Sounds like many cars in the Japanese stable " Good car, BUT... it pricing really sucks when comparative features are taken into consideration".
Except that Nissan typically has HEAVY incentives on their vehicles. As a Nissan fan, I'd prefer that they simply cut their base prices with little discounting, rather than the Domestic strategy of inflated prices but cash on the hood. But the whole car industry has been dealing with this issue for a while.
On a personal note. Anyone have the pleasure of dealing with Nissan Canada ? (arrogant seems understated from my experience)
I haven't dealt with Nissan Canada, but the Nissan dealers I have dealt with (in SK at least) have all been excellent. Which may be an outlier opinion, as Nissan dealers typically do horribly in USA customer surveys.
As part of a family that has owned 6 different Sentras [1984 Datsun/Sentra, 1992 Sentra XE (B13 - the Sentra high point IMO), 1999 Sentra GXE, 2003 Spec V, 2006 1.8S, 2009 2.0), I have a vest interest in this car. Unfortunately, I just don't find it that appealing. My BIL's 2009 is a very competant car, but SOOO boring with the CVT. And the current generation feels more like a midsize than a compact, and that's not meant as a compliment (for me at least). Which isn't surprising, because the current Sentras are virtually the same size as my Dad's first-gen Altima.
The B13 SE-R has achieved cult status, and even the B15 and current SE-Rs have their merit (Spec Vs have never been the "best" sport compacts out there, but they are very entertaining for their price and reasonably economical to own). But I worry that Nissan is moving away from their bread and butter cars with their focus on stuff that is "weird" (Juke, Cube, Murano CrossCab) or cash cows (SUVs). Focus on improving your cars - they don't have to be best in class at everything, but at least continue to update and improve them more frequently. But from what I've seen of the new Versa sedan, I'm not holding my breath. I hope Nissan proves me wrong though...