10 Biggest News Stories of the Week: Nissan Sentra, VW Atlas Cross Sport Chase Cheap Thrills

Sedans have had a rough go of it in recent years as SUVs have overtaken the American car buyer’s imagination like locusts descending on a crop to devour everything in sight. But, while it’s still too early to tell how the market will adjust in the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the ol’ four-door car may have some life left in her yet, as value and frugality regain prominence among our cultural virtues. That’s where models like the Nissan Sentra will start to look more attractive again — as it already did to Cars.com shoppers and readers.

Related: 10 Biggest News Stories of the Month: Kia Seltos Can’t Even Come Close to Coronavirus

Our rapid-fire rundown of the things we like and don’t like about the Sentra — the 2020 redesign of which seemed like a bold move on Nissan’s part at the time, but now seems downright cautious — motored its way up to the No. 3 spot among our most popular articles this week, fending off stiff competition like perennial bestseller the Ford F-150 and the ever popular Jeep Wrangler. We lauded the new Sentra for its smooth ride, fresh exterior look, high-quality upper-trim interiors, updated tech, standard safety features and competitive pricing, while we weren’t as thrilled with its stubborn continuously variable automatic transmission, stingy standard conveniences and unintuitive infotainment system.

Also having a good showing in its debut week was our full expert review of the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport SUV by Cars.com’s Joe Bruzek. This one was of particular curiosity to our editors as the Atlas Cross Sport is the two-row, slightly sexed-up variant of Cars.com’s Best of 2018 award-winning Volkswagen Atlas three-row SUV, which we bought and, for a year, reported on our ownership experience.

One of Bruzek’s conclusions is that if you don’t need that third row, the Cross Sport gives you all the benefits of the Atlas (of which we think there are many, obvs) while freeing up a whole lotta space by eliminating seating in the wayback. Get our full review by following the link below to our No. 5 article.

Although popular among readers this week, the Sentra and Atlas Cross Sport still fell short of the very top tier. Instead, our No. 1 and No. 2 stories, respectively, include our recommendations for the best cheap sports car you can buy — we included 14 picks, separated by price brackets of under $25,000 and under $30,000 — and our explainer on the proper pronunciation of the name of VW’s luxury brand, Audi (even if you just know that you know already, the delight is in the details).

Elsewhere on the countdown is the reveal of Cars.com’s 2020 Best Eco-Friendly Car of the Year, the Toyota Corolla Hybrid, a Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra safety recall and our recos for Infiniti models with 0% financing. Here are the top 10 news stories Cars.com readers couldn’t get enough of in the past week:

1. Best Cheap Sports Cars: Here Are Our Fave 14

2. How Do You Pronounce Audi Properly?

3. 2020 Nissan Sentra: 6 Things We Like (and 3 Not So Much)

4. 2020 Best Eco-Friendly Car of the Year

5. 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Review: A Good People Mover for Fewer People

6. 2020 Ford F-150 Review: Still Good Even After Competitors Are Redesigned

7. 2020 Jeep Wrangler: What’s Changed

8. 2019-2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra: Recall Alert

9. 2020 Subaru Legacy: 5 Pros and 4 Cons

10. 3 Infiniti Models With 0% Financing Worth Considering

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