The 1993 Nissan Sentra GXE is a compact car that offers everything you'd want in a big car, except the bulk. From the February 1993 issue of Car and Driver, this little Nissan four-door is right in the middle of what's always been a tough neighborhood. The streets here are crawling with four-doors that measure within a thumb's width of this Sentra's 170.3-inch length, have comparable room inside, and have the inevitable 1.6-liter four under the hood.
But old neighborhoods change. The prices here are probably still higher than you'd like, but the cars have become just like real cars only less big. None is more like a real car than this Sentra GXE. The Sentra line was all-new for 1991, and we continue to let loose billows of euphoria over the sporty Sentra SE-R, which resides on our Ten Best list. The GXE is a different deal. It plays the role of "nice car," the "nicest" thing in Nissan's bargain basement. At $14,495 including destination charges, the price arguably belongs on the main floor. But this is absolutely a main-floor car in its equipment and in its behavior.
View Price on AmazonThe list in this GXE covers power everything, including windows, locks, and mirrors; air conditioning; cruise control; tilt steering; a four-speaker AM/FM/cassette; anti-roll bars front and rear; and a driver's-side airbag. Our test car also had optional anti-lock brakes and a CD player. The GXE looks nice. It has alloy wheels, body-colored bumpers, and subtly hued herringbone cloth on the seats and doors—touches that make real cars look so much ritzier than econoboxes.
It goes nicely. The 1.6-liter four produces 110 horsepower from its twin overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, and sequential port fuel injection—equipment that not so long ago was available on only the most advanced models. And it rides nicely. The suspension doesn't beat you up just because you didn't pay large. Certain ride motions—pitch, for example—are inevitable in cars without much distance between their wheels, and the Sentra is by no means exempt. But pound it doesn't.
That still doesn't explain this car's friendliness, its amiability, its urbanity. The niceness of the Sentra comes from deep in its pores. About the only way to explain it is to say this car is nice by design. After years of building cars with hard corners, Nissan has found a winsome look that's soft on its edges, graceful in its forms. The Maxima led the way in 1989, and now the subsequent models, each in turn, appear as Maximas of lesser stature. It's particularly agreeable inside, where the instrument panels, door panels, and seats have a sculptural flow about them that makes for wonderfully harmonious surroundings.
Source: caranddriver.com
