Smaller car *AUTOMATIC*

[livin4hockey]

@JustinH

My girlfriend has a 03 sunfire with the ecotec motor.

The interior is absolute garbage, no room at all in that thing (hers is a coupe).

The motor is great, very reliable car.

As for problems, they had a lot of problems with the headlights in that thing. They put some pretty complex headlights in that car (dual bulb, plus fogs), instead of a 9007 or whatever headlamp. Fluid from the washer fluid tank would leak into the harness and short it out. There is a recall on the work, but the dealer that did the recall on her car did a total hack job, and the problem with dimming headlights came back. We had to rewire the entire headlight system from the switch all the way down… After it was wired right, and the leak in the washer fluid was corrected it has been no problem.

Also the rear drum brakes like to lock up, no matter what you replace on them. They squeek and sometimes grind. Its the third sunfire I have driven with the problem, so it isn’t an isolated issue.

Other than that they are cheap cars to buy. The insurance on the coupe is more than most economy cars because it has a bad crash rating.

We paid 4500 for hers with 39k miles on it.

I’m assuming this is the same one? I can’t knock you for the motor’s reliability, but where’s the price jump coming from? I don’t think it’s a car she will be interested in but I’ll let her know.

@alpha earl

posted a full fs thread bout the civic i posted earlier

Saw the thread, looks good. But I know for her first car, she’s going to want something without any issues from the get go, especially if she’s going to be spending as much as she is. That being said, any idea why the idle is loopy? Has it ever been looked into?