I don’t believe that the name Sentra was actually derived from combining the first three letters in each of the words “sensible” and “transportation”, but given that the Sentra is Nissan’s most successful nameplate in the U.S. with over six million sold over eight generations and thirty-nine years, clearly plenty of buyers liked what they saw.
Now that the world has changed for everyone, as well as certain unfortunate corporate events changing things even more for Nissan specifically, this new Sentra is part of a strong product offensive that began a year or so ago and shows no signs of letting up.
So far in this review series, we’ve seen the new Versa, the new Altima, and our old friend the Frontier with a new powertrain that’s slated to be installed in a new body next year. Nissan has also made big changes to the Titan, a new Rogue is about to be released, and the little Kicks has piqued my curiosity since I first saw it. Not everything can be renewed at once, but so far everything has pretty much been a huge improvement relative to the generally fairly lackluster offerings (visually as well as dynamically) on tap previously. There certainly seems to be a new energy in place.
So on to the Sentra. First impressions are good, while sedans are perhaps a bit out of favor with the buying public, the new Sentra sort of doubles down on the look, being very reminiscent of big brother Altima and adding a large dose of visual sportiness to the mix by being a couple of inches lower and a couple of inches wider than the previous generation.
This particular model is the top of the line SR trim, sitting above the standard S and the slightly better equipped SV in the lineup. In Nissan’s sedan range, the Sentra plays sort of a middle child role, above the Versa but below the Altima (and elder statesman Maxima).
They’ve done well to keep lots of things similar with overlap between the main three players here, but with enough differences that one could conceivably consider moving up from a Versa in order to take advantage of a few things that are improvements for not much more outlay or also perhaps deciding that a Sentra makes more sense than an Altima in some cases, as depending on the priorities it may not be much if any sacrifice.
In essence the Sentra is perhaps a bit of a utility player, doing lots of things well but not necessarily standing out (or showing off to the detriment of the others) in any particular area either.
All Sentras are equipped with a new 2.0l 4-cylinder engine producing 149hp and 146lb-ft of torque. They are also all mated to a new version of Nissan’s X-tronic CVT, with synthetic gears built in to avoid the droning feel of CVT’s of yore. My main impression was of smoothness and general engine refinement, offset though by a bit of a lack in off the line power.
It did have noticeable “shift” points that could be heard if listened for but mainly noted on the RPM gauge. They were not however completely linear, somehow what was subtly felt and heard didn’t completely seem to correspond to what the gauge was showing.
One significant caveat though is that my base altitude is right around 5000 feet and I took it up to over 8000, at sea level this engine should feel more powerful than it did here, this is obviously common to every naturally aspirated engine and should be kept in mind. Once up to speed the car had no trouble maintaining speed even on significant grades and didn’t struggle to accelerate either.
Another caveat, and an important one) is that the mission of this car isn’t to win stoplight races, its somewhat aggressive looks in SR trim notwithstanding, but rather to provide a comfortable and reliable drive every day as needed. When given the spurs to merge onto a freeway for example, it accelerates competently enough. If you don’t drive a quarter mile at a time, it’s fine. I’d however love to introduce all of you to the GT-R if anyone at Nissan is listening…
Competing primarily with the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic as well as the Hyundai Elantra, it’s more or less on par with those as far as power goes and if anything perhaps can be championed as the one that may be trying a little harder overall to get in the good graces of the public.
Driving as a normal member of the public would, this powertrain doesn’t have any notable faults. I wished for more power when I was in a hurry in town due to a minor business emergency and kept hitting red lights, getting back up to speed took longer than I was wishing to wait, however as usual nobody else got miles ahead of me at any time either.
The flip side here is excellent fuel economy, over 515 miles I averaged 36mpg according to the trip computer with the average about halfway through my mileage almost touching 38. That involved the usual Denver rounds for about 150 miles, a trip to Wyoming for another 180 or so, a trip east on mostly county highways for another 80 roundtrip miles and then the balance of approximately 105 more here in town over the week’s time. Officially, this model was rated at 28City, 37Highway and 32Combined on regular fuel.
Space inside is good, and would be so for the majority of the public, I had no issue with front headroom at 6’1″ with a 32″ inseam. Legroom was similarly fine, however the center console encroached on my right leg more than I’d prefer. At least the touchpoint was softly padded. When I first got in it I had a nagging suspicion that the steering wheel was offset to the left a tiny bit, however that went away during the week, I think it was primarily due to how the center console affected my space.
