Starting with them, their Sentra is all grown up now. It has always been the third-best seller of the three, and having bowed in 2000, the Sentra is the most senior of citizens here. Four years don't automatically doom a car to obsolescence, but the current Sentra never felt cutting edge at any point in its lifetime. That could be because its engineers were confined to an economy-minded budget. Take its rear suspension: a rigid axle. Pure old school. Broken pavement gets the rear end unsettled and jittering. Hitting certain sizes of bumps while cornering can make L-turns feel like U-turns. Now in 2004, models with the standard 1.8 engine (126 HP) don't even get a stabilizer bar for the front suspension, which is standard on just about every car these days. Coupling a cheap rear suspension with an incomplete front suspension is a sure-fire recipe for a trippy car. There's also the forgettable steering, which recalls the days when economy cars drove like the tin cans they resembled. Not much else is memorable, either. From gas mileage to seat comfort to noise levels, everything falls center on average.
The sport-minded Sentra SE-R (automatic only) and SE-R Spec V (6-speed) models try harder to make an impression. They add disc brakes at all corners and a stabilizer bar in front. Whether you like it or not, they also stiffen the bar in the rear, stiffen the shocks and springs (even more so on the Spec V), and inflate the 15-inch wheels to 16 or 17. The steering, brakes, and transmission are all tuned to respond with sudden response - too sudden, in my book. Finally, there's the SE-R's one competitive advantage: the ground-stomping torque of a 2.5 liter engine (also available on the calmer 2.5S model) - largest in the field. But the simple act of cranking up humdrum hardware to maximum intensity is a little like watching Gigli on a high-definition TV: the satisfaction doesn't go up much. Without a worthy suspension or steering (or shifter, many criticize) or a redline higher than 6,200 RPM, how can it become the racer it aspires to be?
Not only is the Sentra not all it could be, it's not even what it used to be. Memories of the 1991-1994 Sentra bring to mind the simple, effective independent strut suspension, the quick and satisfying steering, and the perfectly-balanced SE-R model that exceeded all expectations and all competitors. The state of the current Sentra calls into question the habit of redesigning cars for the sake of newness. Wouldn't both corporation and consumer be winners today if Nissan had simply stuck to that 13-year-old design and stuffed a few air bags on the inside?
Those who embrace change should note one recent development: since production moved south of the border in 2000, reliability has plunged to the point of the Sentra ranking lowest among all Japanese makes.
The Sentra may have come a long way, but on the road of progress, it's been spending too much time in reverse.
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