 | Positives: Attractive exterior styling, sporty interior, excellent front seats, robust standard equipment set. |
 | Negatives: A drag to drive, noisy powertrain, mediocre interior tech, can't hold a candle to some of the competition. |
 | Bottom Line: The Sentra is sensible transportation that's very safe. It even looks like it can hold its own on the road, but the powertrain causes the Sentra to suffer when it comes to the driving experience. It lags far behind the top-sellers in the mainstream family sedan segment. |
Driving Experience
If you want to have fun behind the wheel, don't buy a Sentra. Its dearth of power and the noisy and sluggish CVT both annoy and anesthetize you. The strange juxtaposition of this powertrain next to great brakes and hefty steering is irony of the worst kind. If you want driving fun, you're best suited to turn to the Honda Civic or the Mazda3.
Ride Quality: The SR's 18" wheels make the ride firmer than models with 16" wheels. They look good, but the sacrifice is the ride comfort. It's not terrible, but you do feel the bumps.
Acceleration: 0-60 comes in at around 9 seconds, but the experience is actually worse due to the noisy and slow CVT. The Civic and the Mazda3 use traditional automatic transmissions, making them more responsive. The Sentra errs on the side of fuel economy.
Braking: The Sentra's brakes are excellent. Great progression and pedal feel combined with great stopping power.
Steering: The steering exhibits some solid effort but minimal feedback. It's precise and on-center.
Handling: The body roll is significant, and there's some mild oversteer. Taking it into corners is helped by the steering and its ability to place you where you want to go.
Technology
The Sentra S comes with a standard 7" touchscreen and a larger 8" touchscreen on SV and SR trim levels. It's situated atop the dashboard. There's no digital instrument cluster, but the Sentra does get a digital info screen in between the analog gauges. The Sentra also comes with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and there's an available eight-speaker Bose stereo, surround view monitor, and a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Infotainment System: The infotainment system is pretty no-nonsense and easy to read. It's also devoid of any flair or attractive graphics. While that might make it simple, it's a bit dull. It's also a bit on the slow side when it comes to responding to inputs.
Controls: The traditional shift knob, buttons and knobs for audio and climate, and the easy-adjusting HVAC vents make the Sentra less distracting to drive, and that's always a good thing.
Styling
The Sentra has held up remarkably well over the past few years. The rakish styling actually looks better on the smaller Sentra than it does on the big brother Altima. The interior is similarly sporty and well-executed. SR trim adds some dark bits and contrast stitching inside, a nice touch.
Front: Nissan gave the Sentra a handsome maw that's not overstyled. The dark grille with minimal chrome trim and handsome wraparound headlights looks great. Even the lower fascia intake is kept nice and simple.
Rear: These are some of the best taillights in the compact sedan class. They have character and a nice tapering shape toward the license plate frame. Even the trunk has nice beveling and a great lip spoiler.
Profile: The two tone look with the black floating roof looks sophisticated and sporty, along with the 18" five-spoke wheels. The creases around the wheel wells and on the floors add character. Overhangs are properly short.
Cabin: The sporty interior might belie the car's performance, but the Sentra's cabin looks good thanks to contrasting stitching everywhere, big round HVAC vents, and a flat-bottom steering wheel. The front seats are especially attractive with the red stripe down the top of the seatbacks.
Comfort
The Sentra might not have the rear legroom of its competitors, but the Zero Gravity front seats are standouts. The cabin has plenty of hard plastics, but Nissan uses soft materials at key contact points, which help tremendously.
Front Seats: The seats are near perfect thanks to great cushioning, bolstering, and adjustability. The seat cushions are long enough to support taller passengers, a dimension not often found on compact sedans.
Rear Seats: 34.7 inches of rear legroom falls short of the Civic and the Elantra, but at least the outboard seats have some contouring to them. The middle position isn't too bad because the cushion and seatback bulges are kept in check.
NVH (noise/vibration/harshness): Highway road noise is noticeable, and the powertrain is definitely noisier than we would've liked.
Visibility: Overall visibility is good, but the raked C-pillar inhibits some rear-side viewing. At least the rear parcel shelf isn't too high, making clear sightlines out the back window.
Climate: The large vents provide good airflow, and the heated seats work quickly. Automatic climate control was responsive, as well.
Safety
The Sentra did decently in 2024 crash testing. On the plus side, there are a ton of standard safety features and some good optional ones, as well. Buyers can upgrade their SV and SR trims to get adaptive cruise control and a 360-degree camera system.
IIHS Rating: It did not get the full testing from the IIHS, but it earned "good" in most of the crash tests but a demerit of "acceptable" in the updated side test. Headlights scored a "poor".
NHTSA Rating: Not tested.
Standard Tech: The Sentra comes with Active Understeer Control, Intelligent Engine Brake, Intelligent Trace Control, Active Ride Control, Automatic Emergency Braking w/Pedestrian Detection, Intelligent Forward Collision Warning, Rear Automatic Braking, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Intelligent Driver Alertness, Lane Departure Warning w/ Haptic Steering Wheel, High Beam Assist, and RearView Monitor.
Optional Tech: Our tester came with the optional Intelligent Around View Monitor.
Storage/Cargo
The Sentra does a good job of managing small items and also provides a well-sized trunk that's aided by a split-folding rear seat. It's comparable to the competition, and there's ample space for groceries, luggage, and gear.
Storage Space: The large front tray, small binnacle behind the shifter, large cupholders, and nicely-sized door pockets provide easily reachable small item storage.
Cargo Room: The Sentra has 14 cubic feet of trunk space, slightly smaller than the Honda Civic and about the same as the Hyundai Elantra.
Fuel Economy
The Sentra is a miserly vehicle thanks to the CVT and the small displacement 4-cylinder engine. Even in the joke of a sport mode, we were able to come close to the EPA numbers. We drove on both the highway and on local roads about equally.
Observed: 31.8 mpg.
Distance Driven: 221 miles.
Audio
The optional 8-speaker Bose premium audio system is a good one, and we're happy to see it on such an affordable sedan. The sound was clear, and bass was pretty good. We didn't experience any distortion when the volume was cranked up.
Final Thoughts
The Sentra is handsome, comfortable, and efficient. The driving experience, however, leaves much to be desired. The presence of the small engine and CVT means Nissan doesn't care much for driving fun. That's too bad when the Mazda3 with the upgraded 2.5 turbo engine is only slightly less efficient but far better to drive. The good news is that the Sentra is very comfortable for long drives, and it's very affordable.