# Why do you like this car?



## Guest (Oct 23, 2002)

I've been a lurker here since June when I bought my 1992 XE with 116K miles on it. I justified the purchase as a "learner" car for my 17 year old daughter. But I just love this car. My wife finds this facinating and wants to use this as a story for her english class. She would like to hear from anyone who can explain why they love this car. All opinions are welcome, 
She is especially interested in why men enjoy a 5 speed.


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## Centurion (Sep 5, 2002)

When I bought mine (new) I loved the looks bc it looked like a mini Maxima and also a BMW 3__?. Yes I know, lame. I wanted an auto 4 speed, which back then was rare and I was impressed that it had variable valve timing too which was very rare in an econobox. As for the "love" aspect  , it was my first new car, so that's why it is my baby! I am so fanatical about it that it is always put up for the winter and it never sees salty roads. Yes I'm obsessed with this thing....


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## Db Diablo (Jul 19, 2002)

Well, I sort of "inherited" mine. When my wife and I were dating, I had a 1993 base model Ford Probe and she had the 1992 SE-R. We went on and got married and guess which one is still around? Yes, the Sentra. I just couldn't get rid of it! i had never experienced a compact car that had so much torque that you could actually feel yourself being pressed into the seat upon acceleration. And I also like the "sleeper' appeal of it. Many people who don't know about the SE-R think "ahh, it's just a Sentra". 
And to think, all I had to do to get my wife to hand the SE-R over to me was to buy her a 2001 Chevy Tahoe. Such a small price to pay for such a great car!


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## XtremE (Apr 30, 2002)

i boguht my car when i was turning 17
i got it for $3500 with only 56K miles
that summer i drove in europe and i learned to drive a stick shift...so when i was looking for my car i looked fo rthe 5 speed sentra.....i got it beacuse it was the best value i found for the money, and i love to drive this car
from the get go i started modifyin it, i didnt even have ti a week and it already ahd an intake...then it went form there....every mod added mroe fun factor to the power...right now i love to go through the gear and just rev her cause the engine with mods to me is melody......
as to the 5 speed thing...i drive to school an hour in stop and go and an hour back in stop and go...and i wouldnt trade my 5 speed for anythin in the world
5 speed makes u think much more when behind the wheel..as is much more fun to drive


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## OPIUM (Aug 18, 2002)

Well if your wife is an english teacher, I'm sure that this entire thread would be a grammatical nightmare to her. Not to mention the amazing amount of spelling, and punctuation errors. Could you ask her a question for me please? I was wondering when it is appropriate to us the semi-colon? It has boggled my mind ever since I first learned how to read and write. I could never get a straight answer about it. Everyone always asked me why I cared. Well, I guess thats public schooling at its finest. 

Anways, on to your question. I enjoy my B13 sentra for the simple fact that it is turbo. There is nothing to me, as pleasing as the sound of a turbo spooling up. Then the exhileration of shooting down the freeway on-ramp like a bat out of hell. The styling is "okay" in my opinon. I never really cared about its looks, nor hated them. Its just a car that beats V8 Mustangs, and Camaros. And thats what I enjoy doing the most. Finding them a replacement for their displacement. I guess it could be considered a dominance thing. Me, always trying to prove that I'm better than the next guy through my 4 wheels of fury. I guess that's why it is such a downer when I lose. Although that has only happened once. That was to a GTS Viper. I bit off more than I could chew, and I knew that. So it wasn't too much of dissapointment.


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## sunnysentra (Jul 24, 2002)

I have been a nissan fan since 1989. We had hardbody 4x4's and a 86 sentra that got great mileage and never had a problem. I got into the sentra when I bought mine new in 1992 with 100 miles. I have 90,000 now and use the thing for road racing at my new favorite spot BeaveRun in PA. Its a brand new track and the car runs great on it. I guess I love mine because I procatically rebuilt the damn thing inside and out and I feel that its part of me. I spent enough time with it through 10 years, so i know it inside and out. tell your wife, if she is like mine to get used to it and don't ask. I always say, why do you like going to buy expensive shoes????? Well I spend mine on clutches and shiny pistons!!!!

Chris 92 classic

PS: Buy another for parts car and see what she says then!


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## psshhgoesmysr20 (May 1, 2002)

The semi-colon is used in place of the conjunctions or, so, but, ect.
I hope this helps you out.



> Could you ask her a question for me please? I was wondering when it is appropriate to us the semi-colon? It has boggled my mind ever since I first learned how to read and write. I could never get a straight answer about it


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2002)

the real question to ask is... how can you not like it?


