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As I was driving home from the gym this morning I realized I am actually quite sad about the disappearance of the Pontiac brand of car this year. I think they were massively underrated vehicles. I've dealt with three of them in my lifetime - on old 80s Bonneville, a 98 Grand Am SE, and my current car - a 2007 Vibe.
The Bonneville lasted 250k miles with NO work beyond typical maintenance and at 250k needed rubber tubing replaced since it was literally disintegrating from age... but still working. And some brake work - it was sold at that time and still running fine. The 98 Grand Am went to 150k miles with no major work - just at that time (over 10 years old/150k miles) it needed some work done but then was fine until it was totaled by a random guy on a cell phone and its life cut short. Our current Vibe has some 44k miles on it now and has never had any issues - it's a really good little car. All of these got GREAT gas mileage - the Grand Am, despite being a 6 cylinder and reasonably powerful little car regularly was in the 34-35 MPG range. The Vibe can hold a kayak or giant 8 ft log, comfortably fit 4 large/tall passengers and cargo - gets over 30 on average. I know in their time they made some goofy cars (like the underpowered Sunfire but what do you want from a 10k car?) but in general they were really impressive. I'm sad to see them cut.
Since I'm unlikely to ever end up with my dream car (a Lamborghini Diablo - haha!) I'd like to someday have a Pontiac Trans Am. I was sad when they stopped making those, too, but I've seen some in great shape come up for sale (this sort of model version: http://photos.webridestv.com/datastore/images/user/314f01c180adad528da94912782d4b75/Pontiac_Trans_Am_143445_20081011.jpg ) - if I have one of those I'll be in driving heaven. :) Despite the fact I drive like an old grandma.
This is probably the most you'll ever hear me talk about cars - in general I don't care about vehicles, especially luxury ones - but I have a strong appreciation for the mechanical wonder that they are, and how they allow us such mobility and options living in such a spread-out country like the U.S. So, hat's off to Pontiac, I'll miss you!
The Bonneville lasted 250k miles with NO work beyond typical maintenance and at 250k needed rubber tubing replaced since it was literally disintegrating from age... but still working. And some brake work - it was sold at that time and still running fine. The 98 Grand Am went to 150k miles with no major work - just at that time (over 10 years old/150k miles) it needed some work done but then was fine until it was totaled by a random guy on a cell phone and its life cut short. Our current Vibe has some 44k miles on it now and has never had any issues - it's a really good little car. All of these got GREAT gas mileage - the Grand Am, despite being a 6 cylinder and reasonably powerful little car regularly was in the 34-35 MPG range. The Vibe can hold a kayak or giant 8 ft log, comfortably fit 4 large/tall passengers and cargo - gets over 30 on average. I know in their time they made some goofy cars (like the underpowered Sunfire but what do you want from a 10k car?) but in general they were really impressive. I'm sad to see them cut.
Since I'm unlikely to ever end up with my dream car (a Lamborghini Diablo - haha!) I'd like to someday have a Pontiac Trans Am. I was sad when they stopped making those, too, but I've seen some in great shape come up for sale (this sort of model version: http://photos.webridestv.com/datastore/images/user/314f01c180adad528da94912782d4b75/Pontiac_Trans_Am_143445_20081011.jpg ) - if I have one of those I'll be in driving heaven. :) Despite the fact I drive like an old grandma.
This is probably the most you'll ever hear me talk about cars - in general I don't care about vehicles, especially luxury ones - but I have a strong appreciation for the mechanical wonder that they are, and how they allow us such mobility and options living in such a spread-out country like the U.S. So, hat's off to Pontiac, I'll miss you!
