(first posted 9/29/2017) It’s tempting to say the story of the Pontiac Aztek is one of unbridled hubris by General Motors. But the story of the Aztek reveals surprising pragmatism and prescience, and the passage of time has, in a way, vindicated the maligned designers of the Aztek. A certain TV show has also made the Aztek cool in a way it never was when new.
First thing’s first: the production Aztek didn’t look as good as the concept car. That seems to be a universally accepted fact. The Aztek started off as some sketches in the mid-1990s, nicknamed Bear Claw, which looked muscular and aggressive. But GM executives insisted on using the U-Body minivan platform, which messed with the proportions even if it did improve economies of scale.
Although the 1999 Aztek concept looked more muscular than the production model, thanks largely to a widened track, it had still been built on the U-Body platform. However, the production model ended up highlighting the platform’s high cowl and narrow-width, the end result looking much more awkward than the concept.
But the outrage at the Aztek’s styling at the dawn of the century seems almost quaint today. Against a backdrop of conservative SUVs like the Ford Explorer and Toyota 4Runner, the slanted, cladded Aztek was a wild departure. Today, however, the market is overrun with daringly styled crossovers like the Nissan Juke and Toyota C-HR.
And some of the Aztek’s styling elements have turned up elsewhere. The split-level headlights of the Aztek? That cue is used on the current Jeep Cherokee. The high-riding fastback styling? The BMW X4 and X6. The abrupt hatchback rear? The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. The excess of cladding? GM more successfully applied it to the Chevrolet Avalanche. Because of the normalization of many of its styling cues, the Aztek doesn’t look anywhere near as outlandish as it did in 2001.
While GM may have miscalculated with the Aztek’s styling – which, while ugly, was ahead of its time – they got a lot of the Aztek right. The car was full of clever touches designed to appeal to younger buyers.
Take the tailgate, for example. It was a split-level opening, which was neat enough, but the lower section had two indentations for seats and two cupholders built into it. Rear-mounted speakers with controls were also available for the load bay of the Aztek, as was a tent and air mattress to allow you to comfortably sleep in the back of your Aztek. The tent even had little zip-out windows. You could remove the rear seats entirely and, if you so desired, put them on the ground underneath the tent awning and hang out at your campsite.
Or try the center console. It was actually a cooler that could also be used for CD and coin storage and could be lifted and taken out of the car. The Pontiac logo was actually the clip that locked it in place. Neat!
The cargo floor had a large tray which you could slide out and store your tent and air mattress in. That tray could also be removed entirely and even had wheels on it in case you found it too heavy to carry.
There were also the usual storage compartments you’d find in a crossover or SUV, but the Aztek had one final unique feature: windshield washers that were actually built into the wipers. Clever!
The Aztek’s designers actually sweated the details, and you can understand why Aztek owners tend to be a loyal bunch. But, controversial styling aside, there were other reasons that caused the Aztek to fall drastically short of its projected annual sales of 70,000 units. Like the price.
At launch, a base Aztek cost around $22,000. That was almost $4k more than the hot-selling new Ford Escape. The Escape’s shrunken Explorer styling was handsome and youthful all at once and better captured what buyers were after in this new-fangled crossover segment. If you optioned your Escape with the V6 engine, the gap in price between it and the Aztek shrunk but you were still looking at a saving of almost $2k for a much more attractive vehicle. Adding options to the Aztek, like all-wheel-drive ($2000) and the rear cargo tray and speakers, pushed the Aztek uncomfortably close to $30k.
GM made a big splash with Aztek promotion, desperately trying to appeal to 20- and 30-something buyers by giving one away on Survivor and airing commercials touting the Aztek’s neat features. The passage of time may have made the Aztek seem more desirable but it hasn’t made those commercials any less shrill and irritating. Apparently, market research during the Aztek’s development showed people had serious reservations about the car but GM plowed ahead. One wonders how the same focus groups reacted to the cringe-worthy TV commercials.
Underneath all the wild styling and clever interior features was the U-Body platform of the humble Montana minivan, the wheelbase shortened by 3.7 inches. Despite the shorter wheelbase, the Aztek was still plenty spacious—it had 94 cubic feet of cargo room, 14 more than a contemporary Ford Explorer. And far from being oversized and cumbersome, the Aztek was 8.6 inches shorter overall than the Explorer. That U-Body platform made for a fairly smooth ride but some pretty unexciting dynamics – although certainly no worse than most SUVs of the era – and the Aztek comported itself adequately with a kind of bland competence.
Photo courtesy of William Rubano
Bland competence also describes what was under the sloped hood. A four-speed automatic was the only transmission available but it was a smooth-shifting unit. The 3.4 V6 engine produced 185 hp at 5200 rpm and 210 ft-lbs at 4000 rpm. Consequently, it wasn’t very sprightly as it had to battle against 3900 pounds of Aztek.
This is where the Aztek’s rough edges really start to show. The Pontiac may have been as economical as a V6 Escape but it produced less power and weighed more. Even though it was a crossover and hardly the car of choice for the stoplight Grand Prix – you’d be better served with, well, a Pontiac Grand Prix – a 0-60 time of 10.8 seconds in a car from GM’s excitement division was somewhat underwhelming, as was the car’s innocuous handling. And while the Aztek’s platform-mate, the Buick Rendezvous, eventually received GM’s new DOHC 3.6 V6, the Aztek offered only the 3.4 until the end.
Then there was the interior. It wasn’t drastically worse than domestic SUVs of the time, nor was it any worse than contemporary Pontiacs. It was a bog-standard, overstyled, plasticky 2000s Pontiac interior. But while it may have been cheap, the interior design’s saving grace was that it did look modern and did fit in with the exterior styling to some degree. Faint praise, yes. Visibility was also better than expected thanks to the use of glass on the lower section of the tailgate.
Slow sales and a higher-than-expected average buyer age caused GM to rush revisions for 2002. No major changes could be made but GM started painting the cladding (no, they didn’t get rid of it, they actually painted it). Wheel designs were more conventionally attractive. The up-level GT models were axed, although many of the GT’s features were made standard on the regular Aztek or moved to option packages. Most importantly, Pontiac slashed MSRPs by a grand.
The rest of the Aztek’s run saw minor tweaks each year, ranging from additions (sporty-looking Rally trim with lowered suspension) to subtractions (ABS and front side airbags optional in FWD models from 2003). But the car’s sales slide proved to be irreversible. Far from achieving GM’s projection of 70,000 annual units, the Aztek peaked at 27,793 in 2002. Not only was the Ford Escape outselling the Aztek, the Escape’s twin, the Mazda Tribute, was too—and Mazda had a lot fewer dealerships in its network! If there was any solace for Pontiac, it’s that the Aztek consistently sold around 27k units each year for most of its run instead of continuing to nosedive.
When people discuss the Aztek, one of the most commonly asked questions is, “Who signed off on that?” Bob Lutz, who became Vice Chairman of Product Development for GM in September 2001 after the Aztek’s launch, placed the blame squarely on GM’s management culture. He said, “At the time, GM was criticized for never doing anything new, never taking a chance. So Wagoner and the automotive strategy board decreed that henceforth, 40 percent of all new GM products would be “innovative.” That started a trend toward setting internal goals that meant nothing to the customer. Everything that looked reasonably radical got green-lit.”
Lutz was also critical of the tone-deaf management style of product lead Don Hackworth, who allegedly discouraged any negative comments about the product. Apparently, he told employees that if they weren’t going to be supportive, they could leave the project.
After the Aztek was axed, Pontiac launched the Torrent—a rebadged Chevrolet Equinox. Spokespeople seemed to ret-con the Aztek, calling the Torrent “Pontiac’s first SUV” and claiming that the Aztek wasn’t an SUV because it was based on the Montana.
