| Income Bracket | Monthly Financing Cost Range | Cash Purchase Price Range | Nissan Sentra Years | Honda Civic Years | Best Model Year: | Why? |
| < $5k | $42-$83 | $1,500-$3,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | Only models from our “worst of” rankings fit this price range |
| $5k-$10k | $83-$125 | $3,000-$4,500 | 2009-2010 | 2006 | 2006 Civic | Similar reliability and safety for both cars, but the Civic offers a hybrid |
| $10k-$15k | $125-$187 | $4,500-$6,750 | 2012, 2014-2015 | 2010 | 2014 Sentra | Cheaper repair bills with the Sentra, otherwise they are comparably matched |
| $15k-$25k | $187-$312 | $6,750-$11,250 | 2016-2017 | 2013-2015 | 2016 Sentra | Reliability scores are the same, but the Sentra does better on safety |
| $25k-$35k | $312-$437 | $11,250-$15,750 | 2018 | 2016-2018 | 2018 Sentra | It’s objectively more reliable |
| $35k-$50k | $437-$625 | $15,750-$22,500 | 2019-2021 | 2019-2021 | 2021 Sentra | Has a higher FIXD Reliability Score and better fuel economy |
| $50k-$74k | $625-$925 | $22,500-$33,300 |
See the methodology for the table above.
The Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic have been mixing it up for more than 40 years, which could fairly be described as a legendary grudge match at this point. Were the Sentra on sale at the same time the Civic originally landed on these shores, we’d be looking at a 50-year matchup.
That being said, this comparison of the best model year Nissan Sentra vs. Honda Civic only goes back 20-odd years to 2001. The goal is to offer a comprehensive head-to-head look at how these two sedans performed in that period.
To do so, we’re leaning on the data analysis performed for our best and worst model year rankings that cover the Sentra and the Civic. It’s an analysis that factors in objective FIXD reliability data and subjective owner-reported reliability insight.
We also look at safety scores from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), current market values from Kelley Blue Book (KBB), fuel economy figures published on FuelEconomy.gov, and owner-reported annual upkeep costs.
Of course, when it comes to buying a used car, budget is a critical component, which is where the above table comes in. Each row is broken out by increasing ranges for income bracket, financing costs, and purchase price range per KBB. Then we offer up Sentras and Civics that fit those criteria and have already gotten a thumbs-up in our model year rankings.
Assuming you are interested in an older Nissan Sentra or Honda Civic, be sure to have a read through our used car-buying checklist. Prefer something new? Head over to our comparison of the 2023 Sentra and Civic to find out how the latest versions of these two compacts stack up.
If you’d like to get an idea of how these cars fare against other members of the small-car crowd, this list of best and worst model year rankings and relevant comparisons is a good place to start.
Best and Worst Model Year Rankings
- Best and Worst Model Years of the Toyota Corolla
- Best and Worst Model Years of the Subaru Impreza
- Best and Worst Model Years of the Volkswagen Jetta
Competitor Comparisons
- Nissan Sentra vs. Nissan Altima
- Honda Civic vs. Volkswagen Jetta
- Honda Civic vs. Honda Accord
- Honda Civic vs. Toyota Camry
Price History Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
Average Market Value – Based on Owners’ Self-Reported Mileages | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
The chart above plots current market values, by model year, of the Sentra versus the Civic going back more than 20 years. As is typically the case, values drop as the years go on and the mileage piles up. But another trend to note is how the Civic is generally pricier than the Sentra.
This ability of the Honda to hold its resale value correlates with a shallower depreciation curve as we’ll look at below. That’s a good thing for sellers, but if you’re a buyer, be aware that a used Civic will generally cost more than a used Sentra from the same model year.
However, the higher price doesn’t automatically mean a more reliable car. This is why we factor in objective and subjective reliability below – we want would-be buyers to be confident that wherever they choose to apply their budget is going to be a worthwhile investment.
Along with the reliability factor, note that sometimes mileage plays an outsize role in market values. For instance, the 2016 Civic commands a nearly $6,000 premium over the 2016 Sentra. Looking over the owner-reported mileage from our best and worst model year rankings for the Sentra and Civic shows that the Nissan averaged 97,000 miles in 2016 versus 73,000 for the Civic.
Depreciation vs Maintenance Expenses
Looking over the graphs of deprecation and maintenance costs above, you can see on the left how the Nissan Sentra’s depreciation curve (gray line) has a steeper decline than the Honda Civic’s depreciation curve on the right.
This helps to explain why the Civic’s resale values are generally higher, as noted above, but for both cars, it’s important to understand how depreciation works so that you can use it to your advantage when shopping the used market.
