2023 Nissan Leaf

The volume LEAF S carries a 110-kW EM-57 motor rated 147 hp; the $8,000-dearer SV PLUS steps to a 160-kW unit at 214 hp. Both are modest against a 130–520 hp hatchback band.

Torque is the LEAF's stronger suit than horsepower — 236 lb-ft from 0 rpm is well ahead of the gas compacts in this segment, which is why the car feels brisker in town than its 147 hp suggests.

Nissan quotes no 0–60 figure; 7.4 s comes from instrumented testing of the same 110-kW/40-kWh powertrain, which is unchanged for 2023 (the model-year update was exterior styling and wheels only). Mid-pack for a compact hatchback.

Single-motor EV delivery is immediate, quiet and lag-free, and e-Pedal one-pedal driving is well judged — but the 147-hp S runs out of thrust above about 50 mph, and the front-drive layout shows mild torque steer under hard acceleration (pronounced enough on the 214-hp SV PLUS that reviewers call it out).

A single-speed gear reducer with shift-by-wire selector — no shifts to mistime, no hunting, no CVT drone. Three drive modes (Normal, Eco, B-mode) plus e-Pedal give useful control over regen. Short of a perfect score only because there is no paddle-adjustable regen as on newer EVs.

Front-wheel drive is the only configuration offered — no AWD on any 2023 LEAF trim, at any price. Scores at the bottom of the band alongside other FWD-only hatchbacks.

Two configurations — 40 kWh/147 hp and 60 kWh/214 hp — give a genuine choice of output and range, but they are two states of the same single electric powertrain; there is no gas, hybrid or AWD alternative. The 2023 lineup was in fact narrowed from four grades to two.

The volume 40-kWh LEAF S is EPA-rated 111 MPGe combined at 30 kWh/100 mi — competitive among EVs of its era, and graded here against other EVs rather than the gas fleet.

City is the LEAF's best case — regenerative braking and e-Pedal recover most of the energy of stop-and-go driving, and the car was engineered around exactly this commute.

Highway MPGe drops about 20% from the city figure — the usual EV pattern, and the LEAF's relatively high-drag hatchback body gives back more at speed than a slipperier EV would, despite the 2023 aero tweaks to the deflectors, diffuser and spoiler.

149 miles is the single hardest fact about this car: it sits below the floor of the EV range band (230 mi), and even the dearer SV PLUS's 212 miles does not clear it. By 2023 the LEAF's range was a generation behind rivals — the reason the following generation moved to a 75-kWh pack.

A DC quick-charge port is standard equipment on both 2023 grades, but the S's is the 50-kW CHAdeMO unit — below the 70-kW floor of the band, and on an orphaned connector standard that was already disappearing from US public networks. Independent testing confirms the hardware caps out in the high 40s.

The small 40-kWh pack partly masks the slow port — 40 minutes to 80% is poor by 2023 standards but better than the 60 minutes the larger-battery SV PLUS needs on the same network. The LEAF's passive air-cooled pack also throttles hard on repeated fast charges, so this figure is optimistic on a road trip.

Running cost is where the LEAF still wins outright — roughly a third of what a comparable gas compact burns at the same mileage, and the cheapest thing about owning one.

Electricity is cheap and a portable 120V/240V cable is standard, so an owner with a garage outlet is well served. Away from home it gets awkward: the 6.6-kW onboard charger needs about 11.5 hours for a full 240V charge, and DC fast charging is CHAdeMO — a standard US networks were already retiring in favour of CCS, which makes public charging a planning exercise rather than a convenience.

NHTSA tested both 2023 LEAF battery variants as their own entries and awarded each the maximum overall Vehicle Score, built on a 5-star side result (5 barrier driver/passenger, 5 pole) against 4 stars frontal and 4 stars rollover. The heavy, low-mounted floor battery is doing exactly what it should in the side and rollover tests.

