The 2010s offered a bit of a gold rush for sport compacts in the U.S.A. Ford brought three hot hatches across the Atlantic, Honda finally sent the Civic Type R to North America, Fiat gave us the raucous 500 Abarth, and Volkswagen went hard in the paint with the Golf R Spektrum. The decade produced so many great spiced-up small cars that it’s easy to forget about the Nissan Sentra Nismo, a worked-over compact sedan with an interesting lineage that never quite lived up to expectations. However, I reckon it’s a car worth remembering because, in a way, it was Nissan doing the best it could to relive the glory of the Sentra SE-R.
The Sentra Nismo’s Ancestor: The SE-R
The bloodline of fast Sentras all started in 1991, with the first Sentra SE-R. The recipe was simple—drop Nissan’s two-liter twin-cam 140-horsepower SR20DE engine into a Sentra, pair it with a viscous limited-slip differential, give the little car the brakes and suspension to handle the extra power, and turn it loose on the public.
The result was an overnight sensation, a dominant autocross force that quickly became the darling of sport compact car buyers. For the next generation, Nissan shifted the SE-R nameplate to the oft-forgotten Sentra-based 200SX front-wheel-drive coupe. With the same engine as before, but a larger, heavier body, it wasn’t quite as revered as the original Sentra SE-R, but Nissan was getting ready to make up for lost ground.
The B15 Sentra SE-R was definitely more memorable than the 200SX SE-R, transplanting the 2.5-liter QR25DE four-cylinder engine from the Altima into the compact Sentra, and offering two states of performance—a 165-horsepower SE-R version for people who wanted the looks, and a 175-horsepower SE-R Spec V model for those who wanted to go fast. See, the Spec V added a helical limited-slip differential, a six-speed manual transmission, a stiffer suspension package, and low-profile tires. The result was an inexpensive sedan with a big motor, although an unfortunate pattern of catalytic converter failure means we don’t see many B15 SE-R Spec Vs today.
However, we do see a handful of B16 Sentra SE-R Spec Vs. By 2007, the Renault Nissan Alliance was in full-swing for new product development, and this generation of Sentra rides on the same platform as the Renault Megane. Still featuring the QR25DE, the 2007 to 2012 SE-R Spec V kept the six-speed and the helical diff, punched horsepower up to an even 200, added structural bracing, sport suspension, and 12.6-inch front discs, then was turned loose on the public for $20,000. The result was the best Sentra SE-R since the original, a perfectly sensible compact sedan with a decent turn of pace. It beat a Subaru WRX in a Car And Driver comparison test, and clocked a zero-to-60 mph time of 6.4 seconds. Not exactly a Golf GTI, but certainly not bad.
The Sentra Nismo Comes After A Decade Of Silence
Flash forward to 2017, and the SE-R trim level is dead. Nissan had consolidated all of its performance trims under the Nismo brand, and with the old Sentra SE-R Spec V having been gone for years, it was time for Nissan to channel some of that 370Z Nismo energy. Trouble is, the brand went harder on the aesthetics of the Sentra Nismo than it did on the powertrain.
As far as showroom aura goes, the Sentra Nismo certainly looked the part. With flared skirts, aggressive bumpers, and more red accenting than a party bus, it let everyone know that it was the Sentra trim that wore Axe body spray and listened to Asking Alexandria.
The red continued on the inside of the Sentra Nismo, with faux-carbon trim accented by dashes of red, possibly the most inappropriate use of a red steering wheel noon marker, and well-bolstered front bucket seats that weren’t as constrictive as the Recaros on the Ford Fiesta ST.
Under the hood, you’ll find the same 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine making 188 horsepower and 177 lb.-ft. of torque that you’d find in a base Nissan Juke. That’s on the back foot compared to the Hyundai Elantra Sport and Honda Civic Si, but it was certainly stronger than most compact sedans of the time. This tiny boosted four-banger came mated to a six-speed manual transmission or a CVT, both coming with an open differential.
The result? When Car And Driver tested the Sentra Nismo, it ran from zero-to-60 mph in a modest seven seconds flat and through the quarter-mile in 15.4 seconds at 94 mph. Not the most thrilling figures, but certainly enough to outpace most compact sedans, even if the Sentra Nismo will be out-dragged by 2018-and-newer Honda Odyssey minivans. What’s more, it didn’t seem to fall apart in the corners, with the magazine writing:
The NISMO’s ride is well controlled and comfortable, tauter than that of a Volkswagen GTI but without punishing the occupants. The handling skews more toward understeer than neutrality, but the car’s reflexes are sharp enough that it’s still fun. The steering is weighty and quick—if devoid of feel—and the pedal calibrations make it so easy to heel-and-toe that you’ll find yourself doing it unconsciously every time you even brush the brake pedal rolling into a lazy 45-mph curve or easing up behind a tractor-trailer on a crowded freeway. If all you do is stomp the middle pedal, the Sentra NISMO will stop from 70 mph in just 156 feet, which would have tied it for the win in our last test of $40,000 scorching hatches.
