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Walterbura: No, not from Mars but Toledo, OH, at least that is where it seems all the Azteks are being sold...per a view posts back. :-) Secretly though, I think that GM needs to increase their random drug testing, if you know what I mean.
remember to keep both hands on the steering wheel when you finally see one of these things! The initial temptation to wretch will subside w/o messing the inside of your car. :-)
My wife and I are looking at minivans. We ended up at a Pontiac dealer last nite to check out the Montana. As we parked, we noticed on the showroom floor: a couple of trees, a picnic table and a black tent-like canvas thingy covering the back end of ... a red Aztec. We both laughed aloud and went over to look at a Montana on the lot. Shortly, the salesman approached, said "Hi, I'm Joe, how you folks doing?" I said "Fine, how about you?" He responds "I'm having a great day. I'm on top of the world!" To which my wife says "Wow! You must've sold an Aztec today!!". Salesman and I just cracked up.
Now for the other side. Before leaving we went into the showroom and checked out the Aztec first hand. Reactions? Not so funny when you get right up to the thing. It looks big and almost tank-like up close. Sorta exudes power. And the inside is kinda Pontiac-retro-cool. I actually kinda liked the thing. (ducking) My wife, however, still insisted no way was she gonna be seen driving one. Although when she later learned about the AWD option, she almost reconsidered. If they would put a low-range in the thing it actually might be a worthwhile SUV.
Last note: ... our 12 year old daughter fell in love with the thing. Maybe that's the real target segment for the Aztec?
I don't know how you can say that, given how top-heavy and under-tired the thing looks. Many vehicles have AWD. The thing is horribly designed. But go for it if you think it's attractive.
after the vehicle went on sale in July - 1500 in August, and 2009 in September.
This is not really very good considering that Pontiac has 2800 dealerships in the US, and that 50,000 to 70,000 Azteks were expected to be sold per annum. It will be interesting to see what the final numbers will be next July.
Drew/aling Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
Huh?! Have I seen one up close? Heck yes I have. I looked at one up close at a dealership, and once had the unfortunately experience of having somebody park one of those things next to my car.
It's every bit as vile up-close and personal as they are in print. Trust me.
I agree with you, the Aztek up close is not that bad. Aztek is also bigger than you might expect. It may not be the best looking thing out there, but it is NOT poorly designed like stated earlier. I think if Pontiac modified the looks a little (make it less "in your face"), they might actually have something decent.
My wife and I saw this vehicle for the first time in a trade show environment. Yup...it looked dog ugly from all vantage points and none have apparently been sold in our city yet. But we got in...and hey the outside ain't so bad from in there. We pondered it for a bit and went back for a test drive, taking it through city and country type driving conditions in the rain. Gotta say it was kind of nice to drive. I think it's a bit pricy though.
Judging from the posted messages that I've seen, there are a lot of you hooked on looks. I am wondering if there is anyone who knows someone who owns one yet in order to give a bit of a brief on what it is like once the honeymoon is over. Any problems or concerns being encountered?
I don't think that everyone is just basing it on looks. Many are also concerned about the crashworthiness of the Aztek (and the Buick Rendezvous) because it is based on the GM 25X minivan platform (same as the Venture/Montana/Silhouette) which did poorly in crash tests. Have a look here: http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/vans/trans_sport.htm
Drew/aling Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
Given low slow sales and inactivity of this board (where are you Aztek defenders, Trip and Evil?) can we say already the Aztek is really another flop by GM?
I'm sure that once the AWD version is available the sales will pick up to the point where GM can declare the Aztek a success (NOT!)
Seriously though, I hope that the experience w/the Aztek won't drive GM back to bland, Wonder Bread (sorry, you white bread lovers) designs. I certainly am not advocating more Aztek proportion styling disasters but something in between might be more palatable for future vehicles.
I also think that GM put unrealistic sales figure goals on an admittedly niche marketed, polarizing styled vehicle. Because of this, it kind of set the Aztek up for the label of failure. I'm not really defending the Aztek as much as I am chastising GM for their lack of reality.
Well, it will be interesting to see what emergency styling changes the Pontiac designers can pull off. Pontiac did build the vehicle after it had a very positive reaction (to the concept Aztek, that is) at the 1998 NAIAS. However, I don't think that anyone expected it to deviate so much from the concept vehicle's design.
