A little background. My daughter has been driving a 1988 Nissan Maxima for several years. It was a family hand-me- down and was a great car. At 80,000 miles she was faced with $2,000 in repairs last December. Given the age of the car and in spite of the low mileage she decided to sell it and buy a newer car. The Maxima had quite a bit of body damage (Not her fault.) also. She was very lucky when she found a student who decided at the last minute to sell his car before going home for December break. This is the car I am reviewing, a 1996 Nissan Sentra GXE.

Kelley Blue Book (www.kellybluebook.com) lists the car she bought with the same features. They are: Air Conditioning, Power Steering, Power Windows, Power Door Locks, Tilt Wheel, Cruise Control, AM/FM Stereo; Clock, Cassette player, and Dual Air Bags. It is a 4 cylinder, 1.6-liter, 5- speed manual, front wheel drive, 4-door car with 68,000 miles and kelly blue book has the retail price at $7,745. The car she bought only varies in mileage by 1,000! It had 67,000 miles when she purchased it.

She brought it to a mechanic she trusts who told her that she would need 2 new tires, a 60,000-mile tune-up and at some point a new clutch. She was looking at $800-$1000 in repairs. She paid $4,450 for it and sold the Maxima for $2, 250. Given that she did this all by herself, being 1100 miles away from me, I though she got a great deal.

During my stay in Atlanta recently I was able to get to know the car both as a passenger and a driver. We drove a lot both on the highway and in the heavily trafficked streets of Atlanta, Georgia. I also made daily trips to Dunkin Donuts for coffee every morning while she was still asleep. Her car is green with beige cloth upholstery. It looks great and rides great.

The interior:

•The car has a few small spaces to hold change, knickknacks and pockets on the doors for maps and napkins.

•One of the negatives, which will not bring my rating down, and some may see as silly, is the placement of the cup holders. They come out from beneath the radio. The problem with this is when the car is put into first gear, let’s say, there is a good chance my hand hit the coffee. It didn’t make it spill but not only is it annoying it also then hits the radio buttons and may change the radio station.

•The front seats decline easily and fully. I was basically in a lying position and very comfortable.

•There is plenty of room between the door and the seat to find the handle without cramping your hand or getting it stuck. The seats move easily forward and backward without worrying about them locking into place or not locking and having them move while driving.

•Each seat in the back folds down separately for added trunk room. The trunk isn’t large. It is 10.7 cubic feet (www.kellybluebook.com) but with the folding seat backs, I didn’t find the trunk so small I would rate the car down for this either.

•This Sentra is said to be a 4-5 passenger car. It has bucket seats in the front so only 2 people can sit there, obviously. Perhaps because my 3-series BMW’s back seat is so small, this looks luxurious to me, I am not sure. All I know is that my daughter’s boyfriend is 6’ 4” tall and is very comfortable in the back and 2 more of her friends could fit in the back comfortably making it a 5 passenger car. I checked Brad thoroughly while he was sitting in the back seat. His head easily cleared the ceiling and his legs were not crowded.

Obviously one's overall width size will come into play and 3 large people may not be comfortable making it a 4 passenger car. So the 4 or 5 differential, in my opinion, has more to do with size of the people in the backseat rather than length of the ride or size of the back which is what I read online.

The car in general:

I am a fan of foreign cars and Nissan is, in my opinion, one of the top 3 to buy. (Toyota and Honda the other two.)

•My daughter has been used to driving a 6-cylinder car and her only complaint is that even with the manual transmission it doesn’t have the pick up she is used to. I was not unhappy with the pickup at all. I think her expectations of a manual may have been different. Perhaps she expected it to perform like my car. (This is her first manual transmission car – she learned to drive it after she bought it.)

•The Sentra gets 30 miles to a gallon of gas in traffic and 40 on the highway. This is from the manual. I didn’t figure that out based on filling up the car with gas. It takes regular unleaded gas.

•I found the ride smooth, perhaps not as smooth as her Maxima, but we are talking top of the line (or close to it) and bottom of the line.

•I found both as a driver and passenger that the car handled very well. It takes corners nicely, stops nicely and can whip around a car that surprised me by taking a left turn without signaling!

•I felt that I had good control over the car and felt that she did also. It doesn’t have a “tinny” feel like some American cars in which I have been. (The Pontiac Sunfire to name one.)

•The Sentra can hit 60 mph in about 8.5 seconds, not as quick as a Neon but better than average for this class. (www.kellybluebook.com).

•Her car, of course, is not covered by a warranty. When it was new it had a 36 month or 36,000 mile basic warranty coverage.

In summary, I would highly recommend the Nissan Sentra. I am not a fan of buying used cars feeling that I am inheriting someone else’s problems, but in the 6 months she has owned it, there have been no surprises. In addition if you only have a limited amount of money to spend, it sometimes makes sense to buy a good used car such as the Nissan Sentra.

If you have any questions about this car, feel free to e-mail me. I feel I spent enough time with it to know it well enough to answer some basic questions you may have that I didn’t cover.


If you would like to read my other car reviews, here are the links:

2000 Nissan Altima
2001 Chevy Malibu
2002 Chevy Prizm
1998 Dodge Ram Van
1996 Nissan Sentra
2001 Pontiac Sunfire
1999 Toyota Camry
2001 Hyunda Accent
1998 Chevy S-10 Pick
1999 BMW 323is
2002 Subaru Impreza
2000 Suzuki Swift
2001 Chevy Metro
Amount Paid (US$): 4450
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1996
Model and Options: GXE Manual Transmission