Here's Bob's new car. It's white on the outside and black on the inside. That means it's about impossible to take a picture of the thing, as I'm finding out, but I try anyway. I was going to get a lighter interior color but the only match in Oklahoma for my color choice (white exterior, white or beige interior) also came with a spoiler on the trunk that was less than worthless to me and cost a good deal more, so I compromised on colors. I must be out of touch with the current color craze, because there sure are a lot of light gray, medium gray, and black cars out there. The only other color options I had were a very dark green or a dark metalic red. I prefer to be the car you see at night rather than the dark blur, so I was only interested in the lighter gray or white exterior.
It's been in my hands one week now and I've had to scrape the ice off of the windshield twice. It's now thoroughly nasty looking on the outside thanks to snow and ice. I've been able to play in with it in a big open parking lot to try out the anti-lock brakes, traction control, and stability control system. They work as advertised, but I figure it's always good to know how they act before they get triggered out in traffic. As far as options, there's only two I really wanted (navigation system and leather seats) and once I pick those, there wasn't anything useful left off. The navigation works really well now that I figured out how to quiet to voice directions.
One thing that caught me by surprise is that Nissan is using a continuously variable transmission (CVT) instead of a traditional automatic for their Maximas and Altimas. It's the only transmission available for the Maximas. It works well and is always very smooth. It's deceiving when you accelerate quickly because you hear the engine start going fast but it doesn't slow down at all until you let up off the accelerator. It's really easy to get up to 80 mph before you realize what you've done while you wait for it to "shift". There's always plenty of power when you ask for it, whether in city driving or highway cruising.
I am looking forward to my first road trip.