The published IIHS results are good as far as they go — Good moderate overlap front, Good head restraints, Acceptable in the tougher updated side test — but the ZE1 LEAF carries no Top Safety Pick award and has never been published with a small overlap front or roof strength rating in the US, so a third of the crashworthiness picture is simply absent. Mid-band per the prompt: mostly Good with an Acceptable, no award.

Nissan Safety Shield 360 is standard on both 2023 grades and its content is genuinely broad for a base car — AEB with pedestrian detection, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, rear automatic braking, lane departure warning with prevention and high beam assist. What keeps it out of the top band is the other half of the definition: the volume LEAF S has no adaptive cruise and no lane centering at all, both of which wait for the $8,000-dearer SV PLUS.

AEB with pedestrian detection is standard equipment, but there is no verified performance result behind it anywhere: IIHS lists the system as present and untested, and NHTSA's own technology verification records no crash-imminent braking, dynamic brake support or pedestrian AEB credit for the 2023 car. Standard hardware with zero published evidence lands in the middle of the band, not the top.

This is the LEAF's clearest safety advantage over its gas rivals: radar blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert are standard on the cheapest trim, and rear automatic braking adds a genuine intervention layer behind the car rather than another chime. It stops short of the top band because the blind spot itself is alert-only — there is no steering-based Blind Spot Intervention on any LEAF.

The volume LEAF S gets Lane Departure Warning plus Intelligent Lane Intervention, which nudges the car back with brake-based correction — real prevention, but a corrective twitch at the line rather than continuous centering. Actual lane centering requires ProPILOT Assist's steering assist on the SV PLUS, so the volume buyer gets the warning half of the feature only.

The volume LEAF S has conventional fixed-speed cruise control and nothing more — no radar following, no stop-and-go. The SV PLUS's ProPILOT Assist is a good system when you buy it, pairing full-speed-range Intelligent Cruise Control with stop-and-hold and steering assist, but it costs a trim walk of roughly $8,000 on a car whose cheapest grade is what most buyers take.

No hands-free highway driving is offered on the 2023 LEAF at any trim or price. ProPILOT Assist is a hands-on-wheel system throughout, and Nissan's hands-off ProPILOT Assist 2.0/2.1 was never fitted to the US LEAF.

The volume LEAF S runs halogen projectors with automatic on/off; LED headlamps and LED signature DRLs are an SV PLUS feature. High Beam Assist is at least standard on both via Safety Shield 360, but IIHS has never published a headlight rating for any US ZE1 LEAF, so there is no verified performance to credit and the volume trim is on the lighting technology IIHS has essentially never rated Good.

The ZE1 LEAF keeps a conventional upright hatchback greenhouse — a low cowl, a deep windshield and a usefully square rear window — which is better than the raked-fastback EVs that replaced it. The A-pillars are the weak spot, and the 360-degree Intelligent Around View Monitor that would compensate is an SV PLUS item, leaving the volume S with a plain reversing camera.

IIHS rates the LEAF's child-seat anchor hardware Marginal — a measured verdict, not an inference — and it has held that rating across the whole generation rather than being fixed at the 2020 update. The rear bench is otherwise a reasonable size for a compact hatch with a flat EV floor, but the anchors themselves are the problem the rating is describing.

The ZE1 LEAF is a conventional five-seat, five-door hatchback and every 2023 grade seats five — the top of the 4–5 hatchback band.

41.2 inches is genuinely exceptional for a compact hatchback — above the top of the 36–40 in band — and it comes from the LEAF's tall, upright greenhouse and the high seating position the floor battery forces. No 2023 grade offers a sunroof, so nothing erodes it.

42.1 inches sits mid-band for the segment — enough for tall drivers, but the raised floor means legroom is measured with knees carried higher than in a gas compact, which reviewers note as a knees-up posture rather than a shortage of inches.

37.3 inches is mid-band and respectable on paper, but the tapering roofline works against it in practice — owners repeatedly report passengers over about six feet ducking to clear the header on the way in.