The only other ergonomic foible I noted was that while this car does not feature the nowadays common electric parking brake in favor of a foot pedal, that foot pedal is located EXACTLY where a clutch pedal would be on a manual transmission car, so in effect far more inboard than any other parking brake.
There is a place to rest your foot to the left of it but it still struck me as a bit odd. I got used to it but the first few days spent a second or two trying to locate the pedal. If you are used to a manual transmission car, take good care if you jump into one of these, lest you accidentally jam the parking brake on.
As opposed to a lot of four-door vehicles, I sat with my head well forward of the B-pillar, this car seems to be more cab-forward than a lot of others (or the front doors are longer).
Back seat room is decent with several inches between my knee and the front seatback when sitting upright, headroom was on the snug side due to the sunroof necessitating a bit of a slouch or lean to avoid my hair rubbing on the headliner.
Perfectly adequate for kids or persons shorter than me but even I wouldn’t refuse to ride back there, it was still acceptable. Those rear seats fold in a 60/40 manner.
Trunk space too is very acceptable. Under the floor is a space saver spare tire, and while the wheel wells intrude a bit into the space it’s still decently deep and usable.
Going back up front, the gauges are very clear and legible with a 7″ color center display that can be set to provide all manner of information and adjust various settings as well as displaying information of momentary use at appropriate times.
One oddity in regard to the gauges themselves – the tachometer starts at zero, but the next number is 2000, then it goes to 3000, 4000, 5000 etc. For some reason the initial 2000RPM sector is given the same space as the remaining sectors, each only comprising 1000RPM. It’s odd as the engine spends a fair amount of time under 2000RPM, not that the tach really matters anymore to most drivers, but for those that do watch it this would seem curious.
The SR model sports an upsized 8″ dash-mounted screen (the other trims have a 7″ screen on the dash). The center console is very reminiscent of the Altima’s in fact (this is good) with the main visual difference being the three circular vents here instead of the Altima’s more rectangular units.
The shift lever was completely conventional without even a “manual” function and not at all lacking due to that; it did have a small button at its base to engage “sport mode”, which seemed to raise the RPM a bit at any given time but didn’t seem to provide any other noticeable effect. Ahead of that was a well sized cubby that was perfect for placing a phone and portable garage door opener or mints and a pen or business cards or whatever else. Two cupholders were also provided to the side of the gearlever with another little cubby behind it that was perfect for a travel size hand sanitizer. Behind that the center console storage compartment with soft padded lid and lots of space inside.
The 8″ touchscreen was pretty much the same as in the Versa and Altima as far as functionality, no navigation in this one, but the Audio section worked well for tunes which is what I used it for the vast majority of the time. Apple CarPlay and AndroidAuto are also onboard. Bluetooth was simple to set up on my phone and the telephone function worked seamlessly. This stuff seems to have been handled well with pretty much every maker (well, the ones I’ve reviewed anyway) these days, my routine every time is to pair my phone on the first day, program my favorite stations in the radio, and then make a Bluetooth phone call to a friend in Chicago the first time I hit the freeway in the car. If ever I experience problems I will report it, so far nothing of note has ever arisen.
Automatic dual zone HVAC knobs and buttons are below all of that, along with buttons for heated seats and steering wheel. Yes, a Sentra can now be had with heated seats as well as wheel, such is progress, a far cry from the 1982 introductory model year! The knobs and buttons all felt substantial with good resistance one solid assembly quality.
Of course there’s a stop/start button and the keyfob just remains in one’s pocket, when locking or unlocking the car, pressing a button on the doorhandle does all of that, same with getting into the trunk when standing next to it.
The screen though also of course provides the backup camera visuals and instead of just a backwards view also provides an overhead view as part of the option package included in this vehicle, it’s another of those nice to have features that sooner or later will become pretty ubiquitous as well.
This Sentra also provides a warning after starting with a visual graphic in the gauge cluster that lets you know which of the three rear seatbelts are not fastened and then also reminds you to check the rear seat when you turn the engine off if the back door was opened prior to the car getting underway. Say what you want about the nanny state but keeping little ones out of harm’s way is a good thing. Nobody intentionally forgets, actual help is always appreciated.
