Don't sleep on the Sentra! _ 2022 Nissan Sentra Review.

The last time I drove a Nissan Sentra was almost two years ago to the day. Now, everything has changed since then except the Nissan Sentra. It's the same as it was when it was brand new in early 2020. I still think it looks sharp, drives pretty well, and offers a lot for little money. For 2022, the base price is barely even $500 more than what it was two years ago. Now, in 2022, think about all the other things you're paying for that cost a lot more. To help you spend your hard-earned money, subscribe to CarGurus and watch my earlier Sentra review if you're feeling a little nostalgic about way back when. New for 2022 is the Midnight Edition. This isn't it. I thought it was, but the only things this Sentra doesn't have are the black spoiler, badging, a rear black bumper, and black front grille trim. That's okay because it's really slick as it is. And this car has more options. It's loaded for with Destination. This is the top Sentra trim. It's the SR. You can tell by the fog lights, the bigger wheels. Now, these 18-inch black wheels, excuse me, they're a little bit muddy today. It's very icy. But when they're clean, they look really nice. They're also available on the Midnight Package. That's new for 2022. What you get on the SR, you can get a two-tone roof. I think that's pretty cool. Nissan has done floating roof designs like this for a while. And on an entry-level compact car, you don't really see that. It's a nice finish. It really adds to the overall stance. This car is wider and lower than it used to be, and it makes it look a lot more substantial than the smaller versus sedan. So that's why you should get one of these, especially the front. Nissan's doing a great job with the V-motion grille that you see there. It looks great. It's even darkened with the Nissan badge for that adaptive cruise. I like that versus being super shiny. It's kind of stealthy. And these LED lights, super bright. Now, check out the side. Peek at the rear. It's a good-looking compact car. In every way, the last generation Sentra looked dumpy and kind of frumpy. This Sentra is smart, confident, and proud of itself. And there's 14 cubic feet of trunk space. That's big for a small car. Now, let's go inside. It's all black. It might seem basic, but the more you sit here, the more you appreciate all the details that make you comfortable. Let's start with the seats. They're called Zero Gravity because Nissan's designed them in a way to alleviate strain on the body. They're in all the cushions, and it works. The steering wheel, really nice. It's got a flat bottom. It's leather-wrapped. It's soft. The dash, the stitching, the contrasting, it's great. The vent in the switch design is actually upscale. And even this faux carbon trim, it looks convincing. The driving position is low, yet there's plenty of visibility. There's room for four. I mean, actual room for four. This is why you get a Sentra over the little Versa. Now, there's also rear side airbags. That's a safety feature you almost never see in any car. And there's two knee airbags up front, 10 airbags in total in this car. The things you still can't get on the new Sentra, wireless charging. This pad is here. It's nice. It doesn't do anything. There's no factory navigation, and there's no ProPILOT. There's a blank switch here on the steering wheel, where on other Nissan models that are upgraded, you get ProPILOT. That is the semi-automated driving assistant that works really well. There's not even lane centering here. But I do appreciate Nissan keeping the price low. That's why these features aren't here. But still, for people who want to pay, I think it'd be nice to have. Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, they require a wire. It's not a terrible thing. There's also a USB-C port here if you need. The only problem is the cameras. 360 degree cameras are nice. Nissan was one of the first non-premium manufacturers to give us that, but they look really fuzzy. We're talking like VGA, old webcam kind of fuzzy. So that could be improved. However, dual-zone climate is also nice in a car like this. It works really nicely, and the controls feel good. My favorite, of course, is this heated steering wheel. Man, that feels great on cold winter mornings. And, of course, a Bose stereo, eight speakers on this SR trim. It's really easy to choose a Sentra because there's only one engine powertrain to choose from. It's a two-liter inline four, naturally aspirated, 149 horsepower, 146 pound-feet of torque, front-wheel drive, and a continuously variable transmission. That's it. Now, even though the power on this engine is less than my 23-year-old Volvo, it moves just fine. The CVT is programmed well enough that even without paddle shifters, it keeps up with traffic. You don't have a problem with the revs going too high. Nissan's actually been good because I complain a lot about CVTs because they tend not to put you in the right power band for performance driving. But in this car, you're not about performance. There's nothing performance-minded about it, and that's okay because it gets up to speed. I've taken it on some long-distance drives to New York and Massachusetts, and I'm pleasantly surprised with just how refined it is. Pretty quiet. The engine's not very buzzy. No, you don't get a lot of power, but you do get a lot of fuel efficiency. It's 29 city, 39 highway, and 33 combined on everything but the SR, which is a little bit lower. But who cares? That's huge numbers for a car that's not a hybrid. And for a car that's starting around $20,000, it's not a big outlay either. That's not to say I wouldn't want more power because in the road, Nissan has brought their 1.5-liter turbo that makes 201 horsepower. That would fit just fine in here, and I think this would be a great car to bring back the Nismo name that they used to have. They used to have manuals. Now, you can't get everything. I understand that that's not going to be a volume model, but Honda Civic Si, I just drove that. Check out the review. You'll find that that has the same kind of power, same kind of performance. Nissan could go right back into that game, and I think they deliver a pretty strong performance. The dynamics are impressive. This is supposed to be a basic entry-level car. It's one up from the smaller Versa sedan, but this car just feels planted. It looks sporty on the outside. It actually is sporty on the inside. And the chassis, as it stands, is good. They have an independent rear suspension. Overall, it's pretty good, actually. I'm on 18-inch wheels right now, and that means they look pretty, but they're a little flintier with the ride, a little rougher. I was just driving through New York City with this car, and even though I was kind of zipping through the like a city taxi driver, it definitely crashed over some bumps, and you could definitely feel it. The Sentra I drove two years ago had 16 inches, and that kind of diameter tire is going to soak up the bumps a lot better. So you'll lose some style, but the ride quality is definitely improved with smaller tires. The seats are really comfortable. Nissan calls them zero gravity. That's just the engineering they use to basically design the cushions and to alleviate the stress on the body. That's marketing speak, but driving this for hours on end, I do feel pretty comfortable. Other type of cars they'll put, you know, you get these like pains in your thighs. Maybe I'm just sounding old, but that happens to us old people. You get older, it doesn't get easier in a car. It gets harder. So why not be comfortable? You don't need to be driving an Infiniti or any other type of luxury car to get good seats. You get them right here in this Nissan Sentra. The instrument panel display has all the customization and information that you'll need. And there's standard emergency forward braking and rear braking, blind spot monitoring, auto high beams, lane departure. It's all there. The 2022 Sentra starts at $19,510. There's three trims, S, SV, and SR. A couple option packages. It's simple to order. My SR was loaded for $27,270 and represents a pretty good value. However, you can get a Honda Civic SI for the same price or Volkswagen Jetta GLI. Those sedans drive way better and have more tech. At a mid-level price around $24,000, the Sentra is harder to beat, even next to a regular Civic, a Corolla, or the Elantra. I like the Sentra because things don't get very complicated here. It doesn't get too expensive and it gives people what they want and what they need. I think there could be a little bit more wanting in the Sentra, perhaps the turbocharged engine in the Rogue, the ProPILOT driving assist. This car can actually afford to be a little bit more expensive, and I think that would make the Sentra even better. But as it stands, it's really competitive, even two years into its lifespan. I like this car. What do you guys think? Subscribe to CarGurus, watch more compact sedan reviews, every type of review. We do it all right here, every week. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.