2003 Nissan Sentra SER Spec-V 2.5 from North America

Summary:

I absolutely love with this car, but it does have problems!

Faults:

Bought the car brand new in 2003.

By 38,000 miles, it was sucking a lot of oil. After calling Nissan corporate and complaining that they were about to lose a loyal customer (this is my 5th Nissan), they replaced the engine at 50,000 miles on the powertrain warranty.

Check engine light came on 2 years later, and was told it was an EGR valve (vehicle emissions) and a hard-starting issue that would only get worse. The car starts every time.

Fast forward 4 years after engine was replaced... The car is burning a quart of oil every other week again. Compression check of cylinders was good. Got the exhaust replaced after 8 years, and 2 months later was told the oil issue has something to do with a bad catalytic converter (which I had not replaced, everything but) so to replace that would be $800, and that wouldn't necessarily fix the issue in engine, so another new engine would be $3,500. The car now has 167,000 miles on it, so the 2nd engine lasted 117,000 miles.

General Comments:

I absolutely love this car, it's the most fun to drive out of any I've had. Test drove other cars, and just couldn't part with this one. It has lots of speed and corners well.

I didn't know when I bought it that the 17" low pro tires wouldn't drive through snow (I live in WI) so I had to purchase 15" snow and ice tires, plus RIMS for them, so I swap every winter.

Rockford Fosgate stereo is great!

The steering wheel and how the car responds right away is awesome. As is the 6-speed shifting, everything is tight, not loose and wobbly.

I love this car, wanted to keep it another 2 years as typically, Nissan's go forever, but with all the problems of the 2.5L that I read about when having the first engine problems 4 years ago, I wouldn't get another unless I found they had fixed the problem in later models.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 30th December, 2011

30th Aug 2017, 02:54

A junk Renault with a lot of features... yeah, I'll pass.

2003 Nissan Sentra GXE 1.8 liter from North America

Summary:

Seal leaks for this car are problematic, but otherwise it has been fantastic

Faults:

Since 100k miles, I have had to replace the head gasket.

Front crank seal.

Rear main seal.

Oil pan gasket.

Right front wheel bearing.

Gear shift indicator lights gone out.

Can't open trunk using the remote opener.

Window washer fluid light stays on when washer fluid is in the reservoir.

General Comments:

Other than the general wear issues, car has been great.

Driver's seat is very low to the ground. Feels like I'm riding a skateboard with doors.

Looks good. Very dependable.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 24th April, 2011

2003 Nissan Sentra SER Spec-V 2.5 from North America

Faults:

The car began burning oil within about 5K mikes of the purchase. It then developed a strange noise in the engine whenever the oil was low.

The alignment never seemed to be right, and the car pulled to the left all the time.

I replaced the front driver's side brake pads 4 times in 45K miles.

The car started to blow black smoke at 100K miles.

General Comments:

Screw this car.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 15th January, 2011

17th Jan 2011, 09:51

You no doubt bought a heavily abused car. It pays to have a local mechanic thoroughly look at and test drive a used car before buying it. These cars attract kids, so the likelihood of abuse is high. I'd never buy a used boy racer type of a car like this one or even a WRX. Even a good quality car will suffer eventually if it isn't driven properly.

2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V 2.5L QR25DE from North America

Summary:

Good reliable car once the easy fixes are done, fun to drive

Faults:

Car has a coil that is starting to fail, but is still working for now.

General Comments:

A fun car to drive, the Spec-V's performance suspension gives it pretty good handling.

A step above the other 4cyl ricer/tuners out there.

Moderately comfortable interior, not as good compared to my Chevy Lumina.

Be wary of the Sentra "fatal flaw", the first catalytic converter on the header can have the material break apart and get sucked into the engine. This'll cause problems with oil consumption. A little research, that few people do apparently, can go a long way.

Manual says 28MPG highway, but can get about 30 when driven right.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 5th December, 2010