Does the pontiac aztec have real potential?

mad_machine wrote:

sethmeister4 wrote: I think the problem is that the Aztek is one of the top 3 ugliest cars ever made, and they are cheaply made. I say this having only sat in it's cousin, the Buick Rendezvous, which is also in the top 3 of ugliest cars ever made. Man those things are cheap crap. But, again, to each his own.

The Aztek had among the highest CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index) scores in its class, and won the appellation of "Most Appealing Entry Sport Utility Vehicle" in 2001 from J.D. Power and Associates, an independent consumer survey organization which noted: "The Aztek scores highest or second highest in every APEAL component measure except exterior styling

When you're inside you aren't able to see the ugly exterior, so I guess that's appealing to me too.

JoeyM wrote: I think the problem was that it came out at the same time as the jeep liberty, which was cheaper. That alone could have squeezed it out of the marketing niche it was aiming for. The forward looking appearance was just icing on the cake.

i don't see how they're competitors at all. The aztevouz is way bigger, and is a fwd based minivan~ish thing.

i know the engine is the same as the Venture van , but i'm not sure there's really that much else that interchanges. Maybe the FWD trans? None of the brake pieces are the same.. None of the suspension is the same. I'm not even certain the chassis architecture.

The only thing i dont like about the Aztek is the engine and the crappy engine bay and the Aztek and the Venture are WAY more alike than different in those regards.

belteshazzar wrote:

JoeyM wrote: I think the problem was that it came out at the same time as the jeep liberty, which was cheaper. That alone could have squeezed it out of the marketing niche it was aiming for. The forward looking appearance was just icing on the cake.

i don't see how they're competitors at all. The aztevouz is way bigger, and is a fwd based minivan~ish thing.

Nevertheless, pontiac was definitely trying to market it as a go anywhere, do anything vehicle for the outdoorsy set...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVPInlaKllY
....and buyer chose the liberty, instead.

gamby wrote:

this plus roof basket with more lights = i'm all over that. and black bedliner over the faded cladding.

The black beltline added here and monocromatic paint hides some of the awkward body lines (while creating other awkwardness.)

http://www.pontiacpedia.org/pontiac-aztek-rally-edition

Also...

More

JohnRW1621 wrote:

Makes me think of

Is this the point in the thread where it gets pointed out that every car-based SUV looks better with meaner wheels and tires than the factory installed?

I submit the Repo Men VW Toerag as proof:

http://pics.imcdb.org/0is19/rm000608c05.8534.jpg Hot linking from android is not my friend...

I dig that. I wonder how hard it would be to duplicate that? Also, I think that one of the things that made the Aztek a bit of a disappointment was the fact that so few were sold with AWD. The funny thing is that a good portion of the Azteks that are still on the road in my area happen to be the AWD models.

JohnRW1621 wrote: Also... More

Damn you all to hell....off to CL...

That Vue looks to be a '02 or '03 based on the fact that the dash pad and upper door trim is gray. For '04 and '05 that trim was black.
As a '02 or '03, this V6, awd Vue would be the less desirable 3.0L. In '04 they went to a Honda 3.5L which is a better engine and an "okay" transmission.
To get the manual trans, the 2.2L 4cyl is fwd only. A good, cheap, reliable driver but not powered like a race car.

Just remember, E36 M3 always seems to float to the surface. GM never washed their hands of the Aztech, they just recycled it's worst aesthetic parts into this turd

In reply to mad_machine:

Haha, you are so right!

yeah, but the one you chose to post a pic of is a big badass 3/4 ton with a big block.

avalanche cladding is an acquired taste, which i never acquired. so i bought one without it.

We nicknamed them the Avacrappy, I will say the later ones without the plastic crap looks better.

they made up for the cladding by putting the regular silverado nose on the unclad trucks. and ditching the awkward wheel opening tops.

and you can see my wife's rendezvous behind the trailer. +1 internets for getting thread back to aztevous talk.

Saw a yellow aztek on the road yesterday. It didn't bother me at all. I think the only thing i dislike (STILL dislike, i did dislike it more when it was newer) about the front end is the way it slopes back as it goes down. But, if you put a little lift and some knobby tires on it, it goes from looking weird to 'better approach angle'.