Pretty much exactly what mine looks like, silver.

I got a new car yesterday, a 2017 Nissan Rogue AWD. We had been new-car shopping on and off for several weeks, and yesterday we did the deed.

Yep, that looks like mine, all right.

It has every bell and whistle known to man, or at least every bell and whistle known to Nissan. I think my favorite feature at this point is something called “adaptive cruise control,” which senses when my cruise control speed causes the car to creep up on another car; it automatically slows my car to maintain a safe distance. Yes, it was soooo annoying to have to manually slow down behind another car.

There are, in fact, so many automatic features that last night as we were driving home from the dealer — an >1 hour drive — I had to remind myself that I actually had to do something to stop at a stop sign — that the car would not automatically do that for me. Weird.

Yep, that looks exactly like mine’s interior.

Just to give you an idea of all the b&w, the so-called Quick Start manual has an entire page devoted to… starting the car. I found that humorous.

Fun facts to know and tell: the continuously variable transmission was originally envisioned by Leonard de Vinci. (Thank you, Smokey, for researching that!)

We plan to give my Volvo, which has run perfectly for the four years I have had it and continues to do so, to Elder Son’s girlfriend. After they move to New Mexico this summer she will be driving 100+ miles a day round trip to attend nursing school in Gallup. She needs reliable transportation.

So, if you are looking for me, I will be tooling around the countryside in my new wheels. Or, more likely, studying the [very thick] driver’s manual trying to figure out some particular bell or whistle.