I bought my car in Oklahoma, and I drove it back to Ohio. About 2 hours into the trip with my wife riding shotgun, I said the same thing: “Hmmm…this thing doesn’t have a trip meter. I knew these were no frills cars, but damn.” My wife pulled out the owner’s manual and discovered that it in fact did have a trip meter…I was floored (and a bit relieved).
To this day, I still have a hard time reaching the button (I reset it every fill up out of habit).