Now, By Popular Demand....

Ok, That's a lie. No one has demanded the following. Nobody (except Je- er, the Blue Fox) has even acknowledged that I got a new car. So even though you don't want to see this, here it is.

2005 Pontiac G6 GT



That's where I work (5th floor from the top, right side, third window down). And that's how I get there now. And that is the most gorgeous shade of blue I've ever seen.



The Specs:
3.5L V6, 200-hp @ 5600 rpm, 220-lb.-ft. torque @ 3200 rpm. (Ooo, low end torque. I like.)
4-speed Automatic with manual shift mode
4-wheel disc brakes

I've been reading some reviews of it (after I bought it... good thinking, huh?) and the people who dislike it always start by bashing the Grand Am. It's mainly the Sports Car Enthusiast crowd who apparently dislike it because it isn't a Ferrari. Anyways, one of the complaints I read was that it had a push-rod V6 mated with a 4-speed automatic, and not a DOHC engine with a 5-speed, like the imports. One reviewer, when mentioning that fact, said he "couldn't believe he was writing that in 2005." The claim is that the clunky engine makes it loud and rough at higher RPM. I dunno, this car is quieter and smoother at 5000 rpm than my Celica was at idle.



Safety:
ABS and traction control (boy, that woulda been great to have on the icy Steubenville roads).
Driver and passanger front and side impact airbags, full-cabin head curtain airbags.
On-Star
5-star front impact and passenger side impact safety rating.



One of the first things you notice about the car is how small it is. It's barely larger than my Celica, on the outside (inside is completely different, however). But it has the distinctive Pontiac sporty-tough look to it.



At night, with the headlights on, it looks like it's squinting angrily at you. From the back, when the reverse lights are on, it looks like the sinister, hypnotizing eyes from the snake in Jungle Book.



Cool stuff:
Panoramic roof (shown open here).
17" Aluminum wheels with chrome finish.
The cool thing about the panoramic roof is its amazingly quiet and non-windy, even with it open at freeway speeds. It's comprised of 4 panels. The front one pops up and acts as a wind screen. The other three slide backwards and stack up towards the back. Overall, it's supposed to be about twice the size of a normal sun roof.



Luxuries:
Leather interior.
Heated leather seats.
Leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls.
Power-adjustable gas/brake.
Tilt/telescoping steering wheel.
6-disc in-dash CD changer with 8-speaker Monsoon sound system.
Driver Information Center.

Today when I was driving, I was trying to find the little button on the dash to switch the odometer from the normal mode to the trip mode. After looking for a while and not being able to find it, I found the "Info" button next to the radio display. Pressing that cycled through several screens that told me:
Trip Odometer A
Trip Odometer B (yes, it does in fact have two)
Fuel Range (how much farther you can go)
Est MPG
Avg Speed
Remaining Oil Life

See, this car doesn't have a "Trip Odometer" as most others do, it has a "Trip Computer".

Gimicks:
Remote Starter.
It could be useful in cold climates, but here in SoCal, it's pretty pointless. Although it is cool being able to start your car from 100ft away.



On-Star:
That little antenna just in front of the panoramic roof is the On-Star antenna. It comes free for one year. When we went to pick up the car last night, the salesman was demonstrating all the features to us, and also showed us On-Star. When using this, you actually talk with a live person (the girl we were talking to was in North Carolina). They also demonstrated the "unlock doors" feature, in case you lock yourself out. Sorta creepy.

Anyways, the salesman, James, is a hilariously funny guy. He reminded me a lot of Pat Leinen (who is one of the funniest people I have ever known) in mannerism and even somewhat in appearance (tall, lanky). So anyways, he was demonstrating the "hands-free phone" system with On-Star, you push the "phone" button on the rear-view mirror, and it links in with Verizon's cellular service and you can voice-dial. That system is totally automated, with some very sophisticated, although imperfect, voice-recognition software. The conversation between the salesman and the very polite computer went something like this:
James: Dial
On-Star: Number?
James: 7-1-4
On-Star: Pardon?
James: 7
On-Star: 7
James: 1
On-Star: 1
James: 4
On-Star: 4
James: 6
On-Star: 6
James: 9
On-Star: Slower, please.
James: 9
On-Star: 5
James: 9!
On-Star: 5
James: Stupid!
On-Star: 7
James: Stupid!
On-Star: Pardon?

I'm not sure what exactly happened after that as my spleen was bursting and I was trying not to pee my nice new leather seats from laughing. That's a good system. It's polite even when you yell insults at it.



(That picture's blurry because I had to turn off the flash, which increased the exposure time and I have a hard time holding still.)

So how much does this machine cost, you ask? Well, base price for the G6 is $21,300. The GT starts at $23,925. Fully loaded (like we got it), it's $28,280. Now, any sane person's reaction is "that is a lot of money to spend on a car." I agree. That's why we only paid $23,565 (plus extra fees and such). That's below the base price for that model.

Wow. Good deal.

How did we pull that one off? Well Mr. Acosta, being an employee of The Company Formerly Known as Hughes Electronics (which was owned by GM, then bought by Boeing, then bought by L3), qualifes (and Anne Marie and I, by relation) for the GM Supplier discount. This discount is actually larger than the discount GM employees get. The GM discount brought price of the car to $25,065, then the dealer threw in an extra $1500 in rebates ($1000 because they like us and $500 because we financed through Kinecta).

So all in all, that's a pretty good deal. Saved almost 17%.

So anyways, if anyone is in the market for a new Pontiac, Buick or GMC, be sure to talk to James Cannon in Tustin (shameless plug).