Well guys, here it is! My next car is a 2008 Nissan Altima 2.5S... Its a CVT car(on its second trans), with just shy of 166k miles... Runs/drives great, and looks pretty good too, plus I'll be able to Uber in it again, once I clear up a cosmetic defect near where the front plate mount was...

 

Is it black? Looks good, it will be dirty everyday.

 

It is black, my favorite color(other than having to clean it)... My only major complaint is that it doesn't get nearly the fuel mileage the Malibu did, mostly due to how it handles hills... Even when I'm using the manual mode, as soon as I get on a hill, the car ignores my gear selection, and RPMs creep upward over 2k... The Malibu would have let me lug down to 40mph in overdrive, with a gentle enough right foot... I also lost my ability to EOC...

I'm averaging 31.5mpg overall, according to the onboard computer...

 

You couldn't give me a Nissan. Wait a minute, yes you could! LOL

 

I grew up in an era when the obvious choice for a new or new used car could have been a Packard or a Studebaker, a Kaiser or even a Cord. Something not made in America was considered and automotive equivalent of a joke. Doris Day sang see the USA in your Chevrolet, now their are models of them that the only thing American about them is that they are sold here and are really not very good choices. My 2015 Dodge Caravan purchased due to the fact the seats fold into the floor giving a 4x8 flat floor to put things into with an extra 2 feet between the front seats with no consul for long boards stored in out of the weather and that the vehicle is rated at 3/4 of a ton for carrying things. And at that driven carefully is averaging over 20 mpg in combined city/freeway driving and I really don't know what it will average out on the open road but what ever it does it will be able to travel easily at 75mph with both A/C units running to do it.
All this with an aprx 200 cu in engine rated at over 300HP.
But, I just received the Turn signal/wiper control plate that sits behind the steering wheel on my 94 Saturn Coupe from Rock Auto. I was surprised to see it carried by them. It is a genuine Delco - GM Part too. But just before it arrived the head lights started working on the car so the thought that the connections in the switch were probably corroded from lack of use seemed to pan out. So the parts stash for the car has gotten bigger. To install the piece though requires pulling the steering wheel and the crash pad and it's cover are not in the best of shape. Time to start looking for that too.

 

It's the second import bought in our household, the first being my wife's Subaru Impreza (now at 46k miles lol)... It was a damn sight better than the 2006 Dodge Stratus on the same lot in every way but price... Given the beginning of my vin number, I can take comfort in the fact that my Nissan was assembled in the US, so it's about as American as the average new Chevy, IMO...

I'm nervous about its CVT transmission, they are known to fail often in those cars, but mine doesn't do anything too weird and doesnt whine, so I think I'm good for now...

I also looked at a 2006 Ion Redline(yes I know, just like my 04) but it was beat to crap(but left stock), and woulda needed lots of cleaning and bolts/rivets inserted in various body panels...

I'm also gonna fix up my redline to have a weekend/fair weather/backup car... I just got in he last part I really needed to have...

 

The CVT in the Nissans seem to work better than the ones in Mopars. Unfortunatley, if one craps out, there's no rebuild kits for them. They're yank and replace. Jatco builds them and for some reason, doesn't seem to want anyone rebuilding them.

 

Yup, no rebuilding a CVT, nor building one to take big power... My car is on its second, it was replaced this fall, but it wasn't replaced with new, but replaced with a 118k mile unit... From what I've read, they tend to fail at 130-150k... The first one in this car apparently got 160k

 

I am very nervous about the value of a CVT transmission. The reliability factor seems to be negative on them. I looked at a Vue when they came out and really did not like the way things worked together when driven. That type of transmission had a good reliability reputation for commercial stationary applications and of course snowmobiles but just did not seem to cut it with an automobile. Conversely, the transmission in my 2015 Dodge Caravan, also of new technology seems to be well engineered but I hear words of concern about variations of them. A feature liked, is a performance vs economy button on the dashboard which is featured on the 94 Saturn we own and frankly works well is also available on the Dodge.
Both work pretty much the same way, in economy they start moving in 2nd gear at least (not uncommon in automatics) and then either short shift of skip gears to keep things moving. Acceleration is quicker in Sport mode with economy and improvement in the alternative.
The Saturn has a 4 speed automatic with a lock up torque converter, the Dodge a 6 speed and I think a lock up torque converter.
Technology has certainly been applied in the years between the two cars but electronic control of shifting seems to have made a big improvement over that time frame. Transmission concepts seem to have change the most. The Buick dynaflow with no gear change which depended on the torque converter slippage to deal with everything, the 2 speed power glide in the Chevy and others are long gone and the Packard transmission, the only independent with their own transmission design, two gears and a lock up torque converter to simulate a third gear. It never caught on and proved to be unreliable too.
BorgWarner made automatics too and despite the almost universal use for independents in the U.S. and a multitude of applications for overseas manufacturers always seemed to be plagued with a reputation for reliability. Owning a Rambler during that time interval, the local wrecking yards where I lived would not sell a used transmission for the BW equipped Ramblers with a warranty which is one reason I sold the one I owned as a late model used car and replaced it with a model I could buy a used transmission with a warranty. At that time I was driving 30,000+ miles a year and buying a 3 year old used car and expecting to have to replace the transmission at least once before I got rid of it. Of course that was the rust belt then so it was a toss up as to whether the transmission would let go or some major portion of the vehicle would fall off due to rust before I got it paid for and used up.

 

It's started... I'm working on grille blocks, Im anxious to improve my mileage... I'd love to get a nice comfortable 600 mile tank this summer...


The upper is around 70% blocked, and the lower is about 20%, but I didn't actually block any radiator area, just the extraneous portion of the lower grille...

Ideally, I would buy some .070 HDPE sheet to make my lower block out of and make it flush with the outer contour of the bumper cover, but I'm cheap lol so I'm using black strapping tape from work(which is free and oddly enough matches the factory black plastic pretty well)

My best tank so far has covered 437 miles at an average of 30.4mpg...