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Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic

226 messages,  Last post on Jan 10, 2009 at 4:50 PM

You are in the Nissan Sentra Forum.

What is this discussion about? Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, Car Comparisons, Sedan

Messages Page 7 of 24

#54 of 226 Re: 2.2? [midnightcowboy] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (3:35 pm)

Replying to: midnightcowboy (Feb 11, 2006 12:41 pm)
The hood and wind shield of S2000 look great. The Civic Si hood is too short. 07 Sentra also has a ridiculously short hood. I'd rather loose some interior space for a car-looking car, not a fat-bread-looking one.
 
I had good luck with my 83 200sx, 87 Maxima, 91 Pathfinder and 94 240sx. The 84 Celica costed me a lot on repairs. With my 97 Accord, the only problem has been the front rotors. You would think the rotors are just 30 bucks a piece. You are partially right. To take the rotors out, 3-4 hours of laber on each side, plus a special tool to pull out some stuff. My friend can replace timing belts on any Nissan, but he can't replace the Accord rotors. What a sophisticated design. I replaced rotors on 4 or 5 cars, including both rear rotors on an 89 BMW 325i, none of them costed me more than $100. There are also a good story about Accord: I have a factory muffler (in one piece with pipe) installed by dealer for $250 with life time warranty. The same repear at Tuffy would be $230, with only 1 year warranty on the pipe. Almost every Honda before 95 has rust next to the rear wheels, like every Toyota before some year has rust on the trunk lid. I hope that is history. Honda's regular maintenance cost is higher than average. Service appointments at my local Honda dealer are never current, usually a week. All the 4 Honda dealers are all that buzy. A friend has a 03 Sentra, perfect condition for 40,000 miles. Another friend bought a one-year-old Sentra with collision record 16 years ago. He treaded it in for a new car 10 years later, not a single repear other than replacing tires, break pads and muffler. Another friend spent $700 repairing her AC compressor/condenser on an 89 Accord in 1995. My ACs on the 87 Maxima, 93 240sx and 91 Pathfinder never stopped working (14 years, with original R12, very cold).

#55 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [alpha01] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (5:00 pm)

Replying to: alpha01 (Feb 11, 2006 12:26 pm)
Talking about Honda quality? In 11/98, my 97 Accord and 84 Celica were hit by golf ball size dry heils while parked next to each other in College Staion, TX. There were several dozens of dents all over the Accord, costed $1400 to pop them out. There was not any trace of heil on the Celica. I have to give credit to Honda's paint, although no other car's paint was damaged by heils either. Many other cars in the city were OK too, like my Celica.

#56 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [tthota] by thegraduate

Feb 11, 2006 (5:17 pm)

Replying to: tthota (Feb 11, 2006 5:00 pm)
Yes, but I was obviously talking about Honda's INTERIOR quality (referring to knobs and buttons). My 96 was apparently more fortunate in a storm, as it survived the nearby F-5 tornado on April 8, 1998. Debris was everywhere, but my car survived with nary a scratch. You can check out the live footage of our local meteorologist telling about this storm on
 
http://beta.abc3340.com/static/weather/video/040898tornado.WMV
 
It's actually scary video (although no good footage is available. 34 people were killed in the storm, several in a neighborhood adjacent to mine.

#57 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [thegraduate] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (6:12 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Feb 11, 2006 5:17 pm)
Thanks for the video.
 
Maybe your 96 Accord is luckier than my 97 Accord. I mean it probably, magically, did not get a 90 degree direct hit by any large debris. If not:
 
I have a few friends working for Detroit. Before I bought the 06 Sentra, one of them told me to be careful about a weaker body, since some car makers reduce the thickness of body steel in the last year of a model. This is mean, unlike mechanical problems in the first year of a new model. I hope Honda did not do what others did.
 
