avant1963

So the trifecta of 2000 Scion part 1 awsomeness of the Toyota Echo, MR2 Spyder and Celica would never have been referred to as being "shot". ONLY the Echo is ever mentioned as "Toyota's rare failure" though I was able to name three from one year.

If I went SAAB, I'd have to go with the new 6-banger, and I'd be in the GP GXP $$ range again and would rather have a V-8. That also takes out any used 9-3. The little 4-banger in the 9-3 doesn't to it for me, even in 2.0t trim. I just like larger displacement torquey engines. The Cobalt is nice, but not big enough for me. I have to go mid to large. If I was just looking for a short-term commuter car that wouldn't have a second life as a weekend warrior, I would have either gone Solstice or Cobalt SS. I like the way the short-deck of the MAXX looks 10x more than the sedan, so even if the trunk of the sedan is bigger, I have to stick with the MAXX.

The HHR seems like it needs the 260 hp turbo for those that really want some spirited driving. The problem with that is those of us that are avoiding sticks because of unspirited traffic congestion would probably only have a stick to choose from in the SS version, so I would have still needed to go to the MAXX SS. The HHR was a nice drive and you sit in a commanding view of the road. The 2.4 moves the trucklet, but I found myself unsatisfied when taking off and flooring it, alerting me to the fact that the HHR would spend most of the time thrashing underfoot because I am used to GM engine's usual torque curve and do not have the mentality for a little four-banger when attached to a 3500+ pound vehicle. Those used to driving higher-reving low-displacement engines probably would have not problem with the 2.4. All I can advise is to do what I did. Get in one, take it out and drive it like you drive your current car. If you step on the gas and wonder why t feels like you aren't going anywhere (the lack of torque), then the HHR is not for you. I really like it otherwise.

All of the above... What is this Sophie's Choice? Asking me to chose one of these is impossible. I want a full range - with AWD and wagons, and convertibles, and coupes and ...

I have to agree with reg that GM needs to offer more inticing cars in this range, not that the Malibu is bad, but if the MAXX wasn't available, I wouldn't get a sedan. The short deck and hatch makes it all the more appealing. And believe me Josh, I've thought about waiting for an auto Solstice, but this purchase needs to be a functional one. When the lease on the G6 runs out in 2 1/2 years, the car I get now becomes my wifes and THEN I can get my 2009 Camaro. The Solstice just doesn't make sense, especially since it would be the same price as the MAXX SS (My Solstice would have to be loaded AND have an extra $1000 for the auto bringing me to the $26-27,000 range). The Aura is very nice, but I'm trying to be a little price concious here and since I can't use the GM Card rebate and there's no haggle on the price, a well equipped Aura is probably going to top out in the $28,000 range and I might as well get what I really want (a GP GXP) if I'm going to hover at the $30,000 price point. I can't lease this car, it has to be a purchase. Actualy, as long as the Camaro goes out as planned, this should all fall into place very nicely.

A horrbile new Yaris (it looks even worse when parked next to normal cars) and two Dodge Calibers (one in bright yellow) which look much better when in the context of other cars. That was all that was interesting from my trip to AC (Atlantic City).

The only good Mini is a Mini.

Well, I have the G6 with the 3.5 and the MAXX was noticably faster, almost GP GXP kick in the pants fast. The 3.9 seems really worth the extra. While I am not turned off by the G6 GT electric steering, I was nice to drive the Epsilon with a hydr. system and the three spoke steering wheel. If my wife gets her new job, the MAXX will be hitting my driveway in the next week or so...

I have to sell it (even as a weekend car, the insurance is $1300 a year in NJ - WAY to high for a car I would use once in a while). I have to sell the car outright (can't trade it) - I'm looking for about $6,000 for a car in really good shape. I hate to see it go.

