- There comes a time in everyone's life
where you find a car that you're not entirely sure
if you should actually like,
it's almost as if you're turning into a hipster,
but you don't know if that's okay.
Like you want to brag
about the fact that you bought a Quadrasteer Chevy,
but you're not sure you should,
mostly because the Quadrasteer portion of your Chevy
is broken.
Sean! or maybe you found a Galant
that had a VR-4 for that just rips
but nobody cared because apparently,
the 3000 GT also had a VR-4 and that was the gifted child,
which meant the Galant just kind of scooted on by
but who's laughing now bud?
There's another car out there
that carries a little bit of that same mentality,
a car that we're not sure if you're supposed to like or not.
And let me tell you about it because you probably should,
especially if you're looking for a budget sports car.
All right, I'm Alex, ALEX.FI on Instagram
and today we're gonna be talking about a car
that laid the foundation for a company
that had more ups and downs than the people that watch
Game of Thrones between season six and season seven,
okay, a car that has been able to always be there for you
and occasionally surprise you in a good way.
Kind of like one of those fun uncles
that never really left your side.
A car that was pretty damn gorgeous for a while
and did all of the things right
that you could want from a car,
Ladies and gentlemen,
today we're gonna be talking about you wanting to own
a Nissan Sentra SE-R and including the Spec V.
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It'd be nice.
But we do have aftermarket wheels, tires and suspension
for your newly acquired Nissan Sentra SE-R spec V
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we got it on right now.
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you get automatically entered into win,
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we'd really, really appreciate you guys
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The Nissan Sentra started its life in 1982
as a subcompact car that would have placed the classic
Datsun 210 as a non imported variant here
in the United States
Gone were the days of Datsun
and entered the days of the new generation Nissan,
which although it's known in the world,
relatively stable-ish economy these days
was still a relatively very new manufacturer
back in the 80's.
It was new, it was hip, It was fun and it was different
Okay, this was coming up the era of Japanese cars
getting imported into the states
and most of them being insanely small
and well efficient cars.
The car itself was also called the Nissan Sunny though,
or the Nissan Tsuru.
But here in America,
we determined that Sentra was pretty good enough Okay,
and while it was introduced during the highs of the
EPA regulations, this actually helped
specifically with Japanese importation of cars
it did well because of its lightweight,
its tiny motor and great gas mileage,
which is why it just fared so well in the United States.
And as the car gained popularity,
Nissan continued to expand on it with fancy trims alright?
fancy colors, alright, and even colors matched bumpers
on certain trends, which if you look back in the 80's
was quite the big freaking deal.
Apparently plastic bumpers were common
and if you got them painted you bougie dude.
You had the big baller spender money,
and you could say things are getting pretty serious
around these parts, right?
The production would remain in Mexico and sometimes
transfer overseas but ultimately come back to Mexico
for quite a few generations of this relatively simple,
efficient, cost effective Sedan,
Nissan would introduce something unique, something different
almost every single time, especially as they jumped
into the third generation as it really started
to get some money and capital behind the platform.
And finally, they'd induce the one vehicle that most of us
care about the Nissan Sentra S E dash R
Is was a banger, It was good, It was fun, It was hip
Nissan was pretty much like let's actually have some fun
with this car and the Nissan's special racing edition
Special Edition racing was introduced in 1991
with an SR20DE engine and the new treman
would hit 140 horsepower, which was still pretty slow.
But it was fun because it came with some technology
and some mechanics that gave some potential automotive
enthusiasts of a Japanese car something different
for the US consumers still relatively conservative platform,
but SE-R was a fun way to go to all these
It was a fun way to go pick up a pack of smokes
because apparently that was a thing back then
the third and fourth generation
didn't have much love though.
Even with the SE and SE-R trims.
You got the SR20 but you didn't get the turbo.
I'm not sad about it. I'm just disappointed.
The fifth generation SC-R was owned by an old friend named
Monty in Eau Claire,
okay, he wanted to race me when I had my 3000GT SL
and it was candid smack talk because we were both like 17.
And we ended up Never racing because we just didn't want to
but we talked a lot of smack on Facebook.
I'd almost argue that it could have been MySpace back then.
But it wasn't but I did have a little bit of a sweat
because his car had a Red Badge and mine didn't
but it didn't matter
because the fifth generation would also see the SE-R
with a newly redefined not as much horsepower as a 3000 GT
but still close QR25DE motor which was 165 horsepower,
175 foot pounds of torque
and had a lot of just great things coming to it.
The third generation was actually a very good looking car.
You can get it with a five speed manual which was fun,
but mostly, like why you bought it
was that it was a budget good fun sports car
that was front wheel drive.
Unfortunately, Monty didn't just have the SE-R.
He had the frickin SC-R spec V, baby
a more sport oriented performance version of the Sentra SC-R
which was scary when you're 16 and or 17.
And you don't even know what that means.
Because you didn't google it like you should have
had a two and a half liter, 175 horsepower,
180 foot pounds of torque.
They gave it another gear and they bumped it up
with a limited slip differential on a front wheel drive car.
It had sharper suspension, better wheels, firmer bushings
and firmer stabilizers.
All right, it did everything it could to stay on the ground.