Nissan also equips every Sentra with a fairly comprehensive active safety package consisting of Blind Spot Assist, Lane Departure Warning (feels like you hit a rumble strip), Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, and Rear Cross Traffic Alert and several other goodies in that department.
It’ll also read your incoming text messages to you which is a very good way to reduce the temptation to actually look at the phone that many have. It can also send responses back. Intelligent automatic headlights and highbeam assistance are also standard across the range.
As opposed to most Blind Spot systems, this one has its warning indicator set into the base of the A-pillar instead of in the mirror. On the plus side this in theory keeps the light more inline with straight ahead vision as opposed to the mirror type, but in actuality the light was on the dim side and worse, on this SR trim level, the dashboard and seats are highlit with orange stitching (attractive) which to my eyes made the orange warning light blend in to the rest of the orange dash decoration.
While this version was equipped with an attractive set of alloys wearing 215/45-18 Hankook Kinergy tires, (500 treadwear, “A” temp and “A” traction), I didn’t really notice until a few days into my drive that the suspension was not making itself very apparent, clearly the ride was quite good and after then focusing on it, it became clear that road irregularities and bumps were dealt with very well, in fact far better than should be expected.
Handling though was so-so, while cornering grip was quite good, feel was mostly non-existent, speeding into corners wasn’t particularly rewarding beyond safely arriving at the other end of the corner without any drama whatsoever. Again, mission of the car and all of that…Interestingly this car also had one of those understeer assistance features wherein the inside wheels are braked slightly in certain situations in order to turn the car better. Interesting technology, it’d be fascinating to go back to some older cars and be able to retrofit this stuff and see how they then compare.
Road noise was sometimes high, sometimes very low, mostly due to the tires and how they interacted with the various road surfaces, both concrete and asphalt, high speed and low speed, new and worn, in two states. The body doesn’t appear to have much sound deadening to absorb that particular type of noise but conversely wind and engine noise were extremely well suppressed at speed.
Value is there, with the Sentra line starting at $19,310 plus a $925 destination charge, this SR top model started at just $21,430. So the spread across three trims is only $2,120. The SR includes 18″ wheels, LED headlights and fog lights, the sporty body bits such as the rear spoiler and sill extensions, dark colored front chrome trim, the larger 8″ touch screen, a 7″ central display in the instrument cluster, remote start, leather wrapped steering wheel and shifter, a couple of USB ports in front and another in the rear and a bunch more…
The main option package on my tester cost $2,170 and for that provided the following: Thin type LED headlights and Daytime running lights as opposed to the standard ones, Power Glass Moonroof, Heated Front Seats and Wheel, Leatherette seats, 6-way Power Driver’s seat with 2-way lumbar, 8-speaker Bose Audio System, the Intelligent Around View Monitor I mentioned earlier, Auto-dimming rearvew mirror, and Sunvisors containing lit vanity mirrors. If you’re the type that requires a moonroof, then the rest of the stuff ends up being not much more, so overall this seems like a fair value.
Other options included a “Lighting Package” which consists of External Ground Lighting and Interior Ambient Lighting for $500, the Two-Tone Premium Paint Color Treatment (Black roof with Aspen White Tri-Coat body) for $595, and Carpeted Floor Mats and Trunk Mat for $205. I’d skip the lighting, take the mats, and I’m not sure about the paint, there are several included colors, several for a couple to a few hundred and then this two-tone with the more special paints are the priciest (But still much cheaper than anything on any premium marque).
Altogether this one rang in at $25,825 including destination. That’s $4,000 more than the loaded Versa I reviewed a few months back and compared to that this is far better on the freeway and has more space. However I did like the way that one handled, it was quite engaging. Skip a few options or go down a trim level and it gets closer.
Compared to the Altima which I also reviewed here, that one cost about $6,500 more but included AWD. If you need the space, you need the space, but this Sentra is not much if at all smaller than Altimas of not that long ago and provides a lot of the same features for quite a bit less money. The Altima is built in Tennessee while the Versa and Sentra are both from Aguascaliente, Mexico, so perhaps that plays into it as well. All three were assembled to the same quality standard as far as I could tell from my test cars.
There’s a lot to recommend here, and it’s an attractive vehicle and overall package. Yes, the class itself isn’t necessarily the most compelling, however it provides what a lot of people are looking for. As far as Nissan is concerned, if the next few models improve as much as the last few have, I think they have every reason to be optimistic about the future with one caveat – That caveat is the CVT. A lot of people got burned by the transmissions in Nissans over the last fifteen years and we shouldn’t gloss over that.
