Pontiac G6 Sedan – 2007 Review: For all of GM’s newfound focus on product, it seems the Pontiac division has been forgotten. Except for the Solstice, a pale imitation of a Corvette crossed with a Miata, in recent years Pontiac dealers have received nothing in terms of hot new cars. The G5? A better looking Cobalt. The Torrent? An appealing remake of the Equinox. Until the ultra-cool G8 comes for 2008, Pontiac leans on the G6 Sedan to drive the bulk of its sales. Going up against heavy hitters in the most populous segment of all, the Pontiac G6 Sedan proves itself a useful and sometimes entertaining tool but far from class-leading, which is probably why we found a wide selection of test samples at Boston Logan’s Alamo lot.

We rented a Liquid Silver Metallic G6 with a Sport Package including a 3.5-liter V6, handsome 17-inch alloy wheels, a lip spoiler, and fog lights. Our $20,920 car also had a roster of equipment including power windows, power door locks with remote keyless entry, power mirrors, and a power height adjuster for the driver’s seat. Air conditioning, cruise control, a CD player, and side curtain airbags rounded out the list of interior amenities, giving our G6 everything it needed and nothing it didn’t. Every G6 also comes with a five-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty. We drove the car 600 miles in New England, round-trip from Boston to Cape Cod and the south-central coast of Maine.

Equipped with the mid-grade powertrain choice, a 3.5-liter V6 connected to a four-speed automatic transmission, the Pontiac G6 Sedan’s calling card is fuel efficiency. The engine, delivering 224 horsepower to the front wheels, is gutsy enough but not as strong or refined as the primary competitors’. The trade-off is good fuel economy: we averaged 25.7 mpg during our trip, smack in the middle of the EPA’s 20 mpg city and 28 mpg highway rating. The four-speed automatic is down a cog or two on the competition, but we rarely found it detrimental to the G6’s drivability because it’s geared to deliver lively off-the-line acceleration.

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