33.5 inches is the LEAF's worst interior number and the clearest cost of packaging a 2011-era battery layout under a 106-inch wheelbase: it lands near the floor of the 32–42 in hatchback band, well behind a Civic Hatchback or Mazda3. Made worse by a raised hump in the rear footwell where other EVs have a flat floor.

23.6 cubic feet behind the second row is a strong figure for the segment and the practical half of the LEAF's case — a deep hatch well that swallows a stroller or a big grocery run. The catch is the other end: folding the seats adds only 6.4 cu ft, and they do not fold flat.

Storage is conventional and unambitious: two console cupholders, four door bottle holders, a covered center console bin, a glovebox and seatback pockets. There is no frunk, no underfloor bin, no household outlet or V2L on the US car, and the rear seat's non-flat fold plus the rear-footwell hump undercut the flexibility the hatchback body should deliver.

Reviewers call the front seats reasonably comfortable but flat — little bolstering and weak lumbar support — and the volume LEAF S makes that worse by fitting a 6-way manual driver's seat with no lumbar adjustment at all (the 8-way power seat with 2-way lumbar is SV PLUS only). The rear bench sits low with a short cushion, leaving adults knees-up.

The 3,500-lb curb weight and low-slung floor battery give the LEAF a planted, settled gait that flatters broken pavement for a car this small, and it is more absorbent than the first-generation car. Sharp transverse ridges still register through the torsion-beam rear end, and Consumer Reports reads the overall tune as stiff rather than plush.

With no engine the LEAF is conspicuously quiet at town speeds and under acceleration, which is the impression most reviews lead with. At highway speed the advantage narrows — a mainstream-priced hatchback body with ordinary glass lets wind and coarse-surface road noise through with none of the powertrain sound that would normally mask it.

The volume LEAF S is sparse in exactly the ways an EV owner feels: no heated front seats, no heated steering wheel, no heated mirrors and no heat pump — all four are SV PLUS content for 2023, a step back from earlier LEAF grades that carried cold-weather kit lower down the range. The S does get automatic temperature control and a departure HVAC timer, but remote preconditioning from a phone needs NissanConnect EV telematics, which the S does not have. No rear vents on any grade.

Nissan's own 2023 pricing release set the LEAF S at $27,800 plus $1,095 destination, a $470 all-in increase over 2022 ($400 MSRP, $70 freight). At $28,895 delivered it was the cheapest new EV on sale in the US for 2023.

Nissan cut the 2023 lineup to two trims — S and SV PLUS — and the SV PLUS is the representative configuration: it carries the 62-kWh pack, the 212-mile EPA range and ProPILOT Assist, and is the trim reviewers and dealers treated as the real car (the S's 149 miles is a hard sell). CarEdge's average new transaction price for the nameplate, $34,311, sits much closer to the SV PLUS than to the S.

An EV drivetrain removes oil changes, plugs, belts and most brake wear (regen), and Nissan's EV Carefree+ covers all scheduled maintenance for the first 3 years / 36,000 miles, so years 1–3 are close to free. Published estimates spread widely — CarEdge puts 5-year maintenance + repair at $1,095, Edmunds pegs maintenance alone near $2,700 — so ~$3,100 allows for a set of tires and out-of-warranty odds and ends while staying well under the ~$4,000–$5,200 typical of gas compact hatchbacks in this catalog.

The LEAF is one of the worst-depreciating vehicles sold in the US — CarEdge models a 66% five-year loss (34% retained) and iSeeCars measured 64.1% depreciation, third-worst of all EVs. The 2023 model year is if anything worse than the nameplate average: it lost the full $7,500 federal credit outright on 18 April 2023 when the new battery-sourcing rules took effect, and used values reset to the post-credit market. KBB already shows a 2023 LEAF down $17,235 to roughly $11,900 at about three years old.

Nissan's standard new-vehicle limited warranty is 36 months / 36,000 miles, the segment floor — Hyundai and Kia offer 5 yr / 60,000 mi on directly comparable cars.

