Gone over to the "dark side"

Funny thing, we are just going down that road, as the temp has dropped to more winter weather yesterday.
This car has more gadgets than one needs in a car that is unlikely to go more than 30 miles from home (65 mile range). Do you really need a navigation system when you are less than 30 miles from home?
Yesterday I went to town with just the seat heater and steering wheel heat on. I found it livable but a little less than comfortable. So for the return trip I turned on the cabin heat. It heats quick (no engine warm up required) and while it sucks up the power, I found I could turn it off after a few minutes and be comfortable.
Today we are going to try the cabin pre-heater timer before my wife goes to town. There are so many ways to get the same result, it will take some time to find the best way.
I'm not sure which system this car has, early models had resistance heat (power sucking) and later used a heat-pump.
As far as how well the heater works, I would say as good as any, but the limiting factor is how much range you can afford to loose, not how much heat it provide.
I hope pre-heating, while drawing on the 240 volt level 2 charger, before leaving will allow for comfortable driving to town, and allow for heat to be used on the return from the battery, drawing less of the range down. Not to say it wouldn't make the trip just fine, drawing from the battery both ways. I had something like 27 miles left when I returned yesterday.
Last night was the 1st charge on the garage outlet. When I installed I used a GFI breaker, which I don't have on the welder outlet, so wanted make sure the charger played well with the GFI. Not all stuff does.
As I thought, my only regret is that, while the car does everything I expected it could, I wish it could cover more of the trips, it is so comfortable. 99% is good enough, but I wish I could take it on long trips also.

Thanks for taking the time to post that. I didn't realize it had heated wheel and seats. It would be nice to have more range, that's my hold up right now. I'll be in the market fairly soon so I'm still in the research stage for now, and I'm not in a huge hurry.

This morning I had to go to a doctor appt and it was 11 deg F. Set the pre heater last night and the car was toasty when I got in. It also showed that it had 1 hr to complete charge? So I am not sure if the charge timer I had set for 4 hr wasn't enough (midnight to 4 am) or if it used some of the range for pre heat.
Nice warm trip in to town, and ran the heater on the way back (car had sat for over an hour) and still had plenty of range.
Range anxiety is a hard thing to get over. I have never come close to running out, but it is hard to not worry. That said, the car does have limited use, and will not do all trips. I knew that going in.
Best I can advise, is keep a daily record of miles traveled, keep it for several months, then look for a car that can easily exceed that. I waited a long time to find one that claimed, 65-70 mile range, and it falls off quicker esp in the cold weather (as do gas powered cars, if you are honest about it).
Never running it to the point I get a warning that I need to plug in, I have no idea how accurate the range meter is. They are known as "Guess-o-meter" by most. I wouldn't buy one with 40 mile range showing for a daily run of 35 miles, Ours runs 25 miles or so but with a range shown of more than twice that. That way I have several years if use left before I have to consider a new battery or car replacement.
I've been looking at them since 2015 or so, and the early ones had batteries that degrade (Nissan Leaf's anyway) quickly. By 2015 (the year of mine) they were getting better and the 2023 has a much bigger battery choices, along with much higher prices on the used market. I waited until I could afford a used one with enough battery left to be useful for my application.
One thing, if you charge at home, you'll always leave with a "full tank"

It has been more than a month, and I can say I am still learning. As far as driving, both myself and wife love the car. Never has left us stranded or even come close.
I have playing with charge time and input current to the charger. I am down to 20 amp input and 1.5 hr of charger timer time. That works out to around 6 to 6.5 Kwh which works out to $1.25 to $1.50 a trip to town and back.

Sweet! I don't hear any buyers remorse coming from you.

Not yet anyway, I went in with my eyes wide open. I have since learned more about them both from experience and reading. Worse case there is a place selling all new cell batteries in the 40Kwh format that could be installed. Not cheap, but if I really like the car (and I do) might be worth it at some point.
It may take a long time for it to reach the point that it will not make the trip to town. What is more likely, is that I want to upgrade the battery so it could take me to Omaha or Des Moines with ease. New 40Kwh packs claim 150 mile range. That would allow Omaha and back without a fast charge and a easy trip to my brothers house in DMZ and either charge there or at one of many stations in the city.
https://leafrepairnetwork.com/lrn-40-kwh-battery/

There are other places that will replace cells that are under preforming the rest of the cells in the rest of the pack, but for the labor involved, I would hope to be able to afford the new pack. If it is any good, a new 40Kwh pack should outlast me with our usage.

Thanks for sharing your story on this. My daily driver is a 93 F350 dually quad cab with the IH 7.3 NA and 5spd. I LOVE my truck, but admittedly driving a big diesel 8 miles to work and back each day is super inefficient (11mpg city, 15 hwy) and around town its a b***h to park. I've been toying with the idea of a used leaf for daily commutes and errand running in town and saving the truck for longer hauls and heavy loads.

If your seriously considering it, I would suggest "logging your trips" for a month or more to give you an idea if it will work for you or not. Then do not consider anything that doesn't show double the miles of the adv trip you want to use it for.
Mine shows a range between 56-71 miles, but my trips to town are closer to 25 miles round trip. At least in the colder weather (I bought near the end of November) and don't think I can make two trips without charging in between.. If I bought something with "just enough" showing available, I might be disappointed.
Supposed to be below zero next week, so it will be a test of how it does in the cold. I read something put out about running electrics in Alaska. More or less they say keep it plugged in like you would with a car with a block heater.
I may keep the car long enough to want to install a rebuilt or new traction battery.
I truly love the car for local trips, and would take it further afield if I had the range.

I am kind of shocked by some of the comments on sites dedicated to EV's in general and Leaf in particular, how little research some people do when buying one of these.
Recently, I guy posted that he just picked up a used Leaf, and it showed 65 miles of range on the Guess-o-Meter, and he was shocked after driving it for an hour on the expressway that his range had dropped to zero! Duh! I am surprised he got that long before it did.
Wrong vehicle in the wrong application if that how you are going to use it.
It is supposed to drop below zero (F) for the next week and several days the highs are not supposed to break the 0 mark. I fully expect a reduction in range, the question is how much.
I am keeping it plugged into the charger as there are battery heaters that keep the battery warm in cold weather like this. If not plugged into power they draw from the traction battery itself. Not much, but it does effect the range. I am watching the power meter on the wall unit to see if there is a draw from the heaters and how much it is. The info I can find is the turn on around 7 deg F and off around 14 deg F so should be on for a while. Much less than a car block heater, which I use with my ICE cars in those temps as well. I haven't found a spec for the heaters but I'd guess less the 20 watts, compared with 500 for the ICE block heater. Since driving the car causes heat in the batteries, the main time they are in use is when the draw on the batttery is low to nonexistent. So sitting is when they will be on. Without heating they can not provide much current and can even permanently damage cells if they get too cold.
We are slated to get several inches (up to 10) of snow with sustained winds near 30 and gusts to 45, so I will not be driving for the next few days. One of the few perks of retirement.

CB89, How does the car drive in the snow? Keep us posted on the cold temp with the miles. Getting the same weather up here.
I saw a vid on EVs don't work well in MN. Good luck hope it works out.