either they love me or hate me

[kaigou]

I just got back from Sears. My little veedub, the longtime trooper, has been having sluggish starts on some mornings. I rephrase that: in the morning, it won't start at all. By noon, or midafternoon, it'll start... sluggishly. Last time I tried, I think I flooded the engine or something, and figured I'd let it sit, then have it towed over to get a new battery. But today, it started on its own (by around 3pm, after a half-day in the winter sun), and I said, oh, hell, I could use some chocolate, let's go to Sears.

Me: I need a new battery.
Sears Guy: *opens hood*
Sears Guy: *looks at car*
Sears Guy: .......
Me: *not paying attention* Y'know, I'm thinking, I can't remember ever getting a battery for this car.
Sears Guy: .........
Me: It's a '96, and I got it in '98...
Sears Guy: .........

This is where I look around and realize there are now six Sears Guys all flocked around my engine compartment. Which sounds really obscene, but carrying on.

Me: Hello?
Sears Guy #1: We don't sell this battery anymore.
Me: You don't? That sucks, because it's been a great battery. I was gonna ask for another just like it.
Sears Guy #1: I imagine it's been the best battery anyone's ever seen.
Me: Hunh? It's a regular Die Hard. Aren't you supposed to change them like, I don't know, once a decade?
Sears Guy #2: *does the math* Or about every fifteen years, in your case.

All the other Sears Guys look shocked. I think some of them even looked positively reverent.

Sears Guy #1: Ma'am, batteries are expected to last about three years.
Me: Really?
Sears Guy #1: Really really.
Me: ...
Sears Guy #1: ...

Everyone else joined in the moment of silence, and then:

Me: Maybe I did change it and forgot.
Sears Guy #1: No, we discontinued this type.
Me: What, like a year or two ago?
Sears Guy #1: Like ten years ago.
Me: Wow. So I really haven't ever changed it.
Sears Guy #1: You're either doing something really right with this car...
Sears Guy #2: ... or really, really wrong.
Me: Can I go with "right"? I like how that sounds.

When I left -- with new battery in place -- four of the guys were arguing over where best to display that positively ancient battery in a good location of honor. I'm not sure whether to be flattered, or worried.

Comments

[love]

... wow. I did not know that. O_o I was going off price and mpg, and it said 26/36 mpg, and I thought, "Oh hey, that's nice." But damn. O_o

Brand new VWs are listing around 20-24 mpg in the city depending on the model. Not all that bad, but not that good either. But I guess all things considered, it could be a lot worse, and when I look at it a little closer, if the Hyundai is as bad as you say, then getting a Hyundai would be a false economy.

*adds Honda Fit to the list of cars she's considering* Do you have any opinion on the Kia Forte, the Nissan Versa, or the Toyota Yaris? The Hyundai was the frontrunner, but after that the Kia Forte and the Nissan Versa are neck-to-neck. Kia's cheaper, but we know Nissan since Domokun (Doug's car) is a Nissan Xterra.

[kaigou]

The Nissan actually ranks higher than the Fit in some things, like capacity, but I think the engine size is smaller. (Don't quote me on that -- I can't recall now, but I think it was the Nissan with an engine size smaller than CP's Harley-Davidson and that's just... all kinds of wrong.) That said, the Nissan got decent mpg, and the interior styling is really thoughtful, but it's also designed (IMO) for someone with much shorter legs than me -- I have a 34" inseam, if that tells you anything. It's a high-chair kind of design, much like the Toyotas, which means you're sitting up higher. If that doesn't bother you, then you might like the Nissan, which has high marks in plenty of other areas including mpg and reliability.

The Toyotas... I couldn't do them, not with their dashboard being in the center of the console. The notion of my passengers knowing how fast I'm going just... well, let's just say my mother would probably never get in the car with me again. There are enough backseat drivers in this world; we don't need to give them fodder by making it possible for them to easily see the concrete details. Otherwise, though, the Yaris is an adorable car and a zippy little city car -- I wouldn't take it on the open highway unless I were really in the mood to rattle in a tin car careening along at a desperate 65, but in the city? It'd probably be excellent, especially if small parking spaces are a bane of your existence. Same, really, goes for the Nissan, though it felt a little more solid in terms of highway, but still rather tin-can-like.

The Kia is like the Hyundai in terms of false economy: cheap to buy, expensive to own. But its interior design (at least in the smaller slightly older ones I've driven) is incredibly well-designed, possibly one of the best I've seen since the mid-90s VW Fox. And it's rather plush feeling, for being otherwise economy, and can handle quick pickup at low speeds & dead stops. Not a car for the highway, again, but if you're doing mostly local driving, it might work for you.

The Hyundai, Kia, and Toyota all seem to have much looser play in their steering wheels, from what I recall. Honda, not as bad; VW is among the tightest you can find. In other words, from a quarter-turn in the Hyundai's wheel is the same as a tenth of a turn in the VW's wheel. That's just one of those things that you have to go by what you personally like, y'know?

Plus, if you're used to Nissan, then chances are you already either know a good Nissan mechanic, OR you've dealt with the local dealership and can say whether you want to keep dealing with them. (One of the reasons I didn't push for a second VW was because our city's VW dealerships are absolutely rotten, one of the rare complete wastes of space among the so-many VW dealerships I've known... and that was enough to make me lean away from a new VW, especially given CP was liking the Fit.)

So if you already have a good Nissan relationship, then when you toss everything else up into the air, that long-term relationship is plenty justification for putting more weight on Nissan as a possible. That's what I'd say, at least, because you can buy a car that's more than decent, but if you hate your mechanic or you can't find a good mechanic, it doesn't matter what you bought. You'll find yourself dragging your feet on the annual check-ups, and next thing you know, you've got a car that isn't half as good anymore, due to wear and tear without enough care. But if you like your mechanic and feel respected as a customer, it translates to being more willing to take care of the car, and it may not be the deciding factor, but the long-term awesomeness I've had with VW dealers in, uhm, five states! was a big part of the car's upkeep. I could catch things early because I felt like, when the car did misbehave, I could stop by the dealer/mechanic and say, "it's doing this! help!" and I never felt like I was just one big dollar sign to them.

But! If you're really far from enthused about the local Nissan options, then my suggestion would be the Honda Fit, pretty much hands-down. It drives tighter and cleaner than the rest, it's not tin-can noisy like the Toyota or Hyundai, it has better pick-up and more spunk than a Kia, and more than almost any other car, it will keep its value a lot longer, and it has almost the top for reliability for any make or model, really. Hondas are this generation's VW bug: they go and go and go. Plus, just about any mechanic anywhere will have Honda-experience, because they're so ubiquitous.

Otherwise, my suggestion would be to compare the Nissan and Honda, if you'll be doing any regular highway driving. If you're all city, then toss in the Hyundai and the Kia, because those are at least decent in-city cars. The Toyota... I dunno. A little too high off the road for me, a little too tin can, and of course there's that whole "middle of the console" thing that's really hard to adjust to. You don't realize it is, until you're driving it at night and look down and after years of the dash always being right there, suddenly THE CONSOLE IS DARK. At least three times you will probably panic at having lost all your lights, before you remember to look over to where the radio is.

Frankly, I get the economics of the design, but I think it's also the stupidest thing ever. We have conventions in cars, and you mess with them at your peril... but if it's a convention you're willing to put up with, for some other benefit, then that's the call you make.

Not sure how much help that is, but there ya go.

[love]

Wow. That was INCREDIBLY helpful. *hugs you* ♥ I will talk to my husband about whether he likes the Nissan folks, and we'll go from there. And OMG THANK YOU. ♥