2012 Sentra

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

Honda Civic 1987
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

2001 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.

2001 sentra paint
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?

Nissan 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?