Credit for the handling improvements doesn’t just go to recalibrated steering and new springs and dampers, but also a thicker cowl, stronger floor, and beefed-up parcel shelf offering actual structural reinforcement over a standard Sentra. Sure, the tires were still all-season units, but the Sentra Nismo seemed like a decent warm sedan, if not exactly a hot one.
However, take it out of a vacuum, and things get a bit disappointing when you realize that Nissan made something called the Sentra SR Turbo. Like the Nismo, this Sentra trim was initially available with a six-speed manual gearbox, and made 188 horsepower and 177 lb.-ft. of torque from a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine. Sure, it didn’t have the cosmetic touches or sport suspension, but it was just as quick and flew further under the radar. What’s more, pricing on the Sentra Nismo was strong—this thing started at $25,855 in 2017, and that was Volkswagen GTI or Subaru WRX money.
As such, the Nissan Sentra Nismo had a relatively short production run of just three model years, and today’s it’s more of a curiosity than a top used performance car contender. However, you have to remember that the previous decade was a dark one for Nissan from a product perspective, and the Sentra Nismo was a sign that people inside the company were trying to do what they could with what they had. If that isn’t what enthusiasts do, I don’t know what is.
Top graphic credit: Nissan
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I’m always in favor of cheap and cheerful, even if it’s got a Nissan badge on the grill. Wish they still made cars like this: inexpensive, hotted-up econoboxes. Not everyone can afford heavy German metal or needs 400 horsepower. Even for those who can afford such things, the smarter ones might rather drop half the cash for half the performance, leaving them with something like a Sentra SE-R (or Golf GT, etc…) rather than the full-zoot version. A SE-R is probably still plenty entertaining at legal speeds, and likely a bit of a hoot around town (w/o costing too much or getting more points on your license).
I approve and wish there were more cars like this around now.
The B15 Sentra was probably the last really good one for a long time (developed pre-Renault).
I don’t hate the B17 Nismo the way many do, but something about the execution felt very tacked-on.
If you really wanted a piece of Nismo history, it was (and is) an accessible option. But for the average driver, the SR made more sense.
Why start with the B15 and not the original Sentra SER?
The original SER with its NA SR20DE was a great little car. I don’t think any of them survive. They rusted like rot was designed into the vehicle from the start.
I actually test drove a Spec-V when they came out. I wasn’t amazed. It wasn’t that much lighter than the Altima, and I think you could get the Altima with a V6 at the time.
The Spev-V Sentra and / or Cube are the last Nissans that interested me enough to visit a dealership. That saddens me. I was a Nissan guy for a long time. I had three S12s and then made a long-term project of an S13 that still survives with the guy I sold it to in 2007.
I miss Nissan. 🙁
They *did* start with the original B13. They even included the unloved B14 200SX (I say that as a former B14 SE-R owner).
As a current S12 owner, and former S110 200SX, B14 SE-R and B15 Spec V owner, I miss the old Nissan, too. At one time I also had a B13 Sentra XE. It made up for the lack of power by being the best-handling front-driver I’ve ever driven.
In 2017: 188hp in a 1.6T for a premium, at a time when the Civic offered a 1.5T with 180hp without a premium pricetag – is a bit of a fail.
Moreso when you consider the Civic offered a hatch and the 1.5T across the board within a year.
The Nissan simply wasn’t worth it. And, to add insult to injury, it didn’t stand out like a fun car
I worked at a Nissan store when this launched. We sold……..one. And that was to a kid who wanted a 370Z but this is what NMAC approved for him. So he didn’t even come in for it.
The SE Turbo was exactly the same car that rode and looked better. Oh yeah, it cost $4,000 less too.
This was a dumb car.
Well, of course this is the best sports car ever built. The only one to utilize the benefits the Jatco Xtronic CVT has to offer!
Jatco! Now the party’s started!
I ground the gears in my manual transmission and recited Jatco Xtronic 3 times while looking into the rear view mirror. Lo and behold he appeared offering up the gospel of the Jatco Xtronic CVT as the superior choice for Nissan driving pleasure.
I did that too.
But the face of Jon Lovitz appeared instead.
Probably the one where he’s in the red devil suit. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I can’t believe I look forward to your posts.
While I’m sure the Juke’s 1.6T helped a lot, this generation of Sentra may have done more damage to the Nissan brand than probably any other car. The Versa was shit, but it was cheap shit. The Altima may be the official vehicle of credit-challenged owner does stuns on the highway shoulder, but at least most of those started as semi-ok cars. This Sentra SUCKED. It wasn’t competitive with any other compact sedan of it’s era, the interior was absolutely abysmal, and it was saddled with a powertrain that made you beg for the ancient 1.8L holdover in the base model Corolla.
I’ve driven two of these, and I wouldn’t take one regardless of what sort of warming Nissan did to it for the Nismo version.
