2005 Pontiac Sunfire SL Coupe 2.2 litre Ecotec
Summary:
Very cheap, but also very cheap to operate; the car is almost half-decent
Faults:
Vehicle is in perfect mechanical condition (I would expect nothing less from a 3 year old car). But a few of the cheap plastic parts inside have broken and fallen off. For instance, the cover over the driver side seat belt mount. Brake rotors are also of poor quality, and the car shudders during braking already.
Emergency brake handle doesn't release all the way in below freezing temperatures, and causes e-brake alarm to sound, requiring me to hold down the e-brake handle until the vehicle warms up.
General Comments:
The car screams "cheap". The fit and finish is absolutely horrid. Plastics are of the worst quality, and fit terribly together leaving large gaps throughout interior. Hitting a bump will cause the interior plastics to creak and make noise...ugh. Not to mention, the suspension does a poor job of masking a bump. And as expected, there is lots of road noise.
Engine and power train are good; it has adequate torque and is capable of climbing hills without losing speed.
Has very poor vision out of the rear of the vehicle.
I'm 6'4", and the car is very uncomfortable for me. Trips longer than an hour make my legs cramp up.
The car's sticker price ranged from $10,000 to 16,000 CAD, which was the cheapest car on the Canadian market at the time. So most of these complaints are to be expected.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 2nd March, 2008
21st Mar 2008, 21:22
I bought a Pontiac Sunfire 2005 and as you said, it was the cheapest new car at the time. Nothing major to report... until last week. Possibly the muffler is finished cause the engine is quite noisy when accelerating, much more than previously. I'm wondering if that's possible with only 25 000 km on the odometer. I'll bring it to a garage...
Now, there are cars out there for 10 000 CAD base model of course, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio are much better cars... but I guess I shouldn't complain. I've used the car for almost 3 years already.