well, you have richer/smarter friends than I do I guess. I'll be satisfied with an arrangement where I start out not upside down in the first place, get a low interest rate, a short loan term, and am able to pay it off as quick as I can.

Yup. When I was young I read in Consumer Reports that the best way to get the most for your money with a car was to buy a good one new, and then run the wheels off it. So that's what Mrs. Z and I did. Every car after the first has been bought for with cash.

Cloud battles the Cartels.

yep; I like the donut one better tho!

are you a cop?

no. I'm a Valkyrie.

Do you use/need a center armrest?
 

Interesting debate among prospective Juke owners about the center armrest. The lack of one, that is. Some are ruling the vehicle out because of it, I'm left scratching my head, because I never even use mine unless I'm on a long trip.

After some thought, I realized:

--80% of my driving is within town, not on the highway
--I'm right handed, and live in the States where the wheel is on the left side
--My right hand is either gripping the wheel at the top (12 o'clock); or gripping in a more relaxed hold on the center spoke of the steering wheel (3:00)
--Therefore, I'm not resting my right hand or arm off the wheel
--if anything, I'm resting my left elbow on the door, while my right hand does most of the steering work
--My present car is an automatic (so don't need my right hand down by the gear shaft)

so it's not really an issue for me. Maybe if I had a long highway commute it would be. Would the lack of a center armrest put you off?

I don't use it, except to hold papers and shit. If you find out later you wish you had one, you can add an aftermarket item. But it sounds like you wouldn't use it anyway.

I use mine as an armrest on long trips and, like Bruce, to put crap in. I'd prefer one, but I don't know what other storage options there are. It certainly isn't that big a deal to me.

I think it completely depends on the angle of the seat. In Mr. Clod's compact car, I don't have one and don't need one. My arms are fairly bent and held upward a bit to be on the steering wheel. But in the minivan, the steering wheel is lower, and farther away, as is typical for a larger vehicle. My arms are held almost straight out. In the minivan I can't drive without the armrest.

I use the center armrest in my Avalanche all the time, but I have long arms and usually need to rest my elbows on something to prevent fatigue. Also, I store all kinds of stuff in it, from drinks to cell phone to my notebook and pen and crap like that.

The Avalanche isn't designed too well with regards to cupholders, no ashtray (I quit smoking anyway), no keyway on the passenger door or tailgate (cheapskates!), no power receptacles in the backseat or rear cargo area and generally poor dashboard layout. I still like it though.

I agree with clobble.


If the seat is upright, like in a cube or a juke, you may not notice it not having an armrest. In the Altima, where you're pretty well reclined, it would be really weird if it didn't have one.

Many neat features in one car become distressingly obvious once the 'new' car had been driven a while.

For example, there must be someplace to properly rest the left foot. New Pontiac became a problem after many days because there was no left foot support.

How headlights are turned on in Chevy's would always get me confused. Headlights and highbeam flashing must all be on one control.

How a radio is setup. That Pontiac had so many buttons. Could not find the volume control without taking my eyes off the road and searching radio buttons. Same for station selection - not the preset controls - how to tune any frequency. At night, I would just keep pushing buttons until something worked.

A C300 Series Mercedes drove me crazy. Everytime when signaling a turn, instead that lever activated cruise control. Recently was asking a new Mercedes owner (her previous car was a Volvo 60 series) what she did not like. Exact same thing. She also kept turning on that cruise control because it was located to be confused with turn signals.

A light to focus on a paper (or map) before you? Often the newer dome light can be too dim. A map reading light that so many do not notice until that one dark night.

Adjustable steering wheel so that you can see every light on the dashboard.

Can you find the window switch (or handle) without taking eyes of the road? Or one problem I so hated in one of those Pontiacs. It would lock all doors as soon as the car started moving (which I did not want). Door unlock switch was buried up front on the door behind the dash board. Could not be seen. Had to go feeling for the switch.

Dash board up so high as to obstruct vision of items in front of the front bumper. A problem often found in cars with lowest performance engines (ie V8s).

Rear window visibility obstructed. Well, Volvos even have a dashboard switch so that rear seat headrests drop down. A kludge solution to a bad body design.

Tinted windows - or how to get into crashes because other drivers could not see your eyes.

Put the car in neutral. Without using brakes, how does the car come to a stop. Only better cars will roll to a stop so gentle that you cannot feel when wheels actually stop spinning.

Superior cars have engines so quiet that sometimes you do not know if the engine is running. With the engine running, try to start it. Only better cars will not engage the starter motor if the car is already running.

If a stick, then get moving without ever touching the accelerator petal. How easy determines quality and performance of the drive train.

Close each door only with your pinky. Superior cars that end up costing less money and last longer will close with less push from that little finger. One of the worst cars in this category was a Jaguar.

Some simple tests to categorize any new car.

the Jukes are few on the ground so far, and most of the ones in so far are not the ones I want. So I "ordered" the specific car I want from my closest dealer. No deposit, no obligation, but it's in my name--and obviously no chance of big discounts or incentives either. But, I'm still happy if I get the exact car I want by the end of the year. (supposed to come in December).

A top level trim Juke SL CVT/AWD, white, with black leather seats and red interior trim. ooooooh! (pic from HonestJohn so it European plates)

Congratulations! :)