What is the general consensus on the 00/01 Sentra SE? They still have the SR20, but the car around it has grown up a bit in size compared the their B13 and B14 brethren. I have been looking around for a protege5 without much luck when one of these popped up. Looking for a fun, smaller sized DD, and a more comfortable driving position than my camaro. I like the SR over the QR engine, I know there were some reliability issues with the earlier SE-R and Spec V.
I absolutely love mine, had it since 2006 and have had no major problems. I had the starter rebuilt, plugs, wires, struts, usual stuff. Mine has had a problem eating cv boots though, one on the passenger and about to do my third on the driver, I think my heel-toe driving has something to do with that. My power window switch has failed, and its stupid expensive from nissan, and I can't afford to but another at the moment, so that window stays up.
It's still so much fun to drive, gets decent mileage, sounds great, and can fit four adults for short trips. Buy one.
I just bought one this fall when looking for a new dd. Mine is an automatic. It could use some freshening in the suspension department (140k miles, probably all stock components) but is otherwise performing admirably. I'm averaging right at 30mpg in mixed conditions.
There are some SE cars that came with 15" wheels and I think that those don't have the strut bar/stiffer springs that come on cars with 16" wheels.
I prefer my boosted QR. 
Nitroracer wrote:
that's a solid choice.
I just sold my B15 Spec-V but it wasn't because I didn't like it. Great little cars. By going with a 00-01, you avoid the only real downfall of the latter cars, which is the oil burning, and exploding QR's, although, it's not worst than Honda engines, but when you are used to Nissan engines (which are usually bulletproof), it's a bit of a shock. Once I de-pimped the crap from the previous owner, mine was very reliable and not too bad at the auto-x. Check-out 2j-racing for some bad ideas.
The QR25DE is a joke of a motor. Piston speeds are through the roof! very under square, oil burning issues, intake manifold butterfly hardware coming loose and grenade the pistons.
However the LSD, manual 6 speed, interior, brembos were nice with the later spec-Vs
"joke" is probably exaggerating a little
More like mis-understood. The butterfly screw problem is shameful, but most of them blow up because people don't check their oil level. People have been dealing with oil burning, exploding civic engines for 20 years and I still see tons on the road. They do have a much better chassis.
In reply to fanfoy:
Very true. If only you could pick up a spec V and somehow mat the SR20DE to it, it would be a very solid car. It is a shame with the QR because the chassis itself is very nice. Most b12/13 purists will claim that its too heavy now, but thats the nature of newer cars.
I was looking for one of these a while ago because I liked my B14 SE-R so much. I think you need some 'performance package' to get the LSD in the SE. Although the LSDs do wear out. I would definitely buy one.
Mine has no LSD and although it would be nice, I still would rather have my car than the later cars. 6 speeds just means you shift more IMO.
I <3 my car.
Actually, you don't have to shift more. It has so much torque that you just skip from third to sixth.
If you want to auto-x, the six speed is annoying because you will have to shift to third especially if it's a fast course. Since the auto-x around here are usually pretty fast, I would sometimes have to put it in third twice during a run.
I have no personal experience with them, just maintenance/dealership experience. They are pretty rare, and seem to be far less problem-prone than the QR25s (which have plenty of issues, obviously). I would definitely rock one, and I think you should pick it up!
GTwannaB wrote: I was looking for one of these a while ago because I liked my B14 SE-R so much. I think you need some 'performance package' to get the LSD in the SE. Although the LSDs do wear out. I would definitely buy one.
The one I found has 145k, and appears to be a performance package car as well. The maintenance listed in the ad makes it sound well cared for too.
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