2008 Pontiac G6 Base 3.5 V6
Summary:
Prime example why GM went bankrupt
Faults:
At around 50K miles this car began to self-destruct! The car was bought new and maintained per the recommended schedule, but has had lots of early failures between 50k miles to 79k miles:
- Speakers failed, as with many GM products of this era.
- CD player stopped working, like many GM products of this era.
- Tie-rod outers went bad.
- Rear calipers started leaking, like many other GM products.
- Driver's seat frame broke, like all other GM Epsilon 1 chassis cars.
- Front and rear main seals started leaking (this made my local mechanic $1300 richer!).
- Oil filter adapter seal started leaking.
- Steering linkage slip-joint needs to be lubed 1 or 2 times a year to keep from clunking.
- Interior switchgear is cheap and wearing out: Radio knobs are loosie-goosie, black paint wearing off radio buttons, ignition switch operates with the precision like that of a 20 year old lawn tractor left out in the rain all its life...
- Left rear door has a rattle when shutting.
- Driver's door seal has collapsed and leaks.
- All the protective wire looms have deteriorated, leaving much of the under-hood wring unprotected (ABS, ECM, etc.).
- Headlights have oxidized (typical for plastic, but earlier than our other cars).
- Lots of squeaks and rattles.
- 14-17 MPG in the city and the V6 is a bit slow to rev.
- Front strut bearing makes a funny noise when turning at low speed.
- Front sway bar end-links are starting to clunk.
- The car feels/drives like a bigger, clumsy car. Like NASCAR on a road course.
General Comments:
- The car drives nice on the highway, in a straight line.
- Lots of airbags. Hopefully they will work when needed and not cause injury.
- Can always see similar models on Live PD dash cams.
- Quiet drivetrain. But oh... that thirsty V6!
Keep in mind, this G6 is essentially a Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura.
In the family fleet we have a couple Fords, many Toyotas, and a few VWs. This G6, by far, has needed the most unscheduled and costly repairs. (Luckily, all the costly VW repairs were under warranty... or our 2001 Jetta would have won this award).
You'd think GM would have figured out by 2008 that "36 month cars" don't create return customers???
We will NEVER buy another GM car. EVER!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 2nd August, 2019
2nd Aug 2019, 23:12
I was actually thinking about this earlier today. I have a friend with a 2007 Cobalt (same car as the G6, not the Malibu as noted in the review) with 217K on it. It's a clunker in every way - it smells, it leaks, it rattles, it whines... but it's running. You can tell GM had designed and built it with the 2008 recession in mind. It's blatantly obvious. I myself have never owned a GM product. But, my friend has told me of all the intricacies of his Cobalt, many of which are listed here. His Cobalt has no radio. It broke. His Cobalt has no air conditioning. It broke. It has the infamous ignition issue, and his gauge cluster doesn't light up - never did. He gets 17 MPG on a good day, and he's replaced the brake light relays more times than he's changed his underwear. Somehow, he keeps it going but the rust will murder it sooner or later. I'm sorry for your poor experience, but you're not alone.