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Used 2012 Nissan Sentra Consumer Reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
41 reviews

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Pros
Cons
2 out of 5 stars

Don't buy this car!

G. Loya, 01/21/2016
2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 6M)
32 of 36 people found this review helpful

I bought my car 1 year ago with 60k miles. I was expecting to have this car without problems for a while. After six months the car went into safe fail mode not wanting to accelerate at all. I took it to the dealer and they told me it needed a new transmission plus a transmission cooler. The transmission over heating causes it to damage the transmission. The car goes in safe mode when the transmission gets over heated making it very dangerous if you are driving in the freeway and suddenly you loose all power. The dealer said the warranty expires at 60k miles. Nissan knows of this defect. 2013 and up comes with a transmission warranty extension of 120k. It also extended the warranty for 2010 models. 2011 and 2012 warranty were not extended! Never buying a Nissan again!

Safety
3 out of 5 stars
Technology
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Interior
4 out of 5 stars
Comfort
4 out of 5 stars
Reliability
3 out of 5 stars
Value
3 out of 5 stars
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2 out of 5 stars

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Cane, 11/06/2017
2012 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl 6M)
8 of 8 people found this review helpful

We purchased this car brand new, had every recommended service performed on time, and gently drove the car. Still, the transmission went out and had to be replaced under 100k miles.

Performance
2 out of 5 stars
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4.13 out of 5 stars

Fun little car

scottyb1234, 10/01/2014
2012 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V 4dr Sedan (2.5L 4cyl 6M)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful

I bought this car new in early 2012 and now have about 27k miles on it. It's in Super Black with the optional upgrade package. I was looking for a fun, quick compact sedan w/ a manual transmission and some bells and whistles (navigation system, moonroof, etc). The car feels like a go-cart going around turns and I always feel like I am in complete control. Overall, it's a great value for the performance when compared to other similar vehicles and I am very happy so far. I use the vehicle as a daily driver (~20mi highway commute to work) and have driven it across the country twice w/o incident.

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2 out of 5 stars

Engine problems

Destiny, 06/10/2020
2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl 6M)
7 of 7 people found this review helpful

Bought a used Nissan Sentra at 100,000 miles after 12,000 miles added and frequent oil changes the cylinder blew. Not sure if it’s a common problem in this car, but after replacing the engine in a car I just bought 6months ago I am not happy!

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3.75 out of 5 stars

I think I got a bad one

randis623, 08/10/2013
2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0 4dr Sedan (2.0L 4cyl CVT)
10 of 11 people found this review helpful

I loved the car when I first got it on 1/31/2012. It did perfect at first, did the "clunk" at 25 - 30 mph and was told it was normal for the car. But it wasnt long before I started to notice little things and some big that were going wrong and I babied this car. About 5 months into ownership the window regulator failed and had to be replaced. A month or so later I started to notice a lot of clunking when I would back up, not cv joint type noise, but more like a series of little clunks. The driver side door and hood seemed to be poorly aligned as the door scraped the paint off the running board and the hood had a major gap on one side. The last straw was the failure of the A/C. I traded it.

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