I’m here because I’m very sereously considering buying between a 02’ and 05’
Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V.
My mom drives the GXE, and I love it, haha. anyways…
I want to know a few things, and get as much imput as I can!.
a few questions of mine are,
are they decent for maintenance? like, low mainenance?..
are they solid cars, are they safe?.
but, most importantly are they worth putting money into.
basically for mine I plan on suspention, audio, and some minor engine upgrades, maybe turbo in a while, (half a year +)
but yeah, I welcome any experiance with Sentras, even bad comments, things I should look out for.
They are decent. Minus the butterfly screws and precat. These are a must change item. Other than that I have never had many problem with mine. Just the floor mat clip… I’ve owned 2 Spec V’s
They are solid. If you like your moms GXE you are in for a nice surprise suspension, and power wise. Also the Sentra scored a 4 star in front crash test and a 2 in side with out the side airbags. 4 star with airbags (only 04-06 Specs I believe). I can’t remember where that info came from. But I’ve been in an accident with one and i think it went well being alive and all.
3)Depend what you want from then car… I have intake, header, and exhaust and I think it was worth the $700 or so buck that I got in power. As far as audio goes the sentra kind of is nice to do because it has 2 din stalls…
Overall if you really are interested I would send 2003 SpecV and PM and ask him. He has one for sale. You could also come out this Sunday and check mine out. Mine is a pretty close match for what your looking for.
P.S. Looking at your RB post, If you want to put a bigger engine in your spec or boost it there a Turbo and Supercharger kits for the Spev plus the VQ35DE swap kit which is a Maxima engine.
Read this for everything you ever wanted to know about the Spec V ( http://specplace.com/ )
Personally I LOVE the Spec V really for dollar value it is an excellent car. Is it worth putting money into yes, yes it is. The only way you are going to see huge gains on this car is going Turbo or Supercharged. My car has been fully bolted and dynotuned with an safc II and I saw 189hp at the wheels, so without doing some serious engine work I think it is very unrealistic to see 200+hp at the wheels NA. But at 8psi of boost on a Spec will yeild you around 275hp at the wheels and 10psi of boost (which is really the absolute maximum without having a built block) will yeild you around 310-320hp range, but again 10psi is pushing it.
The gearing of an 02 Spec is a little and I do mean a little better for a Boosted Spec, but then you do have to deal with the 02 gear box which is not the best by any means, I have an 04 and I love it apparently with the 05-06’s they put a reverse lockout on the Tranny and also improved the slush…I mean gear box. ragerman has an 05 and he said it feels so much nicer, personally I put a mossy short shifter on my car and it feels really nice and smooth and short.
Just remember one thing when you start modding a car pick a path you want to take with your car and stick to it. if you want to go boost then save , save, save and go boost is you want to just do a few mods then stay NA. personally I would say save your money then give these guys a shout www.powertechperformance.com. Jamie is the shit and he really knows his shit. Just remember one more thing if you start buying parts for an NA car if you go turbo none of it will do you any good and you are going to loose money in the resale of these parts unless you go with a S/C and then you can keep a few of your mods, but between the 2 I would choose Turbo.
But yeah I would look at an 03 if you like the front end of it, but I have an 04 and honestly I had 2 black Spec Vs side by side when I went to buy my car one was an 03 and one was an 04 and I chose the 04, just something about it that I loved (could have been those great big gold Brembos, but that’s beside the point. Just know what you want from your car and figure out how to get it.
Anyhow welcome to the club and hopefully we will see you krewzin in a Spec sometime soon.
Well so far i absolutley LOVE my Spec-v, its quick, great handling, great stock sound, awsome looks and interiror (seats are pretty), and well i could just keep going on about that stuff but on to mods
i have cat-back, header, and cold air intake, for engine mods. awsome power from each, the header alone gave me 7whp, which is damn good for the 250$ i paid for it.
then i got motor mounts , cheap but a bitch to install, they make such a diffrence because it kills the wheel hop you get w/out them
i also have lowering springs whcih are awsome on looks and handling
in total i paid about 800 for all of that.
this car is just awsome, i really think you should buy it, they aren’t that bad on gas and insurance inst’ to bad either. the only problems i have had is my battery died, 70$ for a new one, and they had to replace my fuel pump which was free. so they have been awsome for reliablilty.
If you don’t mind the Yellow ones, we should talk. I have a leased one I’m considering getting rid of for a GT-R and we could probably work something out. It’s an '04 with 33K, Mobil 1 since first oil change, only seen premium since day 1. The car is modded but hasn’t been abused. You can tell because my fuel econ meter is reading about 29 MPG right now.
Well everyone who has a yellow Spec seems to be trying to get rid of it so you should ask them 8)
Honestly I almost bought a yellow one I’m just trying to get a rise out of all the yellow Specs cause they out number all of the other ones in this club.
I have a black '03.
It’s treated me really well.
I’m thinking of gettign out of it, but only because I really want a rear wheel drive, or at least all wheel.
If you’re looking for a little front wheel drive car with more power than most of the little ricers, then a spec V is the ticket IMO.
Ass loads of torque compared to most in it’s class.
The interior is nice, and soooo comfy for long road trips.
the motor has a fair bit of potential with forced induction.
after market parts are reasonably available.
6 speed manny.
decent factory suspension for daily driving.
PM me if you want to take a rip in mine, who knows maybe I’ll sell it to you.
It’s a great car so long as you recognize it for what it is - an upgraded econobox. You’ll get the rattles and what not in the car, the interior isn’t the greatest but IMHO it is the best bang for the buck in it’s price class.
Having lots of low end/mid range power is great because you don’t need to rev the piss out of it driving around the city. A few things you should do right away is remove the precat by installing a header and then loctite the butterfly screws. Aside from that I think the car/motor will last a long time if you keep up with maintenance.
Agreed! There are a few guys around here that can help you do both these things. You also might want to change out the tranny fluid for some Redline gear oil, just to make the trans a little bit smoother.
