Nissan doesn’t sell the Sentra as a performance option. Its small car is known for two things – value for the money and comfortable seats. Our test driver said the 2023 Sentra “does nearly everything well that you need a compact sedan to do” and “remains a slightly more affordable alternative to top players” in its class.
For 2024, Nissan won’t likely make big changes to that formula. The Sentra gets a mid-cycle refresh – not a full redesign, but a nip-and-tuck job to keep it fresh – for the new model year. Nissan hasn’t released pricing yet, but we don’t anticipate significant changes to the window sticker, which for 2023 starts at $20,050.
What will change?
The look, for one thing. Nissan has toned down the chrome, enlarging the grille but reducing the size of the chrome elements that frame it. That’s probably a kindness to buyers who plan to keep it for a long time – it will age a little better with less shine to dull. The two-tone floating roof look is back as an option. A new rear fascia is…well…new. Sometimes, designers change things, but the change seems unimportant.
Inside, the Sentra SR gains new orange contrast-color stitching. Little else has changed. But, in the Sentra’s case, that’s a good thing. Nissan’s exceptional Zero Gravity front seats have always been its best feature.
Mechanically, engineers have made the kind of change we love to see. Few people were complaining about its continuously variable transmission (CVT). We checked. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration maintains a database of consumer complaints about car quality, and it has exactly zero entries on the Sentra’s transmission since its last redesign for the 2020 model year.
But engineers reworked it, anyway. Nissan says an improved CVT, with a new fuel-saving start/stop system, should “deliver improved fuel efficiency for the 2024 model.” The EPA hasn’t published mpg numbers for it, so we can’t be sure it worked. But you have to love it when engineers keep tweaking what bothers them, even when the buying public seems satisfied.
The changes probably won’t vault the Sentra to the top of its class where the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Hyundai Elantra live. But they will keep it a practical choice for many, as long as Nissan keeps its pleasant pricing strategy. We’ll update you on that when they release the numbers.
