Thank you to Middletown Nissan for allowing me to take a drive in this Nissan Sentra S!
The enthusiast community has not been particularly kind to Nissan, but most of the flak seems to come due to issues with their CVTs (continuously variable transmissions). So maybe a manual one could be a good option.
Walking up to the car, the Nissan Sentra S is fairly unassuming. It's a commuter car, and it doesn't look like something that's going to get me into too much trouble.
Hopping in, the interior is simple in a refreshing way. There's no big infotainment screen in the middle, there's no gloss black or fancy trim, and the seats are standard cloth black/grey.
Sitting down in the back seats, there's a ton of room. I may only be 5'7", but I had about a foot in front of me, so this car would be fine for adult passengers in the back.
Getting into the driver's seat, it's fine. It's not cushy, but it's not uncomfortable. I would have no issues driving around town or commuting in this car, as far as comfort goes.
Left foot on the clutch, right foot on the brake, I pop the key into the slot and turn it on. Handbrake down (real handbrake!), I put it into first. The clutch feels a little cheap and plasticky, but it's got a decent weight to it. It's on the lighter side, but not too light. The shifter feels pretty cheap and plasticky as well. It's also very light, and there's a lot of play to it in the neutral area. It doesn't confidently pop itself into the middle of the gearbox when you pull it out of gear, and finding first feels a bit sloppy.
Getting moving, it's actually got some decent get-up to it. I pull out into traffic, I get up to speed with no issues. Coming out of my GTI, I usually feel like the standard non-turbo, 4-cylinder sedans feel underpowered, but this one feels perfectly fine for commuting.
Driving around town, the visibility is good, the handling is fine, road noise isn't bad, and it's decently smooth. I get the wheels spinning a few times, trying to come off the line from a stop a little too hard. But generally, it's really not a bad ride. Rev hang is definitely noticeable, but it doesn't bother me too much.
The tech for this one is minimal, as mentioned before. There's no infotainment screen, so no backup cam or Android Auto/Apple CarPlay, but it does have a standard radio with Bluetooth, USB, aux, and a CD player.
The moral of this story, is that the car is...fine. For someone just looking for a cheap daily, that's fuel efficient (27 mpg city/35 mpg hwy), doesn't have a giant screen in center dash, and has plenty of space for kids or adults or whatever it is you may be hauling around, this is a pretty solid option. I'd probably want to swap out the shifter for something with a little more weight to it. And I'm hoping that the sloppy gearbox was just an issue with the bushings, but it's a little worrisome on this one that only has 32k miles on it.