No sizzle, but Sentra gets job done

Tochigi test-drive: Nissan GT-R

Like a treasured trinket in a 10-year-old's bedroom, the Sentra resides in an odd place in Nissan's lineup. It's an important model, certainly, but one that gets lost on occasion.

No, the Sentra is Nissan's plugger, a model that does battle with better-known rivals such as Toyota's Corolla and Honda's Civic, without generating much buzz.

Styling of the new Sentra that doesn't appeal to everyone, including me, hasn't helped. The car has a thick quarter panel behind the rear wheels and a chopped-off rear end. From some angles, the Sentra reminds me of a Suzuki or a mid- '90s Saturn or even a Prius, and none of those is a good reference.

This car isn't fast, but it's not econobox slow, either. Rivals such as the VW GTI and Honda Civic Si feel tuned more toward performance-oriented buyers. The Sentra we drove had about $2,000 worth of options that took its window sticker to $22,070. Most notable was the excellent Rockford Fosgate stereo that played clearly and loudly. The Sentra has evolved from a first car into a family car and, perhaps for some, an empty-nester car. It had surprising room for my family of four, and its 13.1-cubic-foot trunk was large enough to carry a week of camp gear for our two boys and two more overnight bags.

Source: [url=http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/199187]Arizona Daily Star[/url]