The 2016 Nissan Sentra is here, and it is the next model to get the “new face of Nissan” – V-Motion grille, boomerang headlights other touches here and there – which is good as the last car was getting a little long in the tooth.
Touchscreens are all the rage these days, but it’s frustrating (and potentially dangerous) to have to spend precious seconds looking for the button you need
And the new styling works well with the Sentra. Especially in SR trim, which adds unique 17-inch two-tone wheels that are just close enough to aftermarket, without looking like they’re sourced from the back pages of the Canadian Tire catalogue.
The styling additions are also good because under the skin, there isn’t a whole lot going on that’s new. The engine has the same power as last year’s car (130 hp, 128 lb-ft of torque), the transmission is still an Xtronic CVT – there is no manual option on the top to trims – although it has been tuned to provide more perceptible shifts.
This hangs me up a little because for a car that’s being championed as kind of a sportier alternative (in SR trim, anyway) to the Hyundai Elantras, Kia Fortes and Toyota Corollas of the world, well, the lack of a manual transmission is a strange omission.
It just makes me wonder exactly where the Sentra’s going to fit on the competitive compact sedan world. Especially when you consider that the Honda Civic is all-new for 2016 (and it’s not like that’s going to be a hot seller, right?), as is the Elantra, so the Sentra has a lot of fresh faces to deal with.
Where it does do well, however, is when it comes to interior accoutrements. There’s no more room than there used to be, but some new materials gracing the door panels, centre stack and armrest are welcome additions.
The bigger news is the infotainment system which gets a new touchscreen matched by a new five-inch display nestled between the gauges. Siri eyes-free capability has also been added, which I think is an important addition. Touchscreens are all the rage these days, but it’s frustrating (and potentially dangerous) to have to spend precious seconds looking for the button you need, or ensuring that you don’t over-boost the fan et cetera. Eyes-free tech is good tech to have on the road.
Also good to have are safety features, and there are a tonne of them. For the first time, the Sentra gets Nissan Safety Shield tech. Essentally an umbrella name for a host of driver aides, Safety Shield adds forward emergency braking, intelligent cruise control, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert. Indeed, this is all optional stuff depending on trim, but the fact that it’s been made available is a boon for a car in the compact class. That’s a lot of tech, and if it’s priced tight, it will attract buyers. (Canadian pricing has not been announced, but it starts at US $16,780)
The suspension has also reportedly tuned to deliver a more involving ride, and if you select the SR, it goes further still. If the effect is anything like the difference between the two top Maxima trims - SR and Platinum - then the two Sentra trims could very well diverge quite noticeably in the handling department.
The ride and handling will have to impress, because when it comes to styling, both the new Civic and Elantra (revealed alongside the Sentra in LA) have the Sentra beat. It’s not that the Sentra’s bad looking; it’s handsome, if not terribly exciting. Which is strange, because both the refreshed Altima and the all-new Maxima are quite the lookers; granted, their overt styling flourishes (like the “floating roof” effect provided by the Maxima’s blacked-out c-pillars, for example) may turn off the more conservative family sedan buyers - and there are definitely conservative family sedan buyers - but Nissan deserves to be praised for taking some risks with those cars.
Maybe because the Sentra is in such an important segment, Nissan didn’t see fit to add stuff like that floating roof, or big side creases and so forth. Also, let’s not forget that the Sentra makes up only a portion of Nissan’s compact/subcompact line-up; there’s also the Versa Note and the Micra, both cars that are not only priced right, but look the part, too.
So we look back at the Sentra. Maybe we’re barking up the wrong tree with the Civic and Elantra. Maybe we should be looking at something a little more conservative when we consider what the Sentra’s after. Something that sells in droves, also has a CVT transmission and also displays a kind of “I’m not saying I’m trying to be the belle of the ball, but there is some stylistic flare here and there” attitude. Something Japanese, of course. I go back, of course, of the Toyota Corolla, that as bread-and-butter-as-bread-and-butter gets, million-sold econobox revered by nannies and cabbies alike.
If that’s the case, then Nissan could very well have a play; those buying types would love to hear about that suite of safety tech, the new infotainment system and often, just the word “Siri” will have them reaching for their wallets faster than Doc Holiday reaches for his Colt six-shooter.
Then again, there’s always the chance the Sentra could very well drive just as well as the biggest sellers, if not better. If that’s the case, then any discussion of styling or added features - which is all we really have to go on at the moment - while not irrelevant, could take a back seat. Maybe the new suspension set-up (well, both new suspension set-ups) will have it driving so well, we’ll forget we even knew what a “floating roof” was.
Guess we’re going to just have to wait and see.
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