Junkyard Find: 1999 Nissan Sentra GXE with 431,246 Miles
Last year, we admired a 1993 Nissan Sentra in the New Orleans Pull-A-Part with a final odometer reading of 320,165 miles. That car was well-traveled by cheap-econobox standards, but now I've found this slightly newer Sentra with far more miles in Colorado Springs.
I'm always looking out for high-mile vehicles during my junkyard travels, which can be difficult because six-digit mechanical odometers only became common during the early-to-middle 1980s and then got replaced by (mostly) impossible-to-read-in-junkyards electronic odometers during the late 1990s.
The highest-mile discarded Nissan product I've ever documented was a 1980 Datsun 210 wagon with 445,440 miles, followed by a 1990 Sentra with 440,299 miles (both in Colorado car graveyards). That makes this Sentra the third-best-traveled junked Nissan I've photographed.
This car is now in 20th place overall in the Murilee Martin Junkyard Odometer Standings™ (the higher reaches are dominated by exactly the makes you'd expect: Toyota, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo). It is flanked by a 431,702-mile Subaru Legacy RHD Rural Delivery and a 419,712-mile Toyota Camry.
1999 was the final model year for the fourth-generation B15 Sentra. This one has the Limited Edition package, which included a CD player, tachometer and keyless entry.
The GXE was right in the middle of the 1999 Sentra prestige ladder, halfway between the punitive base model and the high-zoot SE. Its MSRP was $14,719, or about $28,799 in 2025 dollars.
It was built in Tennessee, one of the last Sentras built at the Smyrna plant before production shifted to Aguascalientes in order to make room for the new Xterra line.
The engine is a 1.6-liter DOHC straight-four rated at 115 horsepower and 108 pound-feet. Buyers of the '99 Sentra SE got an SR20DE with 140 horses… but would it have lasted 400k miles?
While six of the top ten cars in the MMJOS™ list have automatic transmissions, I think the relative cheapness of a clutch job versus automatic transmission rebuild/replacement makes three-pedal economy cars more likely to survive thin-walleted owners. This car has the base five-speed; the automatic cost an extra $800 ($1,565 after inflation).
Air conditioning was standard on all but the base 1999 Sentra.
The GXE came with these 14" alloy wheels, which look pretty slick for a cheap commuter. I considered buying them for my kei van (the Sambar has the same easy-to-find 4x100 bolt pattern and hard-to-find hub hole diameter as late-1990s Sentras), but the Sentra 13" steelies on it now already look a bit too big for the car, which was made for 12" wheels).
Like nearly all high-mile cars, it appears to have been treated well during most of its life. It averaged more than 16,500 miles for each of its years on the road.
It was sold new in Pueblo and it will be crushed just a bit north on I-25.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
1999 Nissan Sentra with 400k miles in Colorado wrecking yard.
[Images: The Author]
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Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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Like to ask a personal question also. About how much time do you spend in a yard when looking for cars to document? Do you have a list of models you focus on? Thanks, Murilee.
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