The load-bearing coverage on an EV is the pack, and Nissan's is the federal-minimum 8 years / 100,000 miles, including an explicit capacity guarantee if the gauge drops below nine of twelve bars. The separate 5 yr / 60,000 mi powertrain warranty covers the motor and reduction gear. Worth noting that the LEAF's pack is passively air-cooled, so the capacity clause is the one owners actually lean on.

The 2023 LEAF was the first model year covered by Nissan EV Carefree+, which bundles all scheduled maintenance for 3 years / 36,000 miles, 24/7 roadside assistance for the same term including out-of-charge towing to a dealer, charger or the owner's home, a tire protection plan, and a $100 EVgo charging credit usable within 12 months. Multi-year included maintenance plus real perks puts this in the top band, above Toyota's 2 yr / 25,000 mi ToyotaCare; it stops short of the 90s only because the charging credit is token next to the year of free EVgo charging Ariya buyers got.

$36,895 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (33% retained, or about $12,175) leaves about $24,720 in depreciation. Add the projected $3,100 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $27,820 in total.

Average predicted reliability from both major sources, helped by a mechanically simple EV drivetrain in its fifth year of a carry-over generation and held back by the passively cooled battery that dominates real-world owner complaints. Well below the Corolla/Civic/Mazda3 hatchbacks it shares a segment with, well above the Fiat 500e.

Nissan sits in the lower-middle of the industry on multi-year dependability — mid-pack at best, not bottom-third, and trending up rather than down at the time the 2023 cars were sold.

Three NHTSA campaigns reach the 2023 model year. Two are minor — an incorrect defroster instruction in the owner's manual and a 758-unit brake-tube inspection — but 23V494000 is a genuine unintended-acceleration defect affecting the whole 2018–2023 run, which keeps this out of the clean band. Nothing systemic to the battery or motor, and no fire campaign.

Split verdict. The EM57 motor, inverter and single-speed reduction gear are among the most proven EV hardware on the road after a decade and half a million cars, with very few failures. The battery is the problem: the ZE1 pack is still passively air-cooled with no active thermal management, which is the single best-documented durability weakness in the modern EV market and a step behind the liquid-cooled 2026 redesign.

A 2018-vintage cabin barely touched by the 2023 refresh — a new steering-wheel badge and start-up animation — with hard plastics across most surfaces. Acceptable at a $27,800 base price but clearly behind the Mazda3 and Civic hatchbacks that set the segment's material benchmark.

Solid rather than notable. Five years into the generation the assembly is sorted and reviewers describe the cabin as sturdy and quiet, with no pattern of rattle or misalignment complaints; initial-quality standing for the brand is respectable without being a strength.

A dense nationwide Nissan network with genuinely good measured service satisfaction, discounted for the EV caveat: high-voltage battery work needs a certified technician and not every store has one, so LEAF-specific service is concentrated in a subset of the network.

Routine running costs are very low — no oil service and regen-extended brake life — and after twelve years and 165,000 US sales the LEAF has the deepest conventional-parts and salvage-pack ecosystem of any EV bar Tesla, including third-party pack specialists. Marked down for the out-of-warranty battery, which costs as much as a large fraction of the car's value, and for a CHAdeMO fast-charge port that is now an orphaned standard.

Eight inches is the entire ladder: there is no larger display anywhere in the 2023 LEAF range, and by 2023 that sits at the bottom of a 7–15.5 in band where rivals were shipping 10 to 12 inches on mid trims.

NissanConnect here is dated but honest — a simple tile menu with real volume and tuning knobs and physical climate controls beneath it, which keeps everyday tasks off the screen entirely. Response is adequate rather than quick and the graphics are visibly a generation behind, but nothing about it is confusing.

Both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on the cheapest 2023 LEAF, which is the right side of the line — but both are wired only, and no trim, package or option adds wireless projection. Squarely the 'wired standard, no wireless anywhere' case.

