GotZoom

http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/...e_20050322.htm

HeelnToe

The key might be the part about "most of the G6 variations, such as the four-cylinder version and convertible, aren't even on the market yet." I'm guessing that's where the volume will come from. But I don't know much about the car...

Aratinga

Admittedly I scanned the article quickly, but I didn't see any mention of which cars the G6 is competing against. I'm assuming its rivals would be the Altima, the Accord, and the Camry. Good luck, G6. You'll need it.

BlueEyes

Maybe next time they won't get a dumbass to try to sell their cars.

Aratinga

Are you talking about Bob Lutz? Or Oprah?

GotZoom

Yes

Detroit RX8

I think both

BlueEyes

Well mostly bobby for thinking it would be a good idea, but yes, I hate oprah with a passion. I cannot dream of a more obnoxious person.

therm8

I guess I don't understand the car buyer's mentality. The Camry, though a pretty good sedan, is advertised as the best selling car in America. Now why in the world should that make me want one??? Do people really not care that 8 of their neighbors have the same car, and 3 of them are the same color? Accords, Altimas, and Camrys are so common I would think a new competitor would sell fairly well. But the G6 is a "US" vehicle, so that might turn off the "domestic is junk" crowd, even though a vast majority of top selling Japanese vehicles are built right here in the USA. I guess I'd have to drive one (G6) to really form an opinion.

StewC625

I've driven one twice now - Hertz has a handful in the rental fleet now.

Here's my review:

1) It's a HUGE improvement over the Grand Am.

That said:

2) It's priced and sized similarly to the Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Mazda 6 and Toyota Camry but doesn't approach those cars in terms of qaulity and refinement.

Therefore:

Pontiac and GM are once again banking on the "desire to buy 'American' (in quotes because a significant number of these are built in Canada)" to propel this car when it is clearly a lesser car than the competition.

I had the pleasure and pain recently to drive a brand new Cadillac CTS-V - supposed to be the "M5 Killer" or the "AMG Killer".

Is it fast? Yes, blindingly so.. But it also has typical unrefined traits such as terminal axle hop on hard acceleration, and a terrible parts-bin look to the interior. No M5 or AMG Benz at all.

BlueEyes

The camry, IMO, is the best in it's class and to say "I'm not going to buy it because there are lots around" would be incredibly foolish. Nobody will have a unique car. You can rest assured that if you go to a dealership to buy a car, there are hundreds of thousands just like it on the road. It is not an intelligent reason to pass on a great car.

phee

I'd have to agree. I had an Accord for six years and it was the most reliable auto I'd owned to date. Not only that, but with its track record, resale value is very, very good. Did I care if I saw several other white Honda Accords just like mine on the road? Nope.

Brandon

I kind of like how the G6 looks, but it sounds like a pretty dull car otherwise. Plus I didn't know they started at $23,000 or something! That's a lot more than I would have expected. A big selling point for the Grand Am was that it was usually quite a bit cheaper than the competition.

Aratinga

One question: Which OS does your computer run -- Windoze? 'Nuff said. The main reason people buy Windows PCs is because that's what everybody else uses -- certainly not because it's better than (or even as good as) the competition.
Again, y'all, we are the weird ones because we think of our cars as more than mere appliances. The vast majority of car owners in the world regard their cars no differently than they regard their toasters. It's a device to get them from point A to point B, and they couldn't care less if it looks just like five others on the block.
For the past 20 years, I swore up 'n' down that I would never own another American car; I reserved extra contempt for any GM-branded vehicle. Up until about one month ago, when I drove a Pontiac GTO. Pass me a fork and some o' that crow, cuz that is one hell of a car. If the G6 shares any of the GTO DNA, the car is probably worth at least a testdrive.

BlueEyes

I hope you didn't just compare Windoze to the Camry.
:D :P

jowettw

i never understood how big car companies can get away with selling horrible cars like the Aztek and apparently the G6 ... such a waste of money.

Aratinga

Only in terms of popularity. The Camry is a competent and unoffensive product; Windoze is neither.

Tigster

I havent seen a G6 in person, I do however have a pontiac grand prix widetrack as a loaner car while my 8 is being serviced. I have never seen a car with as cheap interior, the overall fit on the outside seems ok. I dont pay that much attention to it since I have always thought pontiac makes ugly cars. I have heard that a G6 is not much faster than a Montana (which I think is a minivan). Pontiac needs to get rid of body cladding, wierd lines on the outside, and the designers should all go buy accords and drive them for 50,000 miles so they can see how a car should hold up.

Aratinga

They have. It didn't sell real well either.

markd

Seems like this discussion should be in the General Automotive section, n'est-ce pas?

I disagree, BlueEyes, only because I think the Maxima, even the Altima, is a better overall package in the class. Looked at both cars before I bought my 8 and was very disappointed in Toyota. 160hp Camry vs. 260hp Altima or 265hp Maxima. No contest.

czr

iTrader: (3)

Mark you are comparing the 4 banger to the 6 bangers. The base Altima has a big 175 hp 4 cyl stock last time I checked which is more comparable. Base camrys come a lot cheaper than the base maximas too.

markd

Czr: Sorry--I just took a quick glance at both of their websites without soaking in the information. For some reason, the print on the Nissan website is so small, I could barely read it.

EDIT: I just double-checked the Toyota and Nissan websites. The 4-cyl, 160hp Camry SE starts at $20,125. The V-6, 250hp Altima starts at $23, 250. I still think Nissan is the better deal.

jaguargod

I heard a rumor that this giveaway promotion that Oprah did cost $7 million dollars, and that GM employees had to give up their vacation so that Oprah could give those cars for free. Is there any truth to that?

GotZoom

Never heard that but I do know that each person who received the cars had to pay tax and license for them.

A lot of people refused them when they found that out after the show.

------------------------------------------------------
It turns out that free cars weren't so free. That's because while Pontiac agreed to pay for most of the local charges -- things like state sales tax and licensing fees -- the recipients have to report the cars as income once tax time comes.


By adding $28,500 to someone's income, it can push them into a higher tax bracket -- which means they will have to pay about 25 percent or more of the car's value in taxes. And for a nearly $30,000 car, that probably means, for most of the recipients, shelling out $7,125 for the "free car." And if you live in Illinois, you can expect to tack on another 3 percent or so in state income taxes.

Luckily, the recipients weren't given the car on the spot so they can at least start to save now. Although Oprah seemed to have the winners choose their cars from an enormous lot filled with Pontiac G6 sedans, the cars will actually be delivered to a dealer near each winner's home.

Some recipients are going to wait a few months before actually picking up their cars so they can figure out how to pay for the taxes.

The tax shock is not much different from the bill that comes to many game show winners. The Internal Revenue Service requires game shows -- and every other large gift giver and casino -- to report winners to the federal government. It is then the responsibility of the winner to fess up on their tax forms.

But most of the winners still think they got a pretty sweet deal.

"Whenever I get something for free, I always think 'What's the catch?'," said Tiffany Self, one of the three Wheaton College co-workers who went to the show. "It's actually a blessing. I mean how often will you get a brand new car for $7,000?"

RX8-79

I absolutely HATE Detroit Free Press and their "know-it-all" writers that don't know ****. I remember them calling the 5 and 7 series a flop too, though they're both more successful than the models they replaced. This site's reporting is about as useful as Autospies.

Anyway, the G6 isn't going to sell like the Grand Am mainly because there aren't as many fleet sales. On top of that, right now they only have TWO models. Once the higher-performance sedan, the coupe, and the convertible are released, they'll no doubt see a nice jump.