It's a very sad day at my house since I know that the time is running out for my 1996 Camaro Z28 convertible. I just recently started a new job that requires me to drive in really ugly traffic and spend 1 hour each way a day - something the Z28 is not all too happy about. So the quest goes to replace it. I like the HHRs and they aren't too expensive even with all the options, and the Malibu MAXX SS in Laser Blue looks really good, so I went to a local dealer this morning to see if I could live with the 172 HP in the HHR.... NOPE! There's no way I could be happy - even sititng in traffic with the HHR. It probably is fine for people that did not grow up with muscle cars and V-8s in everything, but to me, it just isn't enough. So, I'm pretty set on the MAXX SS. The 3.9 pulls like a champ and even gives a twitter of touque steer when nailed. I haven't decided to send the Z28 up the river yet (105,000 miles) but I feel the end is coming soon. OTHERS CONSIDERED: Pontiac Solstice - Don't want a stick with hour's worth of traffic, not practical enough to be our second car. Pontiac GTO - Again, no stick and refuse to buy it with an auto. Plus, a little more than I want to spend. Pontiac GP GXP - More than I want to spend. Pontiac G6 GTP - Already have a G6 GT and don't want two of the EXACT same cars. I like the MAXX hatchback better. It's really hard to tell the difference between a GT and a GTP (pipes and wheels) - maybe if they were visualy different.

2 FJ Cruisers at Port NJ (Elizabeth), a 07 Escalade and an STS-V at the gas station next to work.

Camino - That's "Better Off Dead" one of the greatest movies (and beautiful 67 RS/SS). Sorry your mom blew up. "So, we finish the 18, and he's going to stiff me. And I say, 'hey. Lama, hey. How about a little something for, you know, the effort, you know?' And he says, 'oh, uh, there won't be any money. But when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.' So I've got that going for me, which is nice." "Are there any balls down there?" "Just the biggest pair you've ever seen, dingleberry"

As far as the car, my wife and I love it. I just need the dealership (and Pontiac) to take ownership of the problem and fix it. Otherwise it is a great car. If it had the basic sunroof, I'm sure I'd have no complaints.

2006 - 4 months old. It did not squeak for the first two months - then all hell broke loose.

You guys should know what a backer of GM I am. I have never owned anything but. Christ, I started this site 6 years ago to defend them in the media. But they have really pissed me off now. Here's a warning to anyone looking at purchasing a G6, DO NOT BUY THE PANORAMIC SUNROOF UNLESS YOU LIKE SQUEAKS, RATTLES AND OTHER ANNOYING NOISES. GM knows there is a problem, I have found two TSBs about the sunroof. I called Pontiac Owner Care and they couldn't find any TSBs (I had to, of course, find them on my own on the internet - Thanks Flat Rate Tech) so they are useless. Once I had the TSB numbers, I called the dealer to make sure they knew what they were and scheduled an appointment to have it fixed - though many others on the internet seem to still have the problem after many trips to the dealership. They had the car for about a half a day, which I can't believe that, accound to the TSB, that was enough time to take apart the whole interior, the entire sunroof, place these washers to stop the squeaking and put everything back together again. Needless to say, all the squeaks, rattles and noises are still there, and now THERE IS A NEW ONE, just above the driver's head so it is more annoying than ever. I called the dealership yesterday (Perrine Pontiac in Cranbury NJ) and said I don't want my car to be used as a test subject to TRY to fix the problem. I want GM to tell the service people HOW to fix it and service to actualy DO IT. Otherwise I want this car taken away and replaced with the same G6, just with a regular sunroof. Hint to GM - DON'T PISS OFF YOUR LOYAL FAN-BASE. At this point in time, we're all you got. Don't bring to market a new item without testing it for squeaks. After a few years of testing, I'm sure this thing rattled like crazy, but you brought it to market anyway. I could of saved $1000 and many headaches if I didn't get the EVIL Panoramic Sunroof. And if anyone from GM is listening - fix this - because there are a lot of complaints on the internet. Drop me a line at [email protected] if you have any ideas or know of a local central NJ dealership that has SUCCESSFULY fixed this problem instead of making it worse.

Not only does it have a H on the front, but the driver has been poorly airbushed out of the picture. What's Dodge of Mexico's ad budget, a peso and a churro?

