tl; dr… still I enjoy the leaf.
The leaf lends itself to my schedule. I still haven’t gotten the fast-charger installed. I will soon. But that means for now I’m just using the trickle charger. Work is only like 12 miles away, so nightly charging is completely fine for me.
For ref, this is a used 2016 leaf. SL trim so its ‘upscale’ in the sense that it has leather. The newer leafs are more decked out, for sure. But for my purposes, this one was fine. The important part was the drive and lack of maintenance. I drive it on ‘eco’ mode most of the time. It’s sluggish to help preserve battery, and I find it works fine for me. When I get into a spot where I could use more boost, I’ll turn eco mode off, and it’s got plenty of juice to do whatever I need. Better than my Honda, that’s for sure.
What I’ve found at this point is this: the leaf is more fun to drive than the Honda civic; quiet and smooth riding with a slight gamification to add ‘flavor’ to your commute. Plug it in when I get home and it’s good to go in the morning. The best part is the fact that I do not need a gas station. I’m not far from work so no chargers needed for me. It plugs in at night and fine in the morning. I paid less for this car than I did for my maxed-out Honda civic back in 2008. It has already won me over.
I did add an affectation to the car. Something to personalize it. I picked the original Lovecraftian Elder sign; small and unobtrusive. It’s on the back window. There so I can make sure if I park next to another one I will recognize it on sight. In a weird way, I needed this addition to my car. When I first got it, it felt completely foreign to me. It wasn’t until I put this on that it felt mine.