2000 Nissan Sentra

By Bob Storck

The Tennessee-built Sentra is subtle and compact, with no flash and much elegance. The Nissan design team sacrificed styling for a roomy interior. The excellent, comfortable seats offer support and plushness.

The all alloy, dual cam 16 valve 2.0 liter four cylinder engine is extremely smooth, with high torque throughout the driving range. Few will find the Sentra performance lacking. The manual transmission uses rods instead of cables in the shifter linkage, which makes gear selection crisp and positive.

To keep the wheels on the ground, the designers chose a multi-link front suspension while the rear has struts with dual transverse links. This approach is uncommon in an economy priced front drive car but right at home in the Sentra. The effect is decidedly sporty for a compact car.

An all-new, larger and more powerful 2000 Nissan Sentra is set to debut in January. It will feature a totally redesigned exterior and interior and will be built on an all-new global front-wheel drive platform. The 2000 Sentra sedan was certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as the only gasoline-fueled vehicle in the world yet to attain the agency's most stringent Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) tailpipe standards.