Haha…. Needs more than a facelift. It’s still really old.

…and the plastic on the das looks like it came from a tonka toy

Bah. I liked the softer look of the previous one much more – it was closer to the AMAGING G6 Concept. This looks like a step backwards to me with the superfluous and ungainly crease in the front bumper. I used to really like the look of the G6 coupe, and with this subtle change that’s gone.

Sad.

The coupe still looks like a Toyota Solara. I think if GM would have offered a Hybrid model of the G6 sedan with the same motor offered in the Maibu hybrid it would have really helped their cause in boosting sales. I don’t have confidence in Pontiac surviving beyond the next 3 to 5 years, which is a shame because the G8 offers some great horsepower bang for the buck. Alot can still happen in that time period but this perfect storm that has encountered the auto industry is not painting a nice picture of the future.

this is hilarious

This would have to be the most boring, bland…………….american car indusrty!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the day, it’s still a turd! I’ve a couple G6’s, including the hardtop convertible. Talk about a pile of crap. The hardtop had so many squeaks and rattles. Plus, the rest of the car was very un-impressive.

Jake – Thanks. “Old” is what I was thinking but wasn’t sure if I wanted to go there. Pontiac is supposed to be about Excitement. And why does GM proliferate those TACKY chromed wheels on everything? Worse than being chromed, the pattern on the wheels looks like they belong on a fancy truck or SUV. GM does do sexy wheels on cars, but only in Europe and Australia. This is like watching Dancin’ with the Stars and trying to pass Cloris Leechman off as daring and sexy.

It’s crap like this why the government should NOT bail out the domestic automakers. They made their bed and they need to lay in it.

Not a bad looking car, but not good either. Kind of like a Toyota with a kidney grille.

It might be the last restyled car for Pontiac – I think the brand is going to get the axe soon along with Buick.

What ever happened to “Pontiac — We Build Excitement!”

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Not feeling this “facelift.” Where is the face?

LOL sharpie

Did they change it?

msSHu7:

The G6 looks better than the current Accord. The I-4 model with 6 speed also gets better mileage. Also, if anyone checked out the short test iin C&D the would see the car performs well with the V6. 0-60 in 6 secs, 158ft braking and .83g on the skidpad.

Someone should tell the braintrust of LLN that the interior has been changed. Gauges, DIC and center stack controls have been changed.

Ouch.

sj79:

I’m not a fan of exterior styling of the Accord (Honda butchered it with the re-design) and you’re probably right about the gas mileage. HOWEVER, the G6 is still garbage. Looks are one thing, but quality is another and that is something the G6 doesn’t have that the Honda Accord and some of its other competitors do have. I’d much rather drive a quality, but ugly Accord versus a crappy and ugly G6.

This is one of the worst vehicles on the market today.

It has some of the lamest, blandest exterior styling, has one of the lowest quality, absolute TRASHIEST interior, and is a ****ing pain in the ass to drive. I’ve driven a G6 GT a number of times, and a base G6 4-cyl. on numerous occasions as well, and both blew. Badly. **** the G6.

they showed this weeks ago in their new commerciials and magazine ads….

I’ve had the G6 coupe as a rental and it’s probably the worst American car I’ve driven in the last ten years. Bulky, clunky, shaky and thirsty. A great product for the 1980s. GM better keep these junkers away from Capitol Hill while they’re up there begging for taxpayer money and claiming to be focused on the future.

Wow I usually prefer the design of coupes, but this one is hideous. Geez, what on earth were they thinking? They took a rather forgettable design and just made it ugly.

TomF, except for Vibe all Pontiacs feel and drive that way. I get forced into them by rentals as well, and it is not excitement experience. I am not the tallest guy, but I bump my head on egress and regress and I can’t imagine how you are getting in/out.

“HOWEVER, the G6 is still garbage.”

