I'm back in a Pontiac

[cmattson]

Well, I purchased a used white '06 G6 w/2.4l (29k, $12,900) -- which is what I was most interested after my Malibu went to car heaven.

Here's some observations/opinions on my '04 Malibu:

1. *Easily* the most boring car I've ever owned. I went from washing my vehicles 1 once (sometimes twice) a week to maybe once a month. The car was as uninspiring to look at as it was to drive. It was truly an appliance.

2. The Ecotec 2.2 gets stellar gas mileage. I routinely pulled 400-450 miles out of 13-13.5 gallons of gas. Factor in that roughly half of those miles are stop-and-go rush hour traffic and those numbers look even better.

3. The light-gray interior seemed like a great choice.. nice and bright and airy. The truth is that my kids destroyed the backseat. I couldn't keep the interior clean--ever.

4. The car was a great size. It was bigger than a compact and smaller than a midsize. It made driving in rush hour a breeze.

5. The airbags work great.

And now some early observations on the G6:

1. The car seems to have a little sharper handling; even though the steering ratio's on the G6/Malibu are identical.

2. The 2.4l has a louder exhaust note than the 2.2l

3. The 2.4l has markably better performance than the 2.2l Significantly better get-up-and-go. It's by no means V6 performance, but it gives my new G6 a bit of fun that my Malibu never seemed to have.

4. Hard to tell after only a week of driving (and me getting my foot into the car more often than not), but I put 12 gallons of gas in for 304 miles of driving. As an interesting note, I changed the oil & filter this morning, along with the air filter. I also added air to each of the four tires (max rating is 35 psi, and I had everything from 27-33 psi on the 4 tires). We'll see what it comes out to over the next couple of months.

5. My G6 has a charcoal-gray interior -- and a much nicer cloth material has been used. I can tell already that this car will be easier to scrub.

6. I'm still stuggling with finding a spot to mount my XM SkyFi2 unit. The Malibu had a great spot that was almost tailor-made for mounting.

Last note: apparently everything is negotiable. The car was fairly dirty on the dealer lot when I was negotiating the price. The dealer offered to wash it and I made the comment that the car will just get dirty again (local weather-people had been forecasting rain). The sales mgr offered to throw in a car wash. "Just one?" was my reply. His "How many you want?" was followed by "I really like my cars clean". I now have free car washes as long as I own the vehicle. I just need to drop by the dealership and tell them I want them to run it through their car wash.

I'll include pix of my wrecked 'bu and my new G6 when I get a chance. I'm beat tonite -- I put a chain-link fence in at my sis-in-law's and also helped pour a cement patio over there today.

Edited October 1, 2006 by cmattson

[Flybrian]

Wanna long-term test it?

Glad to hear you're back up and running so quickly!

[razoredge]

But is it comfortable? Do you feel like a monkey hanging from monkey bars ? Or Frankenstien with his arms out, walking forward doing the Frankenstien wobble. I cant get comfortable in our G6, the steering wheel is too far away. Lets put it this way, my wife is 5 ft tall and she drives with the wheel all the way out. That would mean for me at 5' 10", the wheel should telescope another 5-8". With it all the way in, my elbows are actually near lock and I have to steer with my shoulders,it only telescopes approx 4" and that is not near enough. This is something one would not notice by test driving on a 5 mile trip, new unfimiliar car with so many other things on the mind. I will pay attention to this from now on however. My wife loves it but again at 5' she drives with seat way in and wheel way out.Its my only complaint but comfort is a big one for a car, right ? Picture Frankenstien wobbling across the room, thats me driving a G6............. brilliant, absolutely friggin brilliant, good job BOB the "product guru" !

[pow]

But is it comfortable? Do you feel like a monkey hanging from monkey bars ? Or Frankenstien with his arms out, walking forward doing the Frankenstien wobble.

I cant get comfortable in our G6, the steering wheel is too far away. Lets put it this way, my wife is 5 ft tall and she drives with the wheel all the way out. That would mean for me at 5' 10", the wheel should telescope another 5-8". With it all the way in, my elbows are actually near lock and I have to steer with my shoulders,it only telescopes approx 4" and that is not near enough. This is something one would not notice by test driving on a 5 mile trip, new unfimiliar car with so many other things on the mind. I will pay attention to this from now on however. My wife loves it but again at 5' she drives with seat way in and wheel way out.

Its my only complaint but comfort is a big one for a car, right ? Picture Frankenstien wobbling across the room, thats me driving a G6.............

brilliant, absolutely friggin brilliant, good job BOB the "product guru" !

199720[/snapback]

What about moving the seats forward? How bent are your knees when pushing down on the clutch pedal fully?

I'm 5' 11" and found the Aura driving position fine... but then I usually scoot the seat forward more than most.

Edited October 1, 2006 by empowah

[GMTruckGuy74]

cmattson, thanks for summing up my experience with my '04 Malibu LT sedan

Here's some observations/opinions on my '04 Malibu:

1. *Easily* the most boring car I've ever owned. I went from washing my vehicles 1 once (sometimes twice) a week to maybe once a month. The car was as uninspiring to look at as it was to drive. It was truly an appliance.

Yeah, I do the same thing. It used to be in April I'd tear my car apart and clean EVERYTHING, then every other week wash it again and then at least once a month clean out the interior (I don't "live" in my car, so usually the interior is spotless after the initial spring cleaning).

2. The Ecotec 2.2 gets stellar gas mileage. I routinely pulled 400-450 miles out of 13-13.5 gallons of gas. Factor in that roughly half of those miles are stop-and-go rush hour traffic and those numbers look even better.

