Nissan, like many other Asian automakers, is known for making reliable cars. This is especially true for the Nissan Frontier, which is one of the oldest pickup trucks still being produced today. Unfortunately though, the same can’t be said for the Nissan Sentra, which has many issues before it even reaches 100,000 miles.

The 2005 Nissan Sentra

This model year of the Sentra had a lot of issues, according to Car Complaints, but the most frequent issue happened before the average Sentra hit 100,000 miles. That issue was that the Sentra’s head gasket would blow out. It’s not known why exactly this issue was happening, but it was happening often and it cost a lot of money to fix. 

The average mileage on these Sentras were just under 77,000 miles. Car Complaints says that it cost on average $1,300 to fix this issue. Many Sentra owners on Car Complaints said that Nissan should recall the 2005 Sentra because of how frequent this issue was, but, Nissan has yet to do that. 

Another common issue that was happening to the 2005 Sentra was that the fuel pump would stop working. This also happened at approximately the same age as the Sentras that had their head gasket blown out. The average mileage for this issue was about 84,000 miles and it cost an average of $400 to fix, according to Car Complaints.

The 2013 Sentra

This model year of the Nissan Sentra was even worse than the 2005 model year was. In fact, while Car Complaints labeled the 2005 Sentra as a clunker, Car Complaints gave the 2013 Sentra the “Avoid Like The Plague” badge. Once again, the most common and serious issues all happened before the 2013 Sentra hit 100,000 miles.

The two most common and costly issues had to do with the transmission. Many owners reported that the 2013 Sentra would rev and jerk while driving. Many owners said that it felt horrible to drive their Sentra due to this issue. The most common solution to this problem was to simply replace the Sentra’s transmission. This was extremely costly.

The average price for that was about $3,400. The average mileage on the Sentras that had this issue was about 73,000 miles. However, many owners reported that this issue happened to them a few months after they bought a used Sentra with less than 50,000 miles on it.

The other most common issue with the 2013 Sentra’s transmission was that it would simply fail. Once again, this was extremely costly and it was happening to Sentras that had less than 100,000 miles on them. The average mileage was, according to Car Complaints, about 86,000 miles, and the average cost of repairs was almost $4,000.

The 2014 Sentra

The worst model year by far, however, was the 2014 Nissan Sentra, according to Car Complaints. Just like the 2013 Sentra, Car Complaints gave the 2014 Sentra the “Avoid Like The Plague” badge. And, just like the 2013 Sentra, the most common issues that were reported by owners had to do with the Sentra’s transmission.

While fewer people reported that the Sentra’s transmission was jerking and revving, many owners still experienced the 2014 Sentra’s transmission failure. This was, again, the most common issue, and it was an issue that was happening to Sentras with less than 100,000 miles on them. And once again, it was very costly to fix.

The average mileage of these 2014 Sentras was about 79,000 miles and the most common solution was to replace the transmission. That, on average, cost owners about $3,500.

The Sentra also had a severe issue with its airbags, and these issues were again on low mileage Sentras. However, Nissan did issue a recall for this problem. If you’re thinking about getting yourself a Sentra, make sure you check for all of these potential problems.