As promised my review of the Pontiac G6.
First impressions are usually really important and this one had its ups and its downs.
Picture is blurry, but the coupe is a nice looking machine, very sporty kind of a G35 slanted rear end, very nice. Although it seemed like every car in the showroom had HORRIBLE orange peel, has Pontiac changed their paint process? It was unmistakably worse than any previous Pontiacs I have seen.
The model in the showroom was your typical floor model all decked out with leather and all the goodies. Unfortunately the sun visor was broken, possibly a rogue GM hater….
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For 2006 the G6 is available with both a 4 cyl and a 6 cyl instead of only the 6 offered last year. Also new for ’06 is the coupe and the hard top convertible!
Interior Impressions The interior of the G6 is well laid out; the plastics are much better compared to Pontiacs of the last decade or so. The aluminum bezel trim around the gauges is a very nice touch and the gauges are clear and easy to read.
Head room in the front and rear IMO is lacking, the likes of Shnak will NEVER fit and this is a large car. Possibly minus the sunroof there would be room. I’m 5’9” ish and head room was TIGHT, lowering the seat all the way gave me about 6” of headroom but the driving position was just horrible with the seat that low and in almost any other car I have driven I put the seat all the way down.
The G6 does have adjustable pedals this may help the longer legged folk.
The trunk space is plenty large, but the opening is rather tight, the seats do fold with a 60/40 split but the release in the trunk only releases them, in order to fold them you have to crawl into the back seats and pull them down, not really an issue in the 4 door but in the coupe it’s MURDER, there is no way an average person can get back there without contorting their body as if they are entering and exiting the womb.
Fit and finish was a little off on the vehicle I test drove, this was a new car with 400km on it, driven by one of the salesman, the rear door handle was completely misaligned and I was unable to put it back on making me feel as though it was just built in correctly.
Driving Impressions I decided I would try the new for ’06 4cyl model which is 167hp I wanted to test a manual but unfortunately Pontiac does not offer a manual transmission in this vehicle
First impressions are hard to shake and the baby finger light electric power assisted steering really bothered me right from the start. I understand the idea is to make parking lot maneuvers easier but when the steering wheel feels like a wet noodle in your hands it really does not inspire confidence.
Off onto the road for a test, the gas pedal was a similar wet noodle feel, as it’s a drive by wire system, although no horrible it did have a slight lightness to it on initial application. The engine has a nice exhaust note but it sounds like it is struggling all the time, no doubt due to the slushbox. The car did not feel peppy at all, it felt like it laboured and any extra throttle input automatically cause the transmission to kick down a gear, make more noise and that’s about all.
Handling wasn’t bad, although the stock tires squealed a lot as I cornered, it felt like the body was fairly tight and under steer wasn’t too bad. I certainly never felt torque steer that apparently the V6 model suffers from on curves.
Brakes felt good, and the steering wheel does stiffen up nicely at speed, but when stopped at a light the steering goes wet noodle on you as you prepare and creep forward for a turn.
Overall Overall I thought the styling of the G6 is good, the coupe look super sharp, leg room in the rear is excellent although head room is very tight even in the sedan. My major gripes were paint quality and fit and finish. The salesman kept touting how this car was bringing Pontiac back, but IMO they really need to step up quality control to get my money.