‘Aztek’ had supplanted ‘Edsel’ in the minds of people thinking of bad cars. That’s not fair. The Edsel was an utterly conventional Ford product that happened to have an ugly grille and some wildly optimistic sales projections. The Aztek was an utterly conventional GM product that actually had some clever features and some wildly optimistic sales projections. It just happened to be, well, ugly.
GM was eager to distance themselves from a car that had become synonymous with failure, but that didn’t stop the Aztek from being the butt of jokes for a long time. Then, a funny thing happened. An Aztek was featured extensively in Breaking Bad, driven by the anti-hero, Walter White.
Aztek buyers had often been loyal and held onto their maligned crossovers. Now, there was fresh new interest in the cars they loved. Edmunds saw a surge in popularity for the Aztek among young buyers. Some of those millennials may have been drawn to the Aztek for its pop culture status and low prices, but it’s fair to say many of them would have also been impressed by those features Pontiac had advertised so heavily to young people in the early 2000s.
Hey, General Motors, you got those young buyers eventually! It just took over a decade and a fictional crystal meth producer to get you there.
Featured Azteks photographed in Times Square, Manhattan, NY and near Frida Kahlo’s house in Coyoacán, Mexico D.F, getting photo-bombed by a similarly controversial Montana SV6.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 2005 Ford Escape – Fashionably Late To The Crossover Party
Amazing coincidence that the first picture captured not one but two of the last Pontiacs and arguably two of the worst Pontiacs. The last generation Montana and an Aztek. Not much Pontiac excitement there.
Just sneak a T1000 in there and you’re set.
That was the first thing I noticed!
The cover shot is utterly amazing, because the Aztek is of course just a Pontiac Montana U van in drag! Will gets a Curbie award for that, although I’m not sure he noticed.
Spotted that right away myself, and the thing that makes the shot even more amazing is that Will most likely shot this scene Down Under.
Those CUV(s) are both getting thin on the ground where they were built here in North America. I imagine this is an even more rare sight in Australia.
Now if they were whatever Holden equivalent was at the time…..
Mexico, actually.
Why does that not surprise me? I started out with USA, and then remembering how many Pontiacs (like my Dad’s ’85 Grand Prix) were built in Canada, I edited the post to say North America. I suppose I was partially right (unless Mexico is considered to be Central America.
Thanks for the correction, Paul. ?
Pontiacs haven’t been sold here since – and correct me if I’m wrong, any fellow Aussies – the late 1960s with CKD kits of Parisiennes assembled here.
A Montana SV6 will never be imported here. I can pretty much guarantee that. An Aztek? If they were permitted under importing laws, I could see a quirky collector bringing one here. Just one.
I love that Joe Dennis (or was it Jason Shafer?) started the whole trend on here of putting the photograph locations at the bottom of articles. I do it as much as possible because I’ve got photos from all over the place.
I do the same thing with my Instagram.
I only watched the Pilot episode of Breaking Bad, and I haven’t gotten around to watching the rest of the series. I watched it on New years eve in 2014, one of my best friends (Well, used to be.) invited me over to her house and I mentioned I never saw it before so we watched it on Netflix. I thought as pilot’s went it was good, definitely made me want to see more of the show. But, I always thought the Pontiac Aztek was Walter’s choice of ride to symbolize how bad his life had got.
To me, the choice to give Walter White an Aztek was to symbolize how much of a schmuck he had become. It seemed like playing on a stereotype that people in Walter’s situation or similar would be the only people who would be caught dead in an Aztek, especially given the public perception of it when the show premiered (Which correct me if I’m wrong, I think was in 2009). Sure, Walter has become one of the most well developed and fascinating anti heroes in pop culture, but the Aztek seemed like a choice by the writers to show just how crappy his life had turned out and what a loser he became before he started cooking meth.
I always was a fan of TV shows that did, taking ordinary cars and applying them to characters in a way that made sense. The example I always go to is the Burgundy 1999 Chevy Suburban that Tony Soprano drove in the first four seasons of The Sopranos. It was a vehicle that certainly seemed to fit someone as big and boisterous as Soprano, and it was tapping into the big “SUVs as status symbols” boom that really reached its apex in the late 90s/early 2000s. But for all of Tony’s mafia connection and lifestyles, sophisticated he was not. He very much had the personality and actions of a blue collar thug, lacking any semblance of class or good taste you would associate with the common media perceptions of a mob boss. Don Corleone he was not. So by having him drive a vehicle as aggressive and unrefined as a Suburban, it fit his personality to a tee, especially in season two when it got a brush guard and taillight protectors fitted on it. It was a vehicle that was a perfect match for Tony Soprano, something that his White Escalade in the later seasons never seemed to capture.
Sorry, I just like talking about TV and extrapolating on fictional characters, as any connoisseur of various media like myself likes to do. As for the Aztek itself, well, my grandparents had one. They still GM to this day, so they certainly didn’t seem to mind it, but they’re also loyalists to a fault. I will admit, I do think the Aztek is ugly, however, I can’t summon up the utter vitriol and bile some people have for it. I also don’t think this is “the car that killed Pontiac”, I think there were other factors and problems that Pontiac had been dealing with and developing before this thing came out, this just happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as public perception went. While I can certainly understand why this thing has gone on and managed to gain a loyal cult following in the years since its discontinuation, its personally not for me, and while I certainly understand the hatred for this CUV (Because that’s what it is, it was a CUV before a CUV was popular), to call it the worst thing in existence is just a bit too hyperbolic a claim. I can certainly think of worse cars than the Aztek, it just happened to be released looking like it did at the time that it did and I’m sure it has some glaring issues, but to say its worse than say, a Vega, a Yugo, a Morris Marina, or something similar, or its on the same level of badness as cars like those. Can’t say I necessarily agree with that.
Besides, there are modern cars that could make the Aztek look like a Lamborghini Miura by comparison. The BMW X6 and Nissan Juke immediately spring to mind.
My favorite Tony Soprano detail is that he drove the New Jersey turnpike in the intro of every episode, and at the very beginning, every time, he paid his toll in cash. Of course he doesn’t have an EZ Pass like everyone else in Jersey, voluntarily carrying around an RFID tag is the last thing he’d do.
Could also be that a used Aztek was cheap buy for Walter. He didn’t seem to care about image.
I don’t think he cared by the time in his life the pilot took place, but he was a man beaten down by life by then, due to bad decisions and circumstance, the Aztec was probably one of those things he impulsively bought and got stuck with it. It fits his character so perfectly that he’d not only buy an Aztec, but buy it brand new so he gets hit with the full depreciation to boot.
I always thought the Pontiac Aztek was Walter’s choice of ride to symbolize how bad his life had got.
Did anyone who watched the show think otherwise? It was never presented as anything more than that, and given the way Walter treated it he clearly didn’t care about what happened to it, he even sold it for $50 at one point. It’s cool now because it’s so bad it’s good, just like Walter White himself really.
My takeaway is Walter probably bought it thinking the lifestyle gimmicks touted by Pontiac would be fun for the whole family, possibly at the insistence of Skyler – who, by the way, later found a PT Cruiser a first cool ride for Walter Jr. I could completely imagine Walter White buying the Aztec brand new with high expectations, not ever using it for rugged camping adventures (which is understandable with a son with cerebral palsy), and just living with it to the point where it’s depreciated to worthless, beat up and weathered as we see it presented on the show.
You hit the nail on the head. The Aztek suited the nerd in Walter just fine while failing to offend him badly until he had a Tag on his wrist and money by the pallet. I find the car casting on Vince Gillgan’s shows to be impeccable, particularly when it comes to Ehrmentrout. He continues to daily drive his Fifth Avenue (which he probably likes) and uses 6 seater GM rides as job burners. Practical, reliable, and cheap, disappear into a crowd of 3. Saul’s Esteem, with the “Esteem” on the airbag cover enhanced for the show was also a brilliant choice- anonymous yet unfamiliar and a joke at his expense.
