A buddy of mine has a 2000? Sentra SE with the SR20DE. It's an alright car but eh, doesn't really do it for me. It's tall, has too short of a wheelbase, and the shifter is trash. I don't think a "tuned" car based on that platform would really be that much of an improvement. The Spec V might have an improved shifter, hooked up suspension, etc but it's still a Sentra which is a less-than-stellar starting point.

However for $9.5k that ain't a bad deal at all. I wouldn't buy one new though.