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Sedan,
Nissan,
First Drives
Nissan Brings A Subtle All-Arounder To The Toughest Block In Town
Creating a competitive new compact sedan in the US is perhaps the hardest chore that big automakers face today. Shoppers in this slice of the market really do require a single vehicle that will do just about everything for them: get great fuel economy, give a comfortable and confident ride, have a usable back seat with plenty of cargo space, offer an abundance of techy bells and whistles. At the top-spec levels, today's compacts face competition from entry-level midsizers, while at the bottom end they must compete with smaller, often more efficient sub-compacts that are better now than they ever have been in our country.
Further complicating things, this is a segment that still holds a lot of performance promise for Gen X and Gen Y buyers. More than a few of these 20- and 30-somethings found their first motoring thrills at the wheel of a
Civic Si,
Cobalt SS,
Jetta GLI or, pertinently, a
Sentra SE-R. Being able to feel that warmed-up-performance lineage could be the difference for a section of shoppers here.
Finally, and undoubtedly most important, every one of the new breed of compact competitors must offer easy-to-define value to this ultra-price-sensitive segment. Comparing base-specification MSRPs isn't going to cut it, as a transmission choice here and navigation package there can quickly raise your bottom line from $18,000 to $26,000 and more.
Continue reading 2013 Nissan Sentra
2013 Nissan Sentra originally appeared on
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First Drive: 2013 Nissan Sentra
