How many KMs do you do a day? And how far do you drive maximum (eg, cross country road trips)?
If 60-120KM/day and you don't drive long distances then finance a Leaf (~10k).
60km/day = ~4.6L petrol/day (13KM/L) = $9.23 at $2/L.
60km/day = ~8.5KWh/day = $1.36 at 16c/KWh (mine is 15.4c)
260 driving days a year at $7.87 savings per day = $2,046.2 saved in fuel/year.
Or $39.35 saved per week (excluding weekends)
10k vehicle finance at the first
link that would give a quote = $67/week payments over four years.
AKA after fuel savings driving 60KM per day on weekdays only (so a massive underestimation), you would have paid an equivalent of $4,336.8 (67*52*4 - 2046.2*4) for your 2012 car after four years inclusive of interest and gotten a much nicer, twice as expensive car out of it.
Additionally, after fuel savings your weekly payments for finance and fuel are:
Petrol financed using the above calc (still assuming four years and no weekends and a petrol car that costs $5000): $9.23*5+33=$79.15
Leaf on above (four years, no weekends, 10k finance): 1.36*5+67 = $73.8
If you do 120KM/day, then you'll have saved more than the cost of the vehicle plus finance. And if you drive on weekends (likely) then that will factor into a lower price vehicle overall.
60KM/day 260 days a year is 15,600KM/year, AA average is 14,000KM a year, so it's not an unrealistic calculation. The more KMs you do, the greater the Leaf performs (until you hit the range limit). So you don't necessarily need to do 60KM/day, just 15,600KM/year for all of the above to apply.