Never seen Breaking Bad, although my stepson says I should check it out.
Does anyone remember a Fox TV Series that starred a very young Jessica Alba?
Her partner on the show played by Michael Weatherly drove one of these. He was handicapped on the show, and also rich, and had one of these tricked out so he could get around.
The premise of the show was that it was set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle, Washington, in the year 2019 after an electromagnetic pulse that rendered the USA a third world country over night. (If I am recalling the lead in narrative spoken by Alba correctly.)
Like Pontiac or even the Aztek would even be around by then…
But I suppose at the time (2000 – 2002), it was the most futuristic design to use in setting the show in the not so distant future.
So weird that we are now 1 model year away from the year 2019, and these are becoming popular with the kids again.
Hopefully, the other part of that show doesn’t come true…
The show was called Dark Angel. I think that Titanic guy had something to do with it initially.
Joseph, loved reading your thoughts.
As with many car enthusiasts, incorrectly casted cars can really take me out of a show. But that doesn’t just apply to cars incorrect for the time period of the film/TV show, it also applies to what you discussed: would that character, if they existed in real life, actually buy that car? Or was it just whatever the crew got their hands on, or what they were told by sponsors to use?
An example: I’ve been rewatching my favourite Law & Order lately, Criminal Intent (skipping the two dud seasons, of course). And Vincent D’Onofrio’s Detective Goren is seen driving a 64-66 Mustang in a couple of episodes. And I think someone here on CC was discussing this recently, that an old Mustang is a go-to for classic car casting and that’s remained weirdly the same for 20 years now.
Frankly, the Mustang didn’t suit Goren. He was an offbeat, tortured genius and I thought something a little more left-field would suit him better.
I happened to be at the Detroit Auto Show the year it was introduced and coincidentally was in the crowd at the public reveal. When the announcer pulled the sheet off the Aztek there was a distinct “WTF” from the general public all around me. People were shaking their heads and moving on almost immediately. It ended up becoming a running joke between myself and a good friend for years, we would sign each other up for marketing materials and mailings for the Aztek.
It may very well have been innovative and portending of the future but by this time in Pontiac’s life, wasn’t something that they could pull off. Worse, I think it tainted a lot of the rest of the brand’s offerings by association, at least among those interested in automobiles in general.
I also recall when they had one on Survivor Outback…Jeff Probst had to extol its virtues and then Colby and his MOM (!) who was there as a surprise visitor from home had to sleep in the tent together in the back of it. That caused a whole ‘nother round of jokes. I wonder if that was the first (only?) Aztek in Oz?
It ultimately may not have been a “bad” car but it was never a popular one or desirable in any conventional way. Had it not become a piece of pop culture it would still be deeply unpopular, perhaps much the same as the AMC Pacer. Casting it on Breaking Bad as a part of William White’s character was brilliant, more so having the spare on the left rear forever which just drove the point home deeper.
You’ve done a great job here memorializing the Aztek, William. I really don’t know if any of our American contributors could have done nearly as well with it. It’s just that controversial of a concept.
That would have been a memorable moment!
And thanks Jim. I’ve had a bit of psychological and physical distance from all the vitriol aimed at the Aztek so I can lend a different perspective.
I don’t profess it’s a great car and I’m not going to be an Aztek apologist. It was a failure, plain and simple–overpriced and ugly. But it had its bright spots.
It really is a good piece, William, much I didn’t know or hadn’t thought. Well done.
The photo of the later white one really got my attention. If some few details were changed, it looks like something current. I feel greatly less old-fartish. We really are living through an era of poor design, something I’ve put down to being out of touch. Well, bugger that! There’s a plethora of carbuncles on the modern road, and when those ideas were released 15 years-odd early as the Aztek, there was rightful derision.
Sure sign of a good design is that you can make it any colour (or cladding) and it still looks A1 (pun intended). So if the nasty Aztek looks current just painted, then the same rule applies, if inversely; it does mean current stuff is as ugly as I so often think.
Being older, I do know that better stuff will eventually come again. Likely when today’s designers are doing other things. Or have developed some skills of craft.
The son of Aztek is BMW 5 GT, both have the same unfinished rear cargo area section after the C bar. What alarming me is how these ugly cars were approved for production. The guys who wrote the presentation were good bull shit artist., other word is excellent communication skill.
or the Accord Crosstour
I’m sorry William. That thing was butt ugly in 2001 and it still is butt ugly in 2017!
I agree it had some very smart features for it’s time but for those of us that can’t get past it’s outside they didn’t matter.
Although none of us will admit to it, anyone who buys cars as more than mere transportation wants people to like what we drive. You don’t spend thirty grand to be laughed at.
And I think, perhaps like the Edsel, that’s what did the damage. By the time it was released, the public perception of it (and its looks!) had done it in.
The other brother William
Excellent point rarely stated. We do seek approval, one way or another, if not from the Great Unwashed then from our own tribe (the Slightly Better Washed Aficianados?) I’ll admit it.
The Aztec was the car that made me start paying attention to GM’s coming crack up. I wondered how anyone could have allowed the thing to get into showrooms.
My middle son liked it from the beginning, but he always liked offbeat cars like the 62 Dodge Dart.
In recent years the value shopper in me would consider one, though I prefer the later versions with the more subdued painted cladding.
Will, this great piece actually gave me new “respekt” for the Aztek. I had no idea it had so many cool features inside. Pity about the looks. I actually had the chance to ride inside one that belonged to my brother’s brother-in-law (brother’s wife’s brother). I wanted to secretly goof on it, but aside from the way it looked, it seemed like a decent vehicle, and I was not at all embarrassed to be seen in it. Whatever that matters. 😉
Hah, “respekt”!
The stupid spelling of the Aztek makes me think of when products are called “Xtreme”. Or have a ‘z’ at the end, like those Dogz and Hamsterz video games.
Mr. Weird here again. I always liked the Aztec, to the point that when I was looking for (what eventually became) my minivan, the racetrack camping car and reenactment hauler, the Aztec (and to a lesser extent, the Rendezvous – who wants to own normal?) were high on my list in the first looks.
Came to the conclusion that, unless you got the tent option (and I wasn’t sure just how easy they were to find by 2013), one of these just wouldn’t have the room and (more importantly) the 4×8 flat floor for Maggie and I to set up the air mattress and sleep at the track for 3-5 days at a time. So back to the minivan.
And I’ve never found them ugly. My term has always been “Citroen-ish different.” Or, “the American answer to a French car.”
It’s true that the Aztek looks more contemporary now than it did new (and that says more about todays car styling than it does Aztek’s…). and it was ahead of it’s time as a package. Perhaps we can consider it a minor league version of the Airflow in those regards. ….. I’d still prefer it’s Buick brother, but If I was looking for a used CUV (COV?!) I could be tempted with a nice one. But then I like 1st gen Valiants and ’59 Cadillacs BECAUSE of the goofy styling!
The Buicks also had a third row of seats, something that I don’t believe the Aztec ever got. That was another mistake with the Aztec. The Buick sold pretty decently, as I recall.
With the sloping roof, a third row was impossible. But for us, it wasn’t a problem. We really didn’t want to have to haul the whole Girl Scout troop around all of the time…
Is it wrong I don’t hate this?
No. I was quite taken with it the first time I saw it, too.
That better resembles what the concept presented, which had larger wheels and tires and more flared body sides than the production version. The concept was a solid design, but like so many GM concepts the final product came out quite different after the bean counters and committees had their way with it. The original Volt vs the Volt concept is the only one that tops the Aztec production vs. concept.
That’s actually kind of dope.
Yeah, I’m down with that.
I present an alternate view…
One more, then I’ve got other fish to fry…
I was just about to post this (Aztek concept pix)! You beat me to the punch…hmm, that sounds like a song title! 🙂
Sort of like a Citroen SM SUV
Props for presenting the alternative side of the equation to the general opinion of the Aztek! You make a compelling case Will, but I’ll still never be able to see this vehicle in a positive light.
