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First the good news, I'm married! Some of you may have met Amy at the 2002 Classical Pontiac Meet, if not then you'll just have to take my word on how wonderful she is. Now for the "bad" news: Amy just bought a 2003 Aztek! Now before I go any further I'll be the first to admit that when the production Aztek was introduced I was at the front of the line of people wondering what in the world Pontiac was thinking when it designed its Edsel. With the car neatly filed into my Ugly Vehicle Database I didn't give it another thought - other than wonder why people bought the thing. |
| Fast forward to the summer of 2002 when I was on a mission to buy a 2002 WS6 Trans Am. Lined up neatly in a row on the lot were the latest incarnation of Pontiac's mistake, only now most of the "playdough mold" plastic was painted body color, and, most importantly, attractive 17" wheels had found their way to the Aztek. Much to my chagrin I found them tolerable. By the time I was through making the deal on the T/A I actually liked them, and after sitting in one I was forced to tell Amy that I might have to admit my change of heart publicly! |  |
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After that unsavory thought popped in my head I realized that there was no reason I had to admit it, after all I wasn't buying one. Meanwhile Amy's Toyota Camry was slowly but surely failing, needing much more than a tuneup to correct a multitude of problems. For some unknown reason she began looking into Pontiac/GMC vehicles as a replacement. We drove a Grand Am - nice but short on space, a Vibe - nice but too much like a station wagon, a Sonoma Crew Cab - nice but too much of a truck. With her heater not functioning the cold weather forced us into a decision: she would buy a Vibe with AWD. I located one optioned the way she wanted and arranged for a test drive. |
| Before driving the Vibe we decided to take an Aztek out just to eliminate it, and to milk the car buying role to its fullest. We were immediately impressed. The seats are comfortable, you sit up high, the controls fall readily to hand and look fun, the V6 is very responsive, and the gadget list is endless. The Aztek is in a class by itself, somewhere between a car, truck, van, SUV. We then drove the Vibe, which is a nice car, but I could tell by the complete change in Amy's posture that she had made her decision. Minutes later we were dealer locating an Aztek optioned the way we wanted. Later we laughed uncontrollably at the thought that we made a special effort to get the exact ugly car we wanted knowing that we would spend the rest of our ownership defending our choice. The fact that we still bought the thing given that speaks volumes. |  |
