From Gas Guzzler to Electric Vehicle - Choosing our new FIRE family car - 2017 Nissan LEAF SV

In case it hasn't already shown, I'm a total nerd and tomboy at heart.

Ever since I was 16 years old, while all of my friends dreamed of sports cars, I wanted nothing more than a Toyota 4Runner SUV.  This was long before SUVs were all the rage, and every soccer mom was driving one.  It took a number of years, but eventually I was the proud owner of a brand new 2014 4Runner Trail, hot off the assembly line, sporting the latest new body style.  Perfect for my newly-divorced, single mom life about to begin, after a cross-country move from South Florida to Colorado.  Fast forward a little while later, our family of two became a family of four, hitting the slopes in the Rocky Mountains, camping, hauling, and moving, with the help of the 3,500 lb towing capacity of the 4Runner.  This truck definitely put the U in Sport Utility Vehicle for us.

Fast forward to now, our family is happily settled in our forever home in the suburbs, with a very convenient commute to work and school.  I no longer have to stress about being caught in a surprise Colorado snowstorm with a 25 to 50 mile commute back home.  Our lives now exist in a cozy 7-mile radius.  Even so, I couldn't help but notice that I was still spending quite a bit each month fueling up the 4Runner.  Between that and oil changes and tires, this was not a cheap vehicle to maintain.  It was definitely time to consider other options.

Fortunately for us, Colorado is very green-minded, with solar panels and wind turbines dotting the landscape, and a plethora of greener vehicles.  After considering a few hybrids, I eventually stumbled upon the all-electric Nissan LEAF.  I honestly never put much thought into an electric vehicle before, worried about battery and charging issues, but all of those fears were quickly diminished, after reading glowing reviews and testimonials from loyal LEAF owners.  We found a wonderful Nissan dealership about 60 miles away, with more die-hard LEAF owners on staff.  This dealership was a breath of fresh air, after dealing with the usual lines and games.  No hassles, no BS.  These guys were truly in the business of taking care of customers.  They gave me a more than fair trade-in on my beloved 4Runner, and we left in a zippy 2017 Nissan LEAF SV.  I couldn't have been happier with the switch!

The LEAF is amazingly fun to drive, comfortably seats our family of four, including my 6-foot tall husband, and still has plenty of trunk space for a full day's worth of running errands.   Because of the heavy batteries, the car has a very low center of gravity, and handles just fine in rain and snow.  Best of all: no more oil changes (no oil, period), and we're driving at a cost of $0.03/mile.  Just tires and wiper blades as needed.  The only added expense was installing a Level 2 (L2) Clipper Creek charging station in our garage, to make use of faster charging at home.  That allows me to top off the car in an hour or two, instead of days, as it would take with the Level 1 (L1) charger that comes equipped with the car.  I'll be posting a separate review of the awesome Clipper Creek charger that we have.  It'll also be put to good use, as we're about to trade in our other gas car for an EV as well!

We're fortunate that public EV chargers are readily available in our city, and the State of Colorado is also taking green initiatives to install more on our major highways.  We're happy to see other cities and states also adopting these measures to help encourage the switch to EVs.

For those FI-ers looking to crunch the numbers, this video has a great 5-year breakdown (and Michael subsequently put out a follow-up video... still loving it, and now his teenage kids drive it):

Feedback from my fellow FI-group members is that this is an amazing choice as a FI vehicle.  I couldn't agree more!  Hope you'll take one for a test drive :)