Nissan Frontier 2003: Discovery

#Bachelor years were coming to an end, and once on the long term journey people call marriage, house and children would dissolve any hopes I had of buying a brand new car. The job at that time also had some benefits that eased the financial maneuver a little. The acquisition process was rough, and reflected my inexperience in buying a car. Let alone the projection of operating costs: first time new car buyers ignore all the expenses such as maintenance, taxes and insurance. This inexperience empowered the dealer to explode the illusion of “the warranty”. The price for my trade in was a scam.
Why white? Thermal efficiency, in those tropical climates, light colors help cool the vehicle when we need full ac power. White also has that aura of purity, and in my opinion, protected me from envious looks fron other people. The sound of a new, factory tuned diesel engine is highly addictive, different engine revs brought beautiful chords out of the truck exhaust. Fine upholstery and the famous new car smell were features of the AX Frontier version (AX versions were a big deal in those days). Reinforced battery and alternator, heavy duty chassis and skid plates (additional engine protection, gear box and fuel tank). 19-gallon tank (almost 1000 km without refueling). Presence and macho image. A cargo bed that proved useful in building our first house and that also served during leisure and tailgate time.

But my inexperience took its toll, and money was wasted on vanities such as:
• unsuccessful replacement of speakers, noisy cars will always be noisy, no matter what.
• seat linings
• Purchase of oil to the dealer (7 quarts in each appointment)
• Annual taxes
• Interests

"Discovery", as I called him proved to be a loyal ally, did we not have to change battery or shocks in the nearly seven years of active service.

Dents and collisions are a reality of car ownership

Crash Chronology:
• The priest (he hit my door, not the other way around)
• The volvo (front bumper, boy are volvo's tough)
• Unwary coworker who crashed it while parking her car

Learnings? The biggest one: my auto expense calculator sheet, and with it, the critical questions before worth considering the purchase of any vehicle:
• will you save on fuel? How much?
• have you forecasted annual taxes? insurance?
• do you know a trusted parts supplier? repair shop?
• does it have the same reliability of what you currently drive?
• are all papers in order?
• will we pay interest for a depreciating asset?

We finished the construction of our house, but the security situation of the country was changing and we found no sense to have such a high investment at the mercy of common criminals. I was stolen hub caps, spare tires and even the antenna, which I had to replace with a wire coat hanger to cover it. Discovery was eventually acquired by a member of a shady political party in Honduras, and was one of the many sacrifices we had to do to get to Canada.