In Third Person

Up until recently, my 2001 Nissan Sentra has been an MVP in my life for many years. While I was in a bit over my head financially when I initially bought it, the investment ultimately paid off. With its help, I was able to get back into the radio industry, decide that I didn’t want to work in that industry anymore, go back to school and land a full-time job in an industry I’m happy with. It also didn’t hurt that having a car has made my relationship with my girlfriend Steff a lot easier, as distance hasn’t played as much of a factor as it could have.

Up until recently, it was fairly reliable too. Unfortunately, due to some core engine problems that make maintaining the car more trouble than its worth, I’m going to have to let it die a pre-mature death. As my Nissan sits motionless in my driveway for another week, I’ve begun my search for a new vehicle.

Car shopping was a lot different the first two times I did it. My first car, a 13-year old Ford Tempo (pictured above), was meant to be a starter car. I bought it for $500, primarily as a means of having my own vehicle to practice driving in. After getting my license, it lasted long enough to survive a 200km daily commute to my internship/first radio industry job for a few months. When that car died, I bought my Nissan Sentra out of desperation. Without a vehicle to get to my radio industry job, I’d be kissing my job (and possibly any future opportunities in that field) goodbye. The Sentra was out of my price range when I bought it, but I bought it hoping that full-time radio industry work would be but a few months away. I wouldn’t end up receiving full-time work until four years later.

 

This time around, I’m in a much better life situation than before, which gives me more control of the situation. Due to the amount of driving I do, I’m aiming to purchase a new vehicle rather than a used one, as I don’t want to bother with repairs or the threat of repairs anytime soon. My initial thinking was to look at the Nissan Altima, which is the step-up from my Nissan Sentra. After some light research, it did not take long for me to crunch the numbers and realize that the Altima and other cars in that price range were still out of my league.

I went back to the drawing board, and focused my search on entry-level 4-door sedans instead. After reviewing many of the cars in that category, I narrowed it down to two choices: the Nissan Sentra and the Hyundai Accent. The Sentra made it because of my positive history with the my last car. However, the Accent also made the final cut for being the nicest looking and cheapest out of the cars I researched.

With those two cars in mind, my mom and I went to the auto mall to check things out ourselves. First up was Nissan. I liked what I saw out of the Sentra and it was reasonably priced for what it offered. If nothing else had caught my eye, I would have gone for the Sentra. The salesperson we dealt with though was way too pushy to the point where he insulted my mom in order for me to ‘man-up’ and close the deal. However, I wanted to explore my options, and had no intentions of rushing into anything. Even if I did want to buy a Sentra that day, I would have gone to another Nissan dealership so that I wasn’t contributing to that salesperson’s commission.

Our next stop was Hyundai. While they did not have an Accent sedan ready in the showroom, my heart skipped a beat when I saw their Hyundai Elantra in black. I’m generally not into black-coloured cars, but it looked gorgeous to me. When I sat on the inside, I fell in love with everything the interior had to offer. At that moment in time, that felt like the step-up in automobile I was looking for. Then I looked at the price tag and…I was stunned. For roughly the same price as the entry-level Nissan Sentra, I could get the Hyundai Elantra that looked nicer and had a ton of additional features that the Nissan didn’t offer. Before we left the dealership, the Hyundai salesperson we were dealing with was able to find an Accent for us to look at. While it appeared to be a great car for what it was, the ‘damage’ had been done. I wanted that black Hyunday Elantra, and going for an Accent now would be a compromise that I’d never forgive myself for.

As much as the Elantra wowed me that day, I want to be 100% sure of what I’m getting into before I sign anything. In my prior two instances of buying a car, I bought them almost out of impulse. Heading into a point in my life where I’m trying to move out and do this adulthood thing for real, I need to carefully plan for such an investment. The Elantra is a little more expensive than what I had in mind going into this search, so I’ve been crunching the numbers on a piece of scrap paper beside me, trying to find the right payment structure that won’t kill me now, won’t drag on forever and won’t compromise other major life plans I have in the near and somewhat distant future. For now, I’ll continue to crunch those numbers, and we’ll see what happens when I take the Elantra for a test drive in the coming days.

I know that this post has absolutely nothing with video games, and I don’t plan on making a habit of off-topic posts, but this is a very hot topic in my life that needed venting somewhere. Hopefully you can appreciate this post for what it is, and maybe relate it back to your experiences with cars. Whether you’re a car buff or a gaming fan, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!