Meet The Fidomobile

A company car is every good little corporate wage slave's dream, right? But, living the Hectic life, of course I didn't achieve it quite the normal way. My "company car" is provided by my very favorite client. It's a brand spankin' new Nissan Cube, whose cuteness is only enhanced by the gigantic bulldogs plastered all over the sides and back. Being a fan of the company, as well as a complete marketing geek, the opportunity to drive a great new car that gets awesome gas mileage, was too good to pass up.

So: Meet the Fidomobile. I was promised integrated Bluetooth, which is not actually included in the car, so it looks like I landed a Cube 1.8. I do NOT have "extra amenities: Body-color outside mirrors, Interface System for iPod®, [2] Bluetooth® Hands-free Phone System, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, cruise control with steering wheel-mounted controls, premium cloth seat trim, driver's seat armrest, visor vanity mirrors, dual overhead map lights, front passenger seatback pocket, chrome-plated inside door handles and 6 speakers, including 2 tweeters." Oh well. It has 74 miles on it and it even SMELLS new.

Never mind that it won't go in reverse.

So there I am sitting in the Fidos' Fences parking lot. I have virtuously been working all day long, knowing my new Cube was sitting right out front waiting for me to drive it. It's about a million degrees outside and there's a decent size thunderstorm somewhere over Connecticut, so I know I need to get things in gear to get this baby home before the LIE gets too adventuresome. And I can't get the thing to go into reverse. I have tried everything I can think of. Everyone else is long gone.

Out of ideas, and Google on my smartphone having totally failed me (apparently this is too dumb of a question to ever have been answered on the Internet), I give up and call the boss man / owner of the Fidomobile. He kindly explains to me that there's a ring on the gearshift that must be lifted up to enable the car to go in reverse. He tells me that I'm not the first person to have this problem, which I tend to believe means he made a similar phone call when seated in a similar vehicle in the not-too-distant past, but seeing as how the guy just gave me the keys to his brand new CAR, I'm not going to give him a hard time.

So now that I can back up, we're ready to hit the road. I blow kisses at the Jeep, left in the Fido's parking lot, and the Fidomobile and I hit the road. After 4 years of a Jeep Wrangler, this is a bit of an adjustment and requires a somewhat more delicate touch than I'm used to. The brakes on this care are very good, definitely.

Given that we made it home (60 miles!) through a monsoon with only one stall, I'd say we're well on our way to car-and-driver bonding.

Mileage: 74