2004 Nissan Sentra SER SPECV Review

2004 Nissan Sentra SER SPECV Review About 1 year ago I purchased a 2004 Nissan Sentra SER SPEC V; it was a replacement to a Lincoln LS I purchased which was basically falling apart. Want to write a personal review of the car with some suggestions of upgrades. FYI the picture of the Car on the right is not mine. My SER is Grey Metallic in color.

The car comes well equipped with sunroof, power group, cruise, tilt, rockford fosgate sound and air conditioning. The Spec V has sport suspension and stock strut bars. The model I have also came with front brembo four piston brakes and of course the 2.5L Engine. The 2.5L engine is also found in the Nissan Altima models. The interior is also very nice and comes with race looking bucket seats which are very comfortable to sit in. The cars ride is very good and the suspension can take some of the big frost heaves we get here in the spring. Gas millage is pretty good I get about 600KM to a tank which is about 45$ to fill. Also the car is supposed to run on premium unleaded as the engine may knock on lower grade fuel. The model I have comes with also a 6 speed manual transmission and custom SER shift lever.

So far in a year of owning the car I have had to replace one back wheel barring about 100$ and the front bumper that I dented trying to avoid a stupid deer. The bumper was about 150$ which I purchased from ebay.com store its came painted primer black and I just put it on the car which gave it a custom look. I also replaced the exhaust with a cat back system for about 150$ also purchased on ebay. Winter driving with this car is pretty scary the car is fairly light so it can slide around a lot. It probably didn’t help I had FUSION tires on the car. This year I’m going to get a set of winter tires the problem is the tire size p215/45r17 is going to cost around 180$CDN a tire. The Brembo front brakes on the car prevent a smaller rim size to be placed on the car. Also about a week ago the starter cable came loose and I just tightened the bolt to fix.

I recommend a cat back exhaust system for this car. I will warn you the car will be really loud because of that 2.5L engine. I purchased an exhaust system from a company on ebay. It’s basically the same as the diagram on the right. Want to warn people who purchase exhausts that if you install it yourself make sure you have equipment to bend the pipe as sometimes it’s not an exact fit. It will be a close fit but the pipe might be resting against the frame or body causing a rattle.

Also a cold air intake is also a good option. This I have not purchased yet for my car but I know someone who has one on the SPECV. Ebay has lots of options and I have seen them ranging from 25$ to 200$ and there are also adaptors to add just the circular filter which work the same. Also since the car comes stock with front Brembo calipers it would probably be good to get a set for the back. I haven’t done this yet because it’s about 2000-3000$ and I am pretty cheap.

Well I would say it’s a very good car. The reliability of the Nissan product is amazing. Sometimes I travel far distances and never worry about the car leaving me stranded. I got the car with 97,000KM for around 9800$CDN so you will probably find it around the same price. I would say this car will pay off as it won’t spend most of its time in the garage. If you’re interested check out some reviews and defiantly check out the aftermarket products as there are lots for this car.