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## Felonious Cat Stalker (May 1, 2002)

An ex-girlfriend's mother had a '92 B12 (Sentra Classic in Canada) with a 5 speed. I loved driving that car. For what it was, it was a great car. Good torque, confident handling, nice steering and the best gearbox of any car I've ever driven worth less than $30,000. You could take it anywhere, beat it, run it hard and it seemed to love it. It was great compared to the wallowing domestics my family always bought (sporty looking but ill handling).

When I went to buy a car after graduating college I looked at Legacy Turbos, and new Proteges, but wasn't finding anything that felt really good. While I was at a dealer looking at a Legacy I saw a '94 Sentra XE and asked, just out of curiousity, the price. It was a good price, low mileage car so I took it for a test drive. After about 15 minutes I came back and put a deposit on it. It felt much like the old B12, with a lot of improvements (except the gearbox).

I don't know why I love it so much. It could be the BMW-esque styling (rear 3/4 view) that looks like the box it came in, the reliabilty I've had, the handling or the fact that the more I flog it on road rallies and SOLO II racing, the more it wants to keep going. I know it's just a car but it seems to have that spirit that wants to run.

Oh, and why I enjoy a 5 speed (as a man) - It is more rewarding to an enthusiast driver than just pressing the two buttons on the floor to stop and go. It involves you in the process and is satifying to master the subtleties of performance driving. Also, it runs in the family. I learned on a standard, in my mother's car. She won't buy anything else.


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## BIGBULS (Sep 24, 2002)

I have to go with what some others have said here.......my SE-R is a SLEEPER!

True, it's not THAT fast, but the looks I get when I beat down Integra's, Probes, Jetta's etc (and other cars of this class) are just classic. You would not believe how many people have asked me wheather my car is turboed or supercharged. Of course, I live in Iowa (the land of the ******* Mustang), so it's not like SE-R's are very common.....that's why I like it.


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## Blitztech (Jul 4, 2002)

I love it because this car has been better and better to me everyday i've had it. everyday i look at it i like it more, i think it looks better everyday, with a few mods my car handled better than any other front wheel drive car at the auto-x. front and rear strut brace and 15x7" tires and my times went down 15 seconds. a few modifications and i have consistently outran cars that have much more horsepower than mine, but the weight distribution and torque curve this car has is the perfect combination. it may only have 115-120 hp but the torque curve never drops below 100 ft. lbs. that means you're taking off right from the start, very low amount of lag, very capable car. hey, even the doorhandles are cool!


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## Guest (Oct 25, 2002)

My user name says which one I've got  I bought it in March of 99. I knew nothing about the car. I was looking for a coupe with a stick, so I liked it. A GM dealership had it with $7990 on the windshield. I got it for $5500 with 88,000 miles on it, and since I got it from a dealer, I thought it wasn't a bad deal.
Only later I realized how lucky I got, when a friend of mine told me about it. He drove a 98 VW GTI VR6 and he was jealous!!!
I don't race it, I can't afford to modify it, but I loooooove this little car. Unfortunately, most people see it as an ordinary Sentra.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I never really noticed the sentras until I test drove a B12 for my mother in law's coworker, who's husabnd was looking at buying one, but neither were car conscious and wanted someone else to look at the car. After driving the car, I was impressed with the throttle response and overall peppiness of it. So I thought to myself, next time I buy a car, I'm buying a Sentra. Unfoirtunately/fortunately enough, depending on your take on it, I totaled my '96 Chevy Beretta not too long after that. So I decided to take my insurance check, pay off the loan on the Beretta and get something that I could buy outright and that would get better gas mileage. Not being a big fan of the boxier B12 Sentra, I looked at B13's instead. I was limited to '93 and '94 model years because I wanted an airbag, and those were the last two years the B13 were made in the U.S. and the only years that an aribag was an option. I also wanted a 2 door (sportier), A/C and a manual transmission (again, sportier and I like the added control over the engine). So I bought a well cared for '93 Sentra XE 2 door, charcoal grey that had A/C, Cruise, 5 speed manual tranny, with 72K miles on it for $4200. I like manual transmissions because I can control the car's throttle resonse better which puts me in more control of what the car does. I like the car's looks because it's much like an older BMW 325 and it stands out, it doesn't look a whole lot like other cars out there. It's a well built and reliable car as well. I now drive a '93 Sentra SE-R and the car is quite powerfull and there are lots of options to make it more powerfull. Why bother? Because I am sort of an iconoclast, I like to strike my own chord, determine what's desirable to me. The car is rather rare in my area and it has the potential to put the conventional sports cars to shame on the racetrack.


