Does anyone out there own a Pontiac Sunfire? I'm thinking about buying one and was wondering the pros and cons....

My sister has a 99 base-model sunfire... She loves it, but I think it's kinda boring. They run forever though!

i think sunfires are pretty cool- never driven one though- i would imagine they are similar to a cavalier? hey, has anyone seen those sunfires with either dual exhaust (one on each side) or quad exhaust, kinda fiero-ish? is this an upgraded engine model or something- can you get a sunfier v6?

The Sunfire GT has a 4cyl that has about 150 horsepower. The Gt gets up in price though, around 16-17 grand. I know I will get major flames for this but if your lookin in that price range check out the new Civic SI. It has 170 horsepower from a 1.8. Ive seen them first hand. A nice cheap economical sports car for 17k.

A friend had a Sunfire GT with the Quad4 and the "dual exhaust" with a five speed. It was a pretty good car, but even when it was new the shifter was like a broke leg. More like an old VW beetle than what a new car should have been like. He drove that crap out of that car and never had any real trouble.

The Sunfire's the corporate cousin to the Cav. Decent car if you want basic transportation, but not very exciting. I don't care for the driving position, but I'm kinda used to the steering-wheel-in-your-face feel of the Fiero. Monkeygal wanted me to remind you that we've had ours for a little over 2 years and almost 50,000 miles and we haven't had any major problems (knock on wood ).

My father has a '97 Cavalier with about 500,000 kms on it. (That's 312,500 miles about).. at least, that's what it was at last time I spoke to him. Good car, not all that comfortable if you ask me. (That durn seat just doesn't go back far enough) Doesn't handle worth a sh-t though. Just make sure you get the 5spd, not the auto.

Good God Shadow!!! 312,500 miles on a 3 year old car!!! Holy long windshield time batman! Did he install a bed and toilet in that thing? lol....thats incredible.

I know a guy that will swear by Cavalier Z24's... which have the 2.4L Twin cam 4 that the Sunfire GT's do. He absolutely loves the. Its a nice car... has good pickup. The biggest shortcoming will be the handling. Its not the best handling sporty car around. However, for economical transportation as a daily driver to rest a Fiero, it would certainly be adequate and reliable.

The only think I dont like about the Sunfire is that it got very very bad crash test ratings. COnsumer Reports pretty much said that your a dead man if you get T-boned. I think it scored a 1 out of 5 on that area. Frontal got 2 out of 5 I think. Nice looking car though.

I love the "Pontiac" on the back of the Sunfires. It's small and sharp. Not like a restaurant size ad on the back of my GT

The 'Pontiac' on the Sunfire Gt's is alright, EXCEPT IT DOESN'T SHOW UP AT NIGHT!

Mind you, I like the 'Pontiac' on the back of my Fiero, but I'd rather have it say, 'Fiero.'

As for my father's car, that's mainly 312,000 highway miles. <G>

I love the "P O N T I A C" callout on the back of the GT. Looks so much better than the dinky one on the sunfire, imnsho

Some interesting posts in this topic. I found the one quote "They run forever" kinda funny, since the Sunfire is sort of new, it replaced the Sunbird. Whatever the hell you want to call it it is still a friggin Cavalier, so I guess there not all wrong. Cavaliers are pretty damn reliable. And for the guy who averages 100,000+ miles a year, I have 3 american words for you "ain't no way" Maybe you meant '87? Not sure. Your approaching Guiness Book Status with that one. And whoever mentioned the Civic Si, your right on target. For about 18 grand, you get a cheap econo that has a huge aftermarket and is pretty fast stock. Now that they don't even offer a 6 cyl. on the Z24 cav's and sunfires, there not even worth looking at. The Civic Si is the clear winner in that class..

just my 2 cents,
jeff

p.s. and they wonder why people buy imports..

Black88GT--I can see 100k/year if he was a traveling salesman or something. Truckers routinely do 150k-200k/year if they're any good.

My girlfriend bought a 96 Suzuki Esteem and we love it. It's fairly roomy(4 door), has a 16 valve 4 cylinder 5 speed with plenty of power and gets 50 mpg(imperial gallon) on the highway. I had never heard of this car when we started shopping but it really caught our attention. The price was good and the car looked like it was built well. Suzuki doesn't advertise their cars much so no one really knows about the Esteem. Most people only know about the Swift. The Esteem is a big step up from the Swift.
Ours is the GL model which comes with air, tilt, cassette, pdl, pm, pw. A sunroof and cruise are available on the top of the line model. The only thing we didnt like was the tiny factory tires so I upgraded them to a lower/wider profile.
Check this car out, if you can find one near you.

Nope, it's a '97. He sells accident/disability insurance so he's on the road usually 6 hours a day, often more. He changes the oil about every 2 weeks, which is about 10,000 kms (6300 miles)... it's sad, new set of tires every few months... It still starts in the morning though.

(suspension is completely shot though)