The battle for young buyers’ limited dollars has forced automakers to step up their business in the small car segment. You can no longer expect to release a cheap vehicle that uses a lot of gas but lacks style and expect to sell a lot of them. The 2024 Toyota Corolla and 2024 Nissan Sentra reflect the direction of the segment in recent years. Buyers are now demanding more for their budget, and that’s what they get with these two vehicles.
Let’s take a look at these small sedans.
2024 Toyota Corolla
The 2024 Toyota Corolla is a mainstay in the automaker’s lineup and proves that Toyota knows how to build great compact cars. The current version offers good looks, exceptional mileage and lots of technology at a great price. And if a sedan isn’t your thing, you can also switch to the hatchback. If 35 mpg combined isn’t good enough, you can step up to the Corolla Hybrid, which is rated by the EPA at 50 mpg combined fuel economy.
The Toyota Corolla is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 169 horsepower. That’s more than acceptable performance considering you’re more concerned about fuel economy, which is impressive.
The sedan has four trim levels: LE, SE, Nightshade and XSE. Each offers more options as you move up the ladder. Pricing for the base LE starts at $23,145, including destination charges.
Highlights of the Toyota Corolla
Intelligent assistant: A feature typically found on more expensive vehicles, the available Technology Package allows you to say “Hey, Toyota” and ask for directions, increase the radio volume, change the cabin temperature and more.
safety first: The Corolla comes standard with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0, which includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, lane tracing assist, traffic sign assist and automatic high beams.
Nightshade: Toyota has made the Nightshade appearance package available for the Corolla for this model year. It features blacked-out badging, a gloss black sport mesh front grille, black sport sills, black covered side mirrors and 18-inch bronze wheels for some contrast.
Check out this week’s fair purchase price or view Corolla models near you.
2024 Nissan Sentra
The 2024 Nissan Sentra received an impressive update for the new model year. It stands out for its elegant and sporty style while being very affordable. For someone on a budget, it’s a stylish workhorse.
Powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 149 horsepower, it offers enough power to race around town without using a lot of fuel. It also has plenty of infotainment technology to make your daily drive even more enjoyable.
The new Sentra is available in three trim levels, S, SV and SR, and also features extensive safety and convenience technology. If there’s one thing young buyers want, it’s lots of good technology. Prices start at $22,030, including destination charges.
Nissan Sentra highlights
Technology oriented: The Sentra’s infotainment system offers standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a 7-inch display in the base model, which increases to 8 inches in the SV and SR trim levels. Buyers also get an additional USB-C port and satellite radio in these packages.
safety first: Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 makes this small sedan a safer space. You also get real value with forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert and – unusually for this class – automatic rear braking.
Great seats: The Sentra’s zero-gravity front seats are “road-trip comfortable” and are among the best in any compact sedan. The Sentra’s front seat comfort is significantly higher than that of the Toyota Corolla. Even better, they’re standard across the Sentra lineup. The back seats are also comfortable.
Check out this week’s fair purchase price or view Sentra models near you.
similarities
The Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sentra are almost identical in size and have a sporty exterior. Small 4-cylinder engines also power them and achieve almost the same fuel consumption figures.
Diploma
These two offerings are so similar that they could be considered identical cousins. The Nissan Sentra is slightly cheaper, but makes 20 horsepower less than the Toyota Corolla, so this is probably a bust. The choice is simple: ride both and choose the one you like better.
| 2024 Toyota Corolla | 2024 Nissan Sentra | |
| Starting price | $23,145 | $22,030 |
| Popular powertrains | ||
| engine | 2.0 liter 4 cylinder | 2.0 liter 4 cylinder |
| Horsepower | 169 hp at 6,600 rpm | 149 hp at 6,000 rpm |
| Torque | 151 lb-ft at 4,400 rpm | 146 lb-ft at 4,000 rpm |
| transmission | CVT | CVT |
| Fuel consumption | 32 city/41 highway/35 mpg combined | 30 mpg city/40 highway/34 mpg combined |
| Also available | Hybrid | |
| Specifications | ||
| Basic guarantee | 3 years/36,000 miles | 3 years/36,000 miles |
| Powertrain warranty | 5 years/60,000 miles | 5 years/60,000 miles |
| NHTSA Total Safety | 5 Stars | 5 Stars |
| Maximum seating capacity | 5 | 5 |
| wheelbase | 106.3 inches | 106.6 inches |
| overall length | 182.3 inches | 182.9 inches |
| Width | 70.1 inches | 71.5 inches |
| Height | 56.5 inches | 56.9 inches |
| turning diameter | 35.6 feet | 38.1 feet |
| Front headroom | 38.3 inches | 38.9 inches |
| Headroom, rear | 37.1 inches | 36.7 inches |
| Front legroom | 42.0 inches | 44.0 inches |
| Rear legroom | 34.8 inches | 34.9 inches |
| Shoulder room at the front | 54.0 inches | 56.4 inches |
| Shoulder room at the back | 51.7 inches | 54.5 inches |
| Freight volume | 13.1 cubic feet | 14.3 cubic feet |