Faults:

Bought the vehicle with 47,000 miles, it was in great shape little did I know it was a time bomb. The power window switches, the motor in the passenger rear view mirror and the anti lock brakes all went immediately. Followed by the rear wiper motor and washer motor. I've replaced the rear wheel cylinders 4 TIMES, 2 pair being supplied by GM at $74 each. At one point I asked the dealership to contact Pontiac about all the problems and there basic response was "While we feel the vehicle has had an unusual repair record, we fell no compensation is due at this time" By the time this has been written I have also replaced the water pump, starter motor and air conditioning compressor.

General Comments:

The layout of the vehicle is good. Excellent placement of storage areas and the seats are much easier to remove than any vehicle of that age.

Faults:

Torque converter came loose - the shop fixed it only after a couple visits - one to be told it was nothing to worry about, and the second convincing them it should be something that needs to be fixed.

Gas gauge didn't work within the first few 10K miles. GM sells just the sending unit... for $160. Yea right. We ended up just resetting the trip odometer.

Driver's and Passenger's door interior panels came off; other panels came loose. Yes we have kids, but they are well behaved. This was not abuse; it was a poor design.

Tail light connectors melted/grounding circuit failed. Give me a break: all 5 light circuits on each tail light share a common ground and go through one teeny connector pin, roughly 18 AWG. If you see a Montana with goofy tail lights illuminated, it is because the circuits are back feeding through each other instead of the ground. I had to jumper the connectors to make them work right. The engineers should know better by Y2K.

Radio illuminators burned out/not replaceable. Nice CD/RDS radio that you cannot see or use. Nuff said.

Coolant leak on engine block.

Flip-forward middle seats do not flip forward. They just kind of jammed tight. Kids just flipped the seat-backs down and had to climb over the seats. Kinda defeats the purpose, no?

Ate up brake pads like they were snacks.

General Comments:

Bought this car because it is one of the only vehicles that carries 8 (we have 6 kids) and gets some decent mileage.

Has lots of great creature comforts and is peppy enough to want to drive. And what a people mover! Front and rear air made it comfortable for all.

The mileage is great (~24mpg) and the car handles remarkably well considering it is a minivan. Living in Denver, it did handle the snow amazingly well.

Loved the ability to take out seats and make it a freighter!

On the other hand, it has been a maintenance nightmare. We always take good care of vehicles and do our own mataintence. Never before have we had such a high maintenance vehicle.

Biggest plus was...well... the car came to an early demise in an accident where it was t-boned by a Savanna that ran a stop sign at 25 mph. The passenger compartment space was not compromised, despite the vehicle being totaled. Yes, there were some injuries, but it was a testimony to modern crash protection design.

Faults:

!. Service engine light came on intermittently. The dealer could find nothing that was setting it off.

2. Service engine light finally stayed on (several occasions). The dealer started blaming the problem on the emissions monitoring system. After resetting the light and leaving the OBD II hooked up during a test drive, the problem was found to be triggered by misfires on the rear engine bank, where the spark plugs were not easily accessible. Replaced those 3 plugs and problem solved.

3. Leak in roof by rear hatch interior light. Silicone sealant placed around rubber boots that protected the wiring to the rear hatch door. Helped stop the problem, but did not completely cure it.

4. Leak in roof by windshield that allow water to enter into the overhead console that houses the Temp. sensor and trip recorder. Dealer placed more windshield sealant in top of windshield which seems to have solved the problem.

5. Headlights and electrical system flickers and pulsates. After reading reviews and changing the alternator grounding screw, problem solved.

6. Passenger side electric door sometimes sticks, as the door lock does not always unlock all the way and at other times, the electric opener does no function at all. Minor issue and can live with over-riding the door and opening it manually.

7. Engine sometimes will not start after being shut off. Engine turns over, but will not start. Never found the cause of the problem, but now the problem also happens while driving. Discovered that when this happens the fuel pump does not start when you turn the key on. Usually letting the van sit and cycling the key several times, it will start. Tried replacing the fuel pump relay, to no avail and now going to try replacing the fuel pump.

If anyone else has had this problem and it was corrected, please let me know how the problem was fixed.

8. Overhead temp. sensor display console reads inaccurately and sometimes seems to have a power surge that brightens the passenger compartment considerably at night.

If anyone else has had this problem and it was corrected, please let me know.

9. The knob to adjust the recline on the center captain's chairs, keeps breaking. Can't seem to repair them for any length of time, so just need to keep a pair of vise-grips in the glove box.

General Comments:

We love the van for the most part and it is great with our 6 kids, but the reliability issue about starting and staying running, is becoming a concern.

It is very roomy and many of the added options are very handy and nice.

The interior is very comfortable and the ease of removing the seats to haul cargo is a very much appreciated option.