On this episode we share our test results of the all-electric 2020 Nissan Leaf Plus. While it was one of the first mainstream EVs on the market, we discuss if it has kept up with its competitors in this growing market. Our experts give tips on the best way to research, negotiate, and secure the best financing when buying a car. And, we answer questions about how CR decides which models to buy for our testing program, the potential hazards of folding rear seats, and finding the right vehicle for towing a small camper.
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SHOW NOTES:
00:00 – Introduction
01:48 – How to negotiate the best car loan
08:56 – 2020 Nissan Leaf Plus Test Results
15:49 – Audicence Questions
16:07 – Question #1: How does CR determine which vehicle to purchase from a model lineup?
20:22 – Question #2: Are there potential hazards for kids getting trapped under third-row folding seats?
24:20 – Question #3: What is the best CUV/SUV under $30K to tow a small camping trailer?
LINKS:
What Minority Car Buyers Can Do to Avoid Discrimination:
2020 Nissan Leaf Overview:
Beginner’s Guide to RV Trailers:
Hi CR, in the description, the Leaf is at 10:00, not 8 min.
The best car loan is no car loan.
If you had one at 0%, then take your $30k and put it into an investment that gives you a return, that’s a better use of your money.
Pauline Weinberger that is false. That new car you bought at “0” % will lose 60% of its value in the first 4 years. That’s 18k lost on your 30k car. Hopefully you factored that into your investment game. I don’t know any wealthy people who take a loan out on their car to invest money. Probably because it’s a bad idea.
@Chandler Hill She’s actually right, to a point. Your paid off car will lose exactly the same amount of its value.
Her way, if you can get a decent rate of interest, which is unlikely nowadays, you’ll make a few extra bucks on your deposit.
Thank you.
Keith’s “Bad sound makes good video look bad”
You should be concentrating on telling buyers to “educate” themselves on basic math.
For some reason with all the information out there, people are still too dumb and lazy to know that $300 per month is impossible when financing 29,000 with today’s loan terms…
We had a Hurricane and earthquake in one week here in North Carolina. 2020 what a year.
Covid, and Murder Hornets were nothing then?
Good or bad news 2020 is half over 🤪
Why keep laughing and making jokes about Jen and Gab not having power? Why and errrrrm how is that funny?
It’s more of an uncomfortable laugh, he knows them well
Go to the dealer with your own financing already lined up, and then see if the dealer can improve on it
We’ve been leasing our last few cars, which makes it more difficult to tell if I’m getting a good deal, or how good a deal. With Leases, there are so many variables the dealership can fudge with, they can make the lease whatever they want it to be.
Use Edmunds and determine the Money Factor before you start the negotiations.
Check a site named LeaseHackr for more information. You can make the entire process equally as transparent as financing, but you have to ask the dealer the right questions. Happy shopping.
Here’s another money factor calculator link: http://sharplease.com/MoneyFactor
Why thinking: “How do I charge my car when power is out?”, rather than “Why am I missing my vehicle to grid connection, so I can run my house for at least 3 days off the LEAF battery?” How long do your power outages last???
Car deal finance departments can be super shady – an FCA dealer, during the “please buy an extended warranty” presentation, showed figures that implied that my interest rate would be lower if I bought an extended warranty. It took a threat to walk away from the purchase, for them to back down and give me the lower rate. I refinanced my loan with a local CU, the next week at a rate several points lower. 🙂
Those Korean electrics aren’t available in most states – until you can buy them in all states, they aren’t an option for those not living in CA, New England and Mid-Atlantic areas
Plenty of Kona Electrics and Kia Niro EVs in Pacific Northwest.
“the price of the car” is really the ‘Capitalization Cost’ or ‘Cap Cost’. This also applies to leases.
Gas pumps require electricity to function, so you’re outta luck either way in a power outage
Absolutely, not to mention that public charging is becoming widely available. The average EV owner will charge up the night before a storm and utilize public charging when available.
Not true. Gas stations in CT have generators so you can still get gas. Electric cars you have no way to get power for your car. If it goes to zero on charge, you get a damaged battery. My neighbor’s Tesla now has a damaged battery for that very reason – they did not have a generator to give it power and no way to put solar panels on the roof to make enough power, so the battery went to zero in 90 degree heat – and the battery was damaged. Now they need to spend $10,000+ to get a new one and an operating car again. My gas powered car – no such problems.
Regarding EVs in power outages: People seem to forget that gas station pumps don’t generally work in power outages either. Solar + battery storage on homes allow EV drivers to keep driving in power outages while gas cars struggle to find stations with power to the gas pumps.
Also: Every time the power comes on (IE: during rolling blackouts) EVs automatically continue charging as long as you’re plugged in. So you don’t have to “waste gas” and time driving around looking for gas stations with working pumps in an outage. You can just relax and let the car charge every time the power comes back on. 200 miles of range gets you through a lot of local driving so it’s not something that causes EV drivers any real anxiety.
For people who live in coastal areas prone to hurricanes (as I do), I recommend having a gas-powered. They are much more flexible for the evacuation routes, and many gas stations in my area have backup generators.
Won’t work for me. I don’t have roof facing the sun and would have to build a solar farm to do as you say. Living in the northeast the sun is not available about 40% of the time either. It is why CR had trouble pulling off this episode – and they all came into work to pull it off. No power to charge your battery car in a power outage, if you don’t have it charged is bad for the battery if the charge falls to zero – especially if it is hot, like it was in CT the week the power was out as it was over 90 every day. A damaged battery worth over $10,000 – no thanks. I will stay with gas for now. If I rewire my home’s generator then I might consider an electric car but I would not risk a battery as our power goes out every other year for at least a week at a time.
Financing a depreciating asset doesn’t make much sense. Buy what you can afford.
13:11 TFL did a a great little experiment on that, and to make a long story short, assume the car accepts the charge (on tesla’s that’s a big if) you’re looking at a full day’s generator use to even get close to enough range to do…. anything. so unless you have an industrial generator, it’s all downhill to your nearest charger, you’re kind of SOL.
14:35 I’m actually starting to notice the opposite trend. Where once, much like hybrid technology, electric cars were strictly for early adopter who wanted to shout about it, The tech is slowing starting to move into the main lexicon and people are starting to want normal looking cars that happen to be hybrid. the majority of electric car market is still definitely in the “shout about it” mind set, but some limited data, as outline in the article below, suggests that if “a Civic that happens to be electric” is not under development now, they might want to get started.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/casey-wittbrot-6182b565_evehicles-chevrolet-hyundai-activity-6696505622604599296-nKkp
Lesson is, when a tropical storm is coming, charge up. But even after a big storm there are usually areas with power. Gas pumps don’t work without electricity either.
A number of homes have installed whole house backup generators that run on natural gas. When I installed mine last year I sized it at 22 KW (a popular size for Generac home generators) so that I would have plenty of capacity to charge an EV or 2 in a pinch at full speed. I saw that TFL video a few months back and they used a very small recreational generator for that test. A good portable gasoline generator for home backup would be at least 5 KW and hold at least 5-7 gallons of gasoline – which could add ~20 miles of range every hour to a Tesla Model 3.
That being said, I’ve always been busy taking care of my home during an outage, so there wasn’t time for lots of driving around.
I like the intro about “a quick second”. I thought a second was fairly quick …but if at the dentist and being drilled it can seem a lot longer…
You guys are always awesome!
You guys don’t have anywhere to plug it in, hahahahahahagaga!!