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Post by caroline on Jun 13, 2015 16:53:45 GMT 11
He also said it is unlikely Nissan will bring in any more after the current sellout... But that's just based in the slow pickup over last 3 years and not allowing for the exponential increase in popularity which will be inevitable imo as word spreads how cool they are ;-)
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Post by Feng on Jun 13, 2015 17:07:15 GMT 11
I wouldn't hold it against Nissan if they don't bring more over if an all new model is a year and a half away. Imagine being stuck with slow selling stock that's also obsolete.
It would be cool if Nissan and BMW collaborated in quick charging infrastructure. I think I saw an article on it being done in South Africa
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Post by EVangelist on Jun 14, 2015 0:14:38 GMT 11
I wouldn't hold it against Nissan if they don't bring more over if an all new model is a year and a half away. Imagine being stuck with slow selling stock that's also obsolete. Yeah, Nissan won't do that again. I'm resigned to not replacing my ICE for 18+ months, unless I win the lottery and go Tesla. It is so tempting to buy a second Leaf, but there are times we need a bigger car and more range so I'm kinda stuck wishing technology would just get better sooner and the rest of Australia would wake up to how magnificent driving an EV is to create the demand to get the other models here. Once you go "EV" you never want to go "REV"
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Post by EVangelist on Jun 14, 2015 0:34:16 GMT 11
I'm thinking of taking the plunge. Just have to persuade my wife that spending 40K on a new car for "her" is a good idea. :-) From reading these forums, it seems that most of you owners are really enjoying your leafs. Any regrets? Any advice for an unwary buyer? I noticed that many of you seem to frequent the fast charger network a lot. Is this through necessity or just the thrill of free fuel? Hoping to be an EV driver soon. Welcome to the forum cachexian! I'm the worst person to ask advice from because I am totally, 100%, EV biased . And this only happened after I bought my Leaf last October. So with that disclaimer, to your questions: - "spending $40k" - Others here have said that Nissan reduced the price to $35k to clear the remaining stock. You should at least be able to get a deal.
- "it seems that most of you are really enjoying your leafs" - so much so we lose sleep (can't wait to drive it the next day), have marital disputes (who gets to drive it), become bores at parties (can't stop talking about it)... nothing but upside!
- "Any regrets" - absolutely none for me. I want to buy another EV.
- "Any advice for an unwary buyer" - do your reasearch to make sure it will work for your needs
- "frequent the fast charger network a lot" - I've never used a fast charger or even a public charger. I have only ever charged in my garage and have never needed a topup anywhere else. But next time I park in Goulburn St carpark I'll use the EV spots there.
- "Hoping to be an EV driver soon." - It is close to a religious conversion once you do it - you've been warned
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 14, 2015 23:30:45 GMT 11
Well, I test drove it again today. I like the way it drives a lot. My wife didn't dislike it. So that's a start. The reversing camera is pretty good, I've never used one before. I suspect that it takes a while to use it skilfully.
Did anyone get the front and rear parking sensors? I've got them on our family car (Peugeot 308 wagon) and have found them extremely useful. In the Pug they beep with a different tone at the front and the rear and there is a visual display on the dash monitor. The Nissan dealer told me he thought they made different tones but no visual display but he wasn't sure. Does anyone have any experience with them?
We tried one of the kids car seats in. It fit well. We would need to get seat covers to protect from kids grubby shoes all over the seat backs. I can never understand how our cars get so dirty in the back seat area so fast.
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Post by gabzimiev on Jun 14, 2015 23:45:31 GMT 11
Well, I test drove it again today. I like the way it drives a lot. My wife didn't dislike it. So that's a start. She'll like it more when she realises she doesn't have to smell petrol again. or fill the car up.. it's my wife’s turn to take the EV this week so I’m bitter....
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 14, 2015 23:48:28 GMT 11
Welcome to the forum cachexian! I'm the worst person to ask advice from because I am totally, 100%, EV biased... [/li][/ol] [/quote] Thanks for the welcome Evangelist. I thought I loved diesel cars but I think I like the EV better. I've always wanted an EV but thought that a production car was way out of my budget and had planned one day to convert an older FFB or convert a hybrid to plug-in with add-on battery. The leaf is a nice package and so well put together. It makes anything that I could build seem a bit Macgyverish. Was very surprised to see the Leaf sub 40k. We have two cars, one medium one small. My wife hates the "big" car. She finds it too large. Our family car is actually not that much bigger than a corolla but can seat 7. But strangely enough, being diesel, it is more frugal than the 2006 Toyota Yaris. If we get the leaf, it will become my wife's car. Shouldn't be any marital disharmony she's already set down ground rules. The leaf is hers when she wants it....
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 14, 2015 23:50:43 GMT 11
Another question.. Has Anyone bought an extra key? I assume it comes with only the two. My mother in law drives our car one day a week. I expect it will probably cost several hundred $ for a third key.
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Post by Phoebe on Jun 15, 2015 5:55:28 GMT 11
Mine came with 2 keys.
