Faults:

Backup camera and voice on GPS never worked.

Nothing else...

General Comments:

I think this is my favourite car of all time, and I have driven lots of cars (various Porsche, Ford Police Interceptor, BMW, etc). The reason is that it combines good elements of all cars, as follows:

1. Reasonable gas mileage. Although it does require premium fuel due to the high-compression engine, you can expect 20 miles per gallon (US) in bumper to bumper rush hour, 26 in mixed, and 35-40 on freeways (for metric-speak, 5.8-6.7 hwy, 9 mixed, 11.7 city). For a mid-sized car with high performance, that is quite reasonable. Expect about 300 miles to a 13 US gal tank (500 km to 50 litres, or 11 imp. gal.)

2. Mid-sized family sedan practicality. Even with the sunroof, this car has plenty of headroom, even in the back seat. Seats 5 with plenty of room. Large-ish trunk, plenty of legroom. I am 6'3" and travel in comfort. Four doors. Only two complaints: the trunk includes a cross brace on the Spec V for additional chassis stiffness, so only on this model, you cannot put down the back seats, and also thick front and rear roof supports limit visibility (but the roof won't collapse in a roll-over).

3. Pretty relaxed day to day driving. Even with the manual transmission, the car is well-mannered. If you short-shift (1200-1500 RPM), it rolls around like an economy car in a relaxed fashion. The W speed rated tires are a bit noisy, so it's not the quietest car on the freeway. The fluid-type clutch operates easily, and the electric steering is uneventful. The car is great in snow (front wheel drive, traction control, stability control, limited slip differential) but came with summer tires, so all season tires or a dedicated set of winters will be needed in snow belt areas... this is an issue as spare rims in the proper offset seem to be only available from Nissan (the stock wheels have a very aggressive offset, so finding cheap steel rims the right fit is impossible).

4. Safety. Some advice here... buy nothing older than 2000, preferably 2005 or newer, and if possible, get the newest car you can afford. Safety has been improving every year. This car has traction control, vehicle stability control, side and front airbags, and reinforced roof supports, side impact supports. So, it has good crash ratings.

5. Performance. Not surprisingly, the car has sporty performance. Huge ceramic brakes, W speed-rated tires, 7000 RPM redline DOHC high-compression engine with variable valve timing, large clutch, and high-performance suspension tuned on the Nürburgring race track in Germany, chassis bracing, etc. Since it is not a turbo engine, you have to rev it up to get the performance, so most of the time it feels like a very safe economy car (i.e. sedate driving, with great handling and braking). However, if you keep it above 3500 RPM, it comes to life, and will not disappoint anyone looking for a sporty ride. This car won't bite you... it has enough power to be fun, but has a higher level of braking and handling than power so you can stay in control, with just a touch of understeer to warn you in corners, and torque-sensing front differential to maintain traction if you want to power out of corners. It also has the "nanny" electronic stability controls (computer applies single brakes if you start to lose control). Some people hate the latter, but if you ever get into a spin situation, you will be very thankful. The car came with Continental Sport Contact performance summer tires (which lasted 60,000 miles) and were great... I replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport AS plus 2 Y speed rated tires, and they have been fine, and handle snow reasonably well.

So there you have it, a comprehensive review of a sporty sedan. I will add that it has been reliable, and for that reason alone, I would not trade it for any Porsche or BMW. Other than the backup camera and GPS voice, I have not had any repair issues since buying it.

The regular SER (non-Spec V) has a variable-ratio automatic that also has a paddle-shifter mode that synthesizes a manual transmission. I have driven them, and while the performance is not quite on par with the manual Spec-V, if you don't like manuals but still want a sporty ride, they are quite nice too. They had some issues with the automatic... be advised.

Faults:

None.

General Comments:

I flew to the West Coast, and the rental company had a Nissan Sentra waiting for me. I am 5'11" and weight 195#, so I had concerns with such a small looking car. I was also going to do 600 miles on mountainous driving so I had concerns with the small engine. Anyway, it was all they had.

What a surprise this vehicle was. I was very roomy inside, and comfortable for the rear passengers to. Lots of head room, and, the trunk was quite adequate.

The engine was quiet and smooth, and the CVT tranny made a peppy combo. Gas mileage was excellent and averaged 34 mpg mixed driving, which included a lot of mountainous driving. On a flat hwy it would be a real gas sipper I'm sure.

The seats were OK (I don't like side bolsters which create narrow seat backs). Rear tire noise could be less, but this car was the bare bones model so it was expected. There is very little wind noise, and the ride is surprisingly smooth for such as small wheel base. There were no squeaks or rattles, even though this car had 51,000 miles of rental use.

Biggest complaint is the rear vision when backing up and the side view when changing lanes. The car window line raises towards the rear, and is obstructive.