Pontiac Sunfires have never been on my radar that much, neither now nor when still in production. I never remember this over-styled Cavalier twin being all that common in my neck of the woods, but the majority I’ve seen over the years usually have the tendency to look about as battered as a thrice-used paper coffee cup.
For these reasons, this particular example was an eye-catching anomaly, glistening in the sun’s rays of fire, ribbed bumpers and over-sized fog lamps in all. For who knows if I shall ever see such a clean condition Sunfire again? And as a bonus, right next to it was a 2001 Isuzu Trooper, another species whose days are numbered.
No rust either which is surprising! If this Sunfire (Shitfire) is still around by 2026 then I will be impressed. Maybe an older person owns this Pontiac.
An ex. housemate’s girlfriend was driving a 1984 Cavalier Wagon in 2015 and that was impressive indeed, even in Oregon.
Probably from all the plastic prosthetics 🙂
And doubtful it’s elderly owned (at least now). Found it in a high school parking lot.
Forget the Sunfire, I’m all about that Trooper. A few flys in the ointment with those (underspecced auto transmission, oil burning issues with the later V6 motors), but nonetheless very capable and sturdy trucks. I would jump all over the opportunity to buy a clean-low mile unit.
+1
I prefer the earlier Sunfires, without all the extra cladding that seemed to drip from the Trans Am on to all other Pontiacs of the era. The initial Sunfire was relatively clean looking, at least the base model, in either coupe or sedan form.
I had one has a rental in about 1996 in Kentucky, and it was equipped with DRLs. I stopped counting how many times people flashed their high beams at me, thinking I had them on. Of course there was no way to turn off the DRLs, and they must have been uncommon around those parts at that time.
I did like how the Pontiac on the rear sail panel was backlit.
Not sure why Pontiac decided to shift from Sunbird to Sunfire though. Sunbird was a good name.
I caught one in an, shall we say, embarrassing position a while back:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/wordless-outtake/wordless-outtake-2003-05-pontiac-sunfire-pole-position/
I forgot about that 🙂
I flirted with buying a new Sunfire once.
I was out of the country for a few years in the mid 90’s and on returning in 1997, I needed to buy a commuter car for my wife. She found a job in her field almost as soon as we got off the plane and I needed to act quickly. She didn’t need to drive very far for the job she found and there’s almost no winter weather here in Dallas, so almost anything would do.
I thought that a little convertible might be fun to have and figured that, given her short commute, the car didn’t have to be that reliable. However when I got to the dealership and we got a close look at the thing, we just couldn’t do it. The convertible top didn’t improve the looks as much as I hoped,and she thought it ugly! and the interior was just too GM crude. She ended up with a frog-eye Integra, which if just as ugly and plain inside was at least likely to reliable
FWIU the Cavalier/Sunfire convertibles were all but handbuilt at the Lansing Craft Center and probably somewhat better screwed together than the sedans and coupes off the line at Lordstown.
That being said, apart from a handful of one-elderly-owner Cavalier sedans bought by people who’d had nothing but Chevys since the vacuum-shift era and weren’t about to look at a Ford Focus let alone a “foreign” brand now, most of these got to the beater stage faster than any other car of their time.
Absolutely — I worked at GM for a short time. Craft Center was high quality for sure.
I can verify the quality of the Cavalier convertible (at least the convertible part). In fact, it had one of the best top lowering/raising mechanisms I’ve ever encountered, surprising for an entry level vehicle and even more surprising for GM during their craptacular worst.
There was a lever in the middle of the headliner that you pushed a button to release, When you pulled the lever downward, it released the headliner catches, then you either pushed it forward to raise the top, or pulled it backwards to lower. On top of all this, it would work while the vehicle was in motion with none of this crap of the emergency brake being engaged or the vehicle completely stopped for it to work. There was many a time I would time raising the top to have it fully up and secured by the exact moment I arrived and didn’t have to wait to exit while raising the top.
The rest of the car might have squeaked, groaned, and rattled, but that top was well-engineered.
I may not exactly call myself a “fan” of these, but here’s why I kinda like the idea of them and their Cavalier cousins: If there’s any one “type” of vehicle that I’d consider buying either new or used it’d be a 2 door, manual transmission 4 cylinder coupe with minimal electronics other than a decent climate control system and a radio. The last of the J-body coupes are the “newest” cars to sort of fit that bill. When I get frustrated with the quirky 90’s era electronics in my current car and it costs me a heap to get something working these are the beaters I think of buying. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll probably never happen, but if the subject car was to by chance have a 5-speed, manual windows and little else besides a/c in it I’d be tempted.