I agree with you on the Honda interior. My 97 Accord is still like new inside. My 91 Pathfinder is also pretty good after God knows how many owners. I damaged some stuff because I loaded dry walls, 2*4s and other building materials in it. At 150000 miles, it has 15-19 mpg, better than its 14-17 spec numbers. One bad case: a friend had to replace the CD/radio in his 99 Accord V6 in 2003, while the radio in his 92 Accord still working.
 
Perhaps there are a few more Nissan lemoms than Honda lemoms. In general, Nissan quality is good too.

#58 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [thegraduate] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (6:38 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Feb 11, 2006 5:17 pm)
Here is another one. My department chairman drove a manual Civic for 10+ years. When he finally sold it, there were 40,000 original miles on it, but the body was like trash. He bought a 2000 Accord SE automatic. He told me he hated the feeling that every time he made a turn and tried to accelerate, he was shaked back and forth twice, dizzy. I told him a 6 cylinder or a manual car would not have that problem. Actually my tiny Sentra 1.8s AT is OK too. The 98-02 Accord model has its max torque 1524900.

#59 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [tthota] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (7:14 pm)

Replying to: tthota (Feb 11, 2006 6:12 pm)
Here is another one. My department chairman drove a manual Civic for 10+ years. When he finally sold it, there were 40,000 original miles on it, but the body was like trash. He bought a 2000 Accord SE automatic. He told me he hated the feeling that every time he made a turn and tried to accelerate, he was shaked back and forth twice, dizzy. I told him a 6 cylinder or a manual car would not have that problem. Actually my tiny Sentra 1.8s AT is OK too. Just OK.
 
The 98-02 Accord model has its max torque 1524900. A v6 Accord of the same years is great: 1954700. 30% more torque for 7% more weight. If Honda changed the 1524900 to 1523700, it would have been much better at low speed, while cost Honda quite a few more dollars per engine/powertrain. Not to say 1522500, competing with Audi?

#60 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [tthota] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (7:43 pm)

Replying to: tthota (Feb 11, 2006 6:12 pm)
Sorry. I'll stop talking about Accord from now on. Actually I can only talk about Civic from its specs. 1284300 ~= 1524900? I haven't tested one so far. I will test one when I go to Honda dealer to change oil for my Honda car. Maybe I'll change idea.

#61 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [tthota] by thegraduate

Feb 11, 2006 (8:19 pm)

Replying to: tthota (Feb 11, 2006 7:43 pm)
I'll stop talking about Accord from now on. Actually I can only talk about Civic from its specs. 1284300 ~= 1524900? I haven't tested one so far. I will test one when I go to Honda dealer to change oil for my Honda car. Maybe I'll change idea.
 
I doubt it, because the Sentra does, in fact, make better low end torque. You aren't wrong here!

#62 of 226 Re: Can we bring this back to Sentra v. Civic? [thegraduate] by tthota

Feb 11, 2006 (11:14 pm)

Replying to: thegraduate (Feb 11, 2006 8:19 pm)
Thanks!

#63 of 226 Personal experience with both cars by lgoldin

Feb 16, 2006 (2:41 pm)

I own 2001 Sentra SE and really like the car. I have it since new and all this time enjoyed relatively high amount of torque at low RPMs as well as good passing power at high RPMs. I also enjoyed number of features which weren't available in other small cars at the time of purchase - heated mirrors (really helps during freezing rain), top storage bin, keyless trunk opening, illuminated vanity mirrors, etc.
But the car is 5 y.o. and I decided to try something new. I've checked Mazda3 and Civic, as well as many other cars. From driving prospective I liked MZ3 the best, but it's beside the point. Civic finally has almost all features which I care and which my Sentra has. It just lacks illuminated mirrors. I can live with that. I also really did not like that Civic holds RPMs when you switch gears. Feels really weird. But the major drawback for me was that despite 140hp you still can feel the lack of torque wrt 2.0L Sentra.
I wanted to try 2L Civic. Canada has Acura CSX which is a Civic with 2L and some other goodies. But then I saw info on new Sentra, so I will try CSX and Sentra when latter comes on market.

Messages Page 7 of 24

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