Drew/aling Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
If anything it will make Aztek even more expensive and even less in reach for younger (target) market. Plus, I doubt there are many folks walking out of Pontiac showrooms saying "gee, if only that thing had 4WD...".
OTOH, XTerra, CR-V and RAV4 are very popular even in 2WD versions
I know, I was really teasing! I posted the line about the AWD increasing sales of the following. I remember reading an article last week that quoted GM about how the sales will pick up w/the availability of AWD. The inference was somehow the revised goal of 50k sales a year would then be achieved.
The funny thing about the AWD Aztek is that it has the same off-road ability as a short wheelbase AWD Dodge Caravan (basically nil) if anything more than some minor gravel or dirt roads are encountered(read: no major ruts). Why is this so one might ask? Because the Aztek is a Montana minivan pretending to be something it isn't. An "interesting" (god am I kind) wrapper can't hide this fact.
The prototype Aztek was nowhere as ugly as the real thing turned out to be. Some of the local dealers actually use photos of the Yellow prototype in their ads. Sad when they need to use misleading pictures of their own product. The proto had no ribbbed gray plastic, wheels that actually seemed to fit and a different rear. This is what happens when accountants have the final say in auto design.
Almost! I hadn't seen one of the ugly things (except at the Pontiac dealer I pass every day) for about five days, then today, I "hit the jackpot in reverse". When I pull out from work, there's a red one passing(female driver) the other way. I get about half way home, decide to get gas. I pull in, and suddenly a 16 or 17 year old girl wearing a Catholic school uniform flies in driving a yellow one, and she runs in the store, and gets 10 bucks of gas. She gets sideways pulling out (its raining), and dissapears. Tonight, I'm in Boston Market getting dinner, and there's a green one in the drive through, it's the 40+ year old woman with two kids. I think she's the first one I had seen. I go to Kroger's, and there's the older, 60 ish woman in the white one! I see her the most, she must live by me.......uh oh!! What is going on in Toledo??????!!!!!Why are they buying these things? Whatever happened to just buying an ugly Focus or something?? Isn't it ugly ENOUGH???
I'm sure the following will not change anyone's opinion, but go check out the Rendezvous on buick.com. I think its styling is much better than the Aztek's.
I also think that the styling of the Rendezvous is much better than the Aztek. Of course, given the hideousness of the Aztek, it wasn't too difficult to come up with something better styled!
nigelp: I with you though, the guilt would totally to it for me!
I don't know wat the deal is. It's funny how I keep seeing some of the same Azteks and drivers over and over again. I don't think these are company cars, maybe one or two are, but the one with the custom wheels sure isn't. The only one I know that is for sure a company car is the one the salesman at the Honda joint (owned by the pontiac dealer) next to work drives. He used to drive one of those little Honda 80 MPG cars, I can't remember the name of it right now. He seems to go for the oddball stuff. It don't get much odder than an Aztek. I wonder if he drove a Pacer when he was a kid?
I was directly behind it so couldn't see if it was man or woman driving. In fact, I couldn't see anything behind the enormous [non-permissible content removed]-end on that thing! Plates were from another county so, I'm fairly certain our poor local Pontiac dealer is still sitting on his original 3.
Sounds about right! I always wonder about people who drive "weirdo" cars/trucks. Back in the 60's, it was the people who drove Citroens or my neighbor who had a gold Avanti. In the 70's they had Pacers/Matadors (personaly I actually like the Pacer a tiny bit better, like prefering to die by a bullet vs stabbing)or Triumph's or Phuegots (I know it's spelled wrong) we pronounced the name pukeits, to annoy the neighbor who owned one.)In the eighties, I knew people who had Fiats,Alfa Romeos,Jaguars,Le Cars,etc, all were disasters and the owners went back to "normal cars", except for the Jag guy who bought a "Sterling". BAD move...Now he has a Camry. But since Ford bought Jag, he might be going english again soon.. But when my friend's dad bought home his '74 Matador X, I was so embarrassed for him. It was blue with a white stripe, I think. Those giant wheelwells killed me. He refused to ride in it for a long time, and refused it when dad tried to pass it on to him. He bought one of those Dodge "little red express" trucks.His sister took the Matador instead. She drives ugly car after ugly car.She had a Ford EXP, and then one of those Merkur Xr4Ti's. Today, she drives a Focus.I feel the Focus is a "borderline" Chickmobile. I guess time will tell......
