Aaron Turpen: 2024 Nissan Sentra Proves That Sedans Are Still a Great Place To Start

There aren’t many sedans left on the market today. The Nissan Sentra remains one of the few truly affordable options outside of the subcompact genre.

It’s sized about right, delivers good fuel economy, and has a lot of equipment and comfort for its diminutive price tag.

In the world of starter cars, the price to beat is about $25,000. That’s roughly half the average new car price today, which hovers in the $45,000-$50,000 range.

The 2024 Nissan Sentra has a starting price of $22,000 plus delivery. It’s one of only a handful of vehicles today that ring in under that halfway price. A great starting point.

Today’s new car is nothing like the new cars of 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. I remember when a new car was hovering in the $10,000 range as the norm.

We’re well beyond that now.

There’s a lot more safety equipment in today’s vehicles, for starters, and fuel efficiency is a much, much higher priority. They’re also roomier (in general) and easier to drive by comparison.

Today’s new cars are a lot more sophisticated and tech-savvy than they were a couple of decades ago.

If you wonder why this matters, it’s because new cars have lowered on-road fatality risks by over 50% in just about two decades. Mostly thanks to airbags and, most recently, crash mitigation technologies like automatic braking in forward collisions.

The 2024 Sentra includes all of the current crash avoidance and safety equipment as standard. And scores well in crash testing.

The Sentra’s only real drawback is that it’s front-wheel drive only. A 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine powers it through a continuously variable transmission (CVT) to those front wheels. A CVT is just an automatic transmission that doesn’t have gears. It’s more efficient than a geared transmission, but can be problematic if a lot of torque is needed.

Luckily, with a car like the Sentra, torque isn’t an issue. That’s a problem for drag racing cars, semi-trucks, and people who turn bolts for a living. Just know that CVTs are pretty common in today’s vehicles and are generally smoother and more fuel efficient than are transmissions with gears.

Their low reliability reputation is mainly from larger vehicles that had no business using them.

The base model 2024 Nissan Sentra starts with a short list of equipment that just meets the term “adequate” for most modern buyers. Four speaker audio, a tiny 7-inch touchscreen, and sixteen inch wheels are pretty basic in today’s market.

The mid-level SV is probably where most buyers would feel more comfortable and will set you back about $23,000 to get. At only a grand or so more than the base model, it ups the gear with an upgraded driver information display, an 8-inch touchscreen, more USB ports, six speakers for the audio, and adaptive cruise control.

Both the base model and the Sentra SV have all of the expected advanced safety systems like forward and rear collision warning with automatic braking and blind-spot warning with lane-departure alerts.

To get larger wheels and a sportier look for the 2024 Sentra, one has to jump to the top level SR trim. Which, in my opinion, isn’t really worth the added cost. It looks good and has some nice conveniences added, but at over $25,000, it’s getting into the price range where a larger car or a small sport utility would be a more compelling choice.

The 2024 model year Sentra got a handful of styling changes, mostly to the front grille to modernize the look.

The Sentra is currently in its eighth generation as a vehicle and is one of the last of the small sedans that isn’t a luxury marque.

These holdouts are still finding fans, though. If the smaller Nissan Versa isn’t quite a fit for you, but that’s about where your budget is, the Sentra is a good choice.

They’re both basic transportation that doesn’t suck at a price that’s realistic for most.