2025 Nissan Leaf - America’s Best Second Car

Battery-electric (battery-only) vehicles have many plusses, and when they are used as an all-purpose vehicle, some very significant downsides. However, when a BEV is used as a family’s second car, it can be ideal. Let’s look at why the 2025 Nissan Leaf is so good in this role.

Related Story - How Good Is the Nissan Leaf In Winter?

What’s a “Second Car?”
A second car, in the way we are using the term, is a family’s around-town car, perhaps a car used to drive locally to school or to a job nearby, and one that is not asked to do any utility-type work, such as towing, or acting as the family’s road trip vehicle on vacations. You can use the term runabout or whatever other term you prefer if second car is not to your liking. 

Biggest Plus of Nissan’s Leaf - Affordability
The single biggest problem with battery-electric vehicles today is that they are very expensive by comparison to their hybrid and conventional counterparts. Only the vain need a fancy-pants second car in the family. Only those families who put vanity ahead of fiscal prudence need a fancy second car. 

The Nissan Leaf is available in just two trims. The S costs under $30K, and the SVPlus is well under $40K. Pair this low entry price with lease deals and state and local EV subsidies, and the Leaf can be ridiculously affordable. One of our colleagues leased a Nissan leaf for just $20 per month. Another colleague leased a Nissan Leaf for $9 per month. It’s hard to argue that the Nissan Leaf isn’t one of America’s most affordable “around-town vehicles.”

If you live in Metro Boston, parts of California, or Hawaii, your cost per mile for energy is best in a hybrid-electric vehicle. However, for much of America, it costs an owner less to power an EV. So, depending on where you reside, the Leaf may also cost you less to power than other options. The Nissan Leaf S has a 123 MPGe City rating from the EPA and an average annual fuel cost of just $350 if driven 7,500 miles per year, which is the average that Leafs are actually driven according to iSeecars.com.

The Leaf also uses very affordably-sized tires. This takes away the single most expensive part of maintaining an EV. By using a small and affordable 17” wheel, Nissan keeps operating costs for the Leaf ridiculously low. New for 2025 is three years of included maintenance. We would estimate the Leaf’s five-year maintenance costs to equate to a handful of air filter elements, a brake fluid change, and a set of inexpensive tires. Call it $1,200.

Nissan Leaf - Fun In Its Proper Place
If you drive the Nissan Leaf around suburbia or in the city, you will find that it offers a fun and satisfying driving experience. It has great visibility and great pickup. It’s smooth as glass due to its single-speed transmission and sensible tires. 

Nissan Leaf - Practical Cargo Space, roomy for 4
The Nissan Leaf has a very large cargo area. There is a deep well below the typical load floor that can swallow up a full run of groceries or accommodate quite a bit of stuff for those out and about. This does not detract from the comfort in the four outboard seats, so it’s fine for a date night too. 

As a Second Car, Leaf’s One Big Problem Is Eliminated
The only real downside to the Nissan Leaf is its short range. However, for second-vehicle usage, this downside is negated. Just make sure you have a plug at home of your very own. Don't be a slave to public charging. 

Nissan Leaf - Best Second Car
Based on the affordability of the Leaf, its fun driving experience around town, and its practicality, it is hard not to name it America’s Best Second Car. 
 

Images by John Goreham

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John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.