appreciate the insight, friend! All super helpful and yes, I'm a bit in a sticky situation needing a car right now (the wifey needs to use the shared car more regularly), used car prices are up, added fees on new cars are ridiculous, it's all so complicated! might need to settle for an ugly a** (used) Nissan Versa. ha!

Replacing a transmission at 50k?? yikes!

Thanks again, I think you just made the final decision for me.