No one would ever accuse General Motors of being quick to identify consumers' likes and dislikes, wants and needs or hopes and dreams. Certainly not when the basis for conversation is the Pontiac Sunfire or its twin, the Chevrolet Cavalier. These are GM's homegrown economy cars, having outlasted the rebadged Suzukis and Toyotas, and for 2003, they enter the ninth year of their model life cycle.
Think about what this means: These cars were last redesigned for the 1995 model year. This was also the year the Dodge Neon was born, and that car was redesigned for 2000. Three generations of the Civic were represented during this period, and by the time GM finally comes up with a new product for 2005, Honda will have a new Civic ready as well. Yes, with the arrival of the Saturn Ion (and the retirement of the S-Series), the Cavalier and Sunfire are officially the oldest economy cars sold in the U.S. market.
After driving a 2003 Sunfire, we fear that the company is taking this milestone too lightly. We last drove one of these in 2000, and for the most part, all of the problems we had with the car three years ago are still present in today's coupe. Not to say that the Pontiac division has not taken action, for indeed, this year's updates are noticeable if not altogether appetizing. The Sunfire lineup has been trimmed down to a single body style offered in a single trim level — a base coupe — though you must wade through a longer options list.
Hoping that customers would respond to a fresh look, Pontiac gave the front fascia a dilated feline stare that, we suppose, better matches the corporate style; the tail end is cleaner than before (the silly light-up Sunfire badge is gone) and a dish-type rear spoiler is standard. As our test car was optioned with the 1SC equipment package, it also had dual chrome-tipped exhaust outlets and 16-inch wheels with 205/55HR16 Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires (this wheel/tire size was standard on the discontinued Sunfire GT and Cavalier Z24 models). The chrome tech wheels are new — they look aftermarket, which some buyers may find pleasing.
Besides the aforementioned items, the 1SC package includes XM radio, an automatic transmission, cruise control, a tilt steering wheel, keyless entry, vanity mirrors and floor mats. The car also had the Power Package (power windows and mirrors), the Protection Package (side airbags and OnStar), the Sun and Sound Package (sunroof plus a CD player with an equalizer, speed-sensitive volume and the radio data system) and an eight-speaker, 200-watt Monsoon audio system. The side airbags in the Protection group are a new item this year, and they're a must, as the Sunfire earned an abominable one-star NHTSA rating (the lowest score possible) for side impacts involving the front occupants without them.
To improve the Sunfire's handling characteristics, engineers adjusted the shock absorbers' valving and fitted the car with larger sway bars. Also, the brake system was revised for "better durability and performance," according to Pontiac. Oddly, ABS is no longer standard and must be purchased as a stand-alone option ($400) or as part of the 1SC package.
Upgrades to the cabin include a new instrument panel, new upholstery, round air vents and a 60/40-split folding rear seat. And you can now get a factory-installed XM Satellite Radio receiver as an option (you still have to pay the $10 monthly subscription fee, though). Other GM vehicles have acquired XM recently, but frankly, we would have expected to see it in a truly youthful vehicle like the Vibe before finding it in the Sunfire.
Alas, neither the upgrades nor our test car's lengthy equipment list was able to hide the fact that the Sunfire was designed and engineered in the early 1990s. This particular coupe proved to be one of the most blatant examples of General Motors cost-cutting we've come across. Pontiac calls the cabin ensemble Graphite, but what you really get is a frumpy gray interior crisscrossed by seams and gaps with lots of hard, glossy plastic panels fraught with rough, unfinished edges and discordant grain patterns. The new upholstery, sort of a grayscale Hawaiian-print pattern, doesn't help matters as it looks and feels just as cheap.
Worse, the front seats offer so little in the way of padding that we felt the driver seat's metal frame pressing against our lower back the entire time we drove the car. Limited seat-track travel and the Sunfire's characteristic brake pedal (mounted obnoxiously high off the floor) made it impossible for our relatively long-legged author to get comfortable behind the wheel. The blind spot on the driver side was the biggest she'd ever encountered in a nonconvertible — the car's very shape made it all but impossible to check over her left shoulder before changing lanes and she seriously considered buying a fish-eye mirror just to get through the weekend without side-swiping someone.
