1996 Pontiac Sunfire SE review from North America
"This car sucks especially when you get some miles on it...beware!!!"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Alternator - 4 times replaced.
Starter- 3 times replaced.
Head gasket blew at about 90,000 miles.
Dealer Installed Alarm - The sound just died one day.
Brakes replaced a bunch of times - and I am not a driver whom speeds and uses the brakes a lot.
Ran hot all the time, in traffic it would overheat on a very hot day - even Pontiac's mechanics could not figure out why.
Air conditioner died.
Hard to start on cold wet days.
Transmission replaced three times.
Factory radio would not play tapes in the winter or would act weird in the heat on a hot day.
At about 100,000 miles the lower blower settings on my heat or a/c controls in the car would not work only the high setting would.
General comments?
This car was a great little car at first when it had 30,00 miles went through winters/blizzards here in NYC just fine then once I got around 70,000 miles all the problems started even though I took care of it. Sometimes would not start or better yet one day the transmission went on me and I had to drive all through the city trying to make it home with a bad transmission. It got me home and just died in front of my house.
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| 1996 - Sunfire GT 2.4 DOHC 150h/p Fast/cheap/fun |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Model year | 1996 |
| Year of manufacture | 1996 |
| First year of ownership | 1998 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2008 |
| Engine and transmission | Automatic |
| Performance marks | 2 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 1 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 1 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 1 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 7 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 30000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 115000 miles |
| Date of Entry | 30th September, 2008 |