Well, I have to admit that I owned my share of wierd cars. I owned (bought from my dad in 81')a 1980 LeCar but had it in Germany (Dad in the Army) where we bought it through the Canadian PX. I managed to blow the headgasket on it, something about me not paying attention to the idiot light (I was 19, ok). Anyhow, I had it rebuilt into an Alpine5 which was Renault's equivalent of a GTI. It was lowered the same and had bigger rubber. The only thing I didn't have was the 5-speed. I was putting out about 102hp vs the std US spec 58 - 60 hp. Shipped it back to WA State and had a ball w/it until some guy in a 69'Electra broadsided me. It was probably a good thing since no one knew how to work on the thing. I also had a 78' Renault Gordini for about a year (won't go there). I owned a 78' Dodge Magnum which never could get tuned up properly because of the POS lean burn system. When I was a kid my Dad bought a 67' Renault R10 (rear engined, but water cooled). He did some amateur racing w/it against Beetles and Corvairs. The following year he traded it in for a 68' Volvo 144 sedan. Fast forward to 74', Dad traded the family's (ok, my mom's baby) 73' Thunderbird in for a new 74' Peugeot 504. You should have seen the guys at the dealership laugh when we traded it in. My mom still gives my dad hell for this deal. Anyhow, I can appreciate unusual cars but the Aztek is a little much for my taste (the assumption is that I learned from my automotive past..) :-)
.....Forgive me if you take this as a flame, but why do I get a sense of deja vu everytime you post? You've said that it's a shame that newspapers won't put the real car in the news papers because their embarrased of it. You've said the concept car looks better and has no ribbed plastic and yada yada yada. Man, it's like you forget what you post about every weeks or so.
Funny, Koolguy, that's precisely what I think every time I read a new post of yours. Please, tell us again about how the Aztek is "different", not like "all those cookie-cutter cars". It's been almost 30 seconds since you've said that.
This isn't a flame either.
Truth be told, we're all repeating ourselves. That's fine. I'll do it again: The Aztek is infinitely classless and ugly.
Butt Ugly Vehicle. Yes, I'm repeating myself too. It's also perfect for hauling trick or treaters cause it's so scarey looking. -perfect for Thanksgiving because it's one of Pontiac's biggest Turkeys yet.
First Time I saw the vehicle I found the looks radical. Kepy looking at it. Drove it. Loved it.
Compared it to XTERRA...Spartan Honda CRV and RAV 4. Aztek had more power and tonz of neat features.
So far got a lot of questions and most people love it. Funniest thing. My 13 year old goes to a private school. Kids parents pull up with ML300's, X5's, Lexus.....Who car do the kids think is coolest........I know you Aztek haters will not like this but.......Aztek is coolest car!!
Now you thrasers are all saying yeah 13 year olds GM's target market. Know what kids aren't bound by what a care "should" look like.....Kids Know Kewl!!
would definitely make me a buyer (AS IF!)! Just an FYI...the 13 year old in our household and the 9 year old also go to private school and they wouldn't be caught dead in an Aztek! I guess the 13 year olds in Seattle aren't as "Kewl" as the rest of the country! You'd think after Seattle's Grunge contribution to "kewl", we'd embrace the Aztek. "Fact is stranger than the Aztek."
Something else to consider... My family's safety if my #1 priority, therefore even if by some stretch of my imagination I thought the Aztek was ok looking, I would NEVER buy a vehicle that could hurt my family in a accident...
The Aztek is based on the GM Montana Minivan platform, which in a offset crash came in " DEAD" last among minivans.. I also know they have not tested the Aztek yet in a offset crash, just the fact it has the same platform as a Montana would deter me from buying that vehicle...
You should have done your research before buying a "deathtrap", even more when you have a spouse and a 13 year old.. Life is to short and why take any chances for your family's safety. It would be a terrible thing if your family was killed in a crash with one type of vehicle, and if you had purchased a different SUV ( Toyota came in second place, mercedes 1st, in offset crash) your family would have survived...............
Do your homework next time.... "tons of neat features" is not important..safety of the family is so much more important than a " camping package"....>>>!!!!!!
Sorry...pathetic attempt at justifying Aztek's potential safety scores! BTW, side steel beams are quite commonplace on new vehicles...no news there. Sorry about cousin's loss but it's irrelative to the Aztek's potential crashability scores.
NOTE::: For public safety and for the consideration of our children, here is a following warning:::
In order not to upset children under the age of ten, please do not drive your Aztek on the streets after 4:00pm today. The sight of the Aztek on the street might cause permanent damage to the children..They might think it's some monster car coming to eat them alive...!!!
