2006 Pontiac G5 Pursuit 2.4 Ecotech from North America
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.