Oh well that clears it up. Thanks for the thoughtful response. Its amazing that cars that people claim have no redeeming value still sell. The G6 sells almost as well as the Fusion and Sonata and handily beats the media darling 6 in sales. And dont say fleet sales are the answer because ALL of those models are sold to fleets. If the car is so low quality why is it still selling in a competitive segment?

“I’ve had the G6 coupe as a rental and it’s probably the worst American car I’ve driven in the last ten years. Bulky, clunky, shaky and thirsty. ”

Your negative desriptions dont even make sense. Clunky? What does that even mean? Thirsty? If you had a four cylinder model its mileage is comparable to the Accord and Camry. My guess is you hated the car as soon as you realized it was a Pontiac and made sure your experience justified your preconceived notions.

there is no pontiac people……the division has been gone for over ten years. there is no real general manager manager for pontiac, therefore the direction and styling is dictated by chevrolet, er, gm. THAT is why the excitement is gone from the performance division. that is why there is no firebird with the camaro, why the sky is the meaner looking roadster, why the sky has the same high performance engine, why the G8 is not in a coupe, etc etc etc. if you saw the holden coupe with side exhausts, the pontiac version (gto) would be the perfect firebird replacement which has been long overdue. but since chevy is in charge i cant see it happening now or ever. instead it wll be a G8 sport truck that will flop in no time. how in the he** cant you sell performance and excitement. gm should be ashamed…

borat: stop lying. The G8 doesnt feel like the G6 or Vibe. And its plenty spacious as well.

HAY!!!…I thought Pontiac fired the guy who designed the Aztic….

LOL…………………. ) ) )

Despite having enough lower side body cladding to make a decent shelter for the homeless, I thought the old Grand Am looked better than than the G6. And am I the only one that misses the names? Grand Am, Grand Prix, Bonneville- hell even the Sunfire moniker makes me misty at times.

Borat: The reason the Vibe doesn’t drive that way is because it’s a Toyota Matrix. And I will definitely agree with you on your statement about all other Pontiac’s, with one exception: The G8 GT. I drove one over the summer, and I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. It felt like it was bolted together well, had the best interior a Pontiac has seen…perhaps ever, and had a brute of a V8, plus RWD. However it’s pertinent to note that it’s not really a Pontiac, but a Holden, which explains why it’s so much better than the other S-H-I-T that Pontiac spews out of its plants here.

thank god I live in europe and i won’t be seeing this car

johnnycanuk: The names were kind of coo, but the cars just sucked so bad. The Grand Am was, in my opinion, one of the ugliest cars Pontiac ever made. I thought that the last gen Grand Prix was a better interpretation of that styling exercise, and the only Bonneville worth a second glance was the GXP..

Lot of people talking to themselves today. As if no one actually reads the by line for their comments. Cut it out. It is just weird and more than a little stupid.

I’m not hip on the downturn on what was PONTIAC’s comeback. GM’s poor management and worse business models, favoring Chevy , Cadillac, and GMC more than any other division has led to a very dilute series of line ups.

With plenty of opportunities and reasons to do things right and right away, GM has continually screwed up on important products and never followed through on Division mission declarations.

The G6 was supposed to become an Alpha Platform car but instead is going to be held over until 2013. The G8 was supposed to get a coupe version but now we hear that GM will not renew the G8 after 2013, that might change but GM has always opted to kill off good stuff than find way to make it work.

The complaints I have have been voiced by other on this thread in this forum alone. GM killed the Fiero, which with the OLDS Quad 4 motor was better than a C4 CORVETTE instead of making a better CORVETTE. GM killed the F-bodies, the Camaro and Firebird twins, without a real replacement. In Fact GM never let on they were going to make a replacement for years, then they took years to roll out a new car, just as GM is in the worst trouble possible. They Kill ed the B-bodies, everyone favorite Caprice Police car, Impala SS (Most Bad @$$ muscle Car GM ever made), Buick Roadmaster and Cadillac DeVille, against without a worthy successor. The G-bodies, THe Monte Carlo (the one we wanted when we were kids), Olds Cutlass supreme, Buick Regal/GNX, and so on…

This Company needs NEW management that isn’t going to play stupid games to satisfy their own egos. I would wager that the Board of Directors is going to opt to Oust Wagoner for someone with some love for the company and CARS and a vision for it’s future that includes all its divisions. These boring old guys don’t even look like they are really excited about their company’s products.

