Despite a brush with bankruptcy, Nissan has churned out a stream of strong performing, stylish cars and trucks over the past few years. Lately, the only vestige of its boring car era was the Nissan Sentra. Sure, the Spec V could be a blast to drive, at least if you could (literally) handle the torque steer. But the sheetmetal could not have been more boring.

Well, a fully redesigned Sentra has finally arrived, so I stopped by a dealer to take one for a test drive. I ended up in a base sedan with CVT, but also looked over a heavily optioned Sentra 2.0 S.

Styling

You'd think that one sedan with the gawky styling of the Saturn ION would already be one too many. But for reasons that escape me, Nissan saw fit to give us another. The surfacing of the new Nissan Sentra is crisper and more sophisticated than that of the plastic-bodied Saturn, but the awkward, chunky proportions and arched roofline over a reverse cut rear door window are much the same.

To get a sense of where the proportions go wrong, consider that the much more graceful Honda Civic has a slightly longer wheelbase, three inches less length, and a three-inch-lower roofline. There's just way to much visual mass hanging out ahead of and above the new Sentra's front tires. And as on the similarly proportioned Chrysler Sebring, the arched roofline doesn't have enough length to play out, and must descend too abruptly to the stubby rear deck.

To give credit where credit is due, Nissan did come by this failed look honestly: the same lines (along with details like the vertical headlights) are also seen on the Nissan Maxima. Difference is, the Maxima gives a lower roofline more length over which to play out, and so it's a fairly attractive sedan. Like much designer clothing, this fashionable look just doesn't tranlate well to portlier proportions.

But at least the new Sentra's exterior isn't boring like the previous one's was.

The new Sentra does look better with the optional, inch-larger alloy wheels. But that's true of just about any car.

Inside, Nissan's new compact fares better. The styling is clean, even a bit sophisticated, and the materials look and feel sturdy, which is a step up from the last generation of Nissans. The shifter sits on an extension of the instrument panel, which won't be to everyone's taste. For an upscale ambiance, leather is standard in the top trim. I didn't see a car so-equipped, but the burnt orange leather shown in the photos looks sharp.

The best thing about the interior might well be that Nissan didn't attempt anything funky with the instruments. They aren't in the center of the instrument panel, and they aren't split into two levels.

Accommodations

Nissan is stressing how roomy the new Sentra is. But there's not an usual amount of legroom in the car, even compared to other compacts. There's enough front and rear legroom for adults to fit behind adults, but this is true of most compacts these days. Headroom is also about the same as in the Civic despite the much taller roof.

Instead, the Sentra's largest advantage is midsize-class shoulder room, nearly 57 inches in front and 55 in back. The Civic comes up about three inches short in both areas. The Sentra actually ties the Accord in front seat shoulder room, and nearly ties it in back. As a result, the car feels almost midsize inside. But not quite. The high, upright driving position doesn't let you forget that this is still a compact.

About that driving position: you sit high behind a moderately tall instrument panel, and look forward through a large arching windshield. Like in the Ion, except there's an instrument cluster in front of you to visually break up what would otherwise be a large expanse of dash. This isn't quite my ideal, but compared to the downright swoopy windshield and vast, double-decker instrument panel of the new Civic it's downright comfy.

The seats are fairly comfortable, and definitely feel more substantial than those in the average compact. Yet I recall the seats in the smaller, cheaper Nissan Versa being better shaped, better padded, and generally more comfortable. An adjustable lumbar support would help the Sentra, but one isn't offered. I would have liked to tilt the seat cushion back a bit, but such an adjustment is also not offered. The base car I drove had no height adjustment whatsoever, while uplevel trims have only a single height adjustment.

The Versa also had a nicely padded armrest on the door. That in the Sentra is relatively hard vinyl that might just be the cheapest looking bit in the interior. I figured that maybe the uplevel trim has a nicer armrest. But I looked in a $20,000 Sentra, and it had the same armrest as my $16,000 tester did.

As noted above, in back you'll find almost as much room as in a midsize sedan, but the seat itself is nothing special aside from almost being high enough off the floor to provide proper support for adults thighs.