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

Centurion said:


> *I wanted an auto 4 speed, which back then was rare and I was impressed that it had variable valve timing too which was very rare in an econobox.*



neither a GA16de or a sr20DE have variable valve timming.

its variable CAM timing, as i have been informed




Db Diablo said:


> *And to think, all I had to do to get my wife to hand the SE-R over to me was to buy her a 2001 Chevy Tahoe. Such a small price to pay for such a great car! *


y the hell would she want a tahoe? talk about a drastic change!


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## ScarCrow28 (May 14, 2002)

OK now my story....

I never looked twice at any nissan at all ever... We are a Ford family. i wanted a Probe so bad i'd cry about it at night (well not really) But i couldn't afford the pice at all, and i family were totaly against me having a car with any kind of power because they know how much of a car freak i am as well as a NASCAR fan. (this was back when i was getting my liscense 4 years ago) They were afraid i was going to kill myself if i got a sports car. so we go looking at escorts (blah! u have to floor it just to get off the line.) and even a dodge colt (wasn't my idea). then my uncle comes to us saying so an so that i work with is selling his wife's car. His price isn't bad and i know he takes care of his shit. (as well as his property) 
so we head down to this guys house and i take one look at this thing and i think............um, ok its another damn econo car. grrr. (thats what i do when i get fustrated; i grr.) so anyway we go for a little drive down the street. first my dad drives, me shotgun, and the wife in the back seat tellin us that even though its high mileage (113K when bought) its all highway, so the car is in great order. Then i finally get the chance to pilot this thing.
so i put it in drive (yes it's an auto) and lightly touched the gas. 
so were getting along and i'm thinking.......wow, this car is gliding along like nothing! I bet its real fast!. So then i say aloud "I like it." (initalizing my poker face so i don't reveal just how damn excited i am, and my evil sub-plan of speed wha ha aha).

Epilogue:
so dad buys the car, because me and sis really need a car to school now that mom & pop are both working and leave before we need to. so over the next 1-2 years my sis an i argue over who gets the car. My sis is a social bug who cant stay home for 10 min, and i just loved driving the thing (but i said i need it for work hee hee)
Finally my dad gives his 93 Camery to my sister to end the feud. Thus he needs a new car. as he looks at a new Camery i say " you should really look at a Maxima" (as i think to my self .....so i can rocket that thing like in the commercials) so low and behold i can say that i'm responsible for my dad purchasing his 01 Maxima GLE (with BOSE baby!!)

Gee, if Nissan ever did a marketing scheme like Mac is doing right now, i'd be a perfect candidate!


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## HisXLNC (Jun 17, 2002)

I really don't know why I like my car. I got the worst B13 available. 1991 E coupe. No radio, power nothing, faded red paint, and a 3 speed slush-o-matic that doesn't work now. The car is sitting in the backyard, immobile. Maybe my love for all Nissans has blinded me into thinking this is a good car. I bought it when I was 18. If I only at the time I knew better, I would have bought an SE-R or 240SX. 

I guess it has sentimental value since it was my first car.


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## BORNGEARHEAD (Apr 30, 2002)

Reasons? Front and rear sway bar, spoiler, foglights, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, 4-wheel disk brakes, power moonroof, alloy wheels, tach, awesome seats, dependability, power, styling, bulletproof motor, takes good asswhoopings through the gears. Now that is a serious econobox. In 1991 what econobox out there had all that. Sure wasn't no freaking Civic. I look at my car and just love the way it looks. It's got everything I need. Ya, know, I think it is partly that a lot of people don't know about Se-r's and what they have. Going to school in Oklahoma, I went to Thunder Valley Dragstrip and ran my car and after my run all these V-8 ******** come up to me and their like" I ain't never seen no Sentra run like that. What you got in this thing?"(******* accent). I'm on my 3rd Se-r. The one I have now, I will never get rid of. 

That is why I love my B13 so much.


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## RiceBox (Apr 30, 2002)

I don't have a B13 but my B12 is alot like it. This thing is built like a tank. Bulletproof engine and tranny. I run it hard but I take good care of it and it repays me well. It's a great car to tear up gravel roads in and drifts happily all day through the snow. The BEST 5 speed I have ever driven (I've driven a Porsche, Miata, etc..) The styling is VERY similar to that of E30 BMWs and I love it. I think it being my first car also makes me love it even more.


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## 92 Sinatra (Jul 9, 2002)

*Why I like my car*

My 92 XE is the only car I've bought new. When I looked around, the only other model which I considered seriously was a Mazda Protege; Honda was overly proud of their Civics, and Toyota wanted more for their Tercels (way too plain-jane for me) than they were worth. I paid $11,354 drive-out.

