Nissan Sentra SER Spec V, opinons?
 

I am considering the purchase of a 2001-2003 Sentra SER Spec -V. (Or some trader.ca sellers like to call it. "SER V-TECH")

Anyways. I would like to know pro's & con's for this car, insurance, relyability, speed, handeling, overal quality, problems, bugs, etc. Anything related to this car would be helpful

Other cars I am considering are (if it helps, budget is 15,000 max) :
-94' SI hatch
-98' SIR
-98' Infiniti g20
-Civic Del Sol
-02' Mitsubishi Lancer ralli art
-95-99' Integra GSR
-95' BMW 325i (Not huge on it)
-02' Nissan Maxima
-03' Protege Speed

All cars gotta be manual. Can't live without it.

truthfully i would stick to the nissans the mazda or the hondas, as the mitsubishi and bmw, and infinitis will be alot of $$$ to service.

anways I have heard mostly good things about the ser spec v and have driven one once and liked it.

Built in mexico - enough said.
Stay away from poor man BMWs... because that's exactly what people will refer to you as. Have you considered an Altima SE-R? Those are pretty nice. Gives you some sporty aspects with other logical/rational things like 4 doors and a big trunk.

I love my Spec-V, it's a lot of fun and a VERY capable car in the twisties.
If you're just looking to drag race people though then it's not the car for you. The short gearing makes the 0-60 slower than it 'could' be (you have to shift into 3rd to get up to 100) but if you like driving in the twisties you'll always have the right gear for the job.

I owned an Altima SE 3.5L 5spd and that was a fun car that was fast in a straight line but it was no where near as fun as the Spec-V is when you're powering through tight turns and making full use of it's helical LSD.

buddy of mine has one. overall he said its a good car but has had its share of problems (brakes, fuel pump, belt and a recurring problem with stalling) and its 2 years old.

What was the brakes issue?
Nissan brakes seem to wear out really fast :(
I'm at 25,000km and I need to replace mine, but I also drive pretty hard.

rotors warped after a year, pads were garbage.

warping rotors relate to driver error in most cases (if they were even actually warped.... http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp...rakedisk.shtml ). my stock pads were replaced by a more aggressive set at 45k and have over 60% left.
i'm sure he didnt service his brakes regularly as the calipers require frequent cleaning and lubing of the sliders are they do tend to seize easily.

considering hes going to school for automotive repair and does regular matience, im sure it wasnt his own errors, just crappy parts.

I did a lot of installs for the sentra guys. The QR25 has its quarks. Its a good car because your innitial start up cost is low compaired to Hon-dah's and MAzDa (MAD)

But then with the B15 (2000 - 2006) Sentra, paint quality is an issue, not too too bad but less than good compaired to corollas and civics. Look for cars that have got the "pre-cat failure" recall done on it. Basically its the precat breaking up and exhaust reversion effect sucks the bits back into the cylinders through the valves. Causes scorn cyl walls, causes oil burning, if the car burns oil, you know whats wrong.

Brakes, well, you get what you pay for, but then mind you, there is NO PRODUCTION car out there that you mentioned have bigger front brakes than the SPEC-V w/the acception of the MAX. The rotors are 11.2 inches across.

The Cream of the crop SPEC's are the 2002 ones w/the 6 speed tranny, has longer gears and they look better than the buck-tooth 04's.

When you go look at the car, try to find un-modified ones, look at the passenger side fender well next to the battery where the intake hose goes into, if its been enlarged then the car has had a CAI before in its life, not necessary bad but means it MIGHT have been beatened on.

Out of all the cars you mentioned up there these are my comments.

-94' SI hatch

Rust bucket, rear quarters, big on insurance, hard to find clean un-molested one, big theft issue

-98' SIR

Big on insurance, even bigger on theft issue

-98' Infiniti g20

SR20DE powered, parts for it is LIMITLESS, turbo friendly, GTI-R, Bluebird, Avenir, LSD gear box, Great internet support forums available.

-Civic Del Sol

Just plain hard to find, never that many to begin with, leaky roof's, high insurance and theft

-02' Mitsubishi Lancer ralli art

Looks gay, drum brakes in the back turns me off, not much power

-95-99' Integra GSR

Even higher insurance, theft, hard to find un-molested one

-95' BMW 325i (Not huge on it)

Old, high miles, real solid cars though, big bucks on parts, (its 350 bucks for the lower control arm...EACH)

-02' Nissan Maxima

Good car, higher insurance than the SPEC-V, more difficult to work on cuz of the space under the hood, burns more gas, the best V6 engine this planet has ever seen

-03' Protege Speed

Thats the turbo charged one right? If it was taken care of it should still be good, if it wasn't, be pre-paired to spend big bucks, mal-maintained turbo cars are a money pit, like the early saab 93's

Thats about all I can think of now, PM me for more questions...I myself have 3 Nissan's and have fixed every single car you've mentioned on your list there w/the acception of the Mazda Speed (worked on a protoege though, very similar), its safe to trust my suggestions...

Thank you very much for that information Matt. Very helpful, now the fight is to find a g20 with a manual tranny.

Get the max if you like torque and a ROCK solid engine. Lots of room for improvement. Insurance shouldn't be that epensive, it's considered a family sedan is it not? The HID craze is over so no one will be stealing your headlights. Trunk is huge, you could put some boom boom in there. Fast and mature, a great car all around.

Yeah VQs & VGs are pretty much indestructible... VG moreso, but still.

I would like one, but I am still 18. My dad has the Infiniti i30, so I do know how strong the VQ's are. Also the fact that they are easy to work with, and also I have learned a fair amount on them makes me want to have one. But in recent spikes in gas prices, I'm not gonna be putting 70 dollars of gas in the tank every week. Also, the only problem I have with most Nissan's are their really strucken rotors.

My main choices now are the Infiniti G20, or a 3000 dollar Civic hatch...Making that 12,000 dollar left to blow.. it up

Here is the reasons for my choices:

G20:
- Not many out there
- 4 door
- Classy looking
- Great potential engine, lots out there for it. (SR20DE)..T<-- after I get it.
- Most probably better insurance than the Civic.


Civic:
- Endless amount of you can do, and would have approx 10 grand to do it after I get the car.

Just never going to be classy.. in terms of luxury.

dumping 10 grand into a civic ( especially a hatch ) just to have it stolen aint worth it in my books. be different, get the g20 and make your way over to Mascar Performance...they'll set you up with a nice turbo. Drive in with 140 hp, drive out with over 300 to teh wheelsssss :smilie_da