And even though this brochure had me wanting one so bad,
the car was relatively untouched by the market
because people just didn't see it as a car
that they wanted to pick up
The spec V had a super aggressive front end
that looks pretty similar to a GT-R.
And that's really why a lot of people ended up
liking these trims the most especially for people like you
and people like me because it looked like a bubbly GT-R
and it still had side steel extensions
which gave it a sharper lower body line
you could see the headlights have reminicing cues
of the GT-R you could see that the taillights
and certain generations had some of the cues of a GT-R
and if you looked at the side,
you could still see that similarity especially
as it went through its age
and this generation looks pretty damn good.
It had sleek headlights, a curved trunk, a raked windshield
clean grille and an okay interior that they updated
with plastics that didn't crack every two seconds.
This generation center specifically the SC-R
the spec V was a certified real slap and banger
it had better seats, plastics, audio headlights,
double walled exhausts and a smooth comfy mats
that made it a great entry level car
especially for people that wanted to jump into a Nissan
that could still get some pretty decent gas mileage.
If you're looking to pick up a Sentra,
specifically one that might be a little bit older,
get the SE-R or get the spec V
garage factoid, the spec V and not the V spec
was a designation play because the GT-R V spec Skyline
was essentially how they use the nomenclature
was reintroduced in the USA and R35 is the GT-R spec V.
Now the reason that they did that is because apparently
the spec fee designation is due to the fact that Nissan
can't use the V spec title.
So they just did a little uno switcheroo card with the title
and that's why it's called V spec. There you go,
The spec V and SE-R trims would remain in the lineup
into the next generation but it got a little weird
sixth generation got a little funky, Okay,
and I think the fifth generation just holds something spicy
in my heart that I just will never be able to give up.
But the sixth generation is where they became
the only add salt as the trim flavor
for this car and future generation
Were starting to get rid of it entirely.
You could pick up a sixth Gen in the SE-R
but ultimately most people remember
the SE-R and the spec V as a fifth generation car.
And that's the thing that Nissan Sentra SC-R specifically,
the spec V has almost always been underrated.
It's a car that was a gem.
But for some reason, people just never really picked it up.
It was fun. And sure it had the platform of the sunny
but at least the first generation but it was still a cool
car, it still was a Sedan inspired GT-R
you could brag about the fact that it was a Sedan inspired
GT-R, they were practical, they were reliable,
They were practical, and they had two extra doors
and because of the reason that we're not going to spend
any more time talking about the history of the car,
you want some of that go grab it in stores,
the source or something.
We're gonna be talking about you wanting to own
one of these things. All right, that's what we're here for.
We're here to help you decide if a front wheel drive
20 year old Nissan is the play.
So you want a Nissan Sentra SE-R or spec V
Well okay, we can maybe talk about this
just a couple, two, three minutes.
Okay, set down your plasti dip,
grab your favorite plastic restore
or maybe even a Skyline t-shirt
because we're gonna sit down and talk about what it's like
to actually own one of these bad boys
Owning the SE-R or the spec V
is like finding a performance bargain
except that's not one many know about or actually really
even brag about there's front wheel drive
which can turn quite a few people away but the fun color,
the manual transmission, the LST out of the spec V
and it's a pretty decent car to boot
makes it actually a really great pick if you are looking
for something that's like a conservative amount of fun
the pricing has come down as well which is made these things
a damn bargain 6600 RPM, higher compression engine,
big ol' rotors and all that good stuff
make it actually a car that you can modify as well.
You can throw different brakes on it, suspension, wheels,
tires, intake, exhaust, all that good stuff
and you can still get a pretty fun car
that's not gonna to cost an arm and a leg
but not only that the looks are banging
look at the fifth generation.
throw some period correct mods, clean up the headlights,
grab some classic like BBS's or Graham lights
or maybe even some, some, some, some Artisa's
you know I'm saying?
it was really hard for me to wink when I was a child
And Michelin tires with some coilovers
and you're pretty much set to go
and because it's an early 2000's car
you pretty much just have to focus on cleaning up the glass,
restoring the plastics and you're pretty much all set to go.
The biggest thing with the Nissan SE-R and the spec V
is finding one, and you can find them
pretty much all over the states.
But when you do pick one up,
you're almost gonna to be one of the few
that you'll ever see actually running around with them.
They're not a super popular platform these days.
And there's really no reason for it.
If you're looking to pick one up,
I definitely recommend a fifth generation.
And I definitely recommend grabbing a spec V.
These are the cars that are known for people that just want
to have something fun, but are going to be able to actually
get in it and make sure that it starts up every time
goes through the gears every time because
at the end of the day, it's still a Nissan
and it's before they introduced
all the weird transmission stuff
that they ended up doing with some of their SUVs and CVs
because that's weird,
But what do you think about
the Nissan Sentra SE-R OR spec v?
Let us know below, and of course,
let us know what you'd like us to talk about next.
If you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires or suspension, be sure to hit us up over at
fitmentindustries.com
Be sure you can build up your car right now
you can pay it off later with a tax turns us 0% of firm
you can pick up a T-shirt or a hoodie
and get entered into the giveaway.
There's a lot of crazy stuff going on.
And of course I love you.
We'll see you later peace.
(hip music)