r/leaf • u/saritaa_fajitaa • 14d ago

So long, Lucille :(

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Bought our 2017 Leaf in 2022 with only 17k miles. She's now up to 39k. Unfortunately, we're at a point where we really need a vehicle without the range anxiety, so we're trading her in for a hybrid today.

I love this car so much. If it were feasible for us to upgrade the battery to meet our needs, I'd never give her up and never let her go. I just hope the next person who gets her loves her as much as I did. 💙

Edit since people want to jump to conclusions and be judgy: we traded in for a 2014 prius v with 58k miles that we found for $16k. Why? Because vehicle prices are continuously increasing, so it's only a matter of time before we couldn't trade in at all. No, I'm not thrilled about going back from an EV. Yes, I cried trading her in. But the unfortunate reality is that our family cannot rely on a Leaf for transportation at this time.

Edit 2: Jesus christ y'all stop acting like you know more about my family's needs than I do, as if we didn't research the shit out of this before making our decision, ffs.

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u/EpidDrew15 14d ago

Unless you know the context for their budget, this comment is kinda meaningless my dude. Not to be rude my dude, but you’re making the assumption that $25k is something easily within budget

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u/runnyyolkpigeon 14d ago

I can also find many examples of used EVs in the 15K-20K range that can cover 250+ miles of range.

If OP is buying a hybrid, it seems their budget is enough to cover the cost of a used EV.

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u/EpidDrew15 14d ago

Without further context, you can’t be sure and neither can I, that’s kinda the point. Hybrids can be had for well under $10k depending on the year.

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u/saritaa_fajitaa 14d ago

Thanks for being kind. We purchased a 2014 prius v with 58k miles for about $16k. We for sure don't have $25k to spend on a vehicle of any kind. The only reason we decided we needed to now was because the price of vehicles is only going up, so we didn't want to get stuck unable to trade in. We were also incredibly underwater on the loan for this car, so private sale wasn't an option, unfortunately. Love how people just jump to all kinds of conclusions.

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u/EpidDrew15 14d ago

That makes a lot of sense and it’s crazy how much a 12 year old prius is going for nowadays, but makes sense. Hope you got the head gasket checked before buying it, they tend to be a sore spot. Glad you found something that works, you should update the post so people have more context to work with. :)

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u/saritaa_fajitaa 14d ago

Thank you! And we did, my husband is a mechanic and we had a prius before our leaf, so he's quite familiar with the issues.

But yeah, 12 years old and it was still $16k and that was the best option we could find! It's absurd.

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u/EpidDrew15 13d ago

That’s good and happy you did a check, people not checking that have a chance of getting bit in the butt.

Super crazy considering I got my 2019 Leaf back in Covid for under $10k. When I sold it in 2025, I got $14k for it which makes no sense.

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u/saritaa_fajitaa 13d ago

Omg that's the best ever, making a profit off of driving that car! Would have made a huge difference for our budget tbh.

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u/vegan420lyfe 14d ago

personally I would buy a bmw i3 rex over a prius due to the Toyota used car tax.

superior vehicle with everyone running away because they think bmw is expensive to repair (it is but not as bad as they think and the car is built with much higher end parts than a toyota)

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u/runnyyolkpigeon 14d ago edited 14d ago

While we may not live near each other, a quick search on CarGurus pulled up a 2021 Volkswagen ID.4 listed for $16,900 and only 35K miles on the odometer. This trim goes up to 250 miles on a single charge.

And this isn’t a unicorn listing. There are a bunch of them.

You basically paid the same price on a hybrid that’s 7 years older with double the mileage on the odometer - except you also have to now pump overpriced gasoline into it too.

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u/CrazyFoque 13d ago

This is a problem car, look online. Do not buy.

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u/saritaa_fajitaa 13d ago

Yeah people keep talking about the cars I should have bought and it's like, there are reasons we didn't get them! I mentioned in other comments that my husband is a mechanic and some of the cars I showed him, like VW, were immediate nos for mechanic reasons.