Used 2003 Nissan Sentra Consumer Reviews
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A good thing gone wrong.
The Nissan Sentra Spec V looks great on paper, and it does drive very well at first. After about a month after buying the car, the transmission became clunky and it even grinds gears during shifts when it is cold out. The car can take up to 15 minuets for the transmissioin to loosen up. Multiple dealers have told as that this is normal operation, but the operation changed after I got it. There were some cosmetic problems with the paint, body molding, and trunk and engine lid that was all fixed under warranty. Mold in the AC system was fixed on the 3rd try. I would not recomend this car to anyone. Build quality is very poor.
2003 Nissan Sentra GXE
Bought an 03 Sentra for my daughter's graduation and would never consider buying a Nissan product again. Head gasket went after 70k and warranty had just run out. Nissan wouldn't listen to our complaints and told us we were on our own. It was extremely tough to get through to any customer service people and when I did they never followed up with us. They don't back up their product and their customer service is terrible. At one point the car just stopped in the middle of an intersection and after a few hundred dollars of diagnostics it was a $3 ignition fuse that was the problem. The dealership I purchased it from was great and the service mgr was very helpful but Nissan is out forever.
No Nissan....ever again!! These cars have a serious safety issue!!
I bought this car exactly 4yrs ago for my GF. it had about 33k miles on it. it now has about 93k miles on it. These cars & other nissians , have had recalls due to crank and or cam sensors going bad. When this happens...your car STOPS...the engine just shuts completely off! You could be at a light, driving on the highway, going up a hill or on a wet or icy road....the car will just die without warning! BOTH senors went out within a few months of each other. Once on my GF in busy commute comming home! We have no kids and don't smoke and we take care of our cars, however we also have had, 2 window motors die, glove box just broke, visor fell apart, ignition won't unlock..etc etc
Practical and fun.
I bought a used 2003 Spec V in April 2005. The car has 60,000km on it. I researched many cars and tried to decide which one was best for my situation. As a recent grad with a new condo, the Spec V was the best bang for the buck. Low profile tires make noise on bumpy roads. Handling is very good, low body roll. 4 doors make it practical. I looked at the 1.7 Acura EL and was turned off when I had 4 passengers, the car bottomed out whereas the Spec V does not with 4 passengers. Gas mileage not as good as anticipated but it could be the way I drive. Stereo sounds good. The brakes are good. Torque-steer not an issue unless you're driving too hard. I would reccommend this car to anyone.
Bad paint job
The car rides a little rough. You can feel every bump in the road. My car also came with a bad paint job. Two months after purchasing the car the paint job started showing light blotches on one side of the car. After 2 months, 4 trips to the dealer, and 19 phone calls(calls made to dealer and nissan customer line) they are repainting part of the car. I have also been having trouble with the A/C. Once you use the defrost setting, you can not shut the air conditioning off until you turn the car off.