I love this car. I have maintained it religiously. In 71,000 miles, I've had to replace the belts once, the brake pads twice, the battery once, the alternator once, and the outer CV boots once. Also I replaced all four tires at 68,000 miles. So it's been very cost-effective.

Sometimes I go fairly fast on the highway, and down here in central Texas I run the air conditioner about 75% of the time, but other than that I don't drive her hard & I try to baby the car; I want this vehicle to last another decade or longer, if I can do that. I'm beginning to add a few upgrades (improved instrumentation, an alarm & an audiophile sound sytem), mostly with an eye toward staying motivated to keep the car up, retain my pride in it & all that.

I've kept a book on the car to account for every tank of gas, all the mileage & all the routine maintenance I've done. I change the oil (Castrol GTX: 10W-30 the four months it's relatively cool here, 20W-50 the rest of the time) & filter every 2500 miles. I just finished flushing & re-filling the cooling system for the 4th time since I bought the car. Because I know everything that's happened since the car came off the dealer's lot, I feel confident about taking it cross-country occasionally. In fact, I owe it to myself & the car to get it out on some long-distance runs.

No, this car isn't flashy like a Lexus, but it's comfortable, economical, sturdy, and I feel that I got a good value, too. I like it.


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## B132nr (Jul 20, 2002)

ScarCrow28 said:


> *neither a GA16de or a sr20DE have variable valve timming.
> 
> its variable CAM timing, as i have been informed
> *


 Check the GA series at the bottom of the page. It says "Variable Valve." Timing.http://www.freshalloy.com/site/features/tech/engines/home.shtml


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## GA16DESentraXE (Dec 17, 2002)

_Originally posted by ScarCrow28 _
*neither a GA16de or a sr20DE have variable valve timming.
its variable CAM timing, as i have been informed*

No, it has variable valve timing, which is done by changing the cam timing. 

Anyways...

The car I had before my Sentra was the first car I ever modded. It was a 1989 Chevy Cavalier Z24 convertable. I loved everything about this car, except that it was an automatic. It handled incredibly, was fast, red, convertable, etc etc etc. I ended up tearing the motor apart for a rebuild after spinning three crank bearings, and while I had the motor out I decided to build it up. Headwork, cam (Haha... yes, ONE cam for you guys that are only used to imports. ;-) ) exhaust, computer, the list goes on and on. Well, after the build up, the engine got horrible gas milage, but I didn't care, Hehe... It had a lopey, poppy idle and ran like a bat out of hell. 
I started having problems with it blowing out one of the coil packs (I think the stock ignition system didn't much car for trying to keep up with the cam I had) and finally my dad told me that he wanted me to trade it in for something newer, more reliable, and with better gas milage. He told me that he'd give me money for a down payment equal to what I spent on my engine buildup, so that I wouldn't be out that money. I finally told him I would, but it had to be a 5-speed, and not a Civic. =)
Well, I found the Sentra at a car dealer that one of my old bossess worked at. I had always liked Nissans, but other than 280's and 240's I didn't really know much about them. It was a red 5-speed though, so I liked that. =) I test drove the car and totally fell in love with it. It was peppy as hell, and handled great. So in the few days before I actually picked up the car, I researched the hell out of them on the net, which on a quick tangent was when I found Sentra.net and the older version of this board. The only dissapoitment I had was that it wasn't an SE-R (after I found out what and SE-R was. LOL). In the first cew days of having the car, I had a performance muffler put on, a new shift knob, and a tach. And ever since then I keep doing stuff to it. 
I've driving this car hard, and she just keeps on running like a dream.
Even when I buy my next car when I'm done with college (can you say R32?) I still plan on keeping me Sentra. I'll have this car until she dies, and after that happens, I'll just put a SR20DET in it. =)


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## 91SR20DE (Nov 25, 2002)

my story:

Well, I'm actually a Saab guy, at 24 yrs old, I've alredy owned 3. My first was a 87 9000 turbo, my second was a 92 9000 Turbo, and my last was a 96 900 SE(turbo of course). I aquired my Classic SE-R by chance, it was my ex-girlfriends. We were on our way home in the rain and I slid into someone, damage wasn't that bad I thought, but the insurance company totaled it. They gave her the option of buying it back for what a salvage yard would offer. So, for $100, I was the pround owner of a 91 SE-R with a rebuilt engine, rebuilt trans, and new tires. The car sat for about 6 months, I had my Saab at the time, so didn't rush on fixing the Sentra. But with paycuts, loss of overtime, and a $800 a month child support payment, I had to give up my beautiful Saab.  My best friend stumbled upon a 94 xe in a alley that had a building fall on the rear end(don't ask!), so I talked to the owner and got all the body parts I needed for $325 and begun working on my SE-R. Once I got the SE-R back on the road, I started to really like it, this car was as fun as my Saab, and waaaayy cheaper to mod. So The modding began, and now, I have a great car that handles and is pretty quick and I still have less than $1500 into it! Fate couldn't have picked a better car for me to fall into.

