Road Test
As the replacement for the dated Grand Am--a car that last underwent a major revision in 1999--the Pontiac G6 is shouldered with the unenviable dual role of slayer and savior. Sort of a Kevorkian of automobiles, the G6 gets to kindly kill off the long-running Grand Am after the 2005 model year (Pontiac is offering a limited run of Grand Am coupes for '05) and strengthen Pontiac's image as the maker of "excitement."
It's no secret the Grand Am has been a disappointment to the enthusiast crowd. Shuffle through your old Car and Drivers, and you'll find that the last time a Grand Am competed in a comparison test here was in February 1996. In that eight-car shootout, it fired a decided blank, finishing eighth. Since then, we haven't had sufficient reason to invite a Grand Am back, despite the freshening it received in '99. Here at C/D, we seek to compare the top cars in any given segment, and the Grand Am was simply not a contender.
Nonetheless, the Grand Am has been a hit in the marketplace, continually managing to be Pontiac's bestseller. Through October 2004, Pontiac sold more than 160,000 Grand Ams, which is 32 percent of the division's sales. And since its overhaul in 1999, the Grand Am has found more than one million takers, with nearly 235,000 sold in that year alone. In beancounter circles, this is bliss. Still, about 30 percent of those sales came not from the Joneses and Smiths but rather from the Hertzes and Avises.
And so the G6 is expected to continue to be Pontiac's volume leader, with the division aiming to sell about 200,000 annually. Eventually, there will be a coupe, a retractable-hardtop convertible, an entry-level sedan with a 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder, and a high-performance four-door with a more potent V-6. Pontiac is hoping to downgrade fleet sales to about 10 percent of the mix, which means that, unlike the Grand Am, the G6 has to be a legitimate contender in its segment.
The new G6 opens at $21,300, and for that you get a 200-hp V-6, a four-speed automatic, 16-inch wheels, and disc brakes at all four corners. The $23,925 GT ups the ante with a sport suspension, 17-inch wheels, ABS, traction control, power-adjustable pedals, a rear spoiler, and an eight-speaker Monsoon stereo. For this test, we asked for a GT version, and Pontiac promptly answered with a $28,125 example dressed in Sport Red Metallic paint and equipped with leather-covered seats, curtain airbags, the OnStar communications system, an in-dash six-CD changer, and a giant four-pane sunroof big enough to frame three exotic dancers performing a drive-by. Gee-Six!
One look at this new Pontiac and it's clear that design manager Jeff Perkins sought to make a bold statement, one that would catch the eyes of prospective buyers who tend to be partial to imports, e.g., the Honda Accord, the Mazda 6, and the Toyota Camry. Without the Grand Am's celebrated and mocked body cladding, the G6 now has a clean, sleek skin that, combined with a rakish beltline and ski-slope hood, gives it an aggressive, fast-forward stance. For Perkins, it was essential the G6 possess dynamic proportions; thus, it features a stretched wheelbase sandwiched by a short rear overhang and long front overhang.