Though it was a popular series, I’ve never seen Breaking Bad. Crazy how it made the Aztek somewhat popular a decade after it was produced.
I started watching it and got through season 1. And look, it’s a very good show with great writing and acting. But it just didn’t click with me.
I’d like to give Better Call Saul a try though…
I enjoyed the first season enough, and it’s necessary to introduce the story but the second season is where I got hooked, and seasons 3 and 4 were amazing. The character development made that show, and the first season was barely the tip of the iceberg.
Better Call Saul is no doubt good with a compelling story arc, and production and acting are equal to Breaking Bad, but it’s pretty slow in comparison, especially the first season, and I’m honestly not sure how well it stands on it’s own, I feel like I like it because I loved breaking bad, and want to see how Jimmy becomes Saul and everything else falls in place to set the stage for it, but had I not known what comes with BB, would I like it? Even though I always come away satisfied from each individual episode, by the time the season’s over I can put it behind me and not really crave it in the year gap between seasons. In contrast, it killed me when Breaking Bad was on break, no other TV show or movie at the time satisfied, and I wouldn’t even need a refresher to remember what happened the prior season when the new one premiered, it was so memorable.
I wonder whether they ever seriously considered using the W-body sedan platform instead of the U minivan, which would’ve lowered the cowl distinctly.
The Aztek had a couple of dealbreaker issues besides styling; its’ MSRP was just too high for the market it was aimed at (and once the discounts rolled in it had already been branded a “loser” and a “dud”), and it was too big and bulky to *not* be a seven-seater.
The Buick Rendezvous, aimed at a more upscale crowd but not that much pricier and blessed with a so-the-kids-can-each-bring-a-friend third row and the Pontiac Vibe, smaller, cheaper and based on a sedan platform, both sold decently well with similar styling. (I’ve particularly never met a Vibe owner who regretted the purchase).
Vibe [nee Prizm] being based on Corolla certainly helps customer satisfaction.
I’ve read that while the automatic and 6-speed Matrix/Vibe are okay, there’s some kind of design flaw (shaft) in the 5-speed that makes them prone to catastrophic failure. Don’t know how accurate it is but, supposedly, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ it will break, but ‘when’.
The 6 speed is actually the problem.
I could have sworn it was the 5-speed. I can’t find the article, but the upshot was it wasn’t a good situation because the 6-speed was only available on the higher trim XR-S version, so there weren’t as many good manuals to be had.
It was the 5 speed that was problematic. I believe it had something to do with a poor quality bearing destructing at around 100-120k miles. A lot of people would swap out the 5 speed with a 6 speed as those were fine and would bolt right in.
Have had since new an ’06 M5 bottom-of-the-line Vibe. Now 400K+ miles. M5&clutch etc still fine. In last six weeks just did ND=>Wash,DC&return and ND=>ME&return. Almost routine over both trips: Drive ~400 miles; purchase ~10gal gas. Cruses 80+ fine, although don’t like to drive that fast, but had to to stay in traffic gaps across NY Thruway.
’06 is second generation. Remember reading first generation auto transmission would break–unless exactly serviced, and sometimes still would fail. [Good to learn from this comment sequence than a M6 can be just bolted in to replace a M5.]
Seems basically just well-broken in. Still no rattles or odd driving behavior. To date normal oil,tire&wiper servicing, with only its alternator requiring replacing–now two years back. Radio lighting has “burned out” but apparently would require replacing radio to fix, so it hasn’t been fixed. Odometer designed to quit @299,999&has which could be a problem should it ever be sold, but so far just driving it into the ground. Hopefully that remains some time away from now. No obvious rust or body corrosion. One commentator said that there is no evidence of any Vibe owner regretting its purchase. Easy to see why, unless one with the transmission deficit has been purchased. Odometer failure could be a problem, but using the trip meter (there are two of them) to ID service needs.
Vibe was&is a kind of appliance, a Corolla stationwagon, but with the M5 it can be a fun dailydriver.
A few points about the (excellent) write-up:
Not sure you could call the windshield wipers “unique” as I believe that a few other vehicles from other manufacturers used “wet” wipers.
Yes, the styling looks more “contemporary” today than it did 18 years ago, but for me the worst part of the styling wasn’t that the Aztek was too narrow…I think it was a mistake to make it so short ( a mistake repeated on the oddly more successful Buick Rendezvous) compared to it’s height.
And would you believe that the stylist “responsible” for the Aztek also was responsible for the Ford Edge, current F 150, and the latest Mustang? Joel Piaskowski was a 2nd generation GM stylist before “defecting” to Ford in 2010.
LOLROFL. It didn’t look outlandish, it looked ugly and thoughtlessly designed. It still does. You like the Aztek? Fine, but stop trying to make “Fetch” happen, Gretchen. I lived in Ann Arbor when these turds bellyflopped onto the market. Scuttlebutt at the UM Engineering School, fuelled by voices of people well positioned to know what they were talking about, was that GM all but gave these dumb cars to employees en masse to create the illusion of market acceptance and popularity.
The Bear Claw looked “muscular and aggressive”? That’s an imaginatively charitable perspective. It looks childish (5th-grade doodle when the teacher’s droning on about something boring like grammar or long division) and the front end looks like a Chev Cadavalier, hauled out of the fridge as three-week-old, highly questionable leftovers and reheated in the microwave.
What split-level headlamps of the Aztek? The Aztek’s headlamps aren’t split-level. The high beams are inboard of the low beams, in one combination high/low beam headlamp unit that sits in one place. Neither does the Jeep Cherokee have split-level headlamps, it—like the Aztek—has its parking lights and other front lighting functions housed separately from the headlamps. If you’re looking for split-level headlamps, go see a Fiat Multipla.
“40 percent of all new GM products would be ‘innovative.’”
This explains a lot. Inflexible management decrees that seek to quantify and measure an abstract concept (like innovation) will fail. Always. You can’t create an innovative management culture by decreeing that 40% of products be innovative.
Reading about the project manager (Hackworth) discouraging any critique of his so-called innovative project is a result that I’d expect from Wagoner’s Innovation Decree. Hackworth was probably worried his team would take away some of the project’s edginess and that he wouldn’t get a gold star for Innovation from the higher-ups as a result. I can’t imagine any of the Japanese design studios putting up with this kind of nonsense.
Also interesting that the Aztek had a higher-than-expected average buyer age. Seems like quite a few of the cars that were marketed to 20-35 year olds in the early 2000s would up being purchased by people of their parents’ age instead of, or in addition to, to actual target audience (Honda Element and Nissan Xterra come to mind).
One reason Aztek is deplored is simply car fans wanted reproductions of old GTO’s, Firebirds, and 2 door RWD Grand Prix’s.
Aztek was stepping into GMC and Chevy truck turf, but then again, the #1 selling Buick is Encore CUV.
Imagine badge engineered CUV’s for all the cancelled brands, if they lived. Just cut and paste the grilles.
I’ve long suspected that the Torrent’s replacement, the GMC Terrain, was originally designed to extend the Hummer brand into the carlike-compact-CUV market so that all those additional freestanding dealerships would be sustainable. When it was too late for that, rebranding it a GMC and canceling whatever Chevy Equinox-with-a-different-grille was planned for the Buick/Pontiac/GMC dealer channel was the proverbial no-brainer.
You are correct about people wanting reproductions of old GTOs. The new 2004-2006 GTO met with outrageous indifference, after all of the magazines praised it upon arrival. It was true to the 1964 GTO, a relatively plain Tempest with a lot of motor. But, everyone wanted the rebirth of the 1969 Judge, so the car flopped. With a car name like that one, that carries so much history and emotion, the chances of a successful reboot were slim. Maybe they should have called it the GTP or GXP or almost anything else.