In general, a new car loses 10 to 15 percent of its value after the first year of ownership, a figure that jumps to between 40 and 50 percent after five years. That’s a boon to buyers of used Sentras and Civics, but we’ve taken it a step further by identifying the ideal combination of depreciation and maintenance costs per mile.
That latter aspect is aimed at helping you determine what you can expect to pay to keep your used car on the road. For the Sentra, model years 2004 through 2012 are in this ideal “sweet spot” where depreciation has pushed down price significantly and you can expect to pay just 3 to 9 cents per mile in upkeep.
For the Civic, on the right, this sweet spot – which is highlighted with a black box on both charts – runs from 2002 through 2011. It’s a period where maintenance costs per mile range between 4 and 8 cents, while the residual value is no higher than 15 percent.
Looking over the best and worst model year rankings for the Sentra and Civic shows us that the 2009, 2010, and 2012 Nissan Sentra are all recommended model years and within the above sweet spot. For the Honda Civic, that is true of the 2006 and 2010 model years.
Reliability Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
The two charts above compare the FIXD Reliability Score (left) and Owner Reliability Score (right) for the Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic over the past 20 years. You can go deeper with our model year rankings for the Sentra and Civic, but this condensed approach is intended to help you narrow down your list.
As you can see, these two compact sedans are closely matched for the most part with an identical FIXD score – which measures objective reliability – nearly half the time. Outside of those instances, the Civic does offer a higher FIXD Reliability Score twice as often as the Sentra, but of the notable gaps, only the 2020 Civic is in the “best of” category.
The 2001, 2002, and 2005 model years are all dominated by the Sentra (green bars) for FIXD reliability; however, all of those Sentras also come from the “worst of” side of the model year rankings, so buyer beware.
Looking over the owner-reported reliability comparison, we can see that the Sentra tends to have higher perceived reliability than the Civic over these 20 years. This is an important reminder to take any owner’s perspective on their car’s reliability with a grain of salt and contrast it with objective reliability for a well-rounded understanding of true reliability.
Longevity Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
The idea behind the chart above is to help you see what is considered high mileage for a used Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic. At a glance, we can see both cars easily move past the 100,000-mile mark as recently as 2016.
Other highlights include the 2007 and 2008 Sentra, a pair of model years where mileage bucks the trend and drops significantly. Both of these years are on the wrong side of our Sentra model year rankings, so reliability could be leading to smaller odometer readings here.
Only the Honda Civic cracks the 250,000-mile mark, and then some, according to owners of the 2001 model year, though we don’t recommend buying one per the best and worst Civic rankings.
As noted, both of these cars seem to happily hit the 100,000-mile mark, but even 150,000 miles is within reach going back to 2010 and before. Why is this important? Because it gives you an idea of what you can expect the odometer to display for the model year you’re interested in.
Some may be comfortable buying a 15-year-old Civic with 125,000 miles, but some may balk at anything beyond 50,000 miles. Regardless of your comfort zone, be sure to talk with the previous owner about how those miles were accumulated as long highway drives generally result in less wear-and-tear than short local driving.
Who Should Buy These Cars: The Legacy of The Nissan Sentra & Honda Civic
| Frequent Use Categories: | Nissan Sentra | How Useful? (Out of 5 Stars) | Honda Civic | How Useful? (Out of 5 Stars) |
| Family Vehicle | * * * * * | **** |
| Lots of Driving (travel/long commute) | * * * * * | ***** |
| Hauling/Towing | * | * |
| Office on Wheels | * | * |
| Sport/Fast Driving | * | * |
| Luxurious Driving | * | * |
| Outdoor/Off-Road | * | * |
The above chart comes from Sentra and Civic owner survey responses about how they primarily use their cars. Both have a 5-star rating, which is the highest, for the “Lots of Driving” category. This correlates with our prior discussion about how readily both sedans rack up the miles.
These two compacts also rank highly for use as family vehicles, though the Sentra is even more likely to fit this bill with 5 stars, versus 4 stars for the Civic. We’ll go deeper into safety ratings below, but this table is a good indicator that these are generally safe cars as so many folks are toting their families around in them.
Though the “Sport/Fast Driving” category only registers 1 star for both cars, it’s worth pointing out that within that star, an average of 6% of Civic drivers report this as a primary activity versus 2% for the Sentra. That can be chalked up to the Civic historically offering a higher level of performance variants, like the Si, and is a reminder to find out just how hard the previous owner was driving their Honda.