The volume LEAF S has no built-in navigation at all — Nissan Door to Door Navigation is SV PLUS content — so an S owner routes through a phone or not at all, which matters more in an EV where the head unit cannot plan a charging stop. Voice is limited to Siri Eyes Free pass-through and a hands-free text assistant, not a native natural-language assistant.

The volume S gets a four-speaker AM/FM system — four speakers in a five-seat car — and the SV PLUS steps only to six. The Bose system that used to sit at the top of the LEAF range went away with the 2023 trim cull, so there is no premium audio option at any price this model year.

Every 2023 LEAF has a 7-inch color TFT display in the gauge binnacle, standard from the base trim — genuinely useful in an EV for state of charge, power flow, battery temperature and range. It is a partial cluster, though, paired with a fixed analog-style dial rather than a reconfigurable full-width panel.

The ZE1 LEAF has no meaningful over-the-air update path — no vehicle-software OTA, and map updates on the navigation-equipped SV PLUS are a dealer or USB affair rather than a push. On the volume S, which has neither navigation nor telematics hardware, there is nothing to update remotely at all.

This is the sharpest cut in the 2023 trim simplification: NissanConnect EV telematics — remote charge start, state-of-charge monitoring, remote climate — is SV PLUS only, so the volume LEAF S has no companion app functionality whatsoever. An S owner sets a charge timer and an HVAC timer in the car and cannot see or change either from a phone.

Four device ports standard — three USB-A plus one USB-C — is a fair count for a cheap car and at least acknowledges USB-C exists. Everything above that is missing: no wireless phone charging on any 2023 grade, one 12-volt outlet, no household AC outlet and no vehicle-to-load power despite the car being an EV.

Nissan Intelligent Key with push-button start and a remote charge-port release is standard on the base trim, which covers the daily basics properly. Above that it thins out — no phone-as-key, no hands-free liftgate, and no remote start from an app on the S because it has no telematics.

The volume LEAF S gets a plain RearView Monitor and nothing else — no front or rear parking sensors, no surround view, no parking automation. Nissan's Intelligent Around View Monitor, which is one of the better 360 systems in the mainstream market, is locked to the $8,000-dearer SV PLUS.

No head-up display is offered on the 2023 LEAF at any trim, in any package, at any price.

The basics are right — five seats, four conventional doors that open wide on an upright body, a 60/40 folding bench and 23.6 cu ft of hatch space that takes a stroller without folding anything. Two things hold it back: IIHS rates the LEAF's LATCH hardware Marginal, and at 33.5 inches of rear legroom a rear-facing seat forces the front passenger well forward.

Strong for the money on the trim families would actually buy: NHTSA five stars overall, and Safety Shield 360 standard on the $28,895 S — AEB with pedestrian detection, blind spot intervention, rear cross traffic alert, lane intervention, rear automatic braking, plus Rear Door Alert. The gaps are real though — no Top Safety Pick award, Marginal LATCH, halogen headlights on the S, and no adaptive cruise below the SV PLUS.

Loaded with four and luggage, the volume S's 149-mile EPA range becomes roughly two hours of highway before a 40-minute stop on a shrinking CHAdeMO network — the single fact that decides this item. The cabin does not help: no rear air vents, no rear amenities beyond a pair of USB ports, flat seats and 33.5 inches of rear legroom.

This is what the LEAF was built for and it is genuinely excellent at it: silent, lag-free single-speed delivery, 236 lb-ft from a standstill, and e-Pedal one-pedal driving that handles most of stop-and-go traffic with the throttle alone. Light steering, a high seating position and a tight turning circle finish the job. The only daily annoyance is that the S has fixed-speed cruise control, not radar.

Roughly $700 a year in electricity at EPA assumptions is about a third of what a comparable gas compact burns over the same 15,000 miles, and an EV drivetrain strips out oil changes, plugs and most brake wear on top of that. For a commute inside the car's range this is close to the cheapest per-mile proposition on sale.

