But at least it’s cheap
Oklahoman reporter Jennifer Palmer tries out one of those loss-leader cars:
Priced at just $9,990, the 2009 Versa had the new car smell and less than 15 miles on the odometer when I picked it up. It had four doors and a comfortable interior. The stick-shift threw me at first, but I quickly got in the groove and shifted onto the highway.
But when I began searching for a button to adjust the side mirrors, I realized: there is no button. You have roll down the window — manually — and move the mirror.
That’s not so bad, but the base model (the one priced under $10,000) also lacks a radio and an air conditioner.
The sales manager at the Nissan store says they’ll sell a few of these, but most people want something a bit less spartan:
[M]ost people upgrade to a model with air conditioning (especially in Oklahoma) and a radio, which increases the price. The basic model with air conditioning starts at $10,900; models with an audio system begin at $13,100.
If you’re thinking that’s an awful lot of money for a stereo, fercrissake, well, to get the factory audio system you also have to buy the bigger engine: 1.8 liters versus 1.6.
Then again, you’re dealing with Nissan here, and they’re not exactly the hippest of automakers. For instance, Nissan has described the Versa sedan as having “four-door styling that puts a premium on useful space.” Unless the Federal Department of Idioms has conducted an unanticipated intervention recently, this means that there isn’t a hell of a lot of useful space. Truth in advertising, I suppose.
And you can always have an aftermarket audio system installed in the 1.6 Versa, if you have any money left. (Apparently there are speakers in place; you’ll just need a head unit.) Don’t expect to pay for it out of fuel savings, though: the difference in gas mileage between the 1.6 and the 1.8 is somewhere around 2 mpg.
Flack »
24 January 2009 · 1:24 pm
I’ve done this twice now. In 1990, as a senior in high school, my parents helped me buy my first new car — a 1989 Yugo (it had been sitting on the lot for over a year). $3,998, new. Adjusting the outside mirrors was easier on the Yugo than on the Versa, as it only came with one on the driver side (no passenger side external mirror). Like the Versa it had no radio or air conditioning, but the mileage was slightly better due to it’s 60hp, 1.1 liter engine.
In 1996 I bought a new Neon with roughly the same amount of features (none). I bought it in El Reno and after the purchase I drove it across the parking lot to a stereo store to have a stereo installed and tint applied. I kept it for four years and really got tired of cranking the windows up and down and the manual, uh, everything.
On the last two cars we’ve bought, I’ve added almost every amenity I could afford. With cars lasting longer and longer, I figure the actual cost of the extras when spread out over four years is worth the price.
McGehee »
24 January 2009 · 1:26 pm
That Versa sounds exactly like my mother’s ’81 Datsun 210, which she traded in a couple of years later for a “less spartan” ’83 Nissan pickup truck. Radio! Air conditioning! It was luxury on wheels!!!
I should note that while most of the vehicles I’d driven or ridden in up to that time had radios, none had ever had A/C. And all this was while living in a place where summer days approaching (or overtopping) 110 were an annual occurence. At least it was a dry heat.
Um, but getting back to the 210. It costs considerably less than $9,999 when she bought it. Not sure about the pickup.
McGehee »
24 January 2009 · 1:29 pm
My Luddite youth leaves me somewhat ambivalent, BTW, about power windows. When riding in my wife’s car, if I’ve rolled down a window, about half the time I have to make her turn the key again so I can roll the window back up, because I forgot to do it before she shut off the engine.
My Bronco, of course, has the old-fashioned crank-down windows, except on the tailgate — and whenever the weather is damp and the motor balky as a result, I wish I could crank that one up or down too.
MikeH »
24 January 2009 · 1:31 pm
>to get the factory audio system you also have to buy the bigger engine: 1.8 liters versus 1.6.
That must be one hell of a powerful radio!
Andrea Harris »
24 January 2009 · 3:47 pm
Wow, she was floored by manual window cranks? How old is she, twenty? Does she know that televisions used to come with dials instead of remote controls? I feel ancient.
ms7168 »
25 January 2009 · 8:17 am
I can see the a/c option being $500. or so but the stereo at thousands?
CGHill »
25 January 2009 · 9:32 am
It’s a package deal. You want the factory audio, you have to step up to the higher trim level, which includes the larger engine. (They won’t sell you cruise control on the base model, either.)