I mean I would have been jumping on furniture like Tom Cruise “pretending” to be in love with Katie Holmes (Whatever I’m no star watcher) for the VOLT. I would have been going crazy to bring the Kappa Cars front and center for tuners and compact car racing, Heck! I would have said build me a new Cobalt (Don’t cal it that) off the Kappa. Half the Concepts GM rolled out over the last 10 years like the Chevy SS and Ultra WTCC would have made production. Who needs bob Lutz to push these things if you have Execs that really want this stuff because they love it and it cool.

The Reason Why DETROIT is in such a bind is because their is not love for the American car just the money the job brings. If you love your work the money is secondary. These guys DO NOT LOVE THEIR WORK and it shows!

Thats an Accord coupe with a BMW grill.

Instead of face-lift, how about a funeral? Lose the crap-box, GM. Get your **** together.

FinRox you hit the nail on the head

crap on wheels

@sj79,

You are correct, I haven’t rent G8 and it drives well(I did test drive one). Considering that it is Australian car there is no reason to pound your own chest (I assume that you either sell Pontiac or work for GM).

Wow, this will make it even more competitive against its main rivals: the Chevrolet Malibu and the Saturn Aura. Oh, wait…

Hello, can someone explain to me what constitutes a model year? How can a car be made in a “1/2″ year? How come when the ‘09 Corolla came out in March of ‘08, it was an ‘09 and not an ‘08?
How come when the Tundra came out in February of ‘07, it was an ‘07 and not an ‘08?

I would appreciate it if I could have an explanation, including these “1/2″ years.

Thanks

Blakkarr, your last paragraph was 100% correct.

No, pzimet, the Pontiac Vibe is just as much GM as it is Toyota. Both Toyota and GM say so, take their word for it. Much of the engineering, technicals and design work was done by GM, and much of the mechanics come from Toyota.

@ sj79
“Oh well that clears it up. Thanks for the thoughtful response. Its amazing that cars that people claim have no redeeming value still sell. The G6 sells almost as well as the Fusion and Sonata and handily beats the media darling 6 in sales. And dont say fleet sales are the answer because ALL of those models are sold to fleets. If the car is so low quality why is it still selling in a competitive segment? ”

The reason it sells is because it’s CHEAP. It’s cheaper than foreign cars brand new because of large rebates and other incentives. As a used car, the G6’s re-sale value is laughable compared to Accord/Camry/etc. There are a lot of people in the market for cheap cars, especially with today’s market. Some people don’t care or don’t understand quality when they purchase a vehicle. Those types of people are more concerned about price.

I grew up in a GM family but I saw the light in 2005 when I purchased a Mazda3 and then again in 2007 when I purchased a Toyota Tacoma. I won’t go back to a GM (or any other domestic) anytime soon.

Denial is the first step to recovery sj79. Once you’re able to come to grips with the fact that the G6 is a pile of crap, you’ll be better off. Good luck with your road to recovery!

Looks good.

Anyone hear making negative comments doesn’t know what they’re talking about. The GM 4 cylinder “ECOTEC” engine is superior to anything from the japanese, and the G6 is a solid competitor to the Accord, Camry, etc.

Pontiac G6 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic (S6), Regular 22 city 33 hwy
Honda Accord 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic 5-spd, Regular 21 city 30 hwy
Toyota Camry 4 cyl, 2.4 L, Automatic 5-spd, Regular 21 city 31 hwy

Can anyone say last-generation Honda Accord Coupe?

Can anyone say the current generation Accord Coupe AND Sedan is BUTT UGLY.

olds307: Even if it has a decent engine, it doesn’t change the fact that anybody that buys the car would have to drive that pile of low-quality garbage. I’d rather spend my money on something that is a complete package (what the G6 is NOT).

