The increase in size is most obvious on the inside, where everybody gets more leg room, and rear passengers gain significantly in head room. Like all entry-level Japanese sedans, the Sentra's dash is attractive, if a bit conservative, with clearly identified and easily understood gauges and lights. Controls feel substantial and surfaces have high-quality texture to them. My only objection concerned the audio system, whose controls were rather small in size. Strong engineering is very evident within the Sentra, its doors close solidly with a thunk that is as reassuring as Nissan's premium Infiniti models.
Seats are firm and supportive, providing lots of comfort for long distance trips.
The SE's more powerful standard engine provides excellent acceleration using the manual gearbox, with zero to 60 times of around nine seconds. While I didn't try the smaller engine that powers the GXE and XE, I would reasonably add a second or two to the nine seconds. Using an automatic with either engine will likely drop this performance by another second or so. While under hard acceleration engine boom is significant, but that's about the only time the Sentra doesn't retain its quietness. Tire roar does seem greater than the norm for this class.