176.4 inches long on a 106-inch wheelbase with a 34.8-foot curb-to-curb circle on the S's 16-inch wheels makes the LEAF easy to place in a city, and the upright glasshouse gives better over-shoulder sightlines than most modern hatchbacks. It loses points only for camera hardware: the S has a plain rear view monitor and no parking sensors.

Nissan publishes no towing rating for the US LEAF and offers no factory hitch, so towing is off the table entirely. What is left is a front-drive compact hatchback with 23.6 cu ft of carpeted cargo well — fine for samples and a laptop bag, not a work tool.

The ZE1 platform has a decade of service behind it and the drivetrain itself is simple, but the LEAF's defining durability weakness is squarely a work-duty one: the battery is passively air-cooled, so repeated fast charging and sustained hard use accelerate capacity loss in a way liquid-cooled rivals do not suffer. No fleet or commercial reputation, and a cloth interior with no wear-friendly trim option.

Almost nothing here. One 12-volt outlet, no household AC outlet and — despite the car being an EV with bidirectional-capable hardware — no vehicle-to-load power approved for the US market. No hitch, no roof rails as standard, no upfit ecosystem; the only cargo accessory offered is a removable cover.

The worst use case for this car, and not marginally. 149 EPA miles in the volume S is well under the EV floor for road-tripping, the 50 kW CHAdeMO port needs about 40 minutes for 80% and plugs into a network that was already being decommissioned in 2023, and the air-cooled pack throttles charge rate on consecutive stops. The S also has no adaptive cruise to lighten a long highway stint.

Front-wheel drive only at any price, no AWD on any 2023 grade, ordinary hatchback ground clearance on 16-inch low-rolling-resistance tires, no tow or roof load rating published, and no onboard power for camping. It is a pavement car and Nissan makes no claim otherwise.

The hatchback shape earns this back partway: a deep 23.6 cu ft well with a wide tailgate opening takes bulky items easily, and the 60/40 bench splits for long loads. But maximum volume is only 30.0 cu ft — an unusually small gain from folding — the seats do not fold flat, and there is no frunk, underfloor bin or hitch to extend the car past its own tailgate.

The floor-mounted battery drops the centre of gravity and the LEAF corners flatter and more securely than its soft-hatchback looks suggest. It is not agile, though — around 3,500 lb on low-rolling-resistance tyres and a torsion-beam rear axle set the ceiling, and reviewers land on 'secure but mundane' rather than engaging.

The vehicle-speed-sensitive electric rack is well judged for what the car is: accurate off-centre, nicely weighted and confidence-inspiring at speed without being heavy in a parking lot. What it does not deliver is feedback — it is a clean, numb system rather than a communicative one.

The regen-to-friction handoff is one of the better ones in the class — reviewers specifically note it brakes smoothly without the hiccups that blend calibration usually produces, and e-Pedal scrubs speed predictably enough to cover most of city driving. Outright stopping power is only adequate: eco tyres and 3,500 lb work against the panic stop, and the pedal goes soft toward the end of its travel.

A single 110 kW motor through a single-speed reducer with 236 lb-ft available from zero rpm — nothing to shift, nothing to stop and start, no torque converter to shunt. Tip-in is calibrated cleanly and e-Pedal's regen ramp is progressive rather than grabby. The only caveat is that the 147-hp S thins out above about 50 mph.

There is no engine, no idle shake, no drone under load and no gearchange — just a faint motor whine under hard acceleration and the low-speed pedestrian alert tone outside the car. Reviewers consistently lead with how much quieter the LEAF is under acceleration than anything gas-powered in the segment.

34.8 feet on the volume grade is near the tight end of the hatchback band and a genuine everyday strength — narrow streets, parking structures and U-turns are all easy. Note the SV PLUS's wider 17-inch wheels cost it 1.3 feet.

Good sightlines from a high hip point and an upright windscreen, with tilt and telescopic adjustment standard since the 2021 update, so most drivers can find a position. It is short of excellent: the volume S has a 6-way manual seat with no lumbar adjustment, the raised floor leaves taller drivers knees-up, and the round shift-by-wire puck takes acclimatisation.

