After quite a bit of research I decided the ideal specification was 12 bar, low mileage (30,000-40,000), no indication of highway thrashing, little or no fast charging and as late as possible a year.
Later in 2015 a larger battery (30 kWh) came onto the market, but if you look around these cars were in short supply and had fewer bars than the best 24 kWh cars, which might indicate that people were buying them with an eye to at longer distances, probably using fast charging.
This was just a theory, but I decided to stick with the range I needed and settle for the 24 kWh car with the best possible battery condition.
Which one should you buy?
There are three versions of the ZE0 generation Leaf, called Visia, Acenta and Tekna.
Rationally speaking, the Acenta is the best choice because although it doesn’t offer comfort like a heated steering wheel and heated seats, it is cheaper to buy and the tires for the smaller wheels are cheaper.
The Tekna has the heated parts I wanted for the Scottish winters, and although the larger alloys can take more expensive tires, they look nicer too.
I’m tired of traipsing around the country looking for used cars (which can cost more than they make these days), so I was grateful to come across a likely candidate at a local Nissan dealer. It was a lot more expensive than I was looking for at £7995, but it was a 2015 Tekna with just under 20,000 miles on the odometer, a 12 bar battery status and a 12 month dealer warranty.