The trunk, at 13 cubic feet, is a bit larger than that in the average compact. While it doesn't extend very far forward, it is vertically deep. The rear seat folds to expand the trunk, but the front passenger seat does not fold to accommodate especially long items.

On the Road

When Nissan first offered a 140-horsepower 2.0-liter four in the Sentra back in the early 1990s, it was newsworthy. The first Sentra SE-R was a spunky little car, even the poor man's BMW. Well, the base engine is now a 140-horsepower 2.0-liter four. But the curb weight has gone from about 2,400 to over 2,900. (The current Civic sedan weighs about 2,500 pounds.) It seems that almost midsize dimensions plus refinement plus today's safety equipment yields an almost midsize curb weight.

As a result, straightline performance is just adequate. I drove a car with the continuously variable transmission (CVT), which enables the engine to operate continuously near its power peak when this is called for. I didn't care for the attending noise. This four isn't especially noisy for a four, but the buzz it does make simply isn't music to the ears.

The Sentra's CVT generally behaved well. It didn't seem to start with a short enough ratio, such that the engine is initially well off its peak, and off the line the Sentra feels a bit sluggish. But with a moderately heavy foot the CVT made its way to about 5,000 rpm, then held the engine there as the car picked up speed. For tackling a challenging road, the CVT can be shifted into L, where it holds more rpm and brakes the engine when you lift off the gas. All in all, the CVT doesn't feel as natural as a conventional transmission, but it doesn't feel terribly strange, either.

The big benefit of the CVT seems to be fuel economy, as the Sentra earns 29/36 ratings from the EPA despite its hefty curb weight. The numbers for the smaller Versa are essentially the same.

The new Nissan Sentra's handling is capable, with a solid feel and an almost reasonable amount of roll when the car is pushed moderately hard. Push harder and you'll find understeer and an amount of roll that say "back off," typical of a nose-heavy front-drive compact without a sport suspension. The steering in a Honda Civic or Mazda3 is considerably quicker, lending those cars a sportier character. The Sentra's system could also provide more road feel.

Ride quality is fairly good for a compact, but many do well in this area these days. Patchy pavement can still yield a somewhat busy ride, even with the high-profile 15-inch tires on the base sedan I drove. Except when the engine is struggling to accelerate the car, noise levels are lower than in the average compact.

Overall, the Sentra is a competent but boring performer.

Nissan Sentra Price Comparisons and Pricing

The Sentra starts juts $250 below the Civic, with a base MSRP of $15,355. But it includes considerably more content than the Civic, both when comparing stripped base cars and when comparing fully loaded cars. Among other things, you can get Bluetooth hands-free calling, keyless access and ignition, leather, and a Rockford Fosgate audio system in the Sentra. Adjusting for feature differences usually puts the Sentra about $1,500 below the Civic.

But what about the Koreans? Well, the also new 2007 Hyundai Elantra runs about $500 below the Sentra. Not a large difference: either the Sentra is priced like a Korean car, or the new Elantra is priced like a Japanese one.

Prices change frequently, and differences will vary based on feature level. To quickly generate these and other comparisons with the specific features you want, visit my Web site, www.truedelta.com. (It's the only site that provides true "apples-to-apples" price comparisons.)

TrueDelta's page for the Nissan Sentra:

http://www.truedelta.com/models/Sentra.php

Last Words

The new Nissan Sentra combines awkward styling with merely competent performance. So why would people buy this car? Well, it is fairly roomy, and it offers features you won't generally find in a $20,000 compact sedan. Not enough to win me over--I'd much rather have a Mazda3 or Civic--but if you're into bells, whistles, and hands-free calling the new Sentra might just be the car for you.

A Note on Nissan Sentra Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.

Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy a Sentra rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Nissan Sentra reliability comparisons.

Before I can report results, I need reliability data on all cars--not just the Sentra--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
Chevrolet Cobalt review
Dodge Caliber review
Ford Focus ST review
Honda Civic review
Kia Spectra5 review
Mazda3 review
Nissan Sentra SE-R review (previous generation)
Nissan Versa review
Toyota Corolla review