Originally Posted by AndyF



Even at $2 a gallon my Leaf was cheaper to drive than my Toyota 4Runner. A used Leaf is a great car to buzz around town in. Good car for a high school kid or someone who works from home. I use mine all the time for running errands around town. No warm up time, very quick 0-30 time, does fine on the freeway. Has about a 10 mile useful radius so it works best if you live in a city where all of your errands are close together. Won't work for everyone but it is a good second or third car for a family.


Comparing a Leaf to a 4 Runner is apples and oranges. The 4 Runner has a lot more versatility. We may as well compare a bicycle to your Leaf and proclaim the bike the winner, especially with your Leaf's "10 mile useful radius".

Speaking of which, if your Leaf has only a 10 mile useful radius it's battery pack is virtually dead, new Leafs with the cheapest battery option get ~130 miles out of a charge. Which brings into call the cost to replace it. If you spring for the cheapest possible used battery pack, ~$2500-3500, plus labor at the shop to do it, another ~$2,000. there goes the mythical no maintenance costs. Don't tell me you can do the replacement yourself, 99% of the car people here can't and even less of the general public can. https://www.motorverso.com/nissan-leaf-battery-replacement-cost/#cost

For giggles I went to car-parts.com and looked up the price for a used battery pack, 2016 Leaf. Three listings given, two said call for price, the one listing a price was asking $3455.57US and it's in Quebec, no US shipping, lol. Anything newer has no price given and even less choices. 2015 Leaf shows a lot of choices, all US ones more expensive and they are 7 years old.

So if you can live with sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loudly so you can't hear the truth, yeah the Leaf wins.