2007 Pontiac G5 Pursuit from North America - Comments

The remote control did not function properly.

I got a car as a rental car.

The biggest problem when I drove the car is the big blind spot. I drove the car for a month and found out that I had a problem with blind spot more than 3 times. What I can do is to look more often before changing lane. Moreover, I had to try to remember the cars around me in order to make sure that there was no car when I changed lane.

Other than the blind spot issue, the car seems to be a good car. I had fun driving it. The engine is kind of fast, even though it is automatic transmission. Not too bad on gas.

Ha ha, that's really funny! I experienced the same problem, but I thought it was just me losing it little by little! Glad to know I wasn't the only one...

A fantastic vehicle. Great on gas, sleek interior and exterior design. Manages well in the winter weather. Yes there is a bit of a blind spot... but nothing that makes the driving dangerous.

As the driver of a customized Mustang with rear side window louvers and a rear window louver, I'm VERY familiar with blind spots. I've learned to use those big, shiny things mounted on the front of the doors. They're called MIRRORS.

As for the G5, it's an AWESOME car. I love the styling, the warranty is unbeatable, the as mileage is the highest of anything short of a hybrid sold in the U.S., and they ride a heck of a lot better than my bone-jarring Mustang!!

Ahh, I can definitely relate to the blind spot issue myself! Not with the G5, but with another Pontiac: a G6!!!

I bought a G6, but found out at the wrong time (try after driving it off the lot once the deal's done) how difficult it was to see traffic on the right side on multiple lane roads, no thanks to its rising windowsill lines from front to rear. I mean, I found out the hard way how hard it was to see vehicles on my right when I needed to change lanes, and I didn't want to broadside one! This bothered me so much I returned it for another car.

My lesson from this experience: make sure to check *everything* when test-driving the car!! I sure overlooked this when I test-drove it. Now that I know, hopefully next time I can avoid another case of misery that plagued me not only from this newfound discovery, but from having chosen another car I wished I'd never gone for in the first place as well. I tell you, buying a car new or used isn't as exciting as it used to be!!!

My sister owns a 2006 Pontiac Pursuit/G5 SE and it's a piece of crap. The warranty is useless as GM dealers won't fix problems and just say there's nothing wrong with it, or it's normal for low miles cars to have clunking suspension, slipping transmissions, weak acceleration.

I drove the car on the highway and I couldn't get it up to highway speed on a hill. It would downshift (automatic trans.) and the RPMs would go up to 5K but the car wouldn't go over 54-57 MPH. Trucks were coming up behind us at 80 MPH and I was worried about being hit from the rear. The gas tank was almost full, the dealer says there's nothing wrong with it and the CEL never came on.

The engine maybe new to North America, but it's been in use in Europe for some time, and the transmission is an old 4 speed auto that sucks power, wastes fuel and isn't reliable.

There's so many used G5's and Cobalts for sale needing a new engine or transmission that there must be some real design defects. And no it's not a maintenance or high mileage problem. You need to find a good independent mechanic, or GM mechanics will lie to you and wait for the warranty to run out, then claim they've found all these problems with your car and run up your bill.

There's not enough space under the front seats for back seat passengers feet to stick under. And there's a metal tang that sticks down under the drivers seat that's sure to jab your right foot or catch on your shoe, so you can't pull your foot out without using your hands or hopping on one foot for a while.

The seats hurt your back on long drives.

Using a rear facing child seat means the front passenger seat has to be pushed forward and the back of the seat tilted forward as well. So you lose the use of that seat (unless the child seat is small and you risk the child's safety by allowing the seat back to touch the child seat) and half of the back seat. You can't install it in the middle as recommended for safety, nor can you place two other passengers in the car. Just driver, child seat and one rear seat passenger.

Even the four door cars have blind spots, small mirrors, and the head rests and rear spoiler make it difficult to back up. Not as bad as my sisters first car a 86 Pontiac Fiero SE, but it's still a looks over function Lemon like the Fiero.

The fuel mileage sucks on automatic transmission cars compared to the competition. The rear brakes do hardly anything because of the light rear end, crappy drum brakes, and GM's cheap ABS system.

Highway speed handling is dangerous because GM wanted to make these little cars feel more comfortable like midsize cars, so they used soft variable rate springs just like in the Chevy Malibu. You get lots of body roll, slow to react steering then the springs firm up as the compress and the steering finally bites, but it's too late and you all of a sudden have too much "turn in" at the apex of a turn or right before straightening out on fast lane change or crash avoidance maneuver and then you have to quickly center the wheel or even counter steer. Maybe dumb American auto designers and Auto company CEO's should learn why European cars are more firmly sprung, and why mushy soft suspension might make grandma happy, but it's not safe at highway speeds or on winding roads. Yes I have driven lots of European cars, but even my Ford 3/4 ton pick up truck handles better than most GM front wheel drive cars.

The old rear wheel drive GM's were great, but I wouldn't buy a new car from them. And all you GM lovers that think your cars are better than import cars are in for a surprise as GM will start importing American designed cars that will be built in China. American design and made in China, it's the worst of both worlds. It's no wonder why Toyota is taking over.

I agree about the blind spot. I rented a 2009 G-5 2-door recently, and felt really uncomfortable driving this thing in heavy Atlanta traffic. Look in the rear view mirror --- see nothing but the spoiler and perhaps the roof of the car behind you; look over your right shoulder --- see nothing but the sloping surface of the trunk through the small rear window; look over your left shoulder --- see nothing but the roof pillar.

It's all very well to make sarcastic comments about using the side mirrors, but the fact is, in heavy traffic surrounded by aggressive drivers, the mirrors do not give sufficient fields of view, and you can't supplement those views with your own eyes. That leaves you with nothing but just hoping that nobody is coming up behind you if you need to change lanes, and that they will be kind enough to not ram you.

Is this poor visibility common to all these small coupes? The Calibers that I've rented seemed to have better visibility, despite an even smaller rear window.