Sentinel



The Sentinel is a luxury four-door car that appears in Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto Advance, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. It also appears in Grand Theft Auto IV as a two-door coupe.

Overview
The Sentinel resembles a 1996-2003 BMW 5 Series sedan (specifically the 528i) in GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories. Whilst, in GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories it resembles a 1977-1986 BMW 7-series (specifically the 750), as well as a 1987-1994 7-series (also a 750) in GTA San Andreas.

The Sentinel in GTA IV is manufactured by Übermacht and modeled after the BMW 3 series coupe, most likely the 2001-2006 M3, due to the bumper design and rear tail lights. After collecting all thirty cars for Stevie he agrees to purchase cars from Niko Bellic, with the Sentinel fetching $2,500.

The Sentinel handles well, with its rear-drive layout sometimes leading to over steer. The Sentinel has a V6 engine in all of the GTA games. It is generally found throughout the business districts of all the cities. However, some can be seen driving in the general suburbs, and sometimes in the wealthy parts of town.

Sentinel XS


Since the Sentinel's appearance in GTA III, there has always been a sportier variant, the only exception is GTA San Andreas. In GTA III, this was only driven by the mafia, and was therefore known as the Mafia Sentinel. This car had the power increase, spoilers and rear window grills, common to all sports Sentinels. This version may have been based on the BMW M5. GTA Vice City was the first game to feature a modified Sentinel bearing the "XS" suffix (known as "Sentinel XS") to denote the faster Sentinel, however the game system files referred to the car as the "Mafia." We therefore know that the Mafia Sentinel in GTA III may in fact be a Sentinel XS. During GTA Vice City Stories, the Sentinel XS was also used as a gang car for the Mendez Cartel.

GTA IV features an updated Sentinel XS. The car remains faithful to previous XS's with its spoilers, window grilles and performance upgrades. It also has a large rear spoiler sporting an "STD" badge; an obvious parody of Subaru's STi marque or a play on BMW's in-house tuning division, M. STD supposedly stands for "Sentinel Tuning Division", but the STD acronym is also commonly used in short for "sexually transmitted diseases". It is possible the spoiler is just an aftermarket upgrade from an unrelated company, and STD is its logo or name. If you manage to get the hood off and keep the engine bay in good condition, you can clearly see a centrifugal supercharger, as BMW tends to supercharge rather than turbocharge. You can tell by the engine noise as it seems to wine rather than whistle like a turbo, on the left side of the engine bay. This makes the latest Sentinel XS the fastest iteration yet. It is possible that this is based on the BMW M3 GTR or M3 CSL, both even higher performance versions of the M3.

Despite its rear-drive layout, and powerful engine, the XS is surprisingly steady in corners. The car does not oversteer dramatically in sharp turns, and can weave through traffic at high speed with ease. The Sentinel XS also has a slightly raspier exhaust note than the stock Sentinel due to the dual exhaust with sport silencer.

Locations
GTA III GTA Vice City GTA Vice City Stories GTA San Andreas GTA Liberty City Stories GTA IV
 * Saint Mark's, Portland Island - Parked outside Marco's Bistro.
 * In the Staunton Island LCPD HQ parking lot.
 * Torrington, Staunton Island - Parked outside Kenji's Casino.
 * Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale - In the parking lot.
 * The Sentinel and the Sentinel XS are fairly common throughout Eastern Vice City.
 * A Sentinel XS can be found in the first parking lot that you pass before arriving at Escobar International Airport.
 * Can be mostly found near the Vice Point Mall or Escobar International Airport areas.
 * Two Sentinel XS's can be found parked at The Mendez mansion on Prawn Island.
 * The XS can be also found parked in an alley near the Vice Point Mall car park.
 * Several Sentinels can be found at the Washington Beach car park.
 * Can be found behind Roboi's Food Mart store
 * Inside one of the Vinewood studios.
 * Harwood, Portland Island - Spawns inside the the Capital Autos showroom after completing three levels of Car Salesman.
 * Can be found almost anywhere, as it's a common car in Liberty City.
 * The STD version can be mostly found in Westdyke, Alderney. Sometimes it can be found in Little Italy, Algonquin.
 * It will almost always be found parked at the Francis International Airport tower, in singleplayer and multiplayer.

Modifications (GTA San Andreas)

 * Color (exterior)
 * Exhaust (four varieties)
 * Spoilers (four varieties)
 * Wheels (ten varieties)
 * Nitro (all)
 * Bass Boost
 * Hydraulics