pics of my car from start to present: photos.yahoo.com/diggler68_2000

copy and paste(but you knew that already)


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## Daishi (Jul 31, 2002)

*My Car.*

I learned to drive in a '93 Sentra XE auto. My parents then bought me an '87 Sentra as a point A to B vehicle. It was a good and durable car but me and that car did not get along. It was carbeurated and an auto, and the 70hp just didn't do it for me. I was addicted to the looks and the power of the B13, it wasn't blazingly fast, but it packed a punch. One day I was out driving and just happened to see the front bumper of a B13 SE sticking around the corner of a used auto sales shop. The interior was beat to hell but the engine was in fairly good shape and it was a manual, I begged and pleaded for many days to get my dad to come 'take a look' at the car. I couldn't test drive it because I had never actually driven a manual, but I knew the basics but still didn't want to break something that wasn't mine. So I finally get my dad to come and inspect the car and he wasn't really impressed and it didn't look good, but he eventually caved and so we went home to get my '87 Sentra to have it appraised for a trade-in. Well, by the time I got back the guy who did the appraising had to leave to tow a vehicle into their shop. Well, on the way home I swung by a rice performance dealer that I had seen a black Sentra sitting out back of with no sticker or anything just out of shear hope that it wasn't an employee's and that I might find something good. Well, there it was sitting out in the front of the lot up for sale, nice gloss black and 4 door. I drove around to the front of the shop, I looked at the back of the car and my jaw dropped. A nearly immaculate '92 B13 GXE. It has the SE-R style lights and power locks/windows and manual transmission. I walked straight inside and asked how much. $3500 for this car in the summer of 2002. The interior was awesome, the exterior had a few minor dents, and the engine ran great. The only problem was the transmission was going, however this didn't detur me. I purchased the car before the shop had the chance to mangle it with a 6" muffler, 17" wheels, removed springs, and write their logo all over it like every other car in the lot. I drove the car off the lot and picked up the driving of a manual almost as if it were second nature. As for the driving a manual transmission, I can't explain, but it sure is fun to drive. It has since had a rebuilt tranny put in, windows tinted, new tires, I've replaced all the dash lights with a nice deep racing red, installed a short shifter, advanced the timings, installed slimline driving lights in the main front spoiler. I haven't seen ToolACPFan's SE-R, but I have one of if not the best looking Sentra in the area. And the kicker is, it's all very clean, the windows were done very nicely, the lights have been installed evenly, and it's not gotty. I really need to get a picture up. I've fallen in love with the Sentras, I think I will always own atleast one.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

Here's a pic of my Sentra's. (Ignore that '98 Civic in the background, that's my neighbor's) 











































Both are '93's, both are manuals. Sold the XE LE last fall, and that car was nice. It had cold A/C, never broke down, never leaked a drop of anything, always ran good. It was clean inside and out, only had a few dings and a dent in the hood. When I bought it I put Bosch platinum +4's in, new wires, cap, rotor and fule filter. Ran synthetic oil and tranny grease. I put shafts and an autozone clutch in it spring of '02. Had it for 3 years. I bought the SE-R last August. A/C doesn't work, was smoked in for the 9 years the original owner had it, had a hole in the muffler, slipping clutch, a boot was split and it had noisy lifters and timing chain tensioner, and now it leaks oil. But I love it! Oh yeah, and some asshole at work backed into it weeks after I got it and busted my taillight and fucked up my bumper. Got just shy of $1K for that. So far I've replaced the taillight, put a used '99 SE clutch in, new clutch cable, new tranny side crank seal, new shaft seals, new shafts and ES mount inserts and shifter bushing. NGK wires and platinum plugs, rotor, cap and timing chain tensioner.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2003)

My NX2K / Let me see / It's rare / It's gorgeous / It's fast / It's loud / It's an eye catcher / It's a head turner / It's an ongoing work of art to me / It's what I work Saturdays for / It's my passion / It's a piece of my soul / It's everything I want in a car / 'Nuff said!!!


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