What torpedoed the Aztek was the high initial price. Had the Aztek looked like the later Torrent, maybe the higher price would have been justifiable. But something that was so far out of the norm in terms of styling would create some uncertainty in purchasing.
Then Pontiac/GM decontented, and repriced. But the original targeting mis-identified the audience and the car never recovered.
That was the catch-22 with Pontiac. They couldn’t sell you a retro muscle car, but they could sell you a crossover with 90s Trans Am-style hoodscoops, side-cladding, and spoilers.
(And when they did have muscle cars, nobody bought it unless there was $8000 on the hood, because hey it’s Pontiac and they sell their shit on the cheep. )
IMO the Aztek was a genius idea that probably would have sold like hotcakes through GMC with slightly more conventional outdoorsy styling. But it was doomed when they slathered on all the cheezy “Pontiac” stuff.
Doug DeMuro’s thoughts on the Aztek (not the Aztec) and it’s “coolness”. Ah, the tent is better visualized in the video.
Sorry, but the only thing more obnoxious than the Aztek is Doug DeMuro.
Full agreement with you, and no arguments with you including your comment about DeMuro.. The video display at least shows the Aztek tent arrangement fully.
The Aztek was (is) a fundamentally fatally flawed lame vehicle design chronically typical of GM.
Regarding JP’s commentary about the Honda Element. Yes, it was well built, but having driven one owned by a friend’s wife, it left much to be desired. Interestingly the Element became a favorite of retirees/pensioners, as opposed to Honda’s target group of youthful buyers. At the end of the life of the Element, Honda tried to tweak sales by selling an Element package catering to dog owners. Talk about confirming that final sales went to the dogs, that marketing move by Honda confirmed it.
After looking at these Aztek’s, I think using the lower part of the grille might have made the front of the ’61 Plymouth work.
‘Aztek’ had supplanted ‘Edsel’ in the minds of people thinking of bad cars. That’s not fair. The Edsel was an utterly conventional Ford product that happened to have an ugly grille and some wildly optimistic sales projections. The Aztek was an utterly conventional GM product that actually had some clever features and some wildly optimistic sales projections. It just happened to be, well, ugly.
You lost me there (well, earlier actually). So a few gimmicks is what keeps the Aztek from not being the Edsel of the modern era? FWIW, the Edsel had about as many “gimmicks” as the Aztec, like the push button controls for the automatic transmission in the steering wheel hub.
A few gimmicks are not going to save a fundamentally flawed concept. Frankly, the Edsel’s failure was due primarily because of the 1958 recession. If the economy had been gung-ho in 1958, it might well have turned out differently. But nothing could have redeemed the Aztek. That alone makes a big difference.
FWIW, I hated the Buick Rendezvous even more. Now that was a truly cynical thing, GM foisting a minivan dressed up as a SUV on the market. Yet folks bought them.
Thank you. I’ve been waiting years for somebody to finally admit to hating the Rendezvous more than the Aztek.
Don’t get me wrong, the Aztek is not my cup of tea, but at least it has some kind of (bad) style applied to it. The Buick tries to homogenize the Aztek’s basic visual flaws and only serves to thinly disguise what is just a plainly awkward set of proportions by “blobifying” them. I also could never understand the need for the ridiculous headlight/parking light cluster on the Rendezvous. If they were trying to mainstream the otherwise shocking looks of the Aztek, couldn’t they have given its slightly more conservative cousin a face that looked more like an automobile and less like a mechanized Sea Monkey? IMO the Buick ended up beaten even harder by the ugly stick than did the Pontiac.
And I’m not even going to say any more about Buick’s nomenclature of the era (Rendezvous, Enclave, etc.) than, “Really?!?”. Enclave? Meaning, basically, a leafy hamlet? Yes, it takes a village to raise a family, and yes, some families travel in “Villagers”, which borders on absurdity as is, but to name your family hauler literally “Village”, and a long settled one with leafy growth and hillsw and dales, presumably, which is at its core a non-mobile hunk of Real Estate? I just can’t. No comprendo.
GM called the Rendezvous a CUV, if I recall correctly. Having owned one, makes me a sucker? Geesh.
Former sucker? 🙂
That was a bit harsh, but I’m sorry, the Rendezvous was incredibly cynical and dorky, cross-dressing a minivan into a CUV. Its origins were painfully obvious on display, and I still wince when I see one. Especially from the rear, it’s by far least attractive side. Like looking at a man in a skirt with his genitalia (rear suspension) hanging down below the hem of the skirt. Sitting behind one in traffic is always painful for me.
Which reminds me: I need to do a GM DS on the Rendezvous. Sorry.
GM management was funny about the whole minivan thing. When Chrysler’s minivan took the automotive world by storm, everyone else was trying to get ahead of the power curve by coming out with minivan variants, none of which precisely followed the Chrysler template. A few (Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda) would eventually get with the program, but GM, more than anyone, kept trying to come up with something different that traditional minivan buyers would move to. That is, besides the SUV. It was a valiant effort but nothing clicked, least of all the Aztek..
I’m not saying the Aztek wasn’t a huge failure. It was. It was overpriced, ugly, and missed what the market was after because of it. And my comparison to the Escape shows just how off-base GM was. Those novel ideas would have been much more compelling had they been attached to something that looked like a Torrent.
What I’m saying is neither the Edsel or the Aztek were fundamentally bad cars in the way, say, a Yugo was. The Edsel and Aztek were really just mediocre cars with one big albatross around their neck: their styling. And yes, the recession did the Edsel in even sooner.
But sometimes people conflate ugly or unsuccessful with bad, like on those Forbes slideshow lists. Perhaps people’s definition of bad varies. The Aztek was utterly conventional 1990s GM underneath. So, mediocre, so-so, adequate, pedestrian, yes, but I wouldn’t quite say ‘bad’… Certainly a failure, though.
And I hear you on the Rendezvous. Only the Aztek has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming collectible. And if you’re choosing between them, you’d take the Aztek. It’s like a classic car collector buying an AMC Spirit kammback instead of a Gremlin. If you’re going to get the ugly car, go full ugly.
Actually, any comparison between the Edsel and Aztek is rather difficult, because the Edsel was a whole new brand, with two distinct body sizes and a full set of models for each body, including multiple trim levels. To establish a new brand like that was a colossal undertaking. The Edsel’s big problem is that Ford tried to do that right during a nasty recession that affected mid-upper priced cars especially hard. It’s really quite hard to say whether its vertical grille had much or anything to do with it. It’s possible that if the economy had been hot, folks might have accepted it as the hot new thing. The Edsel’s grille MAY have become the scapegoat because Ford’s attempt to establish a new mid-priced brand was utterly doomed in 1958, regardless of how it looked.
The early response to a new car or brand is quite critical; it’s the herd mentality. If folks are talking something up, as the hot new thing, others will think the same thing too. Or of course the opposite.
The Aztek was just one model, based on an existing van, at a long established brand. Yes, the initial response was also muted due to its controversial styling. And its styling was undeniably controversial. And its pricing was unrealistic, a mistake GM made repeatedly, due to their repeated overconfidence in how their new vehicles were going to e accepted.
So yes, there are some parallels, but there are more differences. I’d say that a comparison to the Pacer might be more apt, although the Pacer was initially rather popular, but that petered out very quickly. I’m not sure what the best comparison would be.
Chrysler Airflow?
Yes.