Please know that is is THE LAW that all vehicles have side impact protection beams so having them in the montana/aztek is not a "special feature"... they HAVE to be there by law in the U.S. Also, please know that the Montana above shares it's entire chasis, engine, drivetrain, suspension and substructure with it's twin, the Pontiac Aztek
Of course I know that side door beams are nothing new in cars. Do you think I know nothing about cars?! Why is it irrelevant Barresa11? Are you trying to contradict me. It IS about crash tests ! Why is it not related?! Or were you talking about the little story I typed there? Jeez, you people do not like to listen to stories do you? And Gonzo, your rude (typical) response was not needed and uncalled for. I'm sure you didn't know I was talking about side impact crashes did you? Well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt
Never seen so many people so negative. My buddy bought the Aztek. Drove great. Quiet. As the guy said earlier......I was overwhelmed with interior comfort and room. Now safety may be an issue but he did not have the extra cash for the Sienna. I went around with him and could not find a vehicle in the class and price that was better.
Never seen so little interest (from those in the market for a car) in a new SUV. Saw only 2 Azteks on the road to date, and this is in the trendy SF Bay Area...
What is that class where Aztek was the best? I thought Pontiac has proclaimed Aztek's in the class on its own. What were the competitors which you rejected for superior qualities of the Aztek?
Comments
Mars?
Stephen
My wife and I are looking at minivans. We ended up at a Pontiac dealer last nite to check out the Montana. As we parked, we noticed on the showroom floor: a couple of trees, a picnic table and a black tent-like canvas thingy covering the back end of ... a red Aztec. We both laughed aloud and went over to look at a Montana on the lot. Shortly, the salesman approached, said "Hi, I'm Joe, how you folks doing?" I said "Fine, how about you?" He responds "I'm having a great day. I'm on top of the world!" To which my wife says "Wow! You must've sold an Aztec today!!". Salesman and I just cracked up.
Now for the other side. Before leaving we went into the showroom and checked out the Aztec first hand. Reactions? Not so funny when you get right up to the thing. It looks big and almost tank-like up close. Sorta exudes power. And the inside is kinda Pontiac-retro-cool. I actually kinda liked the thing. (ducking) My wife, however, still insisted no way was she gonna be seen driving one. Although when she later learned about the AWD option, she almost reconsidered. If they would put a low-range in the thing it actually might be a worthwhile SUV.
Last note: ... our 12 year old daughter fell in love with the thing. Maybe that's the real target segment for the Aztec?
This is not really very good considering that Pontiac has 2800 dealerships in the US, and that 50,000 to 70,000 Azteks were expected to be sold per annum. It will be interesting to see what the final numbers will be next July.
Drew/aling
Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
It's every bit as vile up-close and personal as they are in print. Trust me.
Judging from the posted messages that I've seen, there are a lot of you hooked on looks. I am wondering if there is anyone who knows someone who owns one yet in order to give a bit of a brief on what it is like once the honeymoon is over. Any problems or concerns being encountered?
Thanks
Marti
Drew/aling
Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
Seriously though, I hope that the experience w/the Aztek won't drive GM back to bland, Wonder Bread (sorry, you white bread lovers) designs. I certainly am not advocating more Aztek proportion styling disasters but something in between might be more palatable for future vehicles.
I also think that GM put unrealistic sales figure goals on an admittedly niche marketed, polarizing styled vehicle. Because of this, it kind of set the Aztek up for the label of failure. I'm not really defending the Aztek as much as I am chastising GM for their lack of reality.
Stephen
Drew/aling
Townhall Community Leader/Vans Conference
OTOH, XTerra, CR-V and RAV4 are very popular even in 2WD versions
I remember reading an article last week that quoted GM about how the sales will pick up w/the availability of AWD. The inference was somehow the revised goal of 50k sales a year would then be achieved.
The funny thing about the AWD Aztek is that it has the same off-road ability as a short wheelbase AWD Dodge Caravan (basically nil) if anything more than some minor gravel or dirt roads are encountered(read: no major ruts). Why is this so one might ask? Because the Aztek is a Montana minivan pretending to be something it isn't. An "interesting" (god am I kind) wrapper can't hide this fact.
Stephen
Some of the local dealers actually use photos of the Yellow prototype in their ads. Sad when they need to use misleading pictures of their own product.
