$20K Nissan Sentra SE-R from 1992 Is Bland on Top, Spicy Underneath

A quick glance at this little black coupe doesn’t do much for the eyes. Its shape is pretty standard, bland ’90s economy car. Like the car you’d see pulling up to your curb to deliver a pizza. It’s cleaner than most ’92 Nissans out there, but it ain’t perfect, either. There are 87,382 miles on the odometer as well as the usual dings, chips, cracks and scratches that come with those miles. The underbody is a little dirty and grimy. Yet it sold this week for $19,547 (including buyer’s fee). That’s dangerously close to the cost of a brand-new 2024 Sentra, with no miles and a warranty. The reason why this old one sold so well comes down to the three letters on the trunk lid: SE-R.

The decade or so from the late 1980s to late 1990s was a nice time for fans of sport compact cars. We were spoiled for hot versions of Integras, Civics, CRXs, Preludes, Eclipses, and Celicas. Nissan, meanwhile, had the rear-wheel drive 240SX and, starting in 1991, the front-drive Sentra SE-R. Built on the third-generation Sentra, aka the B13 to Nissan nerds, the SE-R (“Special Edition Racing”) came with very little to distinguish it from a regular Sentra. No look-at-me scoops or spoilers, here. Road & Track’s original test noted that it has “the appearance of a spruced-up grocery getter rather than the shark it really is.”

What gave the shark its teeth was the 2.0-liter SR20DE twin-cam four-cylinder that screamed to 7500 rpm and returned 140 horsepower to propel the 2500-pound commuter coupe body. A five-speed gearbox, limited-slip differential, and four-wheel disc brakes rounded out the package.

Car media at the time loved the Sentra SE-R, praising its driving dynamics and value for money. The “dream of a brand-new $12,000 BMW come true,” sang Car and Driver, and the first-gen SE-R has also been called a ’90s reincarnation of the beloved BMW 2002.

Nissan sold the B13 Sentra SE-R until 1994, and it used the badge on its spiced-up Sentras again for the B14, B15, and B16 platforms. There aren’t reliable production numbers for the B13 cars but, perhaps even more so than some of the hot Hondas they rubbed shoulders with, these were absolutely not cars people thought would be collectible classics one day. They were cheap when they were new, and then they quickly got cheaper, so most lived hard lives and left the road years ago.

A mint, original, 445-mile 1992 Sentra SE-R sold a couple of years ago for $35,175 (and was a no-sale a year and 226 miles later at a $24K high bid), but that car was a unicorn and likely the best B13 Sentra SE-R in the world. Few other clean ones have popped up for sale in recent years, and none have brought remotely close to to either of the high bids on that ultra-low-mile one.

The price on this week’s Sentra is strong, but this is also a strong car for what it is. Other than the usual wear and tear, it has old tires, a wonky stereo, and some minor corrosion underneath. Nobody would pay a premium for a Porsche or probably even a Toyota in this condition. But anybody pining for a clean B13 can’t exactly be picky. The winning bidder put it succinctly: “phew…that was wild! I had a ’93 before and just couldn’t let it go.” Fair enough.