I haven’t driven the newer Sentra, but at least Nissan seems to not be punishing their customers anymore. And it certainly looks far better, in the details and proportions.
This is spot on. I’ve had way too many of this generation of Sentra as rental cars and they were always awful.
I never drove one of the Nismo versions but I absolutely hated the last gen Sentra I drove. Like nearly everything about it.
In my experience one of the worst cars of the last 10 years.
I don’t really care about the Sentra because the Nismo Juke exists and it’s patently absurd. It walked so my car could run and looked incredibly ridiculous doing it.
If I found a clean manual Nismo Juke for sale, I’m not sure I’d be able to say no. It’s gloriously bonkers.
That was on purpose.
This morning, I saw this generation of Sentra that was clearly an SV someone slapped a NISMO badge on (beside the SV badge, of course). Last night, I saw a Cobalt LT that someone had slapped an SS badge on (while leaving the LT badge, of course). I guess I’m due to see a Kia Forte “GT” with hubcaps, just to fill out the “rental car cosplaying as the disappointing warm sedan” trifecta.
Yes, there was a good Cobalt SS sedan, but it also had turbocharged badges to identify it as the good one.
I remember the B16 Sentra, not because I recall ever seeing one, but because I sure remember that C&D article. I wanted a sport compact at the time, and so I soaked that comparison up. Wound up buying a ‘69 C10, which proves that if nothing else, my love of rusted out shitboxes dates back at least 15 years. That also may be the last meaningful article I ever read from C&D.
It was forgotten because it had no LSD, and was just a handling kit on a normal turbo Sentra. it didn’t even get a power bump when the NISMO Jukes 1.6T was available and would have been an easy swap.
It was a simple cash grab and not worth the time to look at or remember. I had really hoped it was going to be an Si fighter and was VERY let down.
I’ve played too much Forza Horizon to forget this thing.
It’s honestly one of my favorite B-Class cars, FWD & all that fun jazz.
This is one of those cars that reminds you of the pudgy, always out of work middle-aged guy who peaked in high school and has been spending every waking minute since then trying to relive past glory. (How many touchdowns with Polk High?) The B13 SE-R wasn’t perfect – it was tiny, loud, and became best friends with rust, but at the time, when the market was receptive to cheap, reliable, fun speed, right car at the right time. And then Nissan **** the bed with the 200SX SE-R, a bland blob with a raging joke of a rear suspension, and added pounds with no extra power. That was Nissan’s way of giving people the finger. And that cost them a lot of goodwill. And they’ve tried and tried, but nothing ever compares to the original. I’m sure this Sentra NISMO is a lot of fun to drive with a stick, but I also see a desperate car here – cheapened interior and materials, CVT option, and the stink that came with each Nissan at this time.
In 2025, people still look at the B13 SE-Rs and wish there was a good, unmodified one to purchase and have some analog fun with. I doubt in 2050, we’ll want a Sentra NISMO the same way us in GenX wants a real SE-R.
So, as a non-Nissan enthusiast (mostly because there is so little in the Nissan line-up to warrant enthusiasm) I had to look up B13 SE-R. It turns out that this was the 1991-1994 Sentra SE-R. This and the 240SX of the similar vintage was the last time I found Nissan to be relevant. I seriously looked at both the Sentra and 240SX (I bought a GTI 16V). At the time, Volkswagen and Acura had better competitors, but these sporty Nissans of the day were nothing to be ashamed of. This 2017 Sentra SE-R Nismo is a joke and a sign of the Nissan decline to come. These days, I ask my rental agencies for something else if they give me either a Nissan, a Kia/Hyundai, or a Malibu. I will take literally anything else on the lot. Quite a fall from 30 years ago.
I had a 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R SPEC V.
Bold of Nissan to price these on the same level of the Mk7 GTI which had a far nicer interior, more power, more cargo space, better exterior looks, more features, and was widely considered to be a great hot hatch. While the EA888 isn’t without it’s faults, I’d still rather own an aging Mk7 GTI than a boosted Nissan of this generation. That sentiment only grows exponentially when comparing the two automatic versions.
The DSG is a good transmission too. The Golf fanboys absolutely shun it, insist that only manual GTIs are valid, and will openly berate someone who admits they got a DSG GTI or Golf R but it’s a fun little transmission to interact with and it makes the car significantly faster.
The B15 Spec V was such a hoot. It was like Nissan was rebodying Quad 4 GM sport compacts from a decade prior. It rattled and creaked and moaned and the engine revved like someone throwing a bucket of hammers down the stairs, but damn it if the thing wasn’t a little rocket in corners.
As the former owner of a 2005 Spec V, this is the best description of the car I’ve ever read. The only thing you forgot to mention is the shifter feel, which also brought to mind a bucket of hammers. Or more accurately, a hammer inserted head-down into a bucket of more hammers.
But you could throw it onto an on-ramp at triple the recommended speed and it wouldn’t even chirp.