It seems many of us had recently come close to writing Nissan off when it comes to performance, at least performance at a value since Nissan does have its Flagship GTR beating down most every Hot Rod and Supercar on the road but by all indications they were having trouble really understanding the market and what the average Joe was really wanting (Hello BRZ!).
Well, there's good news with the big reveal of the Nissan Sentra Nismo Concept at the LA Auto Show. This version is packed to the brim with awesomeness, at least for the average consumer to mild sports car guy. Nissan decided to slap a turbo on this bad boy which pushed it's power up by 110hp! They also harkened back to the SpecV heritage and installed a Limited Slip Differiential to help put the power to the wheels.
It has a 1.8-liter engine which features just over 240 horsepower and 240 pounds of torque. That engine is actually a bored out version of the direct-injection mill found in the upcoming Juke NISMO RS. Drivers will also be glad to know that it will indeed come with a 6 speed transmission but we're sure they'll find a way to throw in a CVT once it goes into production.
The exterior is quite stylish with some 19-inch RAYS wrapped in 225/35R19 Michelin Super Sport performance tires. Other accents are the Nismo styling inside and out and some very nice LED's on the front bumper and headlights.
Last, if you're not satisified with this car? Well, just consider it a potential preview for "what's next" as it seems Nissan is teasing us in that they're calling this car a "performance study", hinting at what can happen with NISMO at the helm of the Sentra.
"Fans have asked that we bring back a high-performance Sentra straight from the factory, just like in generations past," said Nissan Vice President of Product Planning, Pierre Loing. "With NISMO, our in-house motorsports arm already producing versions of the 370Z NISMO, JUKE NISMO, JUKE NISMO RS and upcoming GT-R NISMO, we wanted to demonstrate where we could go in the future."
So who's rushing out to buy one once they hit production? ;-)