I was referring mostly to the looks of the car.. though I would still never own the engine…

This, to me, is one of the main reasons why GM is in the boat it’s in. This is just a subpar entry in the segment. It’s not even as good as its stablemate the malibu. This facelift pretty much sucks, sad to say it, but it does. Hopefully GM gets an opportunity to get its **** straight. To start eliminating all these unnecessary overlaped models. America is way to competitive a market to have so many midpack models. As of late I thought they’d been moving in the right direction, with models like the CTS and the malibu. Then they pull some **** like this, and don’t forget that rebadged aveo the “G3″ I believe it is. What the hell is that, and why in gods name does it have a pontiac grill on it? All that said, I am a GM fan, and if they survive I hope they get someone at the helm that can actually run the company.

All these comments just proves how uneducated the car-buying public is, yet everyone thinks (s)he’s an expert.

Heres a fact about Japanese “big 3″ cars: they’re built so cheap they don’t even have an automatic spring belt tensioner. Something that most American and German cars has had since the 80s. Why? because a wormscrew and a bolt is much cheaper. They’re cheap cars. Cheap. End of story. A wormscrew manual “tensioner” is equivelant to a rotary dial telephone today. That’s just one example… or how about the cheap screws that the heads easily twist off they used to hold down distributor caps until they JUST RECENTLY went to distributorless ignition… again something most American cars has had since the 80s. And why can’t Honda build an automatic transmission shifter that locks at Overdrive like EVERY other manufacturer instead of easily slipping right past into ‘D3′.

I could go on and on but it will fall on deaf ears. People will believe what they want to believe despite fact.

…I give up. What did they change?

@ Blakkarr “The Reason Why DETROIT is in such a bind is because their is not love for the American car just the money the job brings. If you love your work the money is secondary. These guys DO NOT LOVE THEIR WORK and it shows!”

You’ve hit it right on the head!!! If I was on the senate panel I would be force feeding Wagoner et al., words similar to your statement.

They – and their former colleagues and bosses – have run these businesses as if they were toilet paper factories. few were true Car people or engineers for that matter. At least, Ford’s Mullaly has experience running a company that lives or dies by its design and engineering. The others, well it has all been said and the past 20-30yrs to apparent. However, the big 3 should never have had to bear the benefit burdens that the UAW has extracted from them.

However, does not change the fact that Honda and Toyota are the blandest boring appliances on the road. Funnier still, the big three basically ceded the market to them. Anyone still remember the manual choke on the earl 80’s civics and accord:-))) Haysus now they are kings of the road:-))) TDF (Too Damn Funny)

DB9

olds307: You’re so right. All the people that have driven GM (American) cars through the years and are now driving foreign cars are crazy. All the people that buy foreign cars and keep going back to foreign cars when they are ready for a new vehicle, are crazy as well. All people/magazines/etc. that give such high praise for the quality of foreign cars are crazy. And to think none of these people realize that those cheap foreign cars used an “automatic spring belt tensioner” or “cheap-headed distributor cap screws”. Crazy people I tell ya.

/sarcasm off

As DB9 pointed out, the G6 is a PRIME example of why GM is in the mess that they are in.

i don’t know if its just me but the convertible looks as if it has a foot of ground clearance from the front bumper. they really need to redesign the interior. it still has that sh!ty pontiac look. well, at least it has shinny wheels!

It’s a pity GM didn’t see fit to relieve the G6 GXP of that hideous (read: over-sized) upper grille. It ruins an otherwise decent exterior.

And in one minor facelift, the car is now 10 years older. Who put the Grand Am grill on the G6? Can we get rid of that look already?

The new Fusion blows this car out of the water!! Nuff said!

mShu7: all you know about cars is what’s on the surface. Every day I am under the hood and underneath every type of car, just today alone I did a tune up, oil service/general inspection, and fixed a gas leak on a 1971 Pontiac GTO, all the way up to interval service on a 2008 Cadillac CTS and 2006 BMW 6 series.