Backseat accommodations are actually pretty good. Because the front seats aren't allowed to come back very far, rear occupants are guaranteed a decent amount of leg- and footroom. Back and thigh support aren't bad, either, and two adults could ride placidly back there for short trips, but there are no headrests and cushioning is rather limited.
Getting in and out is a pain regardless of where you're seated. The door hinges have weak detents, and it takes concentration to prevent the doors from swinging back and bopping you (one passenger suffered a bruised shin). Of course, you always expect to do a little bending and twisting to get into the backseat of a coupe, but here again, the Sunfire made life harder. The front-passenger seat was supposed to have an easy-entry feature, but it didn't want to flop forward, much less slide forward on its track. And forget about getting in from the driver side — it's hard enough just to retrieve a couple of plastic grocery bags. As you can imagine, this also makes it hard to fold down the rear seats. Considering how easy is it is to access the rear seat in two-doors like the Civic coupe, Ford Focus ZX3 and VW Golf, we found this kind of hassle unacceptable.
As we set out solo on our daily commutes, though, it wasn't as hard to like our test car. GM's versatile 2.2-liter Ecotec inline four-cylinder, now standard in all Sunfires and Cavaliers, is one of the best engines the economy car segment has to offer. While a little soft off the line compared with last year's 2.4-liter four-cylinder, power builds quickly and stretches across a wide range, affording the Sunfire terrific passing ability for a budget coupe. The Sunfire's Ecotec is rated at 140 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 150 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. Power delivery isn't as refined as that of a Civic, but the engine's personality isn't as gruff as its predecessor's and, in this regard, is about on par with offerings from Ford and Hyundai.
A five-speed manual transmission is standard, but our coupe had the optional four-speed automatic, which is likely the best choice for most buyers. The automatic shifts crisply and doesn't make mistakes. A gear display in the gauge cluster would have been helpful, though, as the gear selector isn't terribly precise. Fuel economy is rated at 23 mpg in the city and 32 on the highway with the automatic (24/33 with the manual), which is average among economy cars.
Ride and handling characteristics left quite a bit to be desired. The highway ride isn't bad, but the suspension is unable to filter out impacts over bumps and freeway expansion joints, allowing considerable harshness into the cabin. Vertical motions weren't well controlled, which gave the car a wallowy, unrefined feel. When we gave the coupe a short workout on some winding two-lanes, body roll was kept in check, but the car felt unresponsive around turns and the steering was overly heavy with noticeable friction as we turned the wheel. The steering is also heavy at lower speeds, which makes the Sunfire surprisingly labor-intensive to maneuver in parking lots. If you pick out just about any other economy car and drive it back to back with this one, you'll notice the difference.
Beyond that, we weren't impressed with braking performance in everyday driving situations. The pedal is extremely stiff and vague in feel — resulting in particularly high effort levels in moderate to heavy braking situations and difficulty in modulating the power.
What made the ride to and from work bearable — aside from the surprisingly good powertrain — was the Monsoon sound system and satellite radio. As we drove, our fingers were glued to the tiny tuning knob, shuffling between Prince, Barry White, short takes of Steve Harvey's stand-up and BBC world news. But all the while, the speakers vibrated and buzzed, a pretty good summation of this Sunfire's build quality. A quick walk around the car turned up several misaligned exterior body panels — the gap between the driver door and the rear quarter panel was nearly half-an-inch wide.
This isn't the first time that GM has waited too long to redesign one of its cars, but with competing economy nameplates now one to two generations ahead of the Sunfire and Cavalier, their list of deficiencies is almost frightening. Certainly, it will be possible for some people to justify a purchase on the basis of the Ecotec, the Monsoon, national pride (some Sunfires are still built in Lordstown, Ohio; others are assembled in Mexico) and heavy-duty incentives. But if you take the time to test drive this car back-to-back with its peers, this isn't the one you'll be bringing home.
