[KingElvis]

I rented a Sentra in Oregon recently.

I've become an adherent of the CVT. In the Sentra it just worked like magic. I was in some extremely steep mountain roads, and the thing that blew me away was that the CVT somehow 'sensed' downhill grades and would automatically go into a sort of "Hill Retarder" (for you Turboglide fans) mode without any input from the driver.

Speaking of 'glide, it's more like Powerglide in the quadrant - just D and L. This needs a "Super" mode, ala Hydramatic from days of yore, and it would be perfect.

Best thing about the CVT, or at least Nissan's take on it, was IMMEDIATE response. It may have had the electric throttle settup (which I HATE) but you never sensed any kind of time lag - press down and you get the response - even (or especially) if it's just a subtle change - right now.

One thing I truly loathe about the my Charger SE is the electronic throttle's response.

It's like they took the controls from a driving arcade game, and just applied them to the real world. In the Charger you always get the sense of 'asking' for power. If you are flooring it, you know to expect a spastic kickdown, but it has absolutely no nuance when you're just pressing it 1/4th down.

Also, they need some kind of throttle detent so you can tell when it's going to kick down. I'm the kind of person who does 'brisk' driving pretty much always, and I like to be able to control the power with much more subtlety. The Charger always wants to kick down two gears, I find it irritating.

and I would actually prefer the Sentra to my 250hp Charger with respect to measured and immediate throttle response - that's CVT magic for you.

Bring back the darn throttle cable! For that matter, bring back the Ford automatic that you could lock in the middle range without any fear of up or down shifting - that would be perfect for my driving style.

Altima sounds good. I like the looks alot - rear quarter reminds me a bit of the '68 Charger.

I liked driving the Sentra, but my god, it's one of the ugliest cars on the road. It has the increasingly popular 'squashed van' look. I just couldn't own one.

It seems unnecessarily tall (roof rose six inches above my head and I'm 6ft), and combined with a low roll center, you get that 'head bob' effect, like driving a minivan. It was very roomy and had a quality feel - the kind of car you'd tell a girl to buy but wouldn't touch yourself.