I’d like to think that Nissan have made progress in that department and put it behind them, however there may be a lag time between that and the public’s perception of it. What would perhaps help tremendously is reaching for that time honored cure-all, the super long warranty. Cover the transmission (or powertrain as a whole) for at least 100,000 miles or better yet, lifetime of the original owner.
Others that offered or offer a lifetime or very long warranty generally included a clause limiting a maximum payout to the present value of the vehicle at the time of claim, so worst case down the road at 200k miles when/if something big breaks and it’s still the original owner, Nissan would have to buy it back for market value (minimal) if the owner so chose. Realistically there aren’t too many cases like that so the risk seems small.
Peace of mind is a huge consideration at this level of the market and peace of mind in these turbulent times with lots of things to cause people worry could be a very welcome inducement to purchase. Having now experienced this car as well as the others I mentioned, the building blocks are there and things look very promising indeed for the road ahead.
Thanks go to Nissan for letting us sample yet another of their vehicles as well as providing a tank of fuel.
When I think of Nissan I think of two things – a CVT and orange instrument lighting. I don’t like either one – the first because they don’t have an enviable durability reputation and the second just because. Unfortunately for me, both of those associations still hold on this new one. For these reasons Nissan is still not building something that really calls my name.
It does appear that they are trying hard to provide a really appealing car in the segment, though, and I am certainly a minority in my preferences (at least among the entire car-buying public who probably doesn’t care at all about my two hangups.)
The instrument lighting isn’t orange, just the small blind spot indicator as is common in most of the industry as well as the stitching accent in this particular one.
Well there goes half of the things standing between me and the Nissan Life. 🙂
Five or so years ago I reviewed a rental Sentra in these pages. The only difference between it and a bucket of manure was the bucket.
However, it really looks like Nissan has upped their game, with this Sentra appearing to have none of the sins of the prior generation. For that matter, I’m now rather curious about a Sentra just to see how things have improved. This current generation is certainly a much more attractive car than the prior one.
Very good, even-handed review. One question: how did you find the outward visibility? The beltline looks quite high and that kick-up near the C pillar looks a little obtrusive as well.
Visibility was fine if not specifically better than most others. That kickup in the rear doesn’t affect it really, if you look at it closely it’s more visual than anything, there’d still be D-pillar metal there and the upward jog is more in the fixed window shape area, it’s really more of an enlarged “Hofmeister kink” but then played up by the paint break or on solid color models by trim pieces.
I know we’re hardly the Sentra of the universe, but in Oz, this Nissan is missin’.
It’s no wonder. No-one can make money on smallish cars: SUV’s, Nissan’s entire Oz range, can command enough extra to work.
Just look at this Sentra. Attractive enough in the modern idiom, perfect panel gaps, very decent-looking interior, loaded to the roof with safety stuff and gizmology the province of an S-class not ten years ago. Perfectly good drive too, by this review. And it couldn’t hope to sell at all without this level of competitiveness. All for not much more than $23-odd grand!
On the scale of the US market, maybe it’s possible to make a quid, but at a similar price in AUD (which is how it would have to be priced), there’s nothing left.
No wonder so many alliances are being formed worldwide. It’s a tough market out there.
This car is basically the Nissan Sylphy in China and I believe a few other places. It is interesting that with what you’d think would be vast manufacturing capability in place, there isn’t a desire (or margin in it) to send a right hand drive version down to you and make a few dollars off some more sales.
Sylphy was in the Bluebird range theres one parked outside where I live seems theyve downsized that badge into the Sentra or has the Sentra got bloat, I had a couple of high mileage 90s Sentras and they were good cars great little engines but both were 5 speed manuals Ive driven one Nissan CVT and that was enough it was awful it also wasnt new or a recent model, automatics I can cope with ok but not CVTs I was driving an automatic a couple of weeks ago for a few days and kinda liked it 18speeds by Eaton Fuller but it worked just fine in a detroit powered freight shaker.