Think about what this means: These cars were last redesigned for the 1995 model year. This was also the year the Dodge Neon was born, and that car was redesigned for 2000. Three generations of the Civic were represented during this period, and by the time GM finally comes up with a new product for 2005, Honda will have a new Civic ready as well. Yes, with the arrival of the Saturn Ion (and the retirement of the S-Series), the Cavalier and Sunfire are officially the oldest economy cars sold in the U.S. market.
After driving a 2003 Sunfire, we fear that the company is taking this milestone too lightly. We last drove one of these in 2000, and for the most part, all of the problems we had with the car three years ago are still present in today's coupe. Not to say that the Pontiac division has not taken action, for indeed, this year's updates are noticeable if not altogether appetizing. The Sunfire lineup has been trimmed down to a single body style offered in a single trim level — a base coupe — though you must wade through a longer options list.
Hoping that customers would respond to a fresh look, Pontiac gave the front fascia a dilated feline stare that, we suppose, better matches the corporate style; the tail end is cleaner than before (the silly light-up Sunfire badge is gone) and a dish-type rear spoiler is standard. As our test car was optioned with the 1SC equipment package, it also had dual chrome-tipped exhaust outlets and 16-inch wheels with 205/55HR16 Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires (this wheel/tire size was standard on the discontinued Sunfire GT and Cavalier Z24 models). The chrome tech wheels are new — they look aftermarket, which some buyers may find pleasing.
Besides the aforementioned items, the 1SC package includes XM radio, an automatic transmission, cruise control, a tilt steering wheel, keyless entry, vanity mirrors and floor mats. The car also had the Power Package (power windows and mirrors), the Protection Package (side airbags and OnStar), the Sun and Sound Package (sunroof plus a CD player with an equalizer, speed-sensitive volume and the radio data system) and an eight-speaker, 200-watt Monsoon audio system. The side airbags in the Protection group are a new item this year, and they're a must, as the Sunfire earned an abominable one-star NHTSA rating (the lowest score possible) for side impacts involving the front occupants without them.
To improve the Sunfire's handling characteristics, engineers adjusted the shock absorbers' valving and fitted the car with larger sway bars. Also, the brake system was revised for "better durability and performance," according to Pontiac. Oddly, ABS is no longer standard and must be purchased as a stand-alone option ($400) or as part of the 1SC package.
Upgrades to the cabin include a new instrument panel, new upholstery, round air vents and a 60/40-split folding rear seat. And you can now get a factory-installed XM Satellite Radio receiver as an option (you still have to pay the $10 monthly subscription fee, though). Other GM vehicles have acquired XM recently, but frankly, we would have expected to see it in a truly youthful vehicle like the Vibe before finding it in the Sunfire.
Alas, neither the upgrades nor our test car's lengthy equipment list was able to hide the fact that the Sunfire was designed and engineered in the early 1990s. This particular coupe proved to be one of the most blatant examples of General Motors cost-cutting we've come across. Pontiac calls the cabin ensemble Graphite, but what you really get is a frumpy gray interior crisscrossed by seams and gaps with lots of hard, glossy plastic panels fraught with rough, unfinished edges and discordant grain patterns. The new upholstery, sort of a grayscale Hawaiian-print pattern, doesn't help matters as it looks and feels just as cheap.
Worse, the front seats offer so little in the way of padding that we felt the driver seat's metal frame pressing against our lower back the entire time we drove the car. Limited seat-track travel and the Sunfire's characteristic brake pedal (mounted obnoxiously high off the floor) made it impossible for our relatively long-legged author to get comfortable behind the wheel. The blind spot on the driver side was the biggest she'd ever encountered in a nonconvertible — the car's very shape made it all but impossible to check over her left shoulder before changing lanes and she seriously considered buying a fish-eye mirror just to get through the weekend without side-swiping someone.
