Used Car of the Day: 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V

by Tim Healey

Published: October 5th, 2023

used car of the day 2002 nissan sentra se r spec v

Today's UCOTD is 2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V that the author has loved for a long time but must part with due to family needs.

Many of us can relate to that.

This Canadian car has 270,000 kilometers on the clock, a Nissan Z OEM clutch, BC coilovers, Stillen lightweight flywheel, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires on NISMO rims, an upgraded radiator, LED fog lights, Nokian winter tires, a roof rack, and the ECU out of a 2005 350Z, among other mods.

The seller says it runs and drives well, though it does have some cosmetic issues, mostly because it is now more than 20 years old.

Click here to check it out. The asking price is $7,300.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

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6 of 18 comments

Lou_BC on Oct 05, 2023

@Tim Healy - how about some early 80's compact trucks like Ranger, S10, Luv, Toyota etc.?

1 Reply
- See 2 previous
- Tassos on Oct 06, 2023
  
  Why? do you collect these and put them in a jar? I'd not drive them if they paid me twice their resale value.
  
  Like
- Lou_BC on Oct 06, 2023
  
  A suggestion since many pine for simple small trucks
  
  1
- Kwik_Shift_Pro4X on Oct 06, 2023
  
  I would love to see a found 1989 Nissan Hard Body King Cab DLX with manual. That was my first, in black.
  
  Like
Lorenzo on Oct 06, 2023

Not a word about how this generation Sentra folds like a cheap suit, even in a low speed crash? The 1999-2006 models are ones to avoid if you want to keep the car awhile. My sister's 3 year old 2005 Sentra was totaled by her insurance company after it was rear-ended in a parking lot, at under 20 mph.
She couldn't believe it, but the insurance agent said it was policy for that model. The damage always exceeded the estimate once they started repair, so they just wrote them off.

1 Reply
- 2ACL on Oct 07, 2023
  
  I was trying to be nice, but. . .
  I looked at an SE-R Spec V of this generation some years ago and ultimately walked away. I liked the engine's flexibility, and the underlying chassis was satisfying, if somewhat crude due to the torsion beam. However, the interior quality killed my enthusiasm. Fit was okay, finish wasn't. Some of the plastics were reminiscent of early 90's Ford right down to having stress cracks made worse when the owner tried to fix full breaks with screws. The only reasons I didn't walk away before putting the key into the ignition is that I knew Texas summers are unmerciful to anything that isn't regularly put in the shade and I'd never driven a B15.
  Nice to drive, but the interior imparted a widespread impression of it being brittle, even for an econobox. Never really looked back afterward.
  
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