I’m not a car guy. Or at least, I haven’t been one. Cars are for getting from point A to point B without getting killed, or so I thought. But after years of taking the train from my home in Natick to Boston for my job, I came to Topaz in 2006 with the realization that I would need to drive to work from now on. Same amount of total transportation time door-to-door, but no falling asleep to gentle music or reading a good book. Now it would be radio, podcasts and music, and I was cool with that. But suddenly my car become more than a vehicle to get from point A to point B. It became my home away from home. And I needed a new one.

My criteria for a new car were simple. The car had to be less than $6,000, in good condition, safe, reliable, and with a decent track record according to Consumer Reports and other reviews. I searched on a daily basis for cars that fit my demands, and I found that the best results came from Craigslist. I saw a 1999 G20 Turbo advertised by someone in Wellesley, the town right next door. I did a quick search to determine the car’s Blue Book value, and the price came in below retail. I never would have thought of buying an Infiniti, which is Nissan’s “luxury” brand. But the price was right and the car was in excellent condition — and loaded. With leather interior, Bose stereo, and a sunroof, it handled more like a German sports car than a Japanese sedan. I offered to buy it for the asking price within 15 minutes of seeing it.

It’s safe to say that without Craigslist, my G20 and I would’ve never crossed paths. But that’s not the only social network that I have to thank. G20.net is a site that I stumbled upon after discovering a strange corrosion problem involving the car’s core radiator support — the support that holds the radiator as well as part of the engine. My mechanic of many years nearly had a heart attack when he saw it. “Was this car parked near the ocean? I think this is practically totalled. This is bad, Tim, bad!” Yikes.

Thanks to G20.net, I realized that many other G20′s suffer the same problem (If anyone wants to put together a recall effort I’m all game). Panic I did not. Instead I brought my car to a body shop that I found on Angie’s List (another social network, but with a subscription model) where the work was expert done and fairly priced.

Cars and social networks go together. I’ll never think about buying a car, driving a car, or fixing a car, the same ever again.

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Technorati Tags: cars, Infiniti G20, Social Networks

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