For people who want a little more chutzpah in an economy car, Nissan brought out the 2017 Sentra Nismo. It’s a fine little car, but looking at the back of it makes me want to tear my hair out and scream.
The asymmetry. I just can’t. Look.
Everything else here works. Badges are centered, the diffuser is symmetrical. It’s all good and fine.
And then you get down to the tailpipe and there is just one. That is also fine. But to see it just kind of tacked onto a rear that’s otherwise been thought out extensively? Seems misplaced.
Now, I am not knocking asymmetry. I love the face of the BMW S1000RR with its asymmetrical headlights. But that’s because it’s intentional mis-matching. And the bike pulls it off spectacularly.
The Sentra’s tailpipe, on the other hand, feels like Nissan designed a cool bunch of Nismo parts around a normal Sentra, and then it just didn’t bother to shift the tailpipe over to complete the look.
I’m sure the stick-shift Sentra Nismo will be a hoot to drive. I’ll just park it tail-in each time.