[Arkady Renko]

Hello all, I'm close to purchasing a 2016 Leaf Tekna 24 with just over 7,000 miles on it. It has the 6.6 charger and a full 12 bars left on the battery. It's at a Nissan dealer 200 miles from me, so I can't run LeafSpy to get more details on the battery.

This is my first EV. Anything in particular I should look out for before I complete the deal? (I know this is asked a lot, and I've looked through recent posts; I appreciate any advice.)

 

[Barfly]

Hello all, I'm close to purchasing a 2016 Leaf Tekna 24 with just over 7,000 miles on it. It has the 6.6 charger and a full 12 bars left on the battery. It's at a Nissan dealer 200 miles from me, so I can't run LeafSpy to get more details on the battery.

This is my first EV. Anything in particular I should look out for before I complete the deal? (I know this is asked a lot, and I've looked through recent posts; I appreciate any advice.)

Usual stuff, take a dongle with you to check with leafspy. Have a look at all the normal places, the doors hang properly, there isn't a puddle of water in the suspension strut mountings, see if is straight, run a 'fridge magnet over the likely damage spots. Check the tyres for feathering on the edges. Make sure there are both cables in the boot, the granny and the chademo.
See if the windows run up and down smoothly, and the wing mirrors park without juddering. check for heel marks in the headlining-you never know! I once picked up a lovely limousine cheap only for the wife to remark what are those marks in the roof lining?
Open the bonnet and boot and see if there are lots of detritus and verdigris in the wells at the top and edges - a sure sign of neglect by the previous owner. Check the age of the 12v battery, get them to replace it if it's original. It costs them a lot less than you to replace; on second thoughts, make them replace it anyway!
On the deal, leave your final commitment until the month's end, that's when they have to submit their monthly sales figures they are always desperate to add a couple of extra sales at the end of the month-gives you much more leverage.

If they won't budge on the price, work around it in different ways, get them to pay the full cost of your home charger installation, not just the government's subsidy bit. Some of these things can be a headache and expensive for an owner, but for dealers they are practically zero cost. Get them to give an extended warranty and breakdown cover for more than one year. Get them to offer an ICE car for when you take your annual holidays for a fortnight a year. This stuff is negligible to them, but hiring an ICE car for a fortnight 'aint cheap.

That's all I can think of at the moment, good luck Tony.

 

[badmanwimmaculatelips]

Hello all, I'm close to purchasing a 2016 Leaf Tekna 24 with just over 7,000 miles on it. It has the 6.6 charger and a full 12 bars left on the battery. It's at a Nissan dealer 200 miles from me, so I can't run LeafSpy to get more details on the battery.

This is my first EV. Anything in particular I should look out for before I complete the deal? (I know this is asked a lot, and I've looked through recent posts; I appreciate any advice.)

Welcome to EV motoring; some things are super, but there are some compromises.

It will be interesting to see exactly what condition the battery is in. 12 bars can mean a SoH of 85%. This car is 5 years old, and could be getting towards losing the first bar - but also could be up at around 90+% (assuming 2% per year degradation).

IMO, a major question is; was the car left fully charged for the last 5 years ? 7k miles is only a bit over 1000 miles per year - that's very little use. If it was left plugged in/fully charged, that is not ideal for battery health. With Leafspy, you will be able to see how many rapid/fast charges it has had. This may give some clue (if the number is higher than you'd expect - let's guess they did 50 miles between charges = 140. left plugged in all the time 20 miles between charges = 480. Note this is near-total guesswork). Also, this vintage of car didn't have the 'charge to 80% option' (i think.... ?).

The other thing to look at is the top of the front suspension struts, under the bonnet/hood - where they are bolted in, there's a tendency for water to collect. There's a simple fix (3d printed cover, or empty tuna can upside down, or aftermarket strut cover). There's a link at the very top of the forum.

Lastly, the rear axle can be 'off' leading to uneven tyre wear - with 7k on the clock, you're unlikely to see this - if it is a problem (and it's only an issue on some...). You can ask about a 4 wheel alignment check. But you might as well ask them to compete at the Olympics in the Luge (it's equally likely ;-)

Good luck.

 

[Arkady Renko]

Thank you both for the replies and information!

 

[Barfly]

Thank you both for the replies and information!

Let us know how you go.

 

[Arkady Renko]

The car was delivered today! The only issue so far is emailing back and forth with Nissan customer services to get the Connect app working for me, but I think we're making progress. The first few hours of EV ownership have been a blast. Thanks again to everyone for the advice.