New York Mets Outfielder Has Made Over $10 Million but Still Drives His 2010 Nissan Altima
A New York Mets outfielder has stuck with his 2010 Nissan Altima. Why, when he could afford a hotter car?
Written by Andrew Kidd
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
If you were to make a list of the cars you thought a pro athlete would drive, a
Nissan
probably wouldn’t make the cut. But one major league ball player still holds on to a car he’s had since the start of his career.As
MLB.com
reports, New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo has the humblest car in the Mets parking lot: a 2010 Nissan Altima with 65,000 miles.Sticking with what’s comfortable
Nimmo has mentioned before that he feels a sense of comfort hopping into his Altima after a bad game, thankful he didn’t buy a $100,000 Mercedes. Not that he couldn’t afford it, as he’s made more than $10 million in his career already.
The fourth-generation Nissan Altima received mixed reviews from automotive publications around its release, but it holds some sentimental value for Nimmo.
His father found the car for him and, known for his ability to bargain, was able to get a few thousand dollars off the MSRP at a Nissan dealership that was looking to offload the 2010 models left in its lot.
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A beater car for the east coast
It’s not Nimmo’s only vehicle, though; the outfielder also owns a used 2011 GMC Sierra, which he keeps in Wyoming to drive locally. The Altima is mostly for local travel on the east coast, where a luxury vehicle could be problematic given the driving conditions.
“When I got to
New York City
, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got to be a defensive driver all the time,’” Nimmo told MLB.com. “People are always trying to cut in front of you. I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t need a nice car, because you’ve got to play chicken with these people anyway. If the Altima gets a little beat-up, I don’t care.”And he doesn’t have any plans to scrap the thing even if he buys a newer vehicle, mainly due to the sentimental value. It also keeps him humble, he said, and he’s likely to run it til it
stops running
altogether.He does admit, however, that it would be nice to have a Bluetooth connection or a backup camera in his vehicle.
High-profile jalopies
Nimmo isn’t the first major athlete to forgo the luxury vehicle choices typical of those in high-level sports.
The NFL’s Kirk Cousins gained some additional notoriety for rolling up to practice in a 2000 GMC Savana van. At the time, Cousins bought the van from his grandmother as a second vehicle, but didn’t have the time to get a new primary vehicle after the lease on his SUV expired.
Similarly, the NBA’s Jimmy Butler drove a 2017 Toyota Sienna minivan—of which he could afford 2,500 of, given his $77 million earnings in 2018.
Sometimes athletes have different priorities when it comes to their daily drivers.
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