I have the Buick version of this car, and while it does everything moderately well, it’s not an exciting car to drive, despite the IRS, it’s a reluctant handler and does not want to do anything enthusiastically. Pressed hard into a corner and it’ll understeer into oblivion. (something my 77 Chevelle actually likes to do- take corners with confidence). It’s not fast because the goofy gearing in the 4 speed transmission, it has plenty of power from the 3.4, but the transmission is lacking an extra two gears, as the gap between 1st and 2nd is pretty big, as well as the gap between 3rd and 4th. It lacks the beans to carry OD at speeds above 90mph and tops out at 108 (yes there are places in Texas you can drive it nearly that fast legally, and medical emergency on a road trip led me to find out the top speed, rushing mom to the hospital- never ever want to drive that Buick that fast again)
Gas mileage has never been anything to write about, My parents averaged 19-20mpg out of it for it’s life with them (I got it at 98,000 miles, 2 years ago) and I get the same, it has broken 25mpg once on a road trip.
The 3rd row is actually habitable by a 6 footer, through your head is inches from the tailgate glass. the Aztek has no room for the 3rd row due to the sloping tailgate, but I bet the mounts are there in the floorpan.
It’s quiet and a decently good interstate cruiser, but it utterly unenthusiastic in commuting as it seems GM dialed up the effort on the steering rack to make it feel ‘sporty’ and lacks the light power steering it really needs. But again it’s recalcitrant handling does not inspire fast driving.
It’s been very reliable overall at 160,000 miles.
Add this to the list of vehicles to normalize the Aztec’s styling, specifically the headlights. Yes, Aztek = Chris Bangle
It must just be an inexplicable peeve of mine, but I never find the “face” of any vehicle to be right with the parking lights above the headlights. As a little kid I found it unsettling on the late 60’s and early 70’s Ford trucks, then Chrysler went and screwed up the front end of the otherwise attractive 77 Lebaron that way. While I’m not a fan of the overall styling of the Bangle era 7-Series, nor the Aztek, nor the Rendezvous, I suspect that the ill-advised placement of the parking lights has more than a little to do with my opinions on all of the above. ironically, I kind of like the Nissan Juke. I’m not sure how that came to be.
Agreed. Turn signals above the headlights tend to make a vehicle look like an older man who refuses to trim his eyebrows, like the late Andy Rooney. Everyone has different tastes but, to me, it just doesn’t look good.
That feature worked well on the 61 Chevy, IMO.
True, but unlike many others, those ’61 Chevy turn signals are hidden well. Hell, I had to increase the size of the image to see them.
Every time I look at the face of the Aztek, I can’t help but wonder, “Who the hell approved this?”. It looks so disjointed with no feature having any kind of stylistic connection with another. The turn signals on top of the fenders, the headlights wide set with odd curves for the bezels, an open grille that extends lower than the headlights and, finally, some ersatz hood scoops thrown on top for good measure. I mean, I know they were going for ‘radical’, but does radical have to mean strange?
I’ll give you credit for trying so hard to be positive about this rolling disaster, but I’m not on board with most of the points. Today’s extreme designs, such as the Juke, are more accepted because they actually work. Wild, they may be, but they generally have good proportions and are attractive, if a bit bizarre, from several angles. The styling tends to gel as a whole and hold together.
The concept Aztek wasn’t beautiful, but the elements did display some clarity of thought. Attempting to slap those elements on an entirely different shape of vehicle was a crime that should never be forgotten. Awkward from all angles, the worst is the front, where all parts of the design appear to be trying to run away from each other as fast as possible. There is no focal point. You don’t know where to look.
While the team who thought of some of the interior features deserves credit (cooler console, cargo features, etc.), the team who executed the ideas deserves none.
A woman I worked with at the time, who was also awkwardly shaped, not particularly competent, and similarly abrasive, owned one of these and drove several us to lunch in it on occasion. The passenger compartment was a coffin of constantly rattling plastic, all molded into strange and unappealing shapes with wildly-printed geometric fabric thrown in for good measure. It was like the whole thing was shouting at you the entire time. Miserable.
I understand how the passage of time makes oddities from the past seem almost lovable, but this thing was just an obnoxiously lousy vehicle from start to finish. It deserved the ridicule it got at the time and the wound it inflicted on Pontiac was so extreme that the brand was never able to recover.
I would not underestimate the negative reaction and backlash that followed the Aztek because GM really pushed the car on the finale of the first season of Survivor. That show was huge then, and supposedly over 100 million people tuned into that last episode at some point. Now you have this audience who may not have taken notice or formed a real opinion on the thing until it was all over everyone’s TV that night. As someone pointed out upthread, nobody wanted to spend $25,000 to be seen and laughed at in that ugly car Richard Hatch won.
That’s a good point, sort of like an invalidation of the old adage, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”. In the case of the Aztek, the big Survivor marketing campaign did more harm than good.
In fact, you have to wonder if things might have worked out differently if GM had taken a substantially different marketing approach. Quirky vehicles can sell, if they’re promoted in the right way. VW has known this nearly from the time the first Beetle hit American soil. Most recently, the Kia Soul has done remarkably well with their hamster-themed ads.
OTOH, even with a lower price and a better, more muted marketing campaign, the Aztek being doomed might have been a foregone conclusion, regardless.
Honda did reasonably well with the Element, which was also a quirky car when it came out. They sold over 300K in 10 years, though the last few years were only about 15k/yr. GM was trying to sell a hip car branded as a Pontiac. Honda was trying to sell a Honda that was hip. The hip part was a fail for both and both sold because of their utility. Both toned down the plastic stuff after a few years. I would sooner take a chance on a 10 year old Element than a 10 year old Aztec, but then I have more experience with Hondas than I do with GM stuff from that era.
Remember that Pontiac also fell on its face with the huge G-6 givaway on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2004. Even after all of that publicity most of America still had no idea what a G-6 was. And then there was their two GM Hot Button contests in 2004 and 2005. I think we can all agree that big spashy giveaways will not boost sales of otherwise unappealing cars.
This reminds me when game shows like Let’s Make a Deal would have “a new car!” on the show. It was attention-grabbing but, invariably, the new car was some lame, slow-seller that I would imagine a local dealer hadn’t been able to unload for some time. It was also nearly always the smallest subcompact, as well. I seem to recall Vegas and Pintos being popular prizes on these shows. Today, it’s probably the Mitsubishi Mirage and its ilk.
Check out some YouTube videos of Let’s Make a Deal. There was some lower end stuff, but they did a fleet of Cadillacs, also Chryslers, some Buicks, Monte Carlos – even a Bricklin.
And, mom thought I wasn’t doing anything useful when I was home sick from school….
“the ultimate in driving luxury from Casa de Cadillac in Sherman Oaks California!”
Yeah, but there were certainly time periods when that kind of stuff was a tough sell, too (particularly Chryslers in the mid-to-late seventies). I’d be willing to bet that’s when they’d show up on game shows who got them from the dealerships at a healthy discount. A dealership is never going to sell a hot seller to a game show.
@ Rudiger,
The timeline was a bit different. Let’s Make a Deal lost network support in 1976 and was fairly obscure in subsequent syndication.
Cadillac generally had record sales years every year from WWII through 1973. In 1973, the entire GM C-D body range exploded in a sales fury that is still legendary. Truth be told, Cadillac weathered the 1974 recession like it almost didn’t happen. Cadillac 1974 sales beat record 1970 Cadillac sales. Cadillac 1975 sales were at 1972 levels. 1976 levels benefited from the last of a breed. 1977-1979 were very successful years for Cadillac.
Chrysler sales were just fine through 1973, and enjoyed a little 1973 boost as well.
https://youtu.be/QPhdsqZlpEw
“Windshield washers that were actually built into the wipers”
This was done years before.
I think they were known as ‘wet arm’ wipers.
Yes, didn’t a lot of Chrysler products have them? I think what Ford called “fluidic” washers on the Fox bodies proved to be superior and are the norm today.
A buddy of mine back in 2003 bought one of these right before coming to a large homebrewer’s camp out held every year in Western Maryland called MASHOUT.
We were all setting up our tents when he rolled up in this thing. We all looked at the strange vehicle as he got out, and realized that, knowing our friend, we thought, ‘only {name withheld to protect the guilty} would buy such an {adjective withheld to respect those that like such a} vehicle.’