Driver Experience | A Summary of The Top 10 Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic Reddit Posts:
To gain an unfiltered perspective on which car is better in this Nissan Sentra vs. Honda Civic comparison, I’ve consulted the What Car Should I Buy Reddit. Always a colorful online forum, in this case, we have the unusual result of a nearly universal opinion on which car is better.
Across three separate threads, one comparing 2-3-year-old Sentras and Civics, one comparing 10-year-old model years of both cars, and one asking about how 2007 model years stack up – every single Redditor respondent said the Civic was better than the Sentra.
For the most part, folks pointed to Nissan CVT problems as the reason to avoid a Sentra, though several also felt the Civic was just a nicer overall car. One brave person accurately noted the Sentra typically costs less, but that was drowned out by almost unanimous praise of the Honda Civic.
This is interesting given our earlier discussion around objective reliability that proves the Nissan Sentra is frequently as reliable, if not more so, than a Honda Civic. The point is, don’t just follow the crowd when it comes to buying a used car, be sure to do your homework.
Year-by-Year Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
Best & Worst Years | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic | 2001-2024
I keep mentioning the best and worst model year rankings for the Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic because these articles are packed with useful analysis for anyone looking to buy these cars on the used market. However, they are in-depth write-ups, so we’ve created the above graphic that distills all that analysis into a simple color-coded timeline.
Model years in the red are from the “worst of” side of these rankings, green indicates “best of”, and yellow means we do not yet have enough data to make an accurate call.
As for the blue circles, this marks the start of a new generation, an occasion often accompanied by reliability problems as the manufacturer works through production kinks. You can see this in action with the 2007 and 2013 Nissan Sentra and the 2001 and 2012 Honda Civic on the timeline above.
Were you to overlap this timeline with the sweet spot charts from earlier, you’d find the 2009, 2010, and 2012 Sentra land in both the sweet spot and a green timeline section. For the Civic, that is true of the 2008 and 2010 model years.
Important Features Timeline | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
Buying a car is about more than just cold, hard data and analytics. It’s often an emotional decision as well, one that likely involves buyers aiming for a used Sentra or Civic that fits their budget, but also has the features and amenities they want.
With the above graphic, we hope to help guide you on how far back you’ll have to go to find those features. For heated front seats, the Sentra first offered them in 2009 with the Civic doing so one year earlier. Neither car offers ventilated front seats, but smartphone integration has been on hand since 2019 in the Nissan and 2016 in the Honda.
Both automakers have been bolstering their rosters of advanced driver-assistance systems at a rapid clip of late. Still, Honda offered blind-spot monitoring on the Civic as far back as 2012 with the Sentra a bit later in 2016. In both cases, a backup camera has been on hand since 2013.
You won’t find all-wheel-drive in either the Sentra or Civic and if you want hybrid power, only the Honda makes this powertrain available. And while Nissan dropped the manual transmission from the Sentra lineup after 2019, Honda continues to offer one in the Civic.
For more insight on yearly changes to the features and amenities of these two cars, check out our best and worst model year rankings for the Sentra and Civic.
Maintenance Costs (Year-by-Year Average) | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
The above chart compares owner-reported annual maintenance costs for the Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic going back 20 years. Our Sentra and Civic model year ranking series goes deeper on this, but a key metric here is that on average, these cars are within about $20 of one another – $534/year for the Nissan and $555/year for the Honda.
That being said, some years are better than others. For instance, the 2003 and 2013 Nissan Sentras spike well above that average mark, but both model years are also from the “worst of” side of the rankings. The 2012 Civic also stands out like a sore thumb and earned a thumbs-down in the model year rankings.
It’s not unusual for an older car with higher miles to have a bigger pile of maintenance invoices. But be sure to dig into the service history before making any purchase decisions as a high-mileage Sentra with consistent upkeep may be more reliable than a low-mileage option with spotty service history.
Safety Rating Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
As noted earlier, the Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic rank highly for use as family vehicles and the chart above helps explain why. Both of these compact sedans generally receive strong crash-test ratings from the NHTSA.
Notable areas include 2002 through 2006 when the Civic earned significantly higher safety scores than the Sentra. All of these model years fall on the wrong side of the Sentra’s best and worst model year rankings, but the 2006 Civic gets a thumbs-up in its model year rankings.
In 2011, the NHTSA revised its crash-testing protocols to be more stringent, which led to an industry-wide decline in scores that year. As you can see above, this applied to the Sentra and Civic as well, but the Honda recovered more quickly.
And if you demand the best on the safety front, only the Honda Civic has earned an average of 5 stars, across all trim lines, for the 2016-2018 and 2021 model years.
