We also couldn't get along with the awkward shift action of the Spec V's six-speed manual transmission. The shift lever is right where you want it, high up on a console next to your hand. But the cable-operated shift action is a bit balky and it takes a lot of effort to move the lever laterally across the shift gate to grab another gear. We also had one of the transmission's shift cables come loose from its mounting bracket. (A roadside repair saved the day.)


http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...leId=119877#14

 

Cool looking seats but that shift lever looks like a boner. Kinda like the way the Civic's manual trans is, or at least was.

 

Weak engine for the money. At that price it should have forced induction

 

For a small compact car, I think it has decent performance. By the size of the engine (2.5L) and healthy amounts of torque, this car should have good driveability in the city's traffic.

 

No. Wait. The car BROKE during testing, and they just kinda passed over it? Wow.

 

Passed over it? They most definitely mentioned it.

I mean they mentioned it just as much if not more as they mentioned the seat belt retraction assembly failing in the 3-series they had and the the Caddy that refused to unlock via remote under random circumstances (not a battery issue).

 

A broken shifter leaves you on the side of the road. The others, not so much. So yeah, the car BROKE, as opposed to GLITCHED, leaving you FUBAR, and it bears only a half-sentence mention.

Is that clear enough for you, O defender of the Received Marketing Wisdom?

 

A broken shift lever is a debilitating issue that's relatively cheaply, quickly, and easily fixed and very easily could have been caused by abuse. Did you want them to focus the entire article on it? I mean a Caddy that won't periodically let you unlock the doors or start the motor for no real reason is debilitating as well, and probably was not caused by abuse, nor fixable on the roadside. Yet the hardly mentioned that, either.

Oh, and cut the flame bait (not that "received marketing wisdom" makes any sense at all, anyway), thanks.

 

Still ugly as sin.

 

Seems decent enough for a compact car (if you can call the Sentra compact) but the new Sentra's design has left me cold. And the SE-R treatment doesnt make it any better. Its body has the same ugly curvature that the Ion 4 door has. I still think Mazda has the best looking compact sedan with the mazda3.

 

be a good test between that and the 2.4L Cobalt SS. Although I can see the Spec V being faster. The 177hp version would be tough to call.

 

This says it all:

"But following the same formula isn't going to be easy. That's mostly because the new Sentra shares a chassis platform with the upcoming Nissan Rogue crossover SUV, so it's even taller and wider than the Acura TSX and Mazda 6 midsize sedans."

Not even compact cars are safe from this pathetic SUV homogenization.


Also...I am surprised that no one has noted its resemblence to the Saturn Ion sedan.

 

K I'll mention it

A fair amount of resembalnce. Saying that it is better looking then the 4 door ION. I find the SER trim makes it loo a bit better then the base model