SENTRA’S REFINEMENTS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Thoroughly refreshed Nissan compact is one of the best deals in its segment
Humans, apparently, derive up to 90 per cent of their daily vitamin D requirements from sunlight. That’s bad news for Canadians, since the angle of the sun through the long winter months prevents its beneficial ultraviolet rays from reaching us. Perhaps that’s why we — according to Nissan — like sunroofs “more than any other country in the world.”
All I know is that the gentle California light streaming through the glass overhead feels more like a balm for the soul than the body after enduring January’s bleak landscape back home.
We’re cruising up the Northern Pacific Coast Highway in a 2016 Nissan Sentra, which has just undergone a mid-cycle refresh. Often that entails slapping a new nose on the car, but in this case, the Sentra gains 20 per cent — or just over 500 — new parts.
Nissan invested three times what it usually does for a mere refresh. The compact-car segment has undergone explosive growth, and consumer expectations have risen accordingly, as competitors vie for their dollars. Therefore, most of the Sentra’s upgrades are aimed at giving it a more premium identity, beginning with its appearance.
Taro Ueda, Nissan North America’s vice-president of design, introduced the Sentra’s new face, which closer aligns it with the new Altima and Maxima. He describes the “3D line” coursing down the fender and connecting such elements as the signature boomerang headlights and V-motion grille into a “massive front end.” The 2016 Sentra also has LED lighting up front, including LED low-beams on the SR and SL trims. The rear end gets a new bumper and tail lamps. Interior changes include updated fabrics, and piano-black trim on dash and shift lever for up-level trims.
Just as important are the changes you can’t see. Small cars often feel cheap because of a lack of insulation and the use of acoustically unfriendly hard plastics. Soft-touch materials not only feel better, they absorb sound and give the cabin a more solid and premium feel.
The Sentra gains some highdensity dash insulation, a new sound-deadening material called Autozorb inside the doors, retuned engine mounts and a wind-noise-reducing, acoustic-sandwich glass windshield.
There are also several underthe-skin changes to improve driving dynamics. Steering software has been remapped to make it more responsive and the column itself has had a 23-per-cent increase in stiffness to reduce play. The tunnel housing is updated from flat, stamped metal to a boxed frame piece derived from the NISMO-tuned Nissan Juke. Front struts and rear shocks have also been retuned with stiffer rear bushings, and the spring and damper rates have been improved by 10 per cent.
The third-generation D- Step Xtronic continuously variable transmission, found in the Altima, Maxima and Murano, now makes its way into the Sentra. Operating in the low r.p.m. range, it keeps engine noise down and also consumes less fuel.
Thus equipped, the Sentra’s fuel rating is 8.0 L/100 km in the city, 6.1 on the highway, and 7.2 combined. This makes it more efcient than the Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corolla, but it falls short of the segment-leading Honda Civic. the Sentra can also be had with a six-speed manual.
The Sentra remains the same size and weight, and still features a 1.8-L four-cylinder engine, producing 130 horsepower and 128 pound-feet of torque.
Consumers are growing accustomed to an increasing level of technology and safety, and the new Sentra offers more driverassist technology and updated connectivity. Safety systems, depending on trim level, now include forward emergency braking, Nissan’s Intelligent Cruise Control, and a radar-based blind-spot warning with rear cross-trafc alert. But there’s no lane-departure warning or lane-keeping assist, which Honda offers on the Civic. According to Nissan, the 2016 Sentra is a Top Safety Pick from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Apple’s Siri Eyes Free system is now standard on SV, SR, and SL models, in a bid to keep your hands off the phone and on the wheel where they belong. A new TFT display showing GPS navigation, safety alerts, fuel economy and multimedia settings is available on the Sentra as well.
The first part of our day was spent in a top-trim SL with features such as leather seats, dualzone climate control, an eightspeaker Bose audio system, the aforementioned suite of safety systems and, of course, a sunroof. The cabin won me over with its refinement and lack of noise, and the feel of the 370Z-derived steering wheel.
Rough pavement reveals a stiffer suspension setup than we expected, and though some might find it harsh, the car handles very well without becoming unsettled. The steering has a nice heft to it and the improvements to both software and mechanical components have removed any on-centre vagueness.
Merging onto the highway is a bit of a challenge for the 130-horsepower engine. Acceleration is sluggish and the rising r.p.m. of the straining engine, combined with the CVT, results in a lot of moaning and groaning. Once up to speed, though, the Sentra cruises along happily serene once more.
Compared to others in the segment, the Sentra offers more front leg room and one of the largest and tallest trunks. It also has as much rear-seat room as some mid-size sedans.
The Sentra’s radar-based adaptive cruise control works well, with timely braking to maintain space between you and the vehicle in front of you. The system can even bring the Sentra to a complete stop, but releases the brake after a few moments, thus requiring the driver to take over.
We spent the remainder of our day in a mid-range SV with the Xtronic CVT. Nissan predicts this will be the volume seller, and while pricing isn’t available yet the company promises it will come in under $20,000. There’s a lot of value here, with a standard backup camera, heated front seats, a five-inch display in the instrument cluster, XM satellite radio, smart-key access, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, automatic headlights and tire pressure monitoring.
Aside from the cushy leather seats and bundled driverassistance suite, there’s not much lacking in this value-laden, SV-trimmed Sentra. Overall, it’s a really pleasant car to drive and when it isn’t pushed hard, the CVT’s programming does a great job of emulating a traditional automatic.
The 2016 Sentra arrives in Canadian dealerships this spring. With a long list of standard technology and available features, it’s one of the best deals in the compact segment, and the aggressive pricing should make choosing between it and the segment-leading Honda Civic that much tougher.