Great car and very economical

I purchased this car used with 89,000 miles on it about 2 years ago.  It currently has 130,000 miles on.  It gets approximately 32 mpg on average with a combination of city-like and rural driving.  Overall, a very reliable car with essential options like cruise control, auto windows/locks, am/fm, etc.  The car has run great - trouble free over the 40,000 miles I've owned it. 

Drawbacks are that the metal exterior is fairly thin and prone to denting.  The engine is also somewhat noisy with mild, but harmless valve chatter.  Most troublesome is the intermittent check engine light.  It usually goes off for long enough to get the vehicle inspected though.  You'll also find that in almost every 1997 Sentra, the body rots out underneath the door in the front portion of the door well.

The only major repairs to date have been a rear main seal which was surprisingly cheap to fix ($159), a catalytic converter, and a CV joint.  I've replaced the front brakes twice and back brakes once.  The total brake job took about 1 hour.  They are incredibly simple and easy to change out.

Overall, this is a great reliable car that gets good gas mileage.  I plan to run it well over 200,000 miles.