Detail review by an enthusiast

I love driving and love cars that have been designed to be driven..the G6 is unfortunately not one of them. I spend a lot of time on business travel and had this pretty much brand new G6 for a couple of weeks.

First of all I did not expect anything special here. I wanted to see how this model performs in all usual aspects of it's category.

1. Engine - the V6 actually does have some go. With it's power it stood out from cars like Chevy Malibu or Impala's new models. Although the engine management is very outdated. Lack of full variable valvetrain timing results in a very un-exciting throttle response with a big lack of low-end torque. GM, it's time to bring the engines up to date already. For this class of vehicle there is nothing more to expect from this motor. Overall, this is not such a bad engine for an American car of this class.

2. Drivetrain - this is where the troubles begin. Not only it cannot compliment the engines power curve, it is simply awful. The torque steer effect is one of the worst I ever felt in a car. In a front wheel drive design most cars use driveshafts that are of different length. As a result, the longer driveshaft endures more torque stress then the other causing the car to steer otself off the straight line under good throttle application. I found it quite unsafe considering that the car will mostly fall in the hands of a very inexperienced driver. What I found most unusual is that torque steer in this car can be felt at speeds up to 70 MPH!!!! (normally it is hardly noticable when you pass 30 MPH with this kind of drivetrain). My wife used to have a 94 Maxima with a front V6 and front wheel drive that practicaly had no torque steer at all and had more acceleration.

Besides the torque steer it has very poorly selected gear ratios in the transmission. They are too long. The second gear should really be the third gear with this kind of range. This shows that GM picks their standard sluch boxes and tailor them for whatever car it needs to be put into....truely not the best approach to making a decent vehicle.

3. Steering - has always been a disaster on most American cars. This is no exception. It has variable assist that is valved based on the vehicle speed. At low speeds we can feel the thumping effect when the high powered hydrolics feedback can be felt through the steering wheel. At intermediate to high speeds the steering is not consistent and does not feel quite right. The worst steering I recall is on the newer Chrysler 300's. It is so bad that it feels as the steering wheel is not connecged to anything at all and a small gnome turns a little wheel under the hood trying to mimic your steering angle, really. This car is a little better (more predictible at smaller steering angles). It is also a little more predictable when doing opposite lock for sudden steering correction, but not at all good enough. The steering remains subpar to say the least.

4.Interior - I am 6 foot 1 and not a large person, just tall. I found that the A-pillar is badly positioned, often blocking the vital points of the fron view when making left turns especially. You can instantly see that it is pushed forward a bit too far. The standard seats are terrible. I could not adjust for the perfect driving position (this is pretty usual for a GM standard car seat). Overall positioning of the seat vs the steering is always a bit wrong.

Overall: I really want to be fair when it comes to a car review. I am never biased and the car make does not matter. I just look at all attributes of the vehicle. I am trying to find something good to say about the G6...but can't. The car truely shows the troubled car maker attempt to piece some old machinery together and make it into something likable for the crowd but fails all the way. Those who buy usual american cars and could not tell the difference between any two cars will be fine with this one. I felt imprisoned for the two weeks I drove it and could not wait to return it. There are worse cars, but this thing is simply gargbage.