New Car

After many months (years, really) of hemming and hawing, and spending way too much money trying to keep my old car (a 2010 Chevy Malibu gifted to me by my mother as she was letting go of driving), I bought a new car. I am the (sort of) proud owner of a 2023 Nissan Versa. I've been driving an old car for many years - the Malibu was in good shape when I got it (2016?), and was in fact in nice shape when I let it go - newer tires, fancy rims, rebuilt transmission, good engine, good brakes. But the computers and controls were a hot mess - with an annoying engine temp / cooling system problem that 3 trips to Pep Boys and 3 trips to the dealer failed to resolve, and finally an Electronic Steering Control issue that went from a small annoyance to a total safety hazard. It cost me $350 at the dealer to be told $1200 for the part (steering column) and 12 week lead time. It was time.... So after a bit of virtua tire kicking, and consideration of a used Volvo wagon (kind of my dream car, but I'm tired of having to get an older car fixed), I opted for a Nissan, not quite so theft-worthy as a Honda or Toyota, nor the lower end Kia and Hyundai that apparently are TikTok targets. Apparently Ford has dropped out of the car market completely, and I've had my fill of GM products. I'm not quite set up (financially or charging infrastructure) for an electric car. So a small Nissan it is. I'm already enjoying 50% better mileage (~36 MPG vs. ~24 MPG for the Malibu). I was feeling pretty punk about it all (having gotten very used to no car payments, low insurance, and low property taxes), and thinking I should have pulled the trigger two year ago, but the dealer finance woman noted that two years ago, cars were hard to get and anything they did have was going for $4-5K over MSRP. I'm already enjoying a 13 year bump in technology - back-up camera, emergency stopping (vehicle or pedestrian), road drift warnings (you get a familiar rumble as if you were driving over ruble strips when you cross a painted line), Apple Carplay. I do miss keyless entry (no key fob) and auto-start (not so much now but when it gets cold). But I'll adapt. I learned to drive in a '69 Ford Ranch Wagon and a '73 AMC Hornet, so I'm pretty grateful for any sort of decent wheels.