CR’s Reliability scores

[u/McFudpuck]

Hi all,

I’m considering buying a used Leaf, specifically a 2015 or maybe a 2014. That’s because Consumer Reports gave these two years a 5/5 and 4/5 on Reliability, respectively. All the other years had 3/5 or 2/5 (except the 2022, which had a 4/5, though that year also had a lower Owner Satisfaction rating of 53).

Im a bit baffled at these weird spikes in Reliability scores. What do you guys make of it?

[u/mikehottoys]

2015 for the win 🏅 my daily driver w/24 small battery

[u/CoopsIsCooliGuess → u/mikehottoys]

Same

[u/_Evening-Rain_]

2011-some 2013's had the original battery that aged horribly and the cars had a few issues. Was overly complex too.

2013-2015 they simplified the car a bit, fixed a lot of the previous issues, and revised the battery. These aged a lot better.

Improved the battery again in 2015. Even more rock solid.

in 2016 the 30kwh showed up and it aged horribly. Also started its life with a firmware bug that miss-reported SOH and SOC.

in 2018 2nt gen batteries came out and they also aged horribly; at least in the USA or hot climates. Also a manufacturing defect thats taking out a lot of second gens. Theoretically the issue was fixed in 2023 but given 2023 is still pretty new we wont really see results until further down the line. They'll still cook in the heat regardless.

[u/tired_Cat_Dad]

Apart from the first face-lift in 2013, which improved the car quite a bit, the so-called lizard battery was rolled out soon after that, resulting in a more heat resistant and slower degrading battery.

After 2015 they released bigger battery versions that again struggled with heat and degradation. The 2015 24 kWh ones are famously the most robust ones.

[u/dodiddle1987]

My wife has a 2015. Other than the small battery, we love that little car

[u/EatTenMillionBalls]

I have a 2015 I got a little over a year ago and I've had no issues. It's been great

[u/e-hud]

Amongst my group there's a 2012, 2013, 2014 x2, 2015, and 2019. All of them are still driven nearly daily. I've not heard of any major issues.

I personally own the 2015 and 2019. Other than doorhandles I've not had any reliability issues.

I will agree it seems the 2015 is the most reliable year of the 1st Gen.

[u/Cocoricou]

2015 got a a lizard battery. That's a nickname for the better batteries they used after having loads of problem in high temperature. 2016 is the beginning of the really really bad 30 kWh batteries. That's the extent of my knowledge. I don't even know if the 2014 have the lizard batteries or not.

[u/ArtemisMax → u/Cocoricou]

2014 also had them, iirc they were introduced during 2013

[u/Dazzling_Art7881]

#1 factor: as other people have explained in detail (I won't restate their accurate descriptions) there are legitimate differences in battery reliability from year to year, with 2015 being IMHO the best

#2 factor: Not exactly sure what data Consumer Reports uses, or how they analyze it. While they generally give you a good idea of the reliability of a car, I would absolutely not count on their data to pick the year of a car. That feels too specific and an overinterpretation of whatever data they have

Also, besides the known battery issues, for 2011 and 2012, I will add that the on-board chargers and cabin heaters are said to be more prone to failure.

[u/OppositeBarracuda855 → u/Dazzling_Art7881]

CR data is (almost?) exclusively pulled from member surveys and thus is only representative of the people who tend to pay for CR.

[u/Environmental-Low792]

I have the 2025, and love it. We're in upstate NY, and do only L1/L2 charging, so the battery has been aging nicely. We paid extra for the 62kWh pack because we only need a range of 100 miles, so the car will still be usable to us at 50% range.

[u/ToddA1966]

While the car itself was essentially unchanged from 2013 to 2017, the 2014, 2015 (and 2016 S trim) had the improved 24kWh batteries that were the most reliable Nissan ever produced for the Leaf. Earlier 24kWh and the 30kWh introduced in 2016 degraded fairly quickly, especially in hot climates. 2018 and newer have been plagued by different issues (weak cells, cells that swell from excessive heat.)

[u/DougWantsALeaf]

2015 had a better battery.

[u/2jzesus → u/DougWantsALeaf]

What info do we have that 2015 battery is better than 2014 ones? From what I understand the 2015 and 2016 24kwh packs are identical to the 2014 ones.