2001 Pontiac Aztek GT review from North America

The wife and I had bought a 2001 Pontiac Aztek and loved it so much, we bought another one (the first one is about to roll 201,000mi and is still as good as it was on day 1).

The new one though, is another story. We bought it with 98500mi and in the last 60,000 I've had to repair the torque converter clutch solenoid & trans pump control solenoid ($350 @ shop), outer tie rods ($40), ignition switch ($40) and now the BCM ($125) is bad.

The dash lights & gauges and the exterior lighting go off, then come back on and the dash looks just like it did when you started it.

The hatch doesn't open completely when you hit the button on the fob or the one in the dash. I shouldn't complain too much, overall it's done REALLY well for the mileage it has.

It has the "delaminating" on the rear taillights, the tie downs in the back have broken (they're plastic), and the battery and the thermostat are "joys" to replace (and yes, with some patience, you CAN change the thermostat without removing the exhaust crossover!)

Both of my Azteks handle well, drive and run well, and are very versatile cars. Mine is a base model, hers is everything except AWD. Great little cars, but can be time consuming to fix and expensive to fix if you're not brave enough to do it yourself.

It's ugly, but very functional. Just wishing they could've made the interior/or dash a little more inviting.