2006 Nissan Sentra

I think I'm near the end of my 2006 car reviews since many of the cars I've driven are from 2007-2008.


Introduction: The Nissan Sentra has been in Nissan's lineup for a very long time. Before the use of the Sentra name, the previous car was called a Datsun 210 which was RWD. Since the introduction of the Sentra in 1982, the car has since become FWD. Its main competitor was always the Toyota Corolla, eventually the Honda Civic would also become a target car. The Sentra does not appear to be as popular or sell as well as the Civic or Corolla. Nevertheless Nissan does have a performance version of the Sentra called the SE-R Spec V.

As for my take, the Sentra has rarely been a car I ever thought much about. Very few of them ever looked interesting and very few have ever had anything interesting to even discuss. These days with the 2007 version there is the use of the CVT gearbox, however the 5th generation which I'm reviewing today does not have this gearbox.


Performance: The Sentra I drove only had the 1.8L 4-cylinder engine producing 126 hp and 129 lb.ft of torque. This engine doesn't really have much interesting characteristics, its rather competitive in terms of performance but it wasn't all that noisy. Yet it is not a very memorable engine for either good or bad. I guess I can say its average.

My Score: 5/10 - Its an average engine, nothing special

Handling: Once again the Sentra didn't really show any sort of feel that you'd get from a more exciting car. It certainly was not nearly as dull as a Buick but despite the reasonably weighted wheel, the car is rather average at cornering. I'm kind of at a loss to describe it...other than it not being very memorable which is hard considering many cars do show their strengths and weaknesses here.

My Score: 6/10 - Average handling, decently weighted wheel


Interior: Ah, I remember a lot more here. The Sentra like much of its characteristics so far show its pretty generic and the interior here remains much the same. Nothing in particular is all that fancy or even remotely interesting, its just as you'd expect it to be in any car. Seats are rather standard and the ride comfort is decent. This however is a time when the Sentras still contained roll up windows and was not as well equipped as Korean cars are. The most memorable thing about the Sentra however is the build quality. For some reason Nissans that are built in Mexico are built pretty badly. The last time I was in one of these Sentras there were several panel gaps all over the interior as if nothing fit. Considering that not much has changed with newer Versas and Sentras, I can safely conclude this is the biggest problem the Sentra has other than being...well average. Very few were built well.

My Score: 3/10 - Generic interior let down badly by very poor build quality

Styling: The original 5th generation Sentra looked rather generic and really boring. The year I'm reviewing had a styling change replacing the generic front end with a much more interesting one. The grille particularly is changed giving it a more unique look instead of a typical car. The grille goes well with the shape of the car and is a more positive step than playing safe.

My Score: 6/10 - Standard looking car with a nice looking grille

Value for money: The Sentra was always cheaper than the Corolla and the Civic but its not the best equipped car either making not as good of a value as the Korean entries. There is also the problem of build quality compared to the Canadian built Corolla and Civic, the Mexican made Sentra looks very poor built. Regardless if you trashed your interior then having loose panels wouldn't matter too much. Aside from build quality the car was reasonably solid and thus you do get a Japanese branded vehicle for less money than the major players. So its a good value to that degree.

My Score: 7/10 - Despite its faults it does end up being cheaper and better value than its Japanese competitors. Not nearly as great in value as the Koreans but still worth considering if you want to save some dough.

Overall: 27/50 - Basically an average car with pretty good value but suffering primarily with very poor build quality.