Even farther back, when I went away to college, I took with me a cheap 1975 Honda Civic wagon that my dad bought for the occasion. It was about the same size as this Versa, had a 1.5 liter engine, and it was a bare-bones car of the day. That meant a four-speed transmission, barely enough power to climb an average hill in fourth gear, and absolutely no creature comforts.

Fast forward to the Versa, and it comes stock with a nice stereo (as opposed to my old AM radio), air conditioning,  and best of all, actual comfortable seats. Nissan delivers all this for $13,990 on paper, but they’re still charging you an extra $250 for Antilock Brakes – as if anyone would actually buy a car without that feature today!

But don’t worry – with the way auto dealers are desperate to move product these days, I’m willing to bet that you can drive away in a loaded Versa hatchback for well under the base sticker price.

The biggest surprise for me was in the driving experience. Many small cars at the low end of the price range are still tinny and lack the solid feeling of cars just a couple thousand dollars up the price ladder. The best you can say about them is “this car would be a good buy to send your kid off to college.” And in fact, that’s what I said about the then-new Versa sedan back in 2007.

But even burdened with an automatic transmission, the 2009 Versa 1.8 S hatchback is a solid and comfortable ride. The Versa has large doors, making it easy to get in and out of, and everything is laid out sensibly. You get a tilt steering wheel and a nice AM/FM/CD 4-speaker stereo, and I was quite happy to run all my errands in the Versa for a week. I was not even tempted to climb into my own hot rod Mini Cooper S for a drive that I would normally run in the press car. And at the end of the week, the fuel needle had barely moved. I used about $5 worth of gas all week.

Fuel economy on the automatic is listed at 24/32 - not great for an economy car, but not bad, either. I think I did better than that. The 1.8 liter engine makes 122 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque - fantastic for its class. The best part is that the engine never feels weak – that horrible “drop two gears and wind up to redline” thing that most small cars with automatic transmissions do when you try to pass a car on the freeway. The 1.8 liter Nissan engine comes with plenty of grunt to get the job done.

The bottom line on the Versa is that like my old Honda, this is still a perfect “First Car” for someone just starting out, but it’s also a reasonable choice for someone looking for an economical but comfortable work commute vehicle. You can flip the rear seats down and carry a boxcar-load of cargo, or carry the kids to school. You’ll never hate this car, and you’ll love the money you save –­ especially this year.