Then we watched in awe as he set up his tent right there in the car in only a few minutes!
Suddenly, we were impressed with his choice of vehicle as he handed us some homebrew from the built in cooler.
That is righteous!
A family friend had one of these – the heads-up display was very cool to 10-year-old me.
Sure it’s ugly, but in an endearing way.
Also, CC should start a “How Hard Can It Be To Build A CUV?” series, much like we did with minivans. Original Cadillac SRX, original Chrysler Pacifica, SAAB 9-4X, Subaru (B9) Tribeca, maybe even the 1998 Mazda MPV “All-Sport”, etc.
Edit: said family friend’s next car was a first-generation SRX!
Damn, MT, that’s a good idea.
You could add to that the Lincoln MKT, Infiniti EX, Ford Freestyle/Taurus X, Mazda CX-7….
Brilliant idea.
Agreed. Start with the Lexus RX and walk your way backwards, like the T115 Chryslers.
Thanks!
Ford Freestyle is a good one because they basically just restyled it to make it the Ford Explorer and then it started selling.
The Aztek is ugly. The Nissan Juke should be renamed the Nissan Joke ‘cuz it’s ugly, too. I’m not familiar with the Toyota mentioned along with the Juke in the article, but if it’s anything LIKE it, it’s probably ugly, too.
Toyota C-HR. It’s definitely in the Aztek/Juke league of ugly. Car and Driver did a recent review of it and didn’t like it, at all. Apparently, in typical Toyota fashion, it does almost nothing well and it’s worst performance feature is that it’s agonizingly slow. The trade-off for its sloth is that it seems to get very good fuel economy.
As usual, Toyota is riding on their quality reputation, and that, along with a polarizing appearance that may appeal to some millenials, may be enough for the thing to sell.
I got driven around in one of these in 2003 or 2004 and after all the bad press I was surprised how competent of a vehicle it was. Decent non-Rubbermaid interior and a nice ride. I don’t mean to damn it with faint praise- I’ve been in much worse vehicles, domestic or foreign
I loved all the vehicle choices on Breaking Bad – except for that one season where they had the product placement deal with Chrysler. The scene where Jr. gets a Challenger is the single worst scene in the entire series… but it DID make for a great meme:
While the episode where Walt Jr. gets a Challenger isn’t very good, I disagree that it was the worst of the series. That (dis)honor has to go to the episode which is devoted entirely to Walter White trying to kill a fly in the lab. I mean, the whole episode?
The Bearclaw concept reminds me of the ill-fated Accord Crosstour. Too fat and blobby.
I’m going to guess and say I’m the only owner (three, actually) of an Aztek commenting on this subject. First off, well done William. A good and fair evaluation of the vehicle, documenting it’s origins, production and reactions. The Aztek is a very polarizing vehicle, and I wasn’t going to comment initially. After seeing the same old tropes trotted out, I thought I would inject some real life perspective here.
Two of my three Azteks were very good cars, my Rally was not so much. Properly equipped, it was an excellent do it all vehicle, room for five and plenty of luggage. The power and fuel mileage were in line with my expectations. The shorty U-van was a very convenient size and reminded me of the old mid-sized cars from the 1970’s, not too big, but big enough to do most everything most folks would need.
There were many miscues with the marketing of the car; one noted earlier was the high price. I looked at a loaded 2001 Aztek AWD back in the day, even with my GM Supplier Family discount and a trade in, we were still bumping up hard against $30K. I later settled for leasing a mid-range Aztek FWD instead as it was less than $24K retail. In reality, the major nail in the coffin for the Aztek was the initial pricing. Once the cars didn’t sell, they reconfigured, decontented and lowered the price. By then the damage was done and no way back was found.
They had a good idea, but had no idea exactly how to market it. One could argue the same with the Honda Element and the Scion xB; they ended up selling to a much older demographic than originally intended. GM sold the car as a SRV, Sport Recreational Vehicle, not Stevie Ray Vaughn. I will be the first to admit that the teams styling the front and the back ends of the car must have phoned it in (or faxed it in) and the poor bastards stuck with designing the sides had to make it all work. I thought they did heroic work, actually.
When my wife first suggested the car, I did the same as many people and took one look at the exterior and tried to can the idea. However, wives can be very convincing and got me in for a test drive. Once on the inside, the interior designers had done a very good job, but it was let down by less than supportive seats and some crunchy interior panels.
One thing I did not like was the access to the rear cargo area; while on the face of it the split tailgate sounds cool, I had problems with it. You can sit on it, but if you didn’t have the slide out tray (it was not standard equipment on the 2001’s, nor was the cooler) you either had a very long reach over the lower part of the tailgate or stuck trying to hoist items over the lower part of the tailgate. I’d injured my back a long time ago, but I did not check this out until after I had the car home. I made sure that when we got Aztek #2 and #3, it had the cooler AND the slide out tray.
As time went on, the other thing I did not like was the sloping roof. I was using it to transport my bikes and up until I got my 29er. It was too tall to fit in the space, but I was too cheap to buy a new rack. Actually, the debate was whether I should go roof or get a trailer mount, not entirely germane here. My other mountain bikes (26’s) fit no problem. There were other instances, with large TVs or pieces of furniture and that mostly wedge shaped cargo area was insufficient.
So, one can say that it was a cynical attempt to shift some units, but if we look at the way many vehicles are marketed, I don’t see much difference. It was still early in the CUV game; not everybody had the magic formula for acceptance and sales. For a while there I thought the three box formula (Escape, CR-V RAV4) but as time has passed, everything is more angular and “angry”…
That the Aztek became a collector was just a fluke in my opinion. Had the styles and tastes developed differently, maybe the Aztek would have been a bigger flop that it was. That the TV show would feature the car as the ride of a loser (in effect) should have been enough to seal it’s fate. Maybe there’s more to the car than most think.
Two of my favorite things…
I’m sold! Great piece. In no particular order…..
*Interesting point that various styling elements of Azteks have made it into some of today’s over styled vehicles. I was behind the ample butt of a Tesla Model X the other day – another awkward slope rear windowed CUV vehicle. So, apparently even Mr. Musk is not immune to the Aztek’s charms. This really is a strange affectation due to the loss of interior utility – in a utility vehicle!
*Among Bob Lutz’s colorful comments was a reference to the Aztek as an “angry kitchen appliance.” High praise, indeed.
*I have the 2002 Consumer Reports Sport Utility Special buyer’s guide in my 2002 Durango file. The Aztek suffered U Body flu when it came to safety ratings – a major no-no in a vehicle aimed at the young, including young families.
*I didn’t hate it when it was new, and though awkward, it was supposed to be something different, and at that it succeeded. A friend bought its sister car, the Buick Rendezvous. That vehicle seemed to be trying to be a conventional looking SUV, and at that, it failed. If having to pick one to take home, I’d go with the Escape.
*Wet wipers……..for the life of me I’m not sure, and can’t seem to Google prove it, but I believe somebody years ago built a kajillion wet wiper arms. I’m thinking my Dad’s 1976 Ford LTD had them. If so, I’ll bet the mid-size ’70s Fords had them as well. I definitely recall my Dad commenting on wet wiper arms (he liked them). If he wasn’t driving the LTD, he was driving his business Olds Delta 88s. I’m fairly positive B Bodies didn’t do wet arms.
I think it was my ’77 (had several different years) New Yorker Brougham that at 70 mph could cover the lane on each side , my own car from the windshield back and the front of the car behind me with it’s wet wipers.
Thanks for an interesting read. Didn’t know the Aztek had those clever details.
After all these years I could never warm up to it. I still say its ugly.
But I suppose it has its appeal.
And wasn’t it for Breaking Bad, there wouldn’t be a 1/43 model for the Aztek. Greenlight (already covered by Ed Snitkoff because of its great Ford scale models) did one – complete with missing hubcap and duct tape on the windshield.