Read the whole article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11677325/site/newsweek/page/2/ GM chief designer Ed Welburn sweeps into his Chevrolet design studio and it's as if he were stepping back in time. On one side of the cavernous white room, designers huddle over a silver retro remake of the Chevy Camaro. A few steps away, stylists scurry around a future Chevy family car that ripples with sinewy muscles from a bygone era. Papering the walls of the studio are photos of classic iron from Detroit's halcyon postwar years—the chiseled '65 Chevy Impala, the jet-age '65 Ford Galaxie, the long-nosed '65 Plymouth Fury. Welburn slowly walks around the work-in-progress family car, inspecting the latest nips and tucks. Suddenly, he notices an 18-inch clay model on a table nearby that offers an alternative take on the car with a gull-winged rear end. "Oh, my God," the normally soft-spoken designer shouts. "That rear is unbelievable! It links all the way back to the late '50s." More sequels will soon be spinning out of Detroit. GM is said to be working on a faithful re-creation of the '67 Chevy Impala and an edgy Stingray convertible based on the Pontiac Solstice. Ford, dinged in recent years for its blandmobiles, is getting its mojo back with an audacious rear-wheel-drive family car based on the Mustang that's coming at the end of the decade, knowledgeable industry sources say. Ford also is believed to have greenlighted the Fairlane van, a modern interpretation of the '50s-era wood-paneled wagon. And Chrysler is sprinkling the bling from the 300C all over its next-generation minivan, insiders say. Motown execs promise the bad old days of Camry clones and Audi imitators are gone. "For a while, we were doing pretty bad cars," admits Lutz. "I suppose we had to give the public a chance to forget those so that we can go back to the '60s, when everybody loved us." If Detroit can rekindle that love affair, it just might have found its salvation.

I'm liberal and hate CR and would never buy an import. Your grasping at straws here to try to bring politics into this. You picked the wrong party...

If these idiots ever drove a 1999-2005 Grand Am, or many other of GM's mid size offerings, the key HAD BEEN ON THE DASH FOR YEARS. They act like it was just put there in the G6. AAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHOLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEESSSSS!

My dad sent me this Ebay auction - I wonder how long before the bondo starts cracking? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...bayphotohosting

I drive a G6 EVERY f@#king day - enough with the interior $h!. The interior is easy on the eyes, easy to use and NO BETTER than much of the others that I have been in that are in the same price range. So these assholes think that a LOADED G6 GTP shoud cost the same as a Civic. I'm about tired of ANYTHING in the press anymore. From these assholes, to CR to the general idiot public. My blood pressure goes up every f@#king time I read this $h!. I'm tired. Take me out of the oven, I'm done! And Croc, it's obvious that you are not a GM fan, have nothing to say about Buicks or Pontiacs other than "$h!y interior, $h!ty interior" Yeah, it doesn't match your M-Class, but spend some time in one, and learn something. I'm tired of this $h!. Bye Bye.

The Solstice has the HIGHEST of any new-for-2006 domestic car, and only second to the Dodge Viper for all domestics. I read the article in Automotive News: "The Pontiac Solstice will keep its value better than any other new 2006 domestic-brand vehicle, Automotive Lease Guide predicts. The guide, which sets residual value standards for the industry, predicts the Solstice will hold 54.0 percent of its sticker price after three years. The roadster has a base price of $19,995, including shipping. Among domestic vehicles, the Solstice is second only to the 2006 Dodge Viper. The guide projects the Viper to retain 60.0 percent of its sticker price after three years." MOre: "As a brand, Pontiac is expected to hold 42.1 percent of its sticker price after three years, up from a projection of 36.9 percent for 2005 models. Hopson attributes that improvement in part to Pontiac's strategy of curbing fleet sales. Buick at bottom Buick is at the bottom of the brand rankings. Its projected residual value for its 2006 vehicles is 37.9 percent. Still, that's up from 35.5 percent for Buick's 2005 models. GM's Hopson says new vehicles such as the Lucerne sedan should enable Buick to boost its residual values further in the next 12 to 18 months." http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...=73237220068937

Good luck. I love my G6 except for the Panoramic Sunroof which rattles and squeaks like a bitch. It's going in on Monday for the 1st attempt at trying to shut the damn thing up. Thanks Webasto! Otherwise the car is great.

All they do is gather wayward wax. They are not open, just a black piece of plastic with a honeycomb grille shape on it. They are throwbacks to the louvers on the IROCs in the 80's. All they did was hold water so when you were done washing the car you had to open the hood to let all the water drain out before you dried the car.

I don't even use an alarm clock anymore. I wake up between 5-6 am EVERY morning no matter what time I went to bed or what day of the week it was.