Test Drive: 2011 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V

Design

It’s a bit of a shame that Nissan didn’t go a bit more radical with the Sentra SE-R Spec-V design. True, the Spec-V models have never really shone above the base Sentra’s, but they should. This car is designed and bred to appeal to a tuner crowd; a crowd that’s used to sticking over-exaggerated wings and skirt kits on their cars; a crowd that loves guttural exhaust notes and blow-off valves. The 2011 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V just doesn’t carry that kind of appeal.

Overall, the Sentra SE-R Spec-V is a nice design. The lines are clean and it has enough of a presence on the road to turn heads, even though it looks nearly identical to its normal, non-sport brethren. I think it was due to the charcoal rims on 17” rubber, but I could be wrong.

Inside, the generic looks continue, save for the oil gauge and G-meter gauge tacked on to the dash to give the car a sportier feel. I felt like I had to make the G reader move, which lead to more aggressive driving. And yet, when I did make the needle bounce, I felt nothing. But that’s for the next section.

Drive

Here’s a car that’s designed to hang with the cool kids. Yet, the moment it opens its mouth you realize its really not that cool at all, and its all been a facade from the beginning.

Granted, the Spec-V model gets a 30-horsepower boost over the SE-R model (which is also available with a CVT … I’m sorry, what?) bringing it to 200, but it’s not good enough. The 6-speed manual transmission is responsive and fun to drive, but there’s not enough response from the car itself to make me enjoy driving it.

This is supposed to be a tuner-bred car. This is supposed to be a vehicle you can drive off the dealer and straight into a sport compact performance show. And I think the V-bar and upgraded suspension and bushing rates are the only bits that make this Sentra a truly performance-driven vehicle.

Despite being a front-wheel drive vehicle, the Spec-V handles fantastically. I was instantly surprised with the grip this thing had in corners, no matter how quickly you tried to take them. Roll was nearly non-existent. And while the V-bar between the back seats and the trunk means your Sentra is completely useless for anything other than groceries (there’s no pass through and you can’t fold the seats down at all), at least you’ll be able to handle corners -- bonus.