I like the Aztek also, We had one in the showroom when I worked for the local pontiac dealer and it was set up as if you were camping. It had the tent and a fake camp fire.
All the folks I knew that owned them, loved them as despite the looks they were extremely practical.
Thanks to cars like the Nissan Puke, I don’t think the Aztek is even that ugly anymore.
I never understood why they did not paint the cladding from the beginning. My 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport has it’s cladding painted.
Here is a pic i took today with with my van parked next to a Aztek.
I too saw my first Aztek in public and thought “Jesus H. …..”. Astonishingly ugly. Between pricing and looks, it’s failure was a given. About the only period car nearly as ugly was the Subaru Baja. Apparently at the official Aztek unveiling GM hired a bunch of college kids to run around “excited” about it.
The split lighting pods still look stupid on the Juke and Jeep. At least out of the Juke I get a “making fun of myself” playful vibe.
Wasn’t this the same era as the Solstice? That was a good looking car with completely underwhelming execution, including underpowered engine and roof development.
2000-2008 era is when GM moved themselves to Tier 3 status; bargain brands that are mostly uncompetitive except price. Sure there are a handful of exceptions (Corvette, Suburban), but no one “aspires” to a GM these days.
The Aztek had everything you hated in a GM minivan coupled with an inability to do what a minivan does well. It might have begun with an innovative design and functions, but the final execution was ugly, badly made and nasty. Ron Popeil should have had a chance to do a version of one, so that every Aztek could come with a Pocket Fisherman.
Overpriced, underpowered, and completely humiliating, the Aztek could only appeal on paper to someone who never drove one.
“The Aztek had everything you hated in a GM minivan coupled with an inability to do what a minivan does well.”
Yeah, the Aztek was a crossover that simply didn’t cross over very well. Then the polarizing looks sealed its fate from the moment Job One hit the dealership showroom floor.
A well-written and fairly commented article. I was only aware of some of these features, and yes, looking at today’s God-awful SUVs and their overall designs, GM may have been too innovative. I remember how hideous these things were, when they first started hitting the streets. Thanks to Death-Kill sludge coolant and cheap plastic intake gaskets, most of these are long gone to the crusher.
I remember when reviewing one of these things for my newspaper column at the time and just being completely underwhelmed in every way. While this thing hit all the points on the checklist in terms of features, it was HOW it hit them that made it such a flop.
That horrible 3.4liter V6 under the hood sounded like a popcorn popper which made really pushing it even worse, even though that was the only way to get this dog to get out of its own way. Yeah, there was the storage tray and the tent but just the basic stuff was all the wrong junk that led GM by the nose right in front of the bankruptcy judge.
Compared to anything close this thing was just a miss on all targets – ergonomics, overall feel, NVH, you name it. So while some bean counter might have been happy that it hit every target it aimed for, it was like shooting a canary with an elephant gun. Yeah, you get the job done but there are much better ways to do it.
I also remember it took me a while to get another GM vehicle after I wrote the review of the Aztek and I even published “An Open Letter to GM” on my website then which they really hated only because I was honest about the fleet of trash the company was producing despite having some of the best engineers and stylists in the world in their employ.
One thing that’s been completely forgotten, it would appear, is that some of the features that showed up on the Pontiac Asscrack came from another concept called the Pontiac Rageous, which I recall reading about around 1996:
The Aztek was a dead end road with no room at the end to turn the thing around. Sure there has been plenty of other bizarre creations before and after and most of them died too! You better get your investment paid back quickly because the product is a dead end.
The front end looks like typical Pontiac styling, scoops, nostrils, orifices but scrunched up. The side view is a jumbled discombobulated mess. The rear view must have been designed by the same people that designed the rear of the 79 Buick Aeroback sedans. They just smushed it in, same design idea from the front end. Did this team transfer in from GM’s appliance division or the innovative cardboard box design team.
Don’t laugh at this, when I work for the GMC Truck and Coach Division the new manager for shop transfer came from the appliance division, a factory manager, knew nothing of vehicle repairs.
The 2002 revisions to the cladding went beyond just painting it body color – the odd ribbed design was also replaced with a smoother, uncluttered surface, which is why it looks like the cladding was removed when compared to the original 2001 design.
Nowadays the Aztek is as inseparable from “Breaking Bad” as the DeLorean is from “Back to the Future”, so I have to remind myself now that this was once just a laughably hideous and underwhelming vehicle without the cultural touchstone it has today. And yes, equally hideous (IMO) recent crossovers like recent Lexus RX’s make the Aztek look almost normal.
If you look at the vehicle, not posed at an angle or by itself – you see what everyone with eyes saw wrong with the Aztek – it was taller than it was wide. That was a problem with the GM U-body vans from Day 1 – too tall and narrow looking. Then you have SQUARED wheel cut-outs? So not only does this thing look tall and tippy, it looks like it is rolling on 12″ tires too? Let’s then put exaggerated wheels on it, so that it brings attention to the little wheels?
The moment this was put on a U-body, but without the wider width as shown in the Bear Claw, you have a design that won’t sell. For crying out loud, the 1941 Packard Clipper was wider than it was high fifty years earlier!
Pontiac knew this too. What did they do with the black cladding? They body colored it, so that the Aztek didn’t look so tall.
I had a GM U-van for five years and it was not so great, but at least it was a van. The idea of putting a slanted roof hatch on it, just removed the only redeeming value of the U-body van.
So – don’t tell me that newer vehicles have styles that copied what the Aztek did first – none of those cars looked like a phone booth on stilts standing on 3″ roller wheels. Give it a rest.
I purchased my 2003 Aztek FWD in March for pittance. Always longed for one and once my son and I fixed the intake manifold coolant leaks, welded new panels at the rear door doglegs and changed all the fluids it’s been a good runner. 70,000 miles and 20 years of Michigan winters really did a number on the underside steel. It drives ok, the flexibility of the rear seat system, and minivan roots make it very useful to me as a curbside shopper. It’s also unique as I haven’t seen another on the road in 4,000 miles of multistate travel. Some of the little things I love about it are: The fluidic windshield washers, gas struts to hold the hood open, red instrument backlights, tent attachment (future purchase) and the spilt tailgate. The bad: Battery replacement is difficult to say the least, the seats are heavy to R & R, the tailgate should open both ways (Ford style Magic Tailgate ), the factory audio system is crap and the rear brake should be discs (AWD models had ’em!).
Just saw one of these hideous things the other day.
Another Aztek Angle. Character lines and stripes and body panels dancing before your eyes.
Last one I promise. I gotta tell you the bug deflector really hits the mark. This needed the added plastic.
Wow so many comments….I’m throwing in my two cents worth then go back and read them all. I reckon the Pontiac Aztec would’ve looked way better with a wider track say an extra 2 to 3 inches and some way bigger wheels, like 18 or 19 inch. I appreciate at the time wheels this big were quite uncommon and very very expensive.
William speaking of car casting, I just watched a documentary on Dazed and Confused and American Graffiti their similarities etc, the car casting in these films is outstanding. And speaking of offbeat in Mr Hollands Opus the titular characters ride early on is a Chevrolet Corvair, it shows up again at the end of the movie in a final moving scene.
Never owned one, never drove one, but I’ve seen plenty. Too many. There’s an old axiom, “beauty may be only skin deep, but ugly goes all the way to the bone”
Which to me means you can sell a good looking car that breaks, at least for a while, but if it’s ugly, nobody is going to buy it. And god knows the Aztec was ugly. Even if it was race car fast, never broke and got 50MPG, it still would not have sold with what it looked like.
It looked hideous then and it looks hideous now as do all the current “high hatchback rear” styled cars.
I must be odd, legit liked the styling of the Aztek. Even before Walter White. Not something I’d buy, but way more interesting than some other bland CUV.