15 years ago

[Lee Combs]

15 years ago I was driving a 1985 MR2 and today I am still in love with the cockpit design. It had a feel if sitting in it instead of on it, as many cars feel now. After ashot rod, I progressed through a gambit of other cars, and I finally settled into a 1990 CRX SI. I drove 2000 and it is still driving the streets today; albeit with a different pilot.

I made a mistake of driving to the local Honda dealer to check out the new 2K SI, back from hiatus. The car was exactly what I thought I wanted. The dealership(s) reluctance to come down off the MSRP at all put a sour taste in my mouth for the SI. That night I started to make a rather large excel sheet on cars and trucks that I would consider that were three years old and newer. I read and researched, slept and ate car stats and facts for 3 months.

One Friday after work I went to the Nissan dealer, scoping for a S14 I had seen an ad for. After much negotiating, I realized I could most likely get a new car for a couple grand more, with a full warranty and that new car smell. I walked into the showroom and there it was; The newly designed 2000 Nissan Sentra SE. "That's a Sentra?" I asked the salesperson. It looked like a miniature Maxima. I started the neg's and got a concrete number I was happy with. I told them I had to check with my credit union and would get back with them on Monday. I left a deposit to secure the car since I was already pre-approved for more than the car.

I did a quick google search and found a few websites on the Sentra and the sr20. As I started reading SE-r.net I really liked what I read. I joined the mailing list that day. I started reading the archives and knew that not only was the car what I wanted, but so was the community. There was a sense of community and friendship that I could see and feel from reading the archives. People were actually trying to help each other. This was not what I was accustomed to in the general Honda crowd.

I went back and finalized all the paperwork for the SE. March 16th I drove her home. I was the first registered B15 SE in the state, or so I was told. I then met Russ and David, b15sentra.net was born, and five years later I still love the car. I have met and made some of my best friends in life because of this car and the community.

So in summary...thank you SE-R.net. This has been a life-changing experience.