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Post by hieronymous on Jun 15, 2015 8:31:47 GMT 11
Well, I test drove it again today. I like the way it drives a lot. My wife didn't dislike it. So that's a start. The reversing camera is pretty good, I've never used one before. I suspect that it takes a while to use it skilfully. Did anyone get the front and rear parking sensors? I've got them on our family car (Peugeot 308 wagon) and have found them extremely useful. In the Pug they beep with a different tone at the front and the rear and there is a visual display on the dash monitor. The Nissan dealer told me he thought they made different tones but no visual display but he wasn't sure. Does anyone have any experience with them. The stock tyre pressure (36,36) is a bit under-inflated; the steering feels a little vague, cornering slightly soft. Like many other owners I use 42,42 - steering is now sharp, car immediately goes where it's pointed, handling is lighter too. I have rear parking sensors - wouldn't be without them. A great combo with the camera. The Leaf is like all modern cars; hard to see anything when reversing, especially cross - traffic in car parks.
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Post by caroline on Jun 15, 2015 15:01:35 GMT 11
I thought I loved diesel cars but I think I like the EV better.... Before my leaf I had a diesel Volvo which was pretty efficient for an suv but too big for my needs... Love my leaf and absolutely no regrets.
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Post by caroline on Jun 15, 2015 16:51:49 GMT 11
Another question.. Has Anyone bought an extra key? I assume it comes with only the two. My mother in law drives our car one day a week. I expect it will probably cost several hundred $ for a third key. $435 for an additional key (over the 2 you get with the car)
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Post by caroline on Jun 16, 2015 16:42:10 GMT 11
Also heard that originally imported around 500 leafs which is more than I thought
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 19, 2015 18:05:14 GMT 11
Just ordered a black Leaf with additional front/rear parking sensors!
From Bradley Loscher and Lennock motors in ACT. Nice guy. Very knowledgable about the Leaf. Car incl NSW rego and CTP $34880 Front/Rear Sensors installed: $1275 Floor mats $free Delivery to my house in Sydney $400. Total cost: $36555 Additional key coded to car $350. Delivery will take 4-5 weeks as they have to replace some of the sun-damaged trim before they deliver it to me.
Can't wait.
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Post by Feng on Jun 19, 2015 19:40:16 GMT 11
Congrats on your purchase cachexian! Where abouts in Sydney are you based? Maybe it's time a few of us can have coffee at the North Strathfield QC again. That's great that they're replacing the sun damaged parts to your car. I'm guessing it's mainly the black cowl on the bonnet, mine had some weathering when I bought it. Cleaned most if it up with some scrubbing.
It'll be a sad day if Nissan Australia decides to discontinue the LEAF after selling the last one in their inventory. I wonder if car news sites will see it as a failure, even though the car itself is great but the price and infrastructure was its undoing?
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 19, 2015 23:13:03 GMT 11
Congrats on your purchase cachexian! Where abouts in Sydney are you based? Maybe it's time a few of us can have coffee at the North Strathfield QC again. That's great that they're replacing the sun damaged parts to your car, I'm guessing it's mainly the black cowl on the bonnet, mine had some weathering when I bought it. Cleaned most if it up with some scrubbing. It'll be a sad day if Nissan Australia decides to discontinue the LEAF after selling the last one in their inventory. I wonder if car news sites will see it as a failure, even though the car itself is great but the price and infrastructure was its undoing? I'm in Haberfield now and will move to Annandale toward the end of the year. North Strathfield sounds good. Hope they don't discontinue it. But it seems that we'll only have expensive Tesla and BMW options ahead of us once Leaf is gone. Although, I reckon there is scope for an affordable conversion kit for Prius...maybe...if only the Prius electric motor were larger.
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Post by EVangelist on Jun 19, 2015 23:56:03 GMT 11
I'm in Haberfield now and will move to Annandale toward the end of the year. Great... that'll make at least 2 Leafs in the area... or maybe 3?! Feng busted me driving in Stanmore a few months back, although he wasn't in his Leaf at the time. Congrats on your purchase by the way... you won't regret it.
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 20, 2015 0:06:21 GMT 11
What colour is yours Evangelist?
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Post by EVangelist on Jun 22, 2015 15:30:14 GMT 11
What colour is yours Evangelist? Blue. I've also put "electric power" stickers on the rego plates as per my post in the thread Electric Car Warning stickers so you will know if you've seen me
(note "NIL CO2" is not my actual plate, that bit was photoshopped!).
