- The Nissan Sentra is all-new for 2026 with a contemporary design however a repeat drivetrain
- The ProPilot Help visitors jam system makes its debut at this low worth level
The Nissan Sentra has all the time comfortably stayed in the course of the mainstream compact sedan class, with cheap pricing, a aggressive set of options, and long-earned title recognition.
Nissan has reinvented the Sentra for 2026, however not its strategy to worth. The 2026 Sentra will get a fastback look, a handy trunk with one of many lowest liftover heights in its class, and a brand new suite of driver help instruments.
It’s not a wildly new strategy — we’re speaking about trunk liftover peak among the many highlights right here — but it surely ought to supply the regular worth Nissan followers count on.
Nissan has not introduced pricing for the 2026 Sentra. The 2025 mannequin it changed begins at $22,835, and worth has all the time been a part of the Sentra gross sales pitch, so we’d be stunned to see a major change in that.
Fastback Look, Huge Screens
- The 2026 Sentra has a pronounced fastback and a model of Nissan’s “V Movement” grille so giant it visually shrinks the automotive
- A pair of 12.3-inch screens are unusually giant for a small automotive
Nissan designers leaned into what they normally do with the brand new Sentra. Meaning a sedan with a fastback look that works notably properly in two-tone shade schemes and the model’s signature “V Movement” grille.
This interpretation of the grille sits so broad that it nearly makes a compact automotive look subcompact. Skinny daytime operating lights above and a slender lip spoiler beneath body the large, jutting grille.
Inside, Nissan designers emphasised display measurement. All fashions embody a 12.3-inch touchscreen, and all however the base trim include an accompanying 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster (base fashions have a 7-inch unit). The brand new Sentra’s pair of 12.3-inch screens sit side-by-side in a single housing, so they appear nearly like one broad display floor. That’s a display measurement we’re accustomed to seeing in midsize automobiles, making a tech-heavy vibe for the cabin.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are customary, and wi-fi on all however the base trim.
The Ordinary 4-Cylinder Returns
- A 149-horsepower 4-cylinder engine and a repeatedly variable computerized transmission (CVT) are the one powertrain choice
- However Nissan’s ProPilot Help system makes its means all the way down to a cheaper price level with the 2026 Sentra
Designers took no probabilities with the powertrain. The brand new Sentra returns with the identical 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine because the 2025 mannequin, nonetheless making 149 horsepower. That retains it close to the low-end of its aggressive set for energy, however few consumers purchase a Sentra for efficiency causes.
A repeatedly variable computerized transmission (CVT) sends energy to the entrance wheels.
Nissan says the brand new mannequin is 6% extra inflexible than final yr’s, which ought to barely tighten up dealing with. The brand new suspension contains shock absorbers with a novel valve system meant to “mute impression harshness from bumps.”
However probably the most vital change to the driving expertise comes from the aid you’ll get.
Nissan’s ProPilot Help system may also help steer, speed up, and brake to maintain tempo with stop-and-go visitors. The motive force should nonetheless preserve their fingers on the wheel and their eyes on the highway, however in costlier Nissan automobiles, we’ve discovered that the system helps scale back driver fatigue. Within the 2026 Sentra, it’s elective within the SR trim and customary within the top-line SL.
Nissan says the 2026 Sentra will go on sale “later this yr.”