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!
8th Jan 2008, 12:23
I am curious, is your car made in the U. S or mexico? I have a made in the U.S.A Cavalier and have no problems. I think there is a quality issue with Cavaliers and Sunfires that were manufactured in Mexico.