2006 Pontiac G5 Pursuit 2.4 Ecotech

Summary:

Great car and I would buy another one!

Faults:

I have owned this car for 18 years now and bought it brand new at a dealer in 2006, and I drive it every day. Contrary to the many problems others have reported, I have had none of those except replacing both front wheel bearings. No other major issues at all with the motor or transmission or control arm bushings. Rust on the rocker panels, which is a common problem for most other G5s and Cobalts this age.

General Comments:

I love this car. I bought it with Competition Yellow and I get comments on the colour almost weekly. The car has sat outside for 18 years and the paint still looks like the day I bought it. I don't know what GM put in the paint, but when I wax her up I can still see my face like I'm looking in a mirror. I have a sun roof and the upgraded Pioneer stereo/CD player with a sub woofer in my trunk. It sounds fantastic and has high bass which I love that vibrates the doors. Not rattles. Vibrates!

The car is quiet (when stereo off) and smooth, and the auto transmission shifts smoothly. In the summer with the sun roof open, you see that flipped up driving behind me, and also the rear mounted antenna which is black, and some people have told me that it reminds them of a Hot Wheels car or a kid's race track car!

The gas mileage in the city is not the greatest, but so much better on the highway. I run regular gas and it always starts the first time in very cold winters without using a block heater. I don't use winter tires and have never been stuck in snow. Not once no matter how deep the snow is. So the people who say this is the worst car they've ever owned doesn't apply to me. I been stuck in snow with other people driving 4 wheel drive jeeps with snow tires, but not me in my G5!!

The motor purrs like a kitten and I use semi synthetic oil. Has never leaked or burned oil. I go by my oil monitor to change it at around 20% as I never let it get to 0% and no one should as oil changes are cheap compared to the cost of a new engine these days.

I plan to keep this car until it dies on the side of the road and can't be repaired. My car is a sportier looking two door and I'm 6'1, and when I put the seat back my legs are fully straight. The seats are comfortable on long drives and I love the red back lit dash which looks so cool.

I will never regret buying this car, and hope to drive it another 10 years or so as I'm 71 and time isn't on my side!

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 7th May, 2024

11th May 2024, 15:13

Just by way of an update, my rusted muffler exhaust pipe broke so my muffler was hitting the road at the front of the muffler, but still held on by the rear muffler clamp, which I had all replaced at a muffler shop. Cost me $339 all in and she purrs like a kitten now.

I decided to change my spark plugs which were platinum AC Delco that had about 80,000 miles on them over 10 years. They weren't too bad with a little rust on them, but I changed them to NGK iridium plugs which really is more plug than I need, but the cost difference is negligible, they don't need gapping, supposedly a better consistent spark accepting much higher temperatures than platinum and last a lot longer so I'll give an update after I've put about 10k miles on them.

Lastly I changed my oil to Castrol synthetic 5W-30. I wanted the Castrol high mileage synthetic, but the lube shop didn't have it in stock so I went with the regular synthetic 4.7 liters. One thing about my oil monitor is that it seems to go on forever until I get down to 20%-30% so it will be another year or so before that happens, as I'm retired and just drive her around town. I don't take her on very long drives and use our Honda CRV for that.

2006 Pontiac G5 Pursuit GT 2.4

Summary:

It's a great car that runs well and is fun to drive - and it performs well in a heavy winter

Faults:

The tires fit tightly in the wheel wells. A lot of snow collects and I need to chip it out with my snow brush (as my foot won't fit to kick it out) every few days, otherwise it rubs on the tires.

General Comments:

Zippy little car for the price. Compared to all other lower-end cars I've driven, acceleration just feels... effortless. Accelerating from any speed doesn't feel like you're asking any more of the car than a gentle acceleration from a low speed. The car is both fast (top speed ~208kph) and quick.

Corners like it's bolted to the road.

The sport suspension definitely makes a difference on poorly maintained roads - the car drives more like a car and less like a waterbed. Accelerating on bumpy roads is smooth instead of the drive wheels losing contact, spinning freely, then spinning out.

Four wheel disc brakes. The ABS on all four wheels is definitely a bonus on ice. The only thing limiting your stopping power in summer is your rubber.

The car is bright red. Definitely turns some heads... Unfortunately it's mostly from the police.

It takes a while for the thermostat to open and start circulating coolant, meaning on anything less than a twenty five minute to half hour drive you don't even begin to get any heat out of the vents. When it gets below ~-30C (-22F) the CD player stops working until the car heats up a bit (~15 minutes).

The car is now eight years old. The interior still looks pristine, besides some of the silver finish having flaked off of some of the plastic on the arm rests and shift knob.

Radio stations sound pretty unexciting, but decent quality MP3s burned to CD sound pretty good on the 7-speaker Pioneer system with dual-coil sub. (Certainly no worse than my previous vehicle, which had a 9 channel EQ, 225w 4-channel amp for the interior speakers with separate tweeters, and 15" L7 kicker. Just a bit less bass-y.)

Even without the block heater plugged in, the car has started down to -45C (-50F) after about 14 hours sitting without so much as a nasty groan.

Short throw shifter and short clutch is fun when you're really giving 'er. In heavy traffic you definitely notice the clutch is pretty stiff and requires a lot of force to keep on the floor. First gear is also pretty peppy, so stop and go traffic becomes a bit of a chore when the car keeps wanting to take off on you.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 9th December, 2013

7th Sep 2014, 03:43

Original poster here - still have the same vehicle. About one year update.

I'm now at just barely shy of 80,000km. Besides general wear and tear (brake pads, rotors, hand-brake adjustment, oil changes) I've had to do nothing to the car. I'm still happy with it as it still has more than enough get up and go for city and highway driving, even though I drive aggressively / like an idiot.

I did have one incident in the spring where snow blew up and packed up inside the engine. The DIC simply said "ENGINE PWR REDUCED" and I had to struggle to get the car into third (after two blocks I was still only doing ~40kph with it floored). By the time I'd pulled another car out of the garage I was going to park it in to warm up, the engine heat from the five minute drive over had already solved the problem. Called a mechanic friend and he just figured the throttle body had gotten frozen. The car made it through a Saskatchewan winter without being plugged in, and that was the only issue.

I've ripped the dash apart a couple times and drilled some holes and installed an auxiliary input (anyone looking to do the same while maintaining the stock radio should look for the devices that emulate/hook into the XM radio input - works like a charm).

Interior has no more noticeable wear and tear than last time.

Getting into the 4th or 5th hour on the highway, I find the lack of padding on the driver's side arm rest becomes noticeable, but tossing a sweater or something under my elbow has completely alleviated that.

On crappy roads the stiff suspension definitely lets you feel the road surface. I don't mind, but if you're looking for something luxurious and/or comfortable... you weren't probably looking at this car in the first place.

Tires are a weird size and it's hard/impossible to find some at a wrecker around here. Easy enough to pick up at any tire shop. I could probably switch to something a little more standard, but after looking at the big tires for a year, seeing a base model G5 with the regular tires, they just look tiny and ridiculous.

The gas mileage is phenomenal as far as I'm concerned. I run ethanol-free premium and usually see ~400km/tank (~10L/100km) in stop and go traffic (I live and work downtown) and ~600km/tank (~6.8L/100km) highway. And I drive the car hard. There are cars that get better mileage, but none that I've driven that have the acceleration of this car (that don't cost ten times as much). It's a perfect balance for me.

Picked the car up for $7,600. Still love it.

In reply to 7th Sep 2014, 03:43

14th May 2024, 01:12

Any updates in the last 10 years? My partner is looking at this car in a similar cold climate.