So what if it's only in Canada.

Test Drive:
2005 Pontiac Pursuit SE
Review and photos by Greg Wilson

When the Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire finally fade into the history books, the slightly more upscale Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac Pursuit will have big shoes to fill - not because the Cavalier and Sunfire were outstanding cars - they weren't - but for the past decade, they have consistently been among the top ten best-selling cars in Canada.

There's also the fact that the Cobalt and Pursuit are competing with Canadian favourites like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, and Ford Focus. As well, GM now has its Korean-built compact cars, the Chevrolet Aveo, Optra and Epica. The Optra is very close in size to the new Cobalt/Pursuit, but it's less expensive and less powerful - it will probably fill the niche left by the lower priced Cavalier and Sunfire models.

The Cobalt and Pursuit are built in the same Lordstown, Ohio assembly plant as the Cavalier/Sunfire, and are virtually identical, except for the front-end styling, gauge colour, interior trim, and a few other small items. They use GM's global Delta platform which also underpins the Saturn Ion. Of the two cars, the Pursuit has the 'sportier' image, and is priced slightly higher.

Interestingly, the Pursuit is available only in Canada - which surely confirms the importance of this small car to the Canadian market.

My fully loaded Pursuit SE featured these additional options: a 4-speed automatic transmission ($1,250); leather seats with seat heaters ($1,200); AM/FM/CD/MP3 stereo ($445); premium 228 watt Pioneer sound system with a 10 inch subwoofer ($185); curtain airbags ($395); and OnStar ($995).

With all due respect to Pontiac, when I first sat in the driver's seat of the new Pursuit SE with leather, my first thought was "Wow! This can't be a Pontiac!". The interior is decidedly upscale, and yet not overly complicated or busy like some luxury cars.

The upper part of the dash and the doors is a low-gloss black finish to avoid glare. The quality of the dash materials is a big step up, and the look and operation of the controls is quite simple - although some of the radio controls aren't intuitively obvious. A sporty fabric seat covering is standard, and the driver's seat has good side bolstering, a ratchet-type manual height adjuster, and a lumbar adjuster unusually located under the front of the seat. The leather upholstery in my test car was not top quality leather, but this is an economy car after all. The front leather seats have seat heaters with Low and High temperature settings. One complaint with the front seats: a bulge at the rear of the seat cushion that appears to be created by a cable housing.

For a small car, the cabin is fairly roomy, with adequate legroom and headroom for four adults in the front and rear. However, the rear seatbacks are fairly upright, making it less comfortable for rear passengers. There are four head restraints - but the rear ones aren't height adjustable.

The two large round gauges for the speedo and tachometer are bordered by chrome rings feature red backlighting, and there's a small round fuel gauge between them. A green LCD display in the tachometer shows the outside temperature and the odometer reading.

I liked the small, thick-rimmed, tilt-able leather wrapped steering wheel that includes controls for cruise and radio, the useful flip-down coin tray to left of steering wheel, the flip-up centre armrest/storage container, and the premium CD/MP3 stereo with a Pioneer subwoofer in the trunk - it offers very clear, bold sound.

Rear passengers have two rear cupholders, map pockets on the back of the front seats, and two shallow door pockets. And I liked the fact that the rear windows wind down almost 100% of the way.

Standard safety features include front driver and passenger air bags, five three-point lap and shoulder belts with height-adjustable shoulder belt anchors for the driver and front passenger, front seat belt pretensioners, LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) system for child seats in the two outboard rear-seat locations, optional ABS and head curtain side air bags, and OnStar. Side airbags for front seat passengers are not offered.

At the time of writing, no crash test data was available.

The trunk can be unlocked remotely with the key fob, which saves fumbling with keys on a dark night. Note how the trunk struts don't intrude on trunk space, however the vertical opening dimension is rather narrow. The trunk is fully carpeted and the folding rear seatbacks can only be opened from inside the trunk to prevent thieves from breaking into the car and then into the trunk. Note that the seatbacks don't fold entirely flat.

The driving experience is the most surprising aspect of the new Pursuit. For an economy car, the Pursuit offers a surprisingly refined powertrain. Its 2.2 litre all aluminum four cylinder engine is relatively vibration-free - smooth at idle, and almost rotary-engine-like under acceleration. The 'Ecotec' engine features counter-rotating balance shafts, twin overhead cams, four valves per cylinder and coil-on-plug ignition.

The optional four-speed automatic transmission shifted smoothly despite my repeated attempts to trick it into a jerky downshift - however I found that you really have to floor the accelerator to get it to kick down into second gear for highway passing.

The Pursuit is quiet at highway speeds, with only minor wind noise coming from the side mirrors and nose area of the car. At a steady 100 km/h on the freeway, the engine does just 2,200 rpm in fourth gear, and at 120 km/h, it does 2600 rpm.

The Pursuit's handling is quite nimble and stable in different weather situations - suspension is front strut-type with stabilizer bar and rear semi-independent with torsion beam. SE models have the benefit of standard Pirelli P6 205/55R-16 inch all-season tires which offer great grip. Still, the Pursuit is not as sporty as a Mazda3 or Ford Focus. With a turning circle of just 10.2 metres (33.5 ft.), it's very manoeuvrable though - and its electro-hydraulic rack and pinion steering is a good blend of low effort and responsiveness.

The body feels very tight, even over sudden bumps and potholes - and that contributes to the quiet cabin and feeling of quality that the car provides. I would venture to guess the Pursuit/Cobalt is one of the quietest cars in its class.

A big step up when compared to the Sunfire, the new Pontiac Pursuit is an attractive, well-built small car that compares well to its major competitors.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/testdrives/05pursuit.htm

I really don't think it's a good idea for clones all of the time, but I'd kind of like it if this came to NA to replace the Sunfire.