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Updated - July, 2009 End of Lease This site is dedicated to the Pontiac G6. I started this site on the weekend I was contemplating buying a G6. The dealer was kind enough to permit me to take the vehicle home Saturday night to Monday morning. I did have to sign that I would be responsible for the first $2,500 dollars for any damage and that I would not put many kilometers on the vehicle. I was mainly interested in seeing how the seats felt over a longer drive than the dealer test drive permits, what the dash lights were like at night, and the night time visibility. I checked out a few other cars before deciding to try and make a deal on this one (pictured) and quite frankly liked the style, handling and features of the G6 compared to other offerings in the same category. I have always liked GM interiors and driven GM cars since 1981 including a Cadillac Sedan de Ville, a Buick Le Sabre Limited with a "T" package, a Firebird with a small underpowered 2.8 V6 and five speed which my wife drove for 12 years and loved, a Bonneville which was nice and dependable, a Montana van, and an optioned up base Malibu. It's not that I have any love for the product as I have had my share of problems with GM products, and most significantly with the 2000 Pontiac Montana van which was frequently in the shop for warranty work. I walked from that vehicle at the end of the lease term. It kind of soured me on the whole automobile industry it was so bad. However, it was time to replace a 2001 Malibu which was an adequate car but unrefined and bland in my mind. If you look hard you can see it in the background of the picture above. The choices were limited in terms of what was available because I was shopping on price and wanting to take advantage of the dealer cost deals at 2.9% lease rate. I got a base G6 in ivory with an ebony interior. I would have liked the GT with the cool panoramic sun roof but there was none available in the area. I guess they have been hot sellers. Options on the vehicle included a rear spoiler (handy for opening the trunk), a sunroof, something I have always wanted but never had in a car, anti-lock brakes. Not my choice of colours ultimately, but that was what was available. Taupe may have been nicer for the interior and the ivory is truly off white compared to the white Malibu which makes it look a little classier to anyone with an eye for colour. I did a fair amount of research on the internet and visited Chrysler, Toyota and Saturn dealers thinking they may have had something I wanted. Ultimately, I had to make my decisions based on priorities. Price, terms and comfort were the biggest issues followed by style, dependability and gas mileage. Interesting that when you test drive a bunch of cars you notice that the salespeople make roughly the same pitch and all of the products are nice in their own way. There is hardly a perfect car that I have ever found and it is really hard to tell how much you will like a car based on a test drive. All a test drive tells you is comfort for a short trip, ergonomics and handling within reason. For instance, being in Canada and buying in the middle of summer gives me no sense of how the car will behave with 6 inches of snow on the road. The sunroof is cool though and the air conditioning works well. What I really liked about the air is the ducts they use in this vehicle. I don't like air blowing on me and many vehicles do not have adequate adjustment to avoid that unless you shut the vent entirely. The controls on the G6 let you point it anywhere. Very cool. I have for the past three years rented vehicles as I need them, an SUV here, a van there, a Volvo S40 which was really nice but a bit small for my size, a Cherokee Laredo which was neat being it was Christmas with slippery roads and the 4 wheel drive gave me a sense of security to the point of caution, a Monte Carlo, Impala and a few others. Doing that gives you a feel for what you do and don't like both in a vehicle and a manufacturer. I don't believe there was one vehicle I have rented I really didn't like except an Intrepid which I would constantly bang my head on when getting into and out of. It also had a tracking problem, but being a daily rental I suspect it may have been abused a bit and needed an alignment. So why did I pick the G6? Continued |
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