I know how different type of cars are build, the pattern failures found in every car, etc. And I know what types of cars *I* would like not own, not based on some magazine or what’s in my neighbor’s driveway, but actual experience of dealing with every manufacturer’s design and engineering UNDER the pretty sheet metal.

For starters, I would NOT own a car with a timing BELT. There goes every Japanese car except Nissan. What about the engines found in the Pontiac G6 and most other GM cars? Yup.. they have a timing CHAIN.

The timing CHAIN in my 1981 Olds lasted 28 years and 150,000 miles until I changed it as regular maintenance because even chains stretch a little over time and throw off the cam timing slightly…. however it’s very unusual for one to break and cause fatal engine damage, as happens on Hondas and Toyotas.

I like the overall shape of the G6 sedan. Really, I do. If the GXP didn’t have that horrible schnoz on it, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

Oh sure, Nissan and Infiniti has a brand new G37 and 370Z. Honda has the new Accord. Lexus has the new hybrid RX and the IS Convertible. Pontiac has a facelifted G6……….and you wonder why they’re in trouble? This was from the comapny that created classics, GTO, Firebird Trans Am, Fiero (OK, not so classic, but it looked good).

Blakkar- I would agree with you there, if half the vehicles you mentioned weren’t crap.

Large coupes just aren’t the “thing” to own anymore. Most people have moved onto SUV’s. People talked about this in the early 90’s, when most of these vehicles as well as station wagons were disappearing. The Camaro and Firebird were never really good cars after the Pony Car Era. They didn’t drive well, bombed with resale, only the top models were well sought after, cheap interiors and engineering. They didn’t drive sharp aside from a few of the higher end performance models. I love the way the outgoing Firebird looked, it’s definitely one of the coolest looking American cars to come out in the past 10 years.

And the G bodies had the same case. Not sharp to drive, even the current Monte Carlo is in my opinion good looking, but soft to drive, front wheel drive and a few other things. Even if they moved it to RWD, I’m not so sure…

The B-bodies though… Ah, the B-bodies. This may surprise some of you, but the fastest car I’ve ever driven was a Chevrolet Caprice V-8, with the police package. Was a little bit soft, but it handled ridiculously well, had huge amounts of power, and surprisingly got pretty good fuel economy! I think my mouth dropped when my friend, who had owned the vehicle, told me that he averaged just around 25 miles to the gallon… and not on a light pedal either. But everything else on that platform- the Roadmaster and Deville- was just overkill. The Roadmaster was way too soft, and the Deville just wasn’t refined enough to be a luxury vehicle.
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See, it’s strange, but the beautiful thing about American cars were they never ironed out every crease, detail and part on their cars. They were just candid, you saw what they were, while the rest of the worlds vehicles were down in the drain in the 50’s to 70’s. They were trying to be something they weren’t. I think that’s where The Big Three went wrong. When they started trying to make their performance coupes more high tech. When they tried to reverse everything the American auto industry was about.

olds307: I could really care less what you have to say about what’s under the hood of all these cars you supposedly work on. In more cases than not, the fact is that GM cars are inferior to most Japanese counterparts. There’s a reason that resale value’s on GM vehicles are so horrible. As I said earlier, I grew up in a GM family and owned GM cars up until I bought a Mazda3 in ‘05 and a Tacoma in ‘07. Both cars blow the socks off anything I’ve ever owned from GM. No squeaks, rattles, other weird noises. I don’t have to constantly take either one of the vehicles in for warranty work. My Mazda3’s resale value is quite high. All these things are things I could never say about any of the GM vehicles I ever owned.

Once again, there is a reason (or in this case multiple reasons) why GM products have the reputation they have. There’s a reason why so many people refuse to buy their products these days.

Oh, by the way. I’d much rather have to replace a timing belt every 100K on a quality Japanese vehicle than drive a GM vehicle and have to put up with all the repairs that come with owning a GM. And I’m not talking about just under the hood.