In December of ’96, 2 months after purchasing my first home, my ’91 Jetta finally made it known that it was finished. So with about $5 left in my emergency savings and 2 toddlers to shuttle around I bought a leftover ’96 Sentra GXE with a 5-speed, new off the lot for $11,995 to be exact. It was ugly (to me), it was adequately powered, but certainly not very zippy, and it was uncomfortable, but it ran, and ran, and ran. For well over 200,000 miles over 6 years (Most importantly for a full year after it was paid off). That purchase later led to the purchase of a 2 year old ’97 Quest for my ex, which was also an exceptionally reliable and perfectly “adequate” vehicle for over 5 years.
So for the last 20-odd years I’ve been a non-participating Nissan fan boy, routing for them over and over through what seems to have been a really dismal period for design as well as reliability. The Versa review a while back was a real bright spot, since that model is probably closest to what I could conceivably think about buying at a Nissan dealership, and this one brings warmth to my heart as well.
In doing some research into an upcoming purchase I recently stumbled upon a Reddit group apparently made up of a lot of local dealership personnel, and was sad to read quite a number of negative perspectives from people in the industry about Nissan’s dealer network and products. I’m glad to see some promising product coming along, but I hope the general attitude around Nissan, which sounds a lot like what people generally thought of Mitsubishi in years past, can still be turned around.
It is interesting while also disheartening (but not surprising) at how many people will take the opportunity to just slag on something while often not having any actual current experience with it. I perfectly understand an unwillingness to re-engage with something that left a bad taste (once burned, twice shy etc) and sharing the story, fine, but the overwhelming negativity of commentary in general across the internet towards for example Mitsubishi as you stated is ridiculous, I don’t believe that more than a small fraction of those people are even familiar with what’s on offer beyond maybe seeing one in a parking lot. And that’s just the whipping boy du jour. Nissan has been or is in a similar situation, and there have certainly been others as well over the years (Hyundai/Kia is another good one but seems to be emerging from that in general). Then there are others that just faded away while generally being ignored completely (Suzuki). Not everyone will have the same opinion of a product that I do (and that’s perfectly fine, no quarrel there as long as it’s an opinion and not based on a demonstrably incorrect “fact”), but my aim is to describe a car and what I got out of it, and “introduce” it to the readership.
I genuinely liked the Versa and now found the Sentra to be a very physically attractive car with a lot of desirable content at a good price. The Versa was “friskier” and great in town or highways while the Sentra was a more comfortable cruiser and more settled at higher speeds that started to show the Versa’s shortcomings, at least at my altitude.
Well in this case he was talking about people in the industry, so presumably some of them have first had experience.
I’m not a fan of Nissan’s current design language, but the new Sentra manages to look better than the old if for no other reason than the old one was a terrible expression of the previous design language.
Everything else you report about this car, Jim, makes it sound like a terrific buy with great features. I’m wavering. A CUV is so much easier to get into and out of, but I prefer the stance of a car. Next car I won’t need to haul kids anymore. I’d love to downsize from my current midsize sedan (’13 Passat, for the record). You’re making me pay attention to the current Sentra — I would not have otherwise.
Nissan has definitely upped its game, to the point that the wife and I bought her a Kicks SR this past weekend. Prior to this hadn’t considered Nissan for anything other than a Frontier, but the Versa Note we had for two weeks as a rental was surprisingly pleasant (I could even tolerate the CVT), and the combination of Maggie insisting her next car had to be either a truck or an “SUV” (no more sedans) got us looking seriously.
My big surprise is that it beat out the Kia Soul in our consideration.
The Kicks is seriously intriguing, I really want to try one. It seems like an excellent value, congratulations to Maggie on the new car – Post a Pic!
From what I’ve seen of Nissan lately, I really only have one warning to give regarding their cars:
Stay away from the ‘S’ trim level, no matter what the model. Nissan seems determined to bring back the ghost of the Geo Metro in their S models. It’s shocking to see how much more you get bumping up one level to SV (or is it SL?).
The mid-level does seem to be the value play in most of the range, the S is generally quite basic but usually the same engine and often the only way to get a manual, the middle adds a ton of content for not a huge amount more, and then the top (often the SR) adds even more but most of it is usually nice to have but often far from necessary.
When we had the Versa Note, I found it wonderful needing only a five speed. Then I looked at an S, and it was so cheap on the interior compared to the midline model, it made the CVT desirable.
It’s a decent enough looking car but judging by other Nissan owners at work that have been plagued with issues ranging from replacement CVT’s to bum warning systems and malfunctioning advanced safety features would be leery of shelling out for one. Lets hope these current new models are improving on that.