Nissan Sentra Test Drive.
I test drove a new Nissan Sentra a little while ago, for a whole week. And I was pleasantly surprised with the new compact Nissan Sedan. A car that isn’t that compact anymore. Although it is still almost 2 inches shorter than the Honda Civic Sedan.
The car I was driving was a loaded SR model, for around $31,000. Which is not cheap, but in line with the competition. You can also get an SL trim with a few options and save about $1000 with similar equipment. But you won’t get black wheels and the black top (Something I would personally prefer anyway).
The design is pretty nice and modern. In my uninformed and unprofessional opinion, this is a much better looking car than the current Civic sedan. But that’s just me. It’s also much nicer inside.
The Sentra’s interior is a much nicer place to be than the Civic, and it’s not all a matter of taste. It all feels of higher quality. And especially, the door panels don’t squeak like cheap plastic when you press on them, like they do on the Civic.
The Sentra is, as usual, very smooth and quiet. It is something I have noticed in older Sentra generations as well. They always feel a bit more upscale than you would think. The suspension is smooth, and the engine is mostly very quiet. And it also has enough power for the car’s mission. Even with a black roof, black wheels and a spoiler, this is not a sports car.
The seats are very comfortable, however, the black ones in my test car got very, very hot in the sun. Same thing with the center screen. Which made it a bit hard to use until the A/C cooled the interior. Which took a surprisingly long time.
The 10 speaker stereo sounded really good and is well worth the upgrade over the standard 4 speaker unit. Which I cannot imagine sounding that amazing…
The new Sentra is rated at 30/38MPG. Which is pretty much what I’ve been getting. I even saw 31/32 around town. Which is fine, but not as good, of course, as a Hybrid. And this might be the Nissan Sentra’s biggest problem.
The Civic is available as a Hybrid in different trims. For $29,400 or the loaded Sport Touring for $32,400. Which is not that much more than the loaded Sentra. The Civic is rated at 50/47 MPG. Which is a big difference. The next generation Civic Hybrid will even improve these numbers by 10%. A new Toyota Corolla is also just around the corner. Also with a more efficient new Hybrid system.
The Sentra is a very nice affordable sedan. But Nissan really needs to add a hybrid option of they want to keep it around. The new Rogue is coming with the EREV powertrain very soon. Something the Sentra also needs pronto.