I will say that even with the 3500 V6 engine, I get great gas miuleage. Actually, I have no complaints about the engine & transmission in this car. With the V6, it offers some spirited driving.

3. The light-gray interior seemed like a great choice.. nice and bright and airy. The truth is that my kids destroyed the backseat. I couldn't keep the interior clean--ever.

I too went witht he gray interior (leather & imitation suede). I noticed that the gray rubber trim (weatherstripping?) always looks dirty and not much can get it clean. Opening the doors to get inside makes it look like the rest of the inside will be as dirty looking. Having a 1-year-old hasn't helped with the stains... formula can be hard to remove!

4. The car was a great size. It was bigger than a compact and smaller than a midsize. It made driving in rush hour a breeze.

Yup, no disagreements with you there!

5. The airbags work great.

Well, I'm gonna have to take your word in this part!!!

Overall, I agree with your statement that it's a great appliance. I'd also like to add that getting large items (i.e. larger stroller) into the trunk is a breeze and the design of the car's rear allows for a wide opening and a very useful trunk.

Unfortuantely, I like to be inspired to drive my vehicles. The Malibu doesn't inspire me much externally - I do like the way the interior (other than the driver's footwell area) is designed. But I treat it like any of my kitchen appliances - use themn and then put them away. Sad, because I really do like to take care of my cars.

[razoredge]

What about moving the seats forward? How bent are your knees when pushing down on the clutch pedal fully?

I'm 5' 11" and found the Aura driving position fine... but then I usually scoot the seat forward more than most.

199723[/snapback]

I can say, its all messed up, all the ergonomics of driving positions is messed up. Ive never driving anything so awkward. 32 years of driving, some of it professionally.

First the foot needs to be straight upright on pedal, like your in some type of Nazi marching acadamy. the console is approx 2-4 inches away from pedal. Then in order to let engine go to idle, I actually need to bend my ankle up, upward force, simply relaxing the foot will bring the engine up on power. Understand ? I need to force ankle, streach the archilles in other words. OK, so move the seat back right ? NO ! with the seat in this position to fully depress clutch past partial contact, one needs to push pedal an extra distance with left ankle, no kiddin. Forget heal and toe, I wasnt surprised about that one but was hoping maybe GM would be slick.

Now the seat position. Since I have had fully adjustable seats, I drive with front of seat raised to top, rear down, I like the cradling feeling. Flat makes me feel like Im sliding forward. This is how real buckets are made anyhow. I do not drive with seat back reclined, old school is "bolt upright" and thats me. Now with these two postitions it allows me to be closer to the wheel because my knees are raised. If I lower the front I need to slide seat back further or hold my legs up, this is wrong, legs should be relaxed and held by the front of the seat bottom. with seat back "bolt upright' Im obviously in closest position to wheel for my leg lenght. Yet this car demands you drive with two hands on the wheel, armrests are a good 4" from elbows and shoulders and wrists must hold the weight of your arms in frankenstien position. No relaxing what so ever, hold your arms up in front of you and "clampon to that wheel boy !"

That might be great for road racing when you would be on the edge and working it anyhow, but this is a road car, something that is illegal to drive over 55 on most state roads, hardly white knuckle driving, I like to relax and go with the flow, at least up to 85 or so............

Now with hand on the shifter, you have about 2 inches of your elbow on the semi hard console armrest. Then......... put a cup of coffee in the "cup holes" and then what.......................BOB ! then what ?

I only post on this in our 'lounge" Im too pissed off yet to put it in the "articles" section for the whole world to read.

Sorry for the hyjack cmattson, this really earks me. I just cant get comfortable in that car. Its awkard, $26,000 worth of awkward. First car in my life. I think pretty soon Im going to post it in my G6 GTP followup though, so Im an ass for buying the car, Ive been waiting for, I didnt drive it enough with all that was on my mind to "check out" to realize the position I was driving in in this unfimiliar new car would drive me nuts in the future. The wife at 5' tall and tiny feet loves it. When I do Im going to include comparision photos with the LSS to prove my points.

I honestly would not recommend an Epilson to anybody..........did you hear whos saying that ? Scarry !!!!!!!!!! Maybe this is why in that one magazine article the test drivers stated they felt like they were wrestling the car.................

[avant1963]

The Malibu MAXX SS is much more fun to clean (and drive). I'm still at weekly intervals (plus I clean my wife's G6 at the same time).

[ToniCipriani]

:sign0200: Another G6!

As for the steering compared to the Malibu, the steering ratio is different, but curb-to-curb is roughly the same.

For the XM you might want to check this:

http://www.g6performance.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=34

I think someone here has done it before.

[cmattson]

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes.. and yes, I'd like this one to be a long-term test.

As for the armrest of the G6, I found it awkward for about the first 2 days, then I adjusted. I found no problem with the seat or the pedals -- the adjustable pedals help quite a bit in that regard. The armrest of the Malibu is much better, IMO. The G6 suffers from Pontiac shoe-horning the emergency brake into the console. On the Malibu, the armrest is narrower and longer with the cup holders in a side-by-side arrangement. The only real complaint I've got right now is the door-locks being up high ontop of the door panel.. they poke your arm when you rest if up there.. but I've managed to get comfortable around that.. the key for me was moving the seat position back. I'm 6'0'' - which is pretty average - so I'd think that perhaps I wouldn't struggle as much as someone who was significantly shorter or taller.

[ocnblu]

Happy Motoring in the G6, mr. mattson.