2014 Nissan Sentra SR Gas

Summary:

Not the same Nissan it was 20 years ago

Faults:

At 15,000 both front struts had broken.

At 50,100 the transmission went out.

At 65,000 the right rear brake mechanism literally fell apart.

General Comments:

The quality on the Nissan Sentra has gone by the wayside. The car has zero oomph. Sure, I can press the "sport" button to add torque, but after pressing the button for the first time, I realized that all it actually did was cause a light to come. There was almost no change in performance.

The seats are very uncomfortable. I travel up to 7 hours in one day for work and my back is screaming at me by hour two.

The wipers are pretty worthless. I can put on top of the line blades, but it's pointless because the wiper spring tension is so weak, it doesn't provide enough pressure to clear the windshield.

The trunk does seem roomy, except there's a bar that comes down when you shut the trunk, so there goes 8+ inches of trunk space.

Bluetooth works fairly well for phone calls, but doesn't stream music audio from my phone.

This was my first Nissan purchase and also my last. If I wasn't immediately underwater on my loan the second I signed that last dotted line, I would have traded it in by 2017.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 19th June, 2018

24th Jun 2018, 03:02

The Nissan/JATCO CVT transmission on these tends to be troublesome on other Nissan models as well.

Hopefully your replacement unit will serve you well :)

2014 Nissan Sentra SL 1.8

Summary:

Very much an also-ran

Faults:

Nothing significant.

General Comments:

An undistinguished compact sedan, at best. The most compelling reason to choose this over its competition is (1) trunk space, and (2) the discounts you can get from a dealer eager to get it out the door. Ours was a leftover 2014 purchased in February 2015 for those reasons.

The cabin and trunk are incredibly spacious, however the front seats are very poorly-designed, providing little support. Additionally, it can be difficult to achieve comfortable adjustment of the driver's seat and steering wheel. Even in the top trim level, both front seats are manual (in its competitors you get power driver's seat).

It gets good fuel economy, but at the price of being very slow by modern standards and providing a very high level of CVT "drone". The car seems very underpowered (it is rated at 130hp; almost all its competitors have about 15+ more).

Handling and braking display no dangerous tendencies, it's very predictable to handle.

Settled at a constant speed on the highway it is reasonably quiet and has an acceptable ride for a small car.

The infotainment system and smartphone integration works pretty well.

We have been very dissatisfied with our dealer's service department; they seem to be very greedy in terms of trying to sell us huge amounts of overpriced maintenance. Won't be dealing with them again.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 13th December, 2016

2014 Nissan Sentra 1.8

Summary:

The best bang for your hard earned buck

Faults:

Flawless at 10,000 miles.

General Comments:

The Nissan Sentra is the best bang for your buck. I decided it was time to get rid of my Subaru at 300,000 miles. To replace a 1998 Outback with a new model would be over $30,000. As a budget buyer, I looked at every model in this class. Corolla, Cruze, Civic, Focus and Elantra. I found these all to be good cars, but for the money I pulled the trigger on the 2014 Nissan Sentra. For about $20,000 I got a car loaded with options including navigation. The Sentra also gets 40 MPG.

My only complaints are small ones. The seats are a bit on the hard side and the CVT transmission takes some getting used to. Do not plan on taking home any trophies from the local drag strip. This is the down side involved in getting 40 MPG.

The car rides like its on rails and not a rattle anywhere to be found.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th August, 2014

27th Oct 2014, 03:35

I'm looking at buying one as a commuter car. The CVT issues make me nervous, since Nissan tries to achieve the best gas mileage by gearing up the CVT to near idle margins, putting stress on the CVT tensioner, leading to a shudder. The old CVTs on current Murano and Maxima did not have such issues. So I want a base model S with 6 speed. How is your car doing? How is the interior noise level and seating comfort?

7th Nov 2014, 06:57

No shudder, there is almost no wind noise. At 16000 miles, still not a single problem. When I was new car shopping, I was very impressed with the Hyundai Elantra, but three or four years later the trade in value will be much better on the Sentra. Seats are a bit hard, but still very happy with this car.

16th Nov 2014, 02:52

Thanks for the reply. I bought a 2014 Sentra S 6MT. I agree with you about the seats. The car seems to be good initial build quality, reasonably quiet below 70mph, and returns admirable gas mileage in the break in period. I have about 500 miles on the car and will write my own article after a few thousand on the odometer. Thanks again!