Actually, a Honda Accord coupe fits your description, and is certainly reliable. My wife had one–an LX model with a base stereo and a stick shift. She didn’t like it (torque steer, not much style). It had power windows, but they’re unlikely to break.
Anyway… I think these were available through 2007; they got more gadget-y with the next generation in 2008.
Well I will say that the illuminated “Pontiac” sign on the back of the in the center of the rear tail lights was very cool and innovative when I first saw it.
This was a chick mobile to the extreme. Yes we all know it was crap, but when brand new, these little capers commanded attention on a small scale. They were different in appearance and were zippy around town.
They did not rust though as someone mentioned. The illuminated dash board was pretty cool.
I kinda thought these were OK. Until I rode in one.
Definitely a candidate for top Cockroach of the Road (COTR). They spit these things out by the hundreds of thousands over their lifespan and, somehow, they manage to keep running, regardless of the abuse heaped upon them.
Maybe it’s because they were so miserable to drive, they don’t get driven all that much. Or maybe it’s not that they’re all that reliable, it’s that when they do break, they’re not that tough to find parts and/or that hard to fix.
My only experience with these was as rental cars, so that perhaps colors my opinion of them. Back in the early aughts I had a Pontiac Grand Prix that required regular and frequent trips to the dealer for service. Sometimes I would get one of their rental cars and sometimes not, it depended on how long the GP figured to be out of service. This dealer handled their own rentals and had a small herd of Sunkist four door sedans to loan out. At least that is what the Pontiac people ended up with, my late father-in-law’s Cadillac was in the shop for several days there and he was treated to a de Ville loaner. In any event the Sunkist was a competent enough vehicle for what it was, entry level transportation. I would never have purchased one with my money but obviously people did buy them as they used to be pretty common, at least around here. The one thing I do remember about the Sunkist was that it was the last car I can remember as having crank up windows instead of electric.
Those geese!!!
I used to ride my bike past a red Sunfire like this parked on, I think, Telegraph Ave. entering Berkeley from Oakland. The bumper sticker: “My Other Ride is Your Boyfriend.”
The vestigial frame rails that support the trunk are always what rots througj first on these. Holes drilled in them for drainage and no rustproofing at all.
The front subframes, too.
I wonder if this is a 2.2 Family 0 or a newer Ecotec 2.2. The older engine is the least balanced 4 cyl I have ever experienced. Feels like the engine is bolted to the body directly with no engine mounts.
This was probably Grandma’s last ride, spent most of its life in the garage, and will be thrashed into the junkyard within 2-3 years, unless the rust kills it first.
The Ventshades and door edge protectors give clues. Definitely not added by the current owner.
Wonder why the Pontiac emblem is missing from the grille.
Earlier Sunfires had the 2.2 Chevy developed OHV 4 or the Olds derived 2.3/2.4 Quad4 before the Ecotec
Sunbirds prior to 95 had the OHC Brazilian 1.8/2.0/2.2 first as an option then as standard as opposed to the Cavalier’s OHV engines.
Both became available with the V6.
The Ecotec was the only engine offered in 2002.
Even the Cobalt/G5/HHR is never found in good condition anymore (and the SS that the rags were praising so much when new is simply nowhere to be seen).
R.I.P. Isuzu Trooper. I found several in good condition at my local self-serve wrecking yards after the Cash for Clunkers show. What a waste.
Ugh, yuck, gross, barf. I will rejoice when the last of these butt-ugly, uniformly lousy, pathetic excuses for a car—whether badged as a Stunfire, a Cadavalier, or a G5—is crushed.
Oh come on Daniel. Let us know how you REALLY feel 🙂
Daniel Stern
I agree with you. If someone forced me to choose between this and a Cavalier, I would take the Cavalier.
But I hated both TBH. On a positive note, the Sunfires demographic of consumers was like 90-95% young females (that never really took care of them repair wise). So the last stragglers on the road now have there days numbered.
The car had that smiling look (original model). The front of the car looked like the car was smiling from ear to ear ( I hated that). We will all smile from ear to ear when they are off the road for good!