Ideal used car

General Discussion
22

Well maybe Volvo could have been a little more tactful but he does have a point …

Buying a car is an individual choice based on your own wants and financial abilities, which only you can know.
Further, aside from the few “known stinkers”, quality and reliability out of the factory is remarkably similar across manufacturers and models.
And finally, with a used car reliability is mostly a matter of the age, wear and maintenance of the specific car you’re considering.

So if you’re looking for general advice and opinions you’re at the right place but if you’re a knowledgeable owner able to do at least some of your own work, asking a group to differentiate between the reliability of a used Toyota or Lexus (similar cars, both made by Toyota), well you’re going to be the best judge.

BTW If you think Volvo is harsh now, then your first full time job in the “real world” is gonna knock your socks off :wink:

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23

North San Diego county? What’s that like? For the most part.

24

Electrics need far less repairs than anything with an internal combustion engine, and far lower operating costs. It will still need tires and brakes every 30,000 miles or so. You can get a used Nissan Leaf for $8K or less. Your biggest concern would be the charging regime to fit your usage.

25

The biggest concern is the cost of replacing the battery, that is why the resale value is so low. Cars that claim to have had the battery replaced don’t have any better resale value, if the replacement battery is refurbished it contains mostly old, used cells.

I can recharge for free 1/2 mile from my place of employment and would only need to do so twice a week but the cost of potential repairs would not save me any money.

26

From what I hear, those first Nissan Leafs had absolutely PATHETIC range

There’s no way I would consider one

And of course the price of the battery is a concern, as @Nevada_545 alluded to

I’m also allowed to recharge for free at my job . . . but that’s not an option for everybody

27

No better than the range of a motorcycle but there are many that accept this (motorcyclists).

28

If I remember right you couldn’t even get 100 miles on the first-available Leafs. They’re much better now. Tesla has problems, but one thing it did was to raise the bar of acceptability for electric cars. I doubt anyone would even think about releasing a <100-mile-range car at this point.

29

Well, the cheap used ones I see for sale seem to be the 1st generation Leafs

So if you go for a cheap Leaf, you’ll have pathetic range and the only way it’s even barely tolerable is if you can recharge for free at your work

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30

Yeah, or you have short drives. The later versions of the first-gens went from the 70’s range to 107 miles.

I mean, if you’re just commuting from a 1st or 2nd ring suburb into downtown, 107 miles is enough, even without charging at work. But you definitely wouldn’t want to have that as your only car.

31

I was on an extended business trip in Japan in 2015. We went to Yakushima (Monkey Island) for a weekend trip. It took about two hours at 35 mph to drive around the circumference of the island. Pretty small. The Leaf was very popular there.

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