A Silver Anniversary
I bought a new car. It’s a 2012 Nissan Sentra SR Special Edition. And it’s my first new car in over 25 years.
My First New Car
My first new car – 1987 Honda Civic
In November 1986, I bought a 1987 Honda Civic sedan. I drove that car for almost 14 years and put 196,000 original miles on it.
My First Nissan Sentra
my 2001 Nissan Sentra – 02/03/2003 – the day I bought it
This was my last car, a 2001 Nissan Sentra GXE. I drove this car for almost 9 years before it got traded in on the 2012 Sentra pictured above. It had just over 120,000 miles on it.
the last night at home for my 2001 Sentra
The last four years, the paint and clear coat started to come off the car, making it my “leprosy beater”. It was time to get a new car and every thing worked out for me to get a great deal.
The Sentra SR Special Edition is pretty loaded for a compact car. XM Radio, navigation, keyless entry and keyless start are all features I really liked. There’s a sunroof, a large trunk, 35mpg on the highway and an ultra smooth ride. I am quite happy with my purchase.
What about the LEAF?
The LEAF will be mine someday, just not now.
I’m sure many of my regular readers have just one question? What about the Nissan LEAF that I have been wanting now for over two years? Well, this was a hard decision on many levels. It involves purchasing a $40k all electric vehicle that I was ready to spring the money for, then stopping and realizing that I didn’t have $40k. Nor did I have the almost $520 a month car payment [I refuse to lease a car I plan to drive for many years].
The LEAF is still part of my plan to eventually own, but the age of my previous car and the forth coming repairs it was going to need compelled me to look at another car. I looked at hybrids, but really am not fond of the look and the price of a loaded Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight was hampered feature wise. The Hyundai Sonata hybrid was out of my price range as well.
So for at least the next five years, I now have a new car [and a new car payment… just a couple hundred less than the LEAF]. The LEAF is still reserved and we’ll see when Utah will finally recognize and support non-fossil fuel vehicles on a wider scale. And when that time comes, I will see where I am at. People own more than one car, right?
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Ha – that was going to be my first question. Steven and I were excited to know a LEAF owner and were going to pepper you with questions.
Congrats on the new ride! We are huge supporters of the Nissan family in our home 🙂
Well, I will be getting a LEAF, but now it’s been put off a little longer.
For now, I get a nice new ride to putt around in.
Congrats! Sentras are pretty awesome cars. If I had to get a smaller car I would definitely take a look at that one as a serious contender.
I am also with you in that I don’t believe in leasing – it really is a waste of money. If I am going to waste money, I would rather buy girly shit.
I am very torn on whether to get a new car after I am done paying for my CRV (which will be in the fall…woo hoo!). It’s not giving me any problems (never really has) and I would love the opportunity to not have a car note for once. However, the whole car newness thing is appealing, and my car has a ton of equity. I also hate the fact that tires for my car will run me nearly $1000 when I have to replace them. I am going to wait a year and see how I feel.
I first test drove a Versa, which is the low end of the Nissan line. I liked it a lot, but once I test drove the Sentra, it was so much nicer.
Reba got screwed on her last lease, but since I tend to keep my cars a long time, it makes no sense for me to lease.
The not having a car payment is nice. As I said above, I went 4 years without one and it was nice. Starting the ticker over is hard, but having a new car makes it that much easier to swallow.
Congrats on the new car! My FMIL has that car (in carmin red) and loves it!
Since I like to get new cars every 4 years or so, I’m a big fan on doing the buy/lease/buy/lease/buy dance, where I set money aside while leasing to put a bigger down payment on the next car that I’ll buy, using the money I make when selling the car to get a lower lease payment, allowing me to put more money aside and get a more luxurious car for the same monthly cost…
That allowed me to go: Geo Metro (buy) > Toyota Echo (lease) > Toyota Corolla (buy) > Nissan Rogue (lease) while pretty much maintaining the same monthly cost.
My lease is up in two months, and we’re going for a slight change. We’re buying to keep for a lot of years this time, so I’m splurging on a full equipped car. We’re still debating hybrid or not. 😉
See, the every 4 years makes sense to lease, especially if your miles are low.
And maintaing the monthly cost is something that is easy to budget in. And now that you are going for the long haul vehicle option, your options change. Curious to see what you end up getting.
Very pretty. But what are those yellow poles on the passenger side in the first picture?
So what are they charging for a Sonata hybrid? They weren’t available when I was shopping last year.
Those yellow poles are in the neighbors yard and are the support for the power and phone pole.
The Sonata hybrid loaded is $32k. The low end started at $27k.
Woot! Good for you mate, congratulations.
Thank you. It’s exciting.
I run my cars into the ground too. Had my Nissan Altima for 10 years. I’m driving a 2008 Prius now and have to say that I really like it. I get about 450 miles to a tank. The hybrid battery is warrantied for 100k miles. And it’s a Toyota, which have a good reputation. It was worth every penny – although we bought it used.
Those features and reliable factors about the Prius intrigued me on many levels. But price and the look turned me away. But cool that you had an Altima for 10 years.
There’s really not a damn thing wrong with my Sentra, which sucks, because I’d love to get a different car. I am jealous of your new one, but not jealous of the payment! Overall, happy for you. I’ve never had a brand new car. Ever.
Yeah, the payment was a big negative, but I kept it under $340 a month, which was still $20 more than I wanted to spend each month. But hey, it’s a new car. And yeah, I understand about having a reliable car that keeps the new one from being purchased.
Looks great! There was a six speed Versa for sale somewhere, but sadly it wasn’t in new condition. I like those. You’re gonna be all classy in your new ride! Woot ^_^
Thanks, Joy. I looked at the bare bone Versa (which is the one with the six speed manual) and it was a nice looking car. Then I looked at the top of the line Versa which I almost bought before test driving this Sentra. It was so much nicer. And I hope classy is what others call me, too.
hey what did you do with your 1987 honda civic?? did you sell it??
My ex-wife got the car in 2000 when I went through a divorce.