Considering Leaf as our 2nd vehicle

Finding a competent mechanic who knows how to work on EV could be hard in my local. I can't even find decent mechanic who can work on hybrid cars.

The lease term is only 10K/year, so total 30K. I may skip the 3 year maintenance before I drop it off at the end of lease. Actually the book dose say maintenance interval of 7500 miles or 6 month, but fails to specify to be "whichever comes first", so I maybe required to do only every 7500 miles. If that is the case, I only need to do 3 maintenance before the end of lease term. That would be only one brake fluid change. As for the sever condition as defined by Nissan is following. Any driving we will do during winter is likely to fall in the more severe category. Though I think dealer will have no way of knowing how we drive, so I can probably get by with less severe schedule to skip the brake fluid change all together.

 

Have you considered waiting for the 2019 Leaf to arrive? The rumors appear to indicate that it will offer a 60 kWh battery with proper liquid cooling, which would make it a much better purchase than the previous Leafs. If it's just a lease, the 40 kWh model should drop in price accordingly (at least I would expect it to get lots of incentives to move them).

 

Yeah, 2019 model with longer range is more attractive, but that will come with price tag increase, I think. And like any technology, there is always better model in future. That said, I might wait a while until 2019 model appears, and see what kind of price 2018 model gets. With BEV technology advancing so rapidly, I do not want to purchase a new LEAF. 3 year lease with very low monthly payment is what I am looking for. What caught my attention is current Nissan lease offer on base Leaf S for $139/mo with $2400 down. This offer ends 10/1, and I don't know if it gets extended or get better after that day.

 

The other pages you attached made it appear as the first schedule 2 brake fluid job would be at 30k miles or 24 months, which is in line with general brake fluid maintenance.

If this ends up being a reason for passing on the Leaf, let Nissan corporate know.

 

This came up at another forum. Not so good news for 1st gen Leafs