Faults:

Alternator died the second day I had the car, the used car place I bought it from replaced it for me for $0.

Rust on my gas line caused a leak. I fixed it myself for $3.

General Comments:

Read a lot of reviews posted here and people seem to be giving this car a lot of grief, its almost like they don't understand this is a base model cheap American car, don't expect Audi quality when buying a GM.

From a mechanical/reliability standpoint, I seriously have nothing bad to say about this car, I am religious about maintaining it, and it's been very good to me.

My previous car was an old 94 Suzuki Swift, that I had driven to death. I had a baby on the way, and needed something bigger and safer than that thing. Found the Sunfire for $3500 with a new set of all seasons, and a new set of winter tires on rims. Talked the guy down to $3k cash and bought it.

I have never regretted the purchase. The only things I don't like about the car are really quite superficial, its cabin is a little noisy on the highway, certain plastic pieces rattle in the interior but really it's just stupid things I don't like. Mechanically speaking, it's fine, and the only place that has had any rust on it was where the gas line leak occurred. Which is incredible for a car of its age, I live in Montreal Qc Canada, our winters are murder.

I would recommend this car to anyone who is looking for a cheap practical car to get them from Point A to Point B, and occasionally Point C on the weekends. My sons car seat is mounted in the center of the backseat, and I can still fit a person on each side, the trunk space fits a grocery order, his stroller and my 12" sub with amp in box. I really like the trunk on this thing.

Faults:

I've only owned this car for a little over 2 years, and the car has cost me approximately $4,000 in repairs.

First my battery died (which is acceptable since it was the car's original battery). After that everything seemed to go downhill.

My ignition module had to be replaced (which cost about $500), then my spark plugs and spark plug wires were replaced next.

After that the wheel bearing needed to be replaced and the car made a horrible noise.

Next I started having problems accelerating going up hills. I took it back to the dealership (who absolutely ripped me off) and apparently my catalytic converter was plugged. Then they found that my oxygen sensor was broken and needed to be replaced. I also had new brakes put in.

My car still makes a funny noise, but I can't afford to take it back in. It seems to only happen when we are parked on a hill with the brakes pressed down.

My car also randomly loses all power and shuts itself off completely. I have to put it in park and turn the car back on (at least it does turn back on!).

It has just been one thing after another. When I originally bought the car it only had 68,000 kms on it, so I figured it would run for a few years with no major problems. However, this was not the case. I wouldn't recommend buying this car - seems to be cheaply made.

General Comments:

The good things about the car is all its extras. With the GT model it had a lot of power and handles really nicely. I really liked the sunroof and all the automatic features.

The car looks really nice and it still in great condition. The interior is quite nice and has good comfort.

If it wasn't for all the mechanical problems I've had, I would have loved to keep this car for many many years.