Featured Nissan Leaf SL plus or BZ4X?

The Leaf is literally the last electric car I would buy, primarily because of CHAdeMO. I'd consider a Bolt or Bolt EUV first.

 

Nissan Leaf is an example of lazy engineering. It's air-cooled, which means it is way more prone to capacity loss than any other manufacturers' EV model. You get what you pay for. Of course the Toyota electric is being delayed to the USA - so its almost an example imo of being damned either way.
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I'd go with Bol, Kona, or Niro before a Leaf. Is the Ioniq Electric sedan still available?

Is the Toyota BEV actually available yet?

 

Being a penny pincher and having friends who bought a used Leaf I would go for the Leaf base model. After the rebate buy the base model for $19,000 and pocket the over $30,000 I would save by not buying the BZ4X. I would then invest that $30,000 in I bonds or other conservative investments. In our area the residential speed limit is 25 mph and the fastest you can legally drive is 70 mph on the Interstate - every other main road 55 mph is tops. Any vehicle should handle that easily.

Build & Price a Nissan LEAF | Nissan USA

You mentioned a Model Y for the wife, depending on which one you price that is another $55,000.
You could buy her a Leaf which is a wonderfully economic vehicle for the $19,000 and save another $40,000.

That would give you two brand new perfectly serviceable cars and over $70,000 to put in conservative investments that will grow in value each year rather than depreciate like a car.

 

Bolt is cheaper than Leaf, liquid-cooled, and has a CCS charge plug instead of CHAdeMO (CHAdeMO chargers are rapidly going away in the US).

 

That's the whole trick, getting one. Nissan has been working very hard to make sure only loaded ones show up.

 

Once Nissan runs out of a $7500 tax credit, Bolt would be a much better buy. But as long as Nissan still have full $7500 credit, it is still the cheapest BEV with over 200 miles of range.

I would stay away from the top-of-the-line Leaf. All those creatures' comfort features have no meaning if you can't take them for a long trip. With limited CHAdeMO connectivity and slow sharing rate, and a propensity to overheat the battery pack on repeated fast charging, the Leaf is not meant for a long trip. I would buy an SV (non-Plus) with a 150miles range with a full tax credit if I can make the final price to ~$20K as a strictly commuter daily driver, but anything fancier, it makes no sense to pay extra money.

 

Leaf Plus's are selling for about $38k, Bolts for about $29k. The difference is $9k, not $7.5k.

 

Read the second part of my comment above. Yeah, I would not pay extra for a Leaf Plus SL. The only Leaf I would be interested in buying over Bolt is Leaf (non-Plus) SV for around $22.5K (including destination charge MSRP ~$30K and full $7500 credit applied).

 

The thread title literally includes the Plus.

 

i would compare interiors

 

The 226 mile range is for the S Plus. The SL Plus has a 215 mile range and will be discontinued in a few months. The 2023 Leaf will only be available in 2 trims, 40 kWh S or 62 kWh SV Plus. Would I buy a $38k Leaf now? No, but I would if it was $8k less. That's why I decided to get something else since I have to pay MSRP. My reasoning is the Leaf depreciate a lot more than when the shortage is over. I would rather get a Bolt, ID4, EV6, Ioniq 5, Mach-E, BZ4X (tax credit ending soon)/Solterra before buying at Leaf at $38k.

Source: owned a 40 kWh and 2 62 kWh Leafs.

 

You need a tax liability high enough to take advantage of the full $7500.

 

Yeah we had the original 2011 leaf and it's seats were hideous. But it was virtually the only game in town so I just suffered until the first better thing came along, the 2016 metallic silver, Grey leather, sun roof Model S w/ autpilot - tho it's AP was definitely not yet ready for prime time. Way ahead head & shoulders above the Leaf. With all its warts - the best sedan we've had in 3 decades.
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If I got the math right, it is an income of $53,416 for 2021 taxes. That is the amount after deductions. For 2022, the standard deduction for single is $12,995, and $24,900 for married.