Friday, April 17, i992 — North Shore News - 27

phato submitted

THE PONTIAC LeMans is new to the Pontiac lineup this year. Imported from Korea, the LeMans hatchback and sedan offer a 74-horsepower, fuel-injected 1.6-litre
four-cylinder engine, standard four-speed manual transmission, and a five-passenger interior. The hatchback’s rear seat folds forward to create one of the rcomiest

Pontiac LeMans

MOST OF the reviews I’ve seen of the Pontiac LeMans I
haven’t been very flattering. So when I first stepped into 39,000 will buy.
this car, I wasn’t expecting too much.

cargo areas in Its class.

Surprise! The door openings
were very large and getting in and
out was easy. There was plenty of
headroom and legroom for both
front and rear passengers. Out-
ward visibility was excellent. The
interior, though not up to the
standards of many more expensive
Japanese subcompacts, was quite
attractive in two-tone beige and
black. And the trunk was phe-
nomenally huge for a small car!

I thought I must be in the

wrong car.

Instruments, though fairly few
in number, were clearly visible.
The standard four-speed shifter
was well-placed for reach, and
quite comfortable to change. The
74-horsepower, fuel-injected 1.6-
litre overhead cam four-cylinder
engine had sufficient get-up-
and-go from a standing start and
managed quite well around town.

And the LeMans hatchback was
also surprisingly quiet on the
highway. Fuel economy was good
too, 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres
in city driving (33 mpg), and 5.8
litres per 100 kilometres (49 mpg}
on the highway.

Griginally designed in Germany
by Opel and now built under
license in Korea by Daewoo, the
LeMans is imported by Pontiac

Greg
Wilson

AUTOMOTION

and offered as their entry-level
economy car. You may remember
this car as the Optima, previously
sold through G.M.’s Passport
dealerships.

Available as a two-door hat-
chback or a four-door sedan,
prices start at $8,740 and four-
door sedans can go as high as
$12,595 equipped with all the op-
tions. There are three trim levels,
LeMans ‘Value leader’
Aeorocoupe, SE Aeorcoupe, and
SE sedan. I tested the ‘Value

Leader’ model to see exactly what

The base (Value Leader) hat-
chback model offers five-
passenger seating, a fuel-injected
engine, four-speed manual
transmission, reclining front
bucket seats, intermittent wipers,
a rear defroster, and surprise, a
full-sized spare tire!

It’s also equipped with out-
board fap and shoulder belts for
the front and rear passengers and
a secuity cover over the cargo area
(often optional on base models).
However, it lacks a radio, ta-
chometer, and map pockets in the
doors. The rear windows won’t
wind down or flip out, although
this is common on_ economy
coupes.

Unfortunately, power-assisted
steering and automatic transmis-
sion are not available on the base
modei. In order to get these,
buyers must look at the better-
equipped SE hatchback, which
starts at $10,615. However, the
non-assisted steering is surprising-.
ly light in its feel, difficult to turn
only when the car is stopped.

I also prefer the manual
transmission to the available
three-speed automatic because the
LeMans doesn’t have a lot of
horespower, and putiing power to
the road is easier with the manual
box. By the way, the base four-
speed manual transmission is all
you really need ‘for this car. The

optional five-speed transmission
helps the LeMans achieve slightly
better fuel economy, but the
four-speed’s gear ratios are well
spaced and fourth gear is a com-
fortable highway cruising gear.
Plus there's one less gear to
change.

Being a German-designed car,
the LeMan’s suspension offers
plenty of wheel travel, a firm,
stable over-the-road feel, and
good handling. This typical Ger-
man setup inciudes front coil spr-
ings and MacPherson struts and
rear semi-independent trailing arm
torsion beam setup with coil spr-
ings.

One of the real highlights of the
LeMans is its enormous cargo
area. The big hatchback door
opens up high and wide revealing
more storage space than in the
trunk of most mid-sized sedans.

Price as tested $9,160

Base price 8,740

Type two-door, five-passenger
hatchback

Layout transverse front
engine/front-wheel-drive

Engine 1.6-litre four-cylinder,
SOHC, electronic single-point
fuel injection

Horsepower 74 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque 90 ibs-ft @ 2,800 rpm
Transmission four-speed man-
ual

In a two-step action, the rear seat
cusion folds up and the rear seat-
back folds down, creating a huge
971 litres (34 cubic feet) of cargo
area. You could easily put a TV
or even a sofa in the back of this
hatchback.

I liked the fact that the drvier’s
door lock can only be locked with
a key from the outside. This
makes it impossible to in-
advertently lock keys in the car.

Base price of the ‘value-leader’
hatchback is $8,740. The SE
model is $10,615, and the SE
four-door sedan is $10,995. 4
fully-equipped sedan is priced at
$12,595.

While not a new or
sophisticated design, the LeMans
is still a roomy, practical economy
car with the added advantage of
access to Pontiac’s large dealer
and service network.

Curb weight 1,031 kg/2,273 Ibs
Wheelbase 2,520 mm/99.2 in.
Length 4,158 mm/163.7 in.
Width 1,663 mm/65.5 in.
Height 1,360 mm/53.5 in.

Tires P175/70R13

Trunk space 534 L/18.8 cu.ft.
(seat down: 971 L/34.3 cu.ft.)
Fuel economy City 8.5 L/100
km, 33 mpg; Hwy 3.8 L/100
km, 49 mpg

Warranty Basic three yrs/
60,000 kms, Powertrain five
yrs/100,000 km