Backseat accommodations are actually pretty good. Because the front seats aren't allowed to come back very far, rear occupants are guaranteed a decent amount of leg- and footroom. Back and thigh support aren't bad, either, and two adults could ride placidly back there for short trips, but there are no headrests and cushioning is rather limited.
Getting in and out is a pain regardless of where you're seated. The door hinges have weak detents, and it takes concentration to prevent the doors from swinging back and bopping you (one passenger suffered a bruised shin). Of course, you always expect to do a little bending and twisting to get into the backseat of a coupe, but here again, the Sunfire made life harder. The front-passenger seat was supposed to have an easy-entry feature, but it didn't want to flop forward, much less slide forward on its track. And forget about getting in from the driver side — it's hard enough just to retrieve a couple of plastic grocery bags. As you can imagine, this also makes it hard to fold down the rear seats. Considering how easy is it is to access the rear seat in two-doors like the Civic coupe, Ford Focus ZX3 and VW Golf, we found this kind of hassle unacceptable.
As we set out solo on our daily commutes, though, it wasn't as hard to like our test car. GM's versatile 2.2-liter Ecotec inline four-cylinder, now standard in all Sunfires and Cavaliers, is one of the best engines the economy car segment has to offer. While a little soft off the line compared with last year's 2.4-liter four-cylinder, power builds quickly and stretches across a wide range, affording the Sunfire terrific passing ability for a budget coupe. The Sunfire's Ecotec is rated at 140 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 150 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. Power delivery isn't as refined as that of a Civic, but the engine's personality isn't as gruff as its predecessor's and, in this regard, is about on par with offerings from Ford and Hyundai.
A five-speed manual transmission is standard, but our coupe had the optional four-speed automatic, which is likely the best choice for most buyers. The automatic shifts crisply and doesn't make mistakes. A gear display in the gauge cluster would have been helpful, though, as the gear selector isn't terribly precise. Fuel economy is rated at 23 mpg in the city and 32 on the highway with the automatic (24/33 with the manual), which is average among economy cars.
Ride and handling characteristics left quite a bit to be desired. The highway ride isn't bad, but the suspension is unable to filter out impacts over bumps and freeway expansion joints, allowing considerable harshness into the cabin. Vertical motions weren't well controlled, which gave the car a wallowy, unrefined feel. When we gave the coupe a short workout on some winding two-lanes, body roll was kept in check, but the car felt unresponsive around turns and the steering was overly heavy with noticeable friction as we turned the wheel. The steering is also heavy at lower speeds, which makes the Sunfire surprisingly labor-intensive to maneuver in parking lots. If you pick out just about any other economy car and drive it back to back with this one, you'll notice the difference.
Beyond that, we weren't impressed with braking performance in everyday driving situations. The pedal is extremely stiff and vague in feel — resulting in particularly high effort levels in moderate to heavy braking situations and difficulty in modulating the power.
What made the ride to and from work bearable — aside from the surprisingly good powertrain — was the Monsoon sound system and satellite radio. As we drove, our fingers were glued to the tiny tuning knob, shuffling between Prince, Barry White, short takes of Steve Harvey's stand-up and BBC world news. But all the while, the speakers vibrated and buzzed, a pretty good summation of this Sunfire's build quality. A quick walk around the car turned up several misaligned exterior body panels — the gap between the driver door and the rear quarter panel was nearly half-an-inch wide.
This isn't the first time that GM has waited too long to redesign one of its cars, but with competing economy nameplates now one to two generations ahead of the Sunfire and Cavalier, their list of deficiencies is almost frightening. Certainly, it will be possible for some people to justify a purchase on the basis of the Ecotec, the Monsoon, national pride (some Sunfires are still built in Lordstown, Ohio; others are assembled in Mexico) and heavy-duty incentives. But if you take the time to test drive this car back-to-back with its peers, this isn't the one you'll be bringing home.
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