The instant off-the-line shove is briefly entertaining and e-Pedal makes town driving more involving than a normal automatic, but there is nothing beyond that — 147 hp that fades past 50 mph, eco tyres, no drive-mode character and no sound. Enthusiasts do not recommend it and Nissan never asked them to; it is a well-executed appliance.

Nissan Safety Shield 360 — six active systems including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot and rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, high-beam assist and rear AEB — is standard on both 2023 trims, as is an 8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and, new for 2023, a quick-charge port on the base S. The SV PLUS adds ProPILOT Assist, Intelligent Around View Monitor, navigation, heated seats and steering wheel, LED headlights, an 8-way power driver's seat and a 100-kW quick-charge port. Solid rather than generous: the S still makes do with cloth, halogen headlights and no heated seats at $28,895, and the SV PLUS's content is ordinary for $36,895.

Two very different value stories. The S, at $28,895 delivered, was the cheapest new EV in America for 2023 and is a genuine bargain if 149 miles of range fits the life. The SV PLUS — the volume configuration — asks $36,895 for 212 miles, 109 MPGe and an obsolete CHAdeMO fast-charge port, against a 2023 Bolt EUV at roughly $28,000 with 247 miles and a CCS plug. The federal credit falling from $7,500 to nothing on 18 April 2023 pushed the purchase case further backwards mid-year. Net: below the segment average on content-for-price.

Nissan cut the lineup from five trims in 2022 to two for 2023 — S and SV PLUS — with front-wheel drive only and essentially one option package. The two points are at least well separated (two battery sizes, two power outputs, an $8,000 gap), but there is nothing between $28,895 and $36,895 and nothing above, so a buyer who wants the bigger battery without the full equipment load has no path.

US LEAF sales fell 41% in 2023 to 7,152 units, the weakest result since the car's launch period, and Nissan's own Ariya outsold it nearly two-to-one in its first full year. The nameplate was the world's best-selling EV as recently as 2016; by 2023 it was a fading niche seller inside a rapidly growing EV market — a sharp decline by any reading of the guidance.

Nissan sits in the neutral band — a mainstream brand with competent product but a long association with incentive-heavy selling and weak residuals, and no image halo to lend the LEAF. The LEAF nameplate itself carries real historical recognition as the car that opened the mass-market EV era, but that goodwill is offset by a well-known reputation for passive-cooled battery degradation, which is exactly the thing used-EV shoppers ask about.

Scored on buyer benefit, and 2023 was an unusually good year to transact on a LEAF. With purchase-side credit eligibility gone after April, Nissan leaned hard on leasing, where the IRS commercial-vehicle rules passed the full $7,500 through regardless: it cut a 36-month lease to $309/month with $1,999 down within days of the credit disappearing, and discounting on a slow-selling, aging model was heavy throughout. Add the $100 EVgo credit and state/utility rebates stacking on top. Not a desperation-pricing 100 only because the S's list price still held reasonably firm.

2023 is year six of the ZE1 generation that arrived for 2018, and the model-year changes are cosmetic — a new grille with an Ariya-style illuminated badge, revised front bumper and headlight treatment, and new 17-inch wheels — with no change to the platform, the passively air-cooled battery or the CHAdeMO port. The engineering underneath was visibly a generation behind the 2023 EV field, and a full replacement was known to be coming (it arrived as the crossover-bodied third generation for 2026).

Reviewers treated the 2023 LEAF as competent and cheap but comprehensively out-engineered — respectable mid-pack scores, never a comparison-test win, and no major award. US News scored it 7.7/10 and ranked it 4th among 2023 electric cars; KBB likewise placed it 4th on its Best Electric Cars of 2023 list; Edmunds allowed it 'decent power' and that it 'can be mildly entertaining to drive' while noting 'other EVs offer a bit more personality'. The recurring criticism across outlets is the CHAdeMO port and the aging platform rather than the driving.