Fuel Efficiency Comparison | Nissan Sentra vs Honda Civic
Fuel economy often plays a major part in the decision to buy a small car like the Nissan Sentra or Honda Civic. Looking over the above chart on the left, you can see that, for the most part, both of these cars are neck-and-neck when it comes to fuel consumption.
The 2001 through 2005 Civics stand out here with significantly higher figures than the Sentra, but unfortunately, all of them fall on the wrong side of the Civic’s best and worst model year rankings. The Sentra nosed ahead in 2013, 2014, and 2015 – and the latter two model years are in the “best of” bucket of Sentra model year rankings.
But see that chart on the right? The one that consists of gray bars only? That chart illustrates hybrid fuel economy, but only for the Honda Civic as the Nissan Sentra has never offered a hybrid powertrain. The figures here are impressive – 40 mpg or more on average between 2003 and 2015, and more than 50 mpg between 2020 and 2022.
With this in mind, of all the Nissan Sentras and Honda Civics built between 2001 and 2021, I would put my money on a 2010 Civic hybrid. It is from the “best of” side of the model year rankings, is inside the depreciation and maintenance cost sweet spot, has a market value of around $5,000, and has a safety score in the high fours. A 40-plus mpg fuel economy figure is just the icing on the cake.
Methodology
- Compare two vehicles, the Nissan Sentra and the Honda Civic, and provide a comprehensive analysis.
- Gather relevant information and data on both vehicles from reliable sources, such as manufacturer specifications, expert reviews, customer feedback, industry reports, and data sources like manufacturer websites, FIXD App, Kelley Blue Book, FuelEconomy.gov, and NHTSA.
- Collect data on various aspects, including performance, safety features, fuel efficiency, maintenance costs, reliability, owner satisfaction, and market value.
- Identify the key criteria that will be used to evaluate and compare the two vehicles.
- Ensure the criteria cover both objective factors (such as performance metrics, safety ratings, and fuel efficiency) and subjective factors (such as owner satisfaction, comfort, and features).
- Examine the safety features and ratings of both vehicles.
- Evaluate crash test ratings, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), active and passive safety features, and any notable recalls or known issues related to safety.
- Consider both NHTSA safety ratings and IIHS awards for a comprehensive safety assessment.
- Analyze the fuel economy of both vehicles based on EPA mileage estimates.
- Compare their MPG ratings, average full-tank range, and any significant differences in fuel efficiency.
- Assess the average annual maintenance and repair costs for both vehicles.
- Consider data from surveyed owners and other reliable sources, such as FIXD App owner surveys, to determine the overall cost of ownership over time.
- Evaluate the reliability of both vehicles based on owner reports, FIXD App data, and any known issues or recalls.
- Consider factors such as engine reliability, common problems by model year, long-term durability, and owner reliability scores gathered from surveys.
- Consider owner satisfaction by gathering information from forums, online communities (Reddit: r/whatcarshouldIbuy), customer reviews, and owner reliability scores.
- Summarize key factors that owners appreciate and any common complaints or drawbacks mentioned by owners.
- Compare the features and technologies offered by both vehicles.
- Highlight any notable differences in terms of infotainment systems, connectivity options, driver assistance features, interior quality, and available upgrades.
- Assess the market value and depreciation of both vehicles.
- Compare average prices, resale value, and how the vehicles hold their value over time.
- Consider average private-seller valuations from Kelley Blue Book (KBB) for a comprehensive assessment.
- Summarize the findings of the comparison, highlighting the positives and negatives of each vehicle.
- Provide a fair and balanced recommendation based on the comparison, considering factors such as budget, personal preferences, specific needs of the buyer, and the comprehensive analysis conducted.
Sources:
- KBB Values: Average private-seller valuations as supplied by Kelley Blue Book (KBB), based on a Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic with typical mileage for that respective model year.
- Fuel Economy: Mileage-per-gallon estimates according to the EPA MPG on Fueleconomy.gov.
- Annual Maintenance/Repairs: Upkeep expenses as reported by surveyed Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic owners.
- Safety Ratings: Crash test data collected and reported by NHTSA. We average all ratings for each year to come up with a simplified, average safety score. This makes it easier to look at on a graph. We also collected IIHS Awards for this article.
- Vehicle Features: Most or all information gathered on vehicle features were from the manufacturer websites, in this case, NissanUSA.com and Automobiles.Honda.com
Niel Stender grew up doing replacement work on his old Cherokee and sweet Mitsubishi Starion, which led to a degree in mechanical engineering and a job at Ford as a vehicle dynamics engineer. His writing infuses that automotive background with sales and marketing experience. Writing about cars for close to a decade now, he enjoys digging into some of the more technical mechanical systems under the hood and throughout a vehicle.
