Everyone’s concerned about the rising price of gas. Often times, a vehicle’s fuel economy can be the make-or-break determining factor for potential car owners. But sometimes, the issue of fuel economy can be a red herring that scares away many people from getting the car they really need and want.

A quick trip down to your local new Nissan Boston dealership will reveal a bevy of choices, all with a broad range of fuel efficiencies. A brand new Nissan Altima will fetch in the neighborhood of 23 miles per gallon in the city, and 32 miles per gallon on the highway. Whereas a Nissan Rogue SUV brings in 21 miles per gallon city, 26 miles per gallon highway.

What it all boils down to is determining your needs. If you’re living in a climate that sees an awful lot of snow, you should ask yourself some honest questions: Is it more advantageous to save a few dollars on gas, or get an SUV that can deliver you through a Massachusetts nor’easter safe and sound? In the end, it’s all about you. Sure, fuel efficiency counts—but it shouldn’t count for everything.

You don’t have to be a financial guru to make a smart decision about what kind of car to buy. And it’s never a good idea to waltz into your new Nissan dealer, or any car dealership, without at least a ballpark idea of how much money you can spend. Any ethical dealer will tell you the same. But figuring out what you can spend doesn’t require anything more than a pencil, a sheet of paper, a calculator and some common sense.

• List your expenditures. Don’t just toss numbers around in your head. Literally write down each of your monthly financial commitments, and add them up. Remember to leave a lot of wiggle room for groceries. A new car won’t do you any good if you can’t afford to bring home any groceries.
• Write down your income. It’s amazing, but some people don’t really know how much money they make in a month after taxes and regular expenditures—don’t be that person!
• Crunch the numbers. Put your calculator to work, remembering to figure in additional costs like insurance, gas, registration and regular maintenance.

Once you settle on a dollar amount that you could comfortably handle, it’s time to head down to your local new Nissan Boston Massachusetts dealership and get rolling on the road to car ownership.

Over the past few years, the country has seen quite a shift towards exploring alternative fuels to power their Nissans.  Most Boston residents are trying to do their part to reduce their impact on the environment.  Coastal Nissan is no exception, so to help our customers understand what is available now (and what is coming soon), we’ve put together this brief list of the different types of alternative fuel.

Electricity: A vehicle that was powered by only electricity would need to be plugged in before being driven, but there are many hybrid cars and trucks that use both electricity and gasoline to reduce their environmental impact, and are popular at your Massachusetts Nissan dealerships.

Ethanol: Arguably the most popular in recent years, ethanol is typically made from corn.  There are vehicles sold today that can run on a gasoline/ethanol mixture.  Unfortunately, ethanol is not as fuel efficient as gasoline (you can drive further on one gallon of gas than on one gallon of ethanol), and is often more expensive.

Hydrogen: Most of the research being done about hydrogen as a fuel source is on using hydrogen fuel cells to power a car or truck.  A car running on hydrogen alone would produce no emissions, just water vapor.

We look forward to bringing you more information about alternative fuels as it comes available, and always carrying the latest auto technology at our Boston Nissan dealership.