Since December of 2010 and now, 2013, I did not find the time or money to put into converting the 2004 Honda Civic VP into a PIE. The major reason was not because I did not want to; it was because my son, in his last year in grad school, needed a car to commute between Boulder, Colorado, and Denver, Colorado, to participate in his internship, starting in the fall of 2011. And that meant a Road Trip!
The Honda was with me, in Newark, Delaware. He was in Boulder. He flew out to Delaware and we then took the next three days to travel back to Boulder in the Honda spending an overnight in Cleveland, Ohio and the next overnight west of Chicago, Illinois. We were going to stop in Omaha, Nebraska, but decided to spend a long day on the road, instead, and it was a very long day on the road, to get to Boulder, Colorado late in the evening of the third day.
I spent a great couple of days visiting and then my son dropped me off at the airport in Denver on the day when weather canceled or delayed all trips due to a hailstorm. I spent nine hours at the airport and finally took an overnight flight to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arriving very early the next morning, well before any trains were scheduled to Delaware. That was a trip to remember.
This left my wife and I with only our 11 year old Dodge Caravan to commute an average of 50 miles a day. The average mileage for the Dodge, going mostly in heavy rush hour traffic was 16 miles to the gallon. At $3.40 per gallon, it was costing me about $300.00/month for gasoline alone. Then came the needed repairs in early 2013 totaling $1600.00. And then the Check Engine light came on a week later.
So we started looking for a new car. And then it happened. I saw the ad for a new version of the Nissan Leaf, the model s, made in America, and 15% cheaper than earlier models. But it was for a lease, for three years, at $199.00 a month. So, I started looking for one. But found, after looking on the Internet at every Nissan dealership within 83 miles, that no dealership had one in stock. Knowing that they were being built in Tennessee, I checked further and found 8 2013 model s Leafs centered in North Carolina. The nearest dealership was about 350 miles away.
So while I kept in contact with the Nissan dealership in Newark, Delaware, I checked every dealership within 50 miles every few days. Then one popped up in Pennsylvania, but when I called the dealership, it was only scheduled to be delivered and not really there. So I kept on checking. Then another popped up at the second closest dealership to my home, and it had been delivered that morning. I signed the lease that night. The next day, $3008.00 and $238.00/month later ($199.00 and taxes), I drove off the lot in my new Leaf.
Since then, I have kept stats and it is costing me $.04 per mile in electricity, with careful driving, in mostly rush hour traffic. The nice thing about it is that when you stop, and go, during the time that you stop, nothing is happening. No engine noise, the motor stops when I stop. So now I pay $50.00 a month more in electricity. $300.00 (gas for the Dodge) minus a $238.00 payment and $50.00 in electricity, and I am in a new car for the next three years for less than $1,000.00 a year, total.
The actual commuting for the Leaf is now 33 miles a weekday as my wife bought a new Honda Fit for $251.00/mo with $3,000.00 down, after getting rid of the Dodge. She now commutes 14 miles a weekday and we always use the Leaf whenever we have a choice. She fills the tank about once a month for $30.00.
So now we have two cars, no range anxiety, and the Leaf does most of the commuting.
