I understand the desire to make use of what you have, to do an interesting project, and to put something together for less than the cost of a used EV. On the other hand, the result will be inferior by any objective measure to a used EV, so I suggest keeping expectations low... for power, range, and how well sorted-out the controls are. If buying a used EV, the e-Golf is the obvious choice: it may not be as good an EV as a Leaf of a comparable age (VW just did what was necessary to build something electric to say that had one), but it's a very direct replacement for a regular Golf.
Compact transverse-engine front-wheel-drive cars are all very similar dimensionally and in configuration, so the complete drive unit (motor plus transaxle) of any EV of this format would likely fit in place of the powertrain (engine and transaxle) of any conventional car of this format. To simplify mounting and axle shafts, the obvious choice for a Golf would be an e-Golf, but the ability to work with the controls of the EV outside of the original car is an important factor, and there is much more DIY experience with the Leaf than with the e-Golf.
I don't think it makes sense to adapt any motor to fit the Leaf transaxle - using the original Golf (manual) transaxle would be easier. But if using the Leaf motor, it might make sense to make the Leaf transaxle mount in the Golf body (since the Leaf motor is already perfectly mounted to it) and figure out the axle situation, rather than adapting the Leaf motor to a Golf transaxle.
Compact transverse-engine front-wheel-drive cars are all very similar dimensionally and in configuration, so the complete drive unit (motor plus transaxle) of any EV of this format would likely fit in place of the powertrain (engine and transaxle) of any conventional car of this format. To simplify mounting and axle shafts, the obvious choice for a Golf would be an e-Golf, but the ability to work with the controls of the EV outside of the original car is an important factor, and there is much more DIY experience with the Leaf than with the e-Golf.
I don't think it makes sense to adapt any motor to fit the Leaf transaxle - using the original Golf (manual) transaxle would be easier. But if using the Leaf motor, it might make sense to make the Leaf transaxle mount in the Golf body (since the Leaf motor is already perfectly mounted to it) and figure out the axle situation, rather than adapting the Leaf motor to a Golf transaxle.