The proto had no ribbbed gray plastic, wheels that actually seemed to fit and a different rear.
This is what happens when accountants have the final say in auto design.
Tonight, I'm in Boston Market getting dinner, and there's a green one in the drive through, it's the 40+ year old woman with two kids. I think she's the first one I had seen. I go to Kroger's, and there's the older, 60 ish woman in the white one! I see her the most, she must live by me.......uh oh!!
What is going on in Toledo??????!!!!!Why are they buying these things? Whatever happened to just buying an ugly Focus or something?? Isn't it ugly ENOUGH???
Stephen
I'm sure the following will not change anyone's opinion, but go check out the Rendezvous on buick.com. I think its styling is much better than the Aztek's.
Just my .02.
nigelp: I with you though, the guilt would totally to it for me!
Stephen
I was directly behind it so couldn't see if it was man or woman driving. In fact, I couldn't see anything behind the enormous [non-permissible content removed]-end on that thing! Plates were from another county so, I'm fairly certain our poor local Pontiac dealer is still sitting on his original 3.
Just an FYI
But when my friend's dad bought home his '74 Matador X, I was so embarrassed for him. It was blue with a white stripe, I think. Those giant wheelwells killed me.
He refused to ride in it for a long time, and refused it when dad tried to pass it on to him. He bought one of those Dodge "little red express" trucks.His sister took the Matador instead. She drives ugly car after ugly car.She had a Ford EXP, and then one of those Merkur Xr4Ti's. Today, she drives a Focus.I feel the Focus is a "borderline" Chickmobile. I guess time will tell......
Stephen
This isn't a flame either.
Truth be told, we're all repeating ourselves. That's fine. I'll do it again: The Aztek is infinitely classless and ugly.
Yes, I'm repeating myself too.
It's also perfect for hauling trick or treaters
cause it's so scarey looking.
-perfect for Thanksgiving because it's one
of Pontiac's biggest Turkeys yet.
>>>>>>>>>
$10,000. worth of Steel Scrap Iron......<<<
Compared it to XTERRA...Spartan Honda CRV and RAV 4. Aztek had more power and tonz of neat features.
So far got a lot of questions and most people love it. Funniest thing. My 13 year old goes to a private school. Kids parents pull up with ML300's, X5's, Lexus.....Who car do the kids think is coolest........I know you Aztek haters will not like this but.......Aztek is coolest car!!
Now you thrasers are all saying yeah 13 year olds GM's target market. Know what kids aren't bound by what a care "should" look like.....Kids Know Kewl!!
Stephen
The Aztek is based on the GM Montana Minivan platform, which in a offset crash came in " DEAD" last among minivans.. I also know they have not tested the Aztek yet in a offset crash, just the fact it has the same platform as a Montana would deter me from buying that vehicle...
You should have done your research before buying a "deathtrap", even more when you have a spouse and a 13 year old.. Life is to short and why take any chances for your family's safety. It would be a terrible thing if your family was killed in a crash with one type of vehicle, and if you had purchased a different SUV ( Toyota came in second place, mercedes 1st, in offset crash) your family would have survived...............
WOW are you clueless.. Aztec2>>>>
Do your homework next time.... "tons of neat features" is not important..safety of the family is so much more important than a " camping package"....>>>!!!!!!
In order not to upset children under the age of ten, please do not drive your Aztek on the streets after 4:00pm today. The sight of the Aztek on the street might cause permanent damage to the children..They might think it's some monster car coming to eat them alive...!!!
From :
P.A.U.C.
(Parents Against Ugly Cars )
First a picture of a 2000 Toyota Sienna minivan after a crash:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/vans/images/sienna2.jpg
Now, a 2000 Pontiac Montana After the same crash:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/vans/images/transsport2.jpg
Please know that is is THE LAW that all vehicles have side impact protection beams so having them in the montana/aztek is not a "special feature"... they HAVE to be there by law in the U.S. Also, please know that the Montana above shares it's entire chasis, engine, drivetrain, suspension and substructure with it's twin, the Pontiac Aztek
The Sienna driver would walk away. How boring.
Being trapped in a crushed Aztek/Montana would give one the opportunity to utilize the nifty console cooler while waiting for the jaws of life.
Did you want regular or diet?
What is that class where Aztek was the best? I thought Pontiac has proclaimed Aztek's in the class on its own. What were the competitors which you rejected for superior qualities of the Aztek?