High clutch peddle effort

[Dan Mitchell]

I have a '91 SE-R I bought new & like very much.  Last night, I drove my new
girlfriend's car for the 1st time, a 1997 Sentra GXE.  The first thing which
struck me was that the clutch peddle takes ***MUCH*** more effort than the
peddle in my SE-R.  I mean EASILY 4 or 5 times as much pressure is required
to depress it.  It's so stiff it's hard to feel & clutch accurately. She's
much smaller than I am, and my left leg was tiring after some time in
traffic with the car.  Frankly, I don't know how she can drive the thing.  I
don't know if the peddle linkage is different on the 97's, it almost felt
hydraulic (as opposed to the cable linkage of my 91).  Also, it seemed to
want to hang at the very bottom of travel (she said in cold weather it will
sometimes stick).  Really seems like there's a problem here, can anyone tell
me if the 97 vintage was hydraulic, if it requires significantly greater
effort, and what the trouble may be?  I'm guessing  binding somewhere, at
the peddle, the fork, the cable  or master cylinder (if hydraulic) etc.  I'm
afraid she will be someplace & either not be able to get the car into gear,
or worse, not be able to get it out.

Thanks in advance,

Dan