Anyone who’s ever watched a canard-laden, sooty-arsed Spec V Skyline blast through a corner like a turbocharged gecko knows that the NISMO (Nissan Motorsports) boys are capable of crafting some serious speed. Yes, well, making a street fighter out of Nissan’s weight-challenged Sentra compact is sure to require some extra strength bippity-boppity-boo. Speedy silk purse, lethargic sow’s ear, that kind of thing. In short, I approached the Sentra SE-R Spec V with a healthy dose of scepticism, cynicism and I’ll-believe-it-when-I-thrash-it-ism.
Styling. My eyes! Why did I kill my father and marry my mother? Okay, you know I didn’t, and the SE-R isn’t quite that bad. But despite the porcine lipstick application, this is a car only Kermit could love. The new seventeen-inch rims barely fill out the wheel wells and the aero-kit fails to drop the lines low enough to disguise the micro-van roofline. And that’s on top of a car with oversized headlights, Caddy-esque edges and Chryslerberusian hood strakes. Ew.
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