i have a new toy!

There's a 2008 Nissan Altima in my driveway right now. [insert giddy emoticon here] It's not actually our car though; it's just a loaner since my soon-to-be-car (my dad's 2000 Monte Carlo) is in the shop getting painted and repaired so that the exhaust doesn't threaten to fall off with each pothole, and the car doesn't bounce up and down when you coast or hit the brakes because of a bent rotor, and the power steering line doesn't make horrible noises, and whatever the hell else is wrong with it. I don't think they're fixing the gas gauge though, which sucks, but at least I've already found out (the hard way) just how many miles I can get off a full tank of gas. (By the way, 316 is as far as that baby will go until you find yourself sitting at a red light downtown, wondering what it feels like when a car runs out of gas, and then the car starts to sputter a little and refuses to go when the light turns green and you hit the accelerator. Good to know, huh?)

But anyways, yes, 2008 Nissan Altima. I love that car. Firstly, it doesn't have a key. You push a button to start it. That's kinda cool. And funnily enough, for all it's high-techness, it still doesn't have automatic lights like my Monte does.

Jonie and I took it for a little test drive last night to Ohio and back. Good god does it ever ride smoothly. The only problems are the fact that the breaks are a lot touchier than I'm used to, so I gave us whiplash a few times. (Jonie did the same thing when I let her drive back from Ohio, so it's not just me.) And it's inconvenient that when you're going 45, you feel like you're just crawling along, so if you don't pay attention to the speedometer, you could be going 60 and not know it. That's a speeding ticket waiting to happen.

It's one of those fast little cars that would be kickass with manual transmission. It does have a quasi version of manual transmission though. It allows you to switch out of automatic and do the shifting yourself, but you don't have to use the clutch to shift, and that's just weird.

Nevertheless, I found myself wishing for a little bit of ice, so I could do a few donuts in the mall parking lot.

I still like my Monte better, but this is a fun little diversion. A very fun little diversion. =D