When I got this car, I liked the looks and thought it seemed "ok" for the most part. I bought this car new -- the driving factor in my decision was price; I got a decent amount for my trade, with various discounts and incentives, the car was very affordable...
I chose the 4dr with 5spd manual transmission, but otherwise fully decked out - sunroof, good stereo, etc. The car was no race car or super exciting to drive, but it handled decently, etc.
So, I'll go through what was good and what was bad:
Good first ;)
- fuel economy - with the 2.2L Ecotech engine, the car was decent for commuting, but cheap enough to run
- interior - plain and dull, but again, this isn't a luxury sedan ... some parts are quite cheap feeling
The Bad:
... problems, problems, and more problems
- In 3 years, this car went to the garage more for warranty work than anything else
- I had a leak - water was getting into my fuse panel and I would lose random functions of the car (speedometer & gauges, radio, AC, power windows & locks) ... this was a repeat problem, taking 7 trips and many many excuses from the GM dealership for the problem
- the blower motor gave out in the winter - of the 5 fan speeds, only OFF and 5 worked
- one of the lights over the lic plate burned out (not a biggie)
- the clutch assembly broke - I was leaving home, depressed the clutch pedal to find that it ... stuck down!!! That kind of ruined a few days :(
- terrible, terrible depreciation :(
So, after all of the wonderful experiences with this car, I was not at all sad to see it go when I traded it in. Another important point to emphasize here is that this car suffered a LOT of depreciation - for instance, compare to say a Honda civic of the same year - cost $8000 less, sells for $5000 more.
Also, after this experience, you can be sure that I did NOT go back to a GM - these were probably all flukes, but still a testament to inferior quality -- some of the competition manages to actually build cars with significantly higher quality control.
Amount Paid (US$): 20000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
Model and Options: GL
