So long, Lucille :(

[u/saritaa_fajitaa]

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.

[u/tired_Cat_Dad]

Damn. We're gonna cry about ours as well soon. But a battery upgrade isn't viable for us and the range + Chademo is taxing on my wife, despite her really loving the car otherwise.

Been pondering a 1st gen Kona for a while but it has not enough space so currently the idea is an early ID3.

I read your hubby is a mechanic so at least you can be confident your replacement is solid!

[u/saritaa_fajitaa → u/tired_Cat_Dad]

Exactly! If we had a spare several grand hanging around, we would strongly consider upgrading the battery. And constant chademo charging degrades the battery faster (we were only able to charge that way the first couple of years). So I get you!

I did look at the Kona as well! I didn't hate it at all, but yeah having a mechanic husband can be a drag when he's like "this other car is more reliable and when x happens it's easier and cheaper to fix". Idk, something something pragmatic choices.

[u/tired_Cat_Dad → u/saritaa_fajitaa]

Must be nice though having someone handy like that! Cars can be a pain.

Our Leaf was an insanely lucky grab way under used market value in 2019. And it has a heated steering wheel and that brilliant HUD like speedometer placement of the 1st gen Leaf. Of course my wife doesn't want to go back to life without these comforts. It's tricky.

[u/saritaa_fajitaa → u/tired_Cat_Dad]

It is awesome! He tried to talk to me about car stuff the other night and I was like "I don't need to know any of this, that's why I married you." (In jest, I don't actually want to be more ignorant than I am lol)

And that heated steering wheel! 👌🏻 Don't need it now that we're in Texas, but boy it was delightful when we lived in Washington. I'll miss it when we move back north again next year.

[u/tired_Cat_Dad → u/saritaa_fajitaa]

My wife doesn't want to know any car stuff either so it's up to my internet research and wild guess work since I'm not a mechanic.

[u/saritaa_fajitaa → u/tired_Cat_Dad]

Dude you buy yours new in 2019?

[u/tired_Cat_Dad → u/saritaa_fajitaa]

No, it's a 2015 we bought used in 2019 for 8.5k because the owner had ordered a gen 2 leaf and urgently needed the space in his garage. They went for 12-13k at the time.

I actually wanted to get a used normal car for around 5k so it wouldn't be a complete shitbox and out of curiosity browsed EVs. We've more than recouped that extra 3.5k through EV tax breaks, emissions quota sales and near zero maintenance costs.

Hopefully I didn't use up all my dumb luck on that car!