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Post by southernvolt on Jun 23, 2015 1:02:33 GMT 11
Congrats on your purchase cachexian! Where abouts in Sydney are you based? Maybe it's time a few of us can have coffee at the North Strathfield QC again. That's great that they're replacing the sun damaged parts to your car, I'm guessing it's mainly the black cowl on the bonnet, mine had some weathering when I bought it. Cleaned most if it up with some scrubbing. It'll be a sad day if Nissan Australia decides to discontinue the LEAF after selling the last one in their inventory. I wonder if car news sites will see it as a failure, even though the car itself is great but the price and infrastructure was its undoing? I'm in Haberfield now and will move to Annandale toward the end of the year. North Strathfield sounds good. Hope they don't discontinue it. But it seems that we'll only have expensive Tesla and BMW options ahead of us once Leaf is gone. Although, I reckon there is scope for an affordable conversion kit for Prius...maybe...if only the Prius electric motor were larger. While it would be nice to see newer Leafs here I think we should see lots more options soon. There's so many rumours about car manufacturers about to make longer range EV's. I think the Tesla model 3 has stirred them up. I heard Hyundai is making a full EV with 280 + km's of range and that forced Nissan to up their range estimates for the 2017 Leaf. There will be a longer range Kia Soul EV and of course the Model 3 in 2017. I really feel we'll get some more options here in 2016/17 even though Australia was forgotten the first time around.
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Post by markrmarkr on Jun 26, 2015 15:07:39 GMT 11
Just ordered a black Leaf with additional front/rear parking sensors! From Bradley Loscher and Lennock motors in ACT. Nice guy. Very knowledgable about the Leaf. Car incl NSW rego and CTP $34880 Front/Rear Sensors installed: $1275 Floor mats $free Delivery to my house in Sydney $400. Total cost: $36555 Additional key coded to car $350. Delivery will take 4-5 weeks as they have to replace some of the sun-damaged trim before they deliver it to me. Can't wait. Caxhexian, A friend of mine is thinking about buying a Leaf, so I'm trying to make the process as smooth as possible for him. One of the issues he may have is lack of knowledge by the dealers. If you don't mind my asking, was this the reason you bought yours from an ACT dealer? Cheers, Mark
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 28, 2015 0:12:45 GMT 11
I certainly foud the dealership in Sydney that I visited did not have much knowledge about the leaf, or battery technology generally.
ACT salesman was more impressive with his knowledge of the leaf..
Also, Sydney dealer did not engage me at all when I suggested a sub 35K price. This was not difficult to get from Lennock Nissan in ACT.
McGrath Nissan in Sutherland offered a better price through fleet dealer but couldn't guarantee a delivery timeframe so I went with Lennock.
The car will be NSW registered obviously.
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Post by markrmarkr on Jun 28, 2015 1:12:08 GMT 11
I thought it would be somethinglike that. I get the impression that generaly knowledge of the Leaf seems to be drying up.
Took my friend and family for a drive yesterday, I think it went well.
Thanks for your reply.
Sent from my SM-T805Y using proboards
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 28, 2015 9:09:23 GMT 11
I think Nissan did themselves a disservice by pricing the car so high initially.
Hope your friend decides to take the plunge. Only thing to note is delivery takes an extra 2 weeks from ACT.
ACT dealer gets car from Nissan storage at Kernel (1 week) Pre delivery time of two weeks. Ship back to Sydney. (1week) Bradley warned me 4-5 weeks before I committed.
I'm not in a hurry so it doesn't bother me but it's an important consideration. Personally, I'd rather that the pre-delivery was done by a very experienced dealer/service department.
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Post by markrmarkr on Jun 28, 2015 11:31:28 GMT 11
When I bought mine from Steve Jarvin it was because they seemed on top of evéything. Now they can't even do services.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using proboards
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Post by EVangelist on Jun 29, 2015 9:43:28 GMT 11
When I bought mine from Steve Jarvin it was because they seemed on top of evéything. Now they can't even do services. What?!?!? I bought mine from Steve Jarvin Nissan too - Matt was very knowledgeable about the Leaf and a pleasure to deal with. We took it there for the free 1000 km service, all good. Our next service is not until 10000 km/12 month which will be Oct/Nov. Has SJN seriously ceased to service the Leaf?!?
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Post by Feng on Jun 29, 2015 11:18:22 GMT 11
Their only LEAF tech had to go overseas due to some family emergency in April, I don't know if he ever returned. I ended up taking mine to Liverpool Nissan (so did David, who used to be on the forum). We're happy with Liverpool, might end up going there in future. Has anyone had their car serviced at SJN since April?
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Post by Cachexian (Gordon) on Jun 30, 2015 7:52:36 GMT 11
Liverpool? Wow. That is a pain. I hope SJN are still serving? What about City of Sydney? You would th ni if they have q public charge point, that would suggest they service it?
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Post by Feng on Jun 30, 2015 9:50:12 GMT 11
Liverpool is along the way to work for David and me so it's no problem for us to get it serviced there. City of Sydney Nissan used to have a 24/7 public ChargePoint but they sold their old site and haven't reinstalled it elsewhere the last I heard. Mike from this forum has had his serviced at City of Sydney and said they were fine.
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Post by markrmarkr on Jun 30, 2015 10:35:36 GMT 11
Last service I did was at Rockdale. I tried to talk to them back when I was buying my Leaf, but they didn't seem interested. They were OK for the service though.
I have had a problem with my 12 volt service battery and rang SJN Yesterday to get a new one under warranty. But apparently the warranty runs out after 12 months - bummer.
Anyway, when I was talking to the service department, I was informed that SJN has a new Leaf serviceman.
I'm picking up the battery this afternoon, so I'll let you know how it goes.
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