We have absolutely no public charge station nearby. No DC fast charger within current Leaf range of 150 miles. That's why I was looking for a very base model S without Quick Charge option, but there was none of those base trim in inventory.

 

Sounds like that is what e-Pedal was made for. I live in very rural setting, so stop and go traffic is something I never have to endure. If I get Leaf, it will likely to be switched off most of time.

 

I can only think of BMW as another brand offering covered maintenance.

Find and independent dealer, and keep all the paper work then.

How many miles do you expect to put on the car in a year; you'd have to do 30k a year of severe driving to require two brake fluid changes, and most people aren't doing severe driving. The less severe, 15k mile schedule is all things that can be done at home. Well, except for that battery report, and if Nissan requires that for the warranty, they shouldn't be charging for it.

The KISS implementation of one pedal driving has the accelerator pedal just controlling regenerative braking. The brake pedal is the only controls the friction brakes, and nothing else.

I think that is how Tesla does it.