What is it
The 2016 Nissan Sentra.
Nissan's all excited. After all, proclaims Fred Diaz, the company's senior vice-president for sales and marketing in North America, 2015 is the "year of the sedan" (who knew?), referencing design makeovers for the popular Maxima, Altima and now — welcome the third Musketeer — the Sentra. Sales are up and Nissan's seeing increased sales with its three-pronged sedan sales attack. The Sentra, in fact, is Nissan's second-best selling vehicle in Canada, behind only the Rogue crossover.
Signature feature
Safety tech: Nissan has expanded the Sentra's available safety and driving aid technologies for 2016: forward collision warning, forward emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning and rear cross traffic alert.
What else is new
Everything, inside and out: new front and rear fascias, grille, fenders, hood, boomerang-shaped headlights and taillights, a 17-inch aluminum-alloy wheel design, a new steering wheel, new available power driver's seat with power lumbar, new centre cluster and audio display design, new console and shifter knob, and upgraded seat fabrics.
Under the hood
All 2016 Sentras feature a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine mated to an advanced Xtronic transmission. A six-speed manual transmission is also available with the Sentra S and SV.
When can we buy it and for how much
The compact sedan will be in showrooms by the end of the year. No pricing yet but the 2015 Sentra starts at $15,598.
Cool quotient
3 stars (out of 5)
Despite the changes, the 2016 Sentra still seems comfortably familiar. And that's a good thing, considering the Sentra's upward sales trajectory. We wouldn't want to kill the momentum now, would we?
The writer was a guest of the auto maker. Content was not subject to approval.
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Darren McGee