2021 Volkswagen Passat vs 2022 Nissan Sentra

Despite its German branding, the 2021 Volkswagen Passat is an All-American midsize sedan. It was developed specifically for the United States market, and it’s built in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In 2011, when the Americanized Passat was launched, VW thought the sedan was the key to dominating the U.S. market. Midsize sedans like the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry were still the default choice for most buyers at that time, after all. A lot has changed since then—SUVs are surging in popularity, and a diesel-emissions scandal has forced VW to focus more on electric cars—but the Passat rolls on. With the flashier Arteon now in the lineup, however, the Passat has been repositioned as VW's value-focused midsize sedan.

The Passat got a significant update for the 2020 model year, so changes for 2021 are fairly limited. The previously-available Passat SEL trim level is gone, leaving just the base S, SE, and R-Line models. Adaptive cruise control is now standard across the board, and some trim levels get more standard equipment as well. Our test car was a mid-level SE model.

A lot is asked of small sedans. It’s not just that they are expected to be competent, affordable machines that can accommodate a buyer on a budget. For the automaker, the small sedan is also the intended entry point for the brand. This is the car that is supposed to convince shoppers to keep buying from them as they move into different vehicles. The 2022 Nissan Sentra is the perfect entry point for Nissan, but it wasn’t always this way.

The 2022 Sentra is two years removed from a significant 2020-model-year redesign. With such a focus on small crossovers and tight competition in the small-car segment, such a redesign sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of new vehicle debuts. So two years into its new generation, how is the Sentra doing? And how does it stack up with a very competitive collection of new small sedans? Read on to find out.