Kia Soul purchase or Nissan Leaf - lease or buy?

Since you mentioned you live in an apartment without charging options, I am assuming you plan to use publicly available charging stations. How does the infrastructure look like in WA? If I were buying an EV, I wouldn’t want to solely rely on public charging stations.

At what miles/yr? There is a 3 point spread from 15k to 10k.

I think it is decent. Not as dense as it could have been but good enough, especially in metro areas like Seattle (where I live).
I have one within 0.5 miles from my apartment. But the main issue is of having to sit there till the car charging finishes. Some supermarkets nearby have charging station in their parking lot and thinking of timing my trips accordingly.
Really wish I had charging option at home, would have bought $4600 used Leaf by now.

I will probably be purchasing a house this year too, when my apartment lease is ending in Mid 2022 but again that’s another market that’s currently blowing up with crazy bidding war so can’t say with 100% certainty either. My timings :pensive: :pensive:

Good luck and keep us posted.

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Ah I see. I was not aware of that. They gave me same residual value for all 3 mileage ranges. I was bit disappointed looking at the residual value. With possible tax benefits from purchase, sort of made up my mind to go with buy option so did not dig into it further

Doesn’t the leaf use CHAdeMO instead of the much more prevalent ccs charger you, further restricting your charging options?

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For fast charging yes, but normal level 2 charging happens via J1772 chargers which almost all the charging stations have nearby. But yes you are right, it further limits.

Based on my usage, i am estimating that I might have to do charging once a month with the new 2022 Leaf; probably once a week with 2011 model.

Trying to find if there are any Leaf battery replacement options available nearby but does not seem promising so far.

Wait, you’re planning on getting an ev that you can only charge away from home and not planning on fast charging?

Yeah pretty much. I know looks challenging but counting on low frequency of once a month charging for now, whichI will hopefully be able to time with my supermarket visit schedule.
Wish there were any better options available.

You know a 40 kwh battery on a level 2 charger is like 5-6 hours to charge, right?

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Yes, I am aware. Was just hoping that once a month charging frequency would be able to accommodate that.

However, a thought popped up in my mind. I never had to spend much on fuel with gas vehicle coz of my low usage. My main motivation was slashed Leaf prices and tax rebate. (If the environment was getting helped in the process that was an added bonus :slight_smile: )

But I checked some charging stations nearby, some have hourly rate whereas others 24 hour rate. Some have per session charges. Because of the current no home charger access, I will probably go into the mindset of charging whenever I can.
So, If I am parking somewhere and there is a charger available, I might use it no matter the cost or even if I wont end up using the full time I am paying for. Paying session fee every time. I might be counting pennies at this point but boy, wouldn’t that be ironic if I end up paying more on fuel after switching to electric :roll_eyes:

So, I have gone back to the whiteboard now and bringing in Gas options again. Seeing if I can get a decent car in affordable price. MSRP ~20K, (0-0.1 APR for finance or decent lease numbers). Currently considering Kia Soul. I will keep this post updated.

Also, looking at some used cars on Vroom.

Is it a desperate need? 3 yr old cars are going for almost original MSRP these days. For any ‘deals’ see if any 4+ yr cars with warranty. Those will hold you until you can get a good lease.

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That’s good point. What platform would you recommend for finding a used car? vroom or dealer website?

Do you have access to even a 110V at home or are we talking about an apartment situation? I charge my LEAF at home on 110V and get about 5.4mi of range per hour. Which I fine since I can just leave it charging overnight and mostly work from home. The days I do go in (2x a week) I drive 114-mi round trip but I can charge up at the office.

Oh just saw this. Ok gotcha.

There isn’t a single dealer platform without massive used car price inflation.

Buy new.

If you have the time you can trawl the private party sections of Craig’s, AT, cars dot com, etc. and maybe find that one person who’s been living under a rock

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Got a dealer to agree to sell Soul 2022 at MSRP $20150 without any markup. He mentioned 0% APR for 60 months (I could not find 0% APR offer on the website, cheapest was 0.9%. So hopefully no mistake there).
My payment comes out to be $380/mo including taxes per edmund calculator.
How does that sound for new Soul?

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I wouldn’t get any leaf that doesn’t come off a tree.

Yeah kind of gave up on Leaf…but just curious to know ur reasons If I had easy access to charger, I would have definitely gone for it.

Same reason l wouldn’t get a Bolt without a ICE backup car. Ghastly slow DCFC for road tripping.