Faults:

The car has been great actually. I was warned by someone not to buy a Pontiac Sunfire, but I have been very happy. Maybe the previous owner fixed all of the problems. I haven't had any major issues yet with anything. I take it in for regular checks & oil changes etc.. maybe that's what has kept it going so well. I also don't abuse anything on it in any way. It accelerates a bit slow uphill, but haven't complained about the performance on the straight road, though it's not a race car.

General Comments:

It's very good. No complaints!

Faults:

Squeak in front struts.

General Comments:

Great little car, Traction control is wonderful in slippery conditions, Very dependable The 2.4l engine has lots of power for the car and the automatic transmission works nice. Owned a Toyota before this car (never again) no comparison. I would buy a Pontiac again, without question.

Faults:

My car tends to act funny in the rain. The handling becomes shaky and it doesn't want to start if I turn it off. This has happened twice and the mechanics say "everything looks good"; however, it feels the same every time it rains. The first time all it needed was 24 hour wait time, then it started like nothing ever happened. The second time it needed a boost.

Now I'm experiencing trouble with my shocks/struts. I feel like I have none. I know I have a lot of mileage on the car, but it came from out of nowhere. It's so bad that when I go over 55 on the highway and hit a bump, it swerves to the right - kind of feels like the car is going to flip over. As if someone pulled the rug out from underneath me.

My back speaker socket holder broke. so now if I want to listen to my music loud, I need to turn down the bass so I don't hear the vibration.

Finally, my AC is crap. There used to be an arctic chill when I used it. Now it's cool only if I'm in the shade or it's below 80 degrees f. It takes a long time to get cold, at least a half hour of highway driving.

General Comments:

I loved this car when I first got it. Everything about it. But now the problems are coming in one by one. I don't know if I can afford to keep it. Which is a shame because I can't afford a new car. Public transportation here I come!

Faults:

CD player stopped working and drained the battery.

Horrible "no start" issues.

General Comments:

If you are looking at buying a used Sunfire, please WALK AWAY! I'm guessing it has at least half a dozen things wrong with it. These cars resale cheap for a reason. After the five year mark, Pontiac's lose their edge (meaning, they turn to crap).

I have owned my car for 4 years, and it was good to me for the first 3. When it turned 5, it started acting up.

The first thing to go were my speakers. One in the back and one in the front went out completely! I took it to a sound system specialist, and they reported the speakers were totally fried and needed to be replaced.

The second part to go was the CD player. What an annoying time in my cars life! For an entire week the CD player would buzz like it was taking in a CD, but would not take a CD or play anything. Finally, one day it just stopped working. THANK HEAVENS!

And then the best thing ever happened! It decided to start having issues starting. My car was in the shop for 2 weeks and they still didn't know what the problem was. There were no other issues under the hood or otherwise, it just didn't start sometimes. Then I figured out, while experiencing this problem, it would start in neutral... that's never good! So finally I forked out the money and took it to a dealership. And lo and behold, it was a bad mother board! Not a cheap part to replace. But after talking to several Pontiac mechanics, I found it was a very common problem on ALL Pontiac models since 2000.

I have to say my Sunfire got excellent gas mileage though. The stereo was decent when it worked properly, and there is much more rear passenger leg room than most cars in its class. It's also a bit peppy, and handles well on the freeway. You do have to plan your moves sometimes, but it does pack a good punch.

Overall, if you are just out to find an in town car for occasional driving, then give it a try. But for an everyday car, WALK AWAY!