If you look at it from certain angles, for instance, if you lie flat on the ground like some kind of design-curious gecko and peer through a 300 mm lens, you can convince yourself that the 200SX SE-R looks like a real sports coupe. There's a little Alfa somewhere around the front end, and maybe even some 633 CSi around that C-pillar. If you look long enough from down here, you can even forget that most of the people who say they like it use the word "cute." Yeah, from this angle the thing looks sporty. It looks worthy of inheriting the previous-model Sentra coupe's SE-R nameplate, as well as a heritage that has thrilled autocrossers and budget-minded, tire-chirping g-hounds throughout its production run.
But as you contemplate all this, a multilegged insect has worked its way up your shirt sleeve and you have to stand up and shake the creeping little vermin out. Now you see the car in three dimensions. In three dimensions, it just goes back to looking cute. The over-rounded edges exaggerate its smallness, and even the vestigial wing over the trunk only adds to its neo-bumper car appearance.
"But this isn't just cute," you think to yourself. "It's fun to drive, more than anything else in the Sentra/200SX line. Maybe, dare I say, as much fun as anything in the class once known as pocket rocket." You make a mental note to stop talking to yourself so much and get in.
There is headroom here - and elbow, knee and shoulder room, too. Crawl into the back seat and you find enough room so that even passengers over six feet tall will have to whine about something else. With the front seat slid back far enough, they could whine about knee room, but legitimately, they couldn't whine very loudly.
In the front seat are side bolsters for thighs and ribs, which is good, and a fixed head restraint, not quite high enough. The seats are covered in comfortable herringbone cloth that carries over onto the door inserts. The dash is simple and uncluttered, with nice, fat knobs for the HVAC, a relatively simple stereo/cassette, and a couple of handy cup holders. It's efficient. If Nissan is cutting costs by eliminating excess, you miss nothing in the SE-R.
A 140-hp engine is the big draw for the SE-R, and one of the main reasons buyers are willing to part with an extra $1,935. The base 200SX gets by on 115 horses and 1.6 liters of displacement. In comparison, this car is practically a muscle car.
Fire it up, start driving and the power comes on as surely as a sophomore at a freshman mixer. Well-matched to the car's 2536-pound curb weight, the engine won't overpower the car or you, but the SE-R doesn't cry out for more oomph.
A 16-valve SOHC Neon makes 132 hp; a Celica GT has 135; a Saturn SC2, 124; and a four-cylinder Jetta/Golf, 115; so the SE-R is not underpowered by the standards of the class. Plus, it offers something found in almost no other front-wheel-drive vehicle: a limited slip differential.
Stand on the gas out of a turn, summon all 140 horses and 132 lb-ft of torque, and you notice what's lacking - wheelspin. With the SE-R-only 195/55R-15 tires, the SE-R is loads of fun to drive. It is light, nimble, tossable, fun and all those other descriptors previously showered on pocket rockets. But the old rockets had more power than their front-wheel-drive powertrains could handle. This one offers more control, and just as much understeer. Like all front-wheel-drive subcompacts, it's balanced toward the front as the tendency to plow in corners shows.
After several weeks of driving all the 200SX and Sentra models, our appreciation of the SE-R grew. When it came out, we were thrown off because we were told to anticipate handling like an RX-7. Expect the handling and performance of a good, sporty subcompact and you'll be impressed. Expect more, and you'll be disappointed.
Reaction to the new 200SX SE-R pretty much unfolds along generational lines. The younger and/or the more generally optimistic drivers appreciate the way it drives and looks. Older, grizzled veterans tend to dismiss it and complain that the old days - when pocket rockets roamed the Earth and small meant fun - are gone forever. The old guys aren't in the target market. The young guys are. Nissan may do well with this car.
