So far we have had some problems with the new car. We found a serious safety defect which may be through the whole line, and a serious valve cover leak.
Apparently when comming down a winding mountain road where you are only doing 10-20mph when you shift into low the transmission stays in equivalent to 3rd gear causing us to ride the brakes nearly constantly comming down.
But it did give us the opportunity to become familiar with the new Sentra so here are my impressions of it as well as a rating compaired to our other vehicles.
At 75mph the FE indicator on the dash ranged from 35-45mpg. Its lifetime average is 35mpg. I figure some of you here could probably top 45mph average and 50-60 on the highway. It seats 4 "normal" sized adults ok. It is pretty sporty and was able to hold steep grades at 75 with decent ease, in other words for an economy car its got more than enough power. The shifting was swift and seamless and asside from the engine noise un-noticable. Handleing is crisp and precise.
Now the not so good.
It has horible ammounts of road noise, and a very harsh ride. Every bump in the road is both heard and felt. It is actually worse than my 14 year old Frontier when I have its tires aired up to 45psi. Neither my wife and I could get comfortable in it as it lacks much in the way of leg room. I had to get out and stretch my legs after only 1 hour of driving. Mind you my wife and I are no where near normal sized adults. It is unstable in cross winds. The engine makes a lot of noise when the RPMs get past 2500-3000
Road noise comparison best to worst
2013 Pathfinder
2005 Accord
1999 Frontier
2013 Sentra
1984 CJ 7
1966 Mustang (muscle car)
Ride (smoothness)
2013 Pathfinder
2005 Accord
1984 CJ7 (trail pressure)
1999 Frontier
1984 CJ7 (road pressure)
2013 Sentra (I wanted to take it down a real rough road at speed to losen it up some)
1966 Mustang
Seating comfort
2013 Pathfinder
2005 Accord
1984 CJ7 (aftermarket susspension seats
)
1999 Frontier (auto reviewers have always complained about the uncomfortable seats in it, they arent bad, but they aren't that good either)
1966 Mustang
2013 Sentra (for us anyways, and it was far worse than the Mustang)
Overall comfort
2013 Pathfinder
2005 Accord
1999 Frontier
2013 Sentra (only because it has AC and a reasonable heater)
1984 CJ7 (It lacks doors sides top etc and the heater was only an afterthougt)
1966 Mustang
Fuel ecconomy
2013 Sentra (by a long shot)
2005 Accord
2013 Pathfinder and 1999 Frontier are tied
1966 Mustang
1984 CJ7
Performance (this came out more subjective than I would like but the top few are pretty close)
2013 Pathfinder
2013 Sentra
2005 Accord
1966 Mustang (only because it doesnt manuver as well as the rest)
1999 Frontier
1984 CJ
Highway stability in high wind
2005 Accord
2013 Pathfinder (surprising to me even)
1966 Mustang
1999 Frontier
2013 Sentra
1984 CJ7
Today
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