Pontiac maintenance: cost, plans and service schedule

Are Pontiacs expensive to maintain?

No, Pontiacs are not expensive to maintain. Take it from Sean Kim, an experienced mechanic in the Atlanta area.

“Pontiacs aren't terribly unreliable.” he told ConsumerAffairs. “They still share essentially most of their parts with common GMs of their era. Maintenance and repair costs on Pontiacs minus certain cars like the Solstice should be fairly manageable.” We’ll talk about the caveats with the Solstice in a bit.

“Generally, Pontiacs should be on par with older GM vehicles. Average maintenance costs should be roughly $500 to $1,000 per year,” Kim said.

Maintaining a vehicle involves keeping up with routine maintenance items that have nothing to do with an accident or a breakdown. These are things that all vehicles need on a regular basis — things like new brakes, new tires, tire rotations, alignments, oil changes (on non-EVs) and more.

Now, the good news about owning a 2000 to 2010 Pontiac is that Pontiac is (or rather, was) a subsidiary of General Motors. That means three things:

1. Repair parts should be relatively easy to find: Since Pontiacs share most of their components with GM vehicles, it shouldn’t be too hard to find salvage or replacement parts if you need a major repair.
   
   To illustrate, we were able to find online a front outer wheel bearing for a 2006 Pontiac G6 in just a few clicks. Better still, it was discounted from $310 to $121. There are some discontinued parts, of course, but we were still surprised at how many Pontiac parts you could still buy in factory-new condition (at a low price, to boot).
2. Maintenance should also be relatively straightforward: As with repair parts, it shouldn’t be hard to find maintenance parts (e.g., brake rotors, oil filters) for Pontiac cars since they share so many components from mass-produced GM vehicles of that era. A local AutoZone had plenty of extended life oil filters for a G6 from 20 years ago.
3. Most mechanics should still be able to work on them: Pontiacs aren’t like classic Ferraris. Unless you’re replacing the top on a Solstice or rebuilding the V-8 engine in the G8 GXP, you shouldn’t need specialty labor to keep your Pontiac on the road.

To put these maintenance costs in context, how do they compare with other used vehicles within a similar budget range of a pre-owned Pontiac?

How Pontiac compares with other automakers

Backing up Sean’s claim that Pontiacs are relatively reliable, RepairPal data shows that on average, the cost to repair and maintain the average Pontiac is just $629 per year, adjusted for inflation.

As expected, that’s not quite as cheap as a used Honda or Toyota, but it’s far cheaper than a pre-owned Ford. Notably, the data suggests that the cost of owning a Pontiac is less than half the cost of owning a pre-owned BMW.

Granted, these are just ballpark figures for each brand, and the numbers may vary by model. So let’s look at some specific Pontiac vehicles to see which ones might cost more than others to own.

Pontiac maintenance and repair costs by model

If we take data from RepairPal (and adjust it for inflation again), we’ll find that there aren’t too many surprises when it comes to the cost of owning a specific Pontiac.

The midrange G6 sedan is about average for the entire brand, the high-performance G8 costs roughly 20% more (likely due to the larger engine and the cost of performance parts) and the two-seater Solstice convertible falls somewhere in the middle.

If you’re shopping for a Solstice, you should know that your annual costs may skyrocket if you have to replace the top.

“The Solstices tend to exhibit roof problems as time passes,” said Kim, “and if yours has issues, you’re looking at an extremely costly repair in the range of $2,000 to $8,000.

That might be one reason to consider a pre-owned Mazda MX-5 Miata to get your two-seater fix instead of a Pontiac Solstice. Both vehicles have a manually operated top, but the Miata’s top can be replaced for as little as $1,000 by a professional or $200 if you do it yourself.

If you have your heart set on a Solstice, just be sure to thoroughly test the top before you buy it. Send it up and down a few times, check for leaks, and inspect the hinges for rust and damage.

And regardless of which Pontiac you buy, be sure to schedule a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) so you can get a professional’s opinion before buying it.

Pontiac maintenance cost and schedule

Another major reason to schedule a pre-purchase inspection for a Pontiac is to ensure that the previous owner kept up with routine maintenance. As long as they changed the oil, brakes, tires and other essential wear-and-tear items on a routine schedule, you shouldn’t have trouble getting through the next 50,000 miles (while keeping up with scheduled maintenance yourself).

As for what exactly that entails, we actually found a 2006 Pontiac G6 owners manual online courtesy of Dezo’s Manuals. On page 378 of the PDF, you can find the recommended maintenance schedule, which looks exactly like the typical maintenance schedule for your average car.

The one exception is that your average used Pontiac will probably have over 100,000 miles at this point, which means you may want to change the oil more often (every 4,000 miles or so) and use high-mileage synthetic oil when you do so.

Pontiac repair costs

While Pontiacs may be relatively cheap to maintain despite their age, they can be expensive to repair thanks to some lingering factory issues.

According to CarComplaints.com, the most problematic late-year Pontiacs (2000-2010) are the G6, Grand Am and Grand Prix. The G6 tends to experience power steering issues, the Grand Am has coolant leaks, and the Grand Prix can experience total transmission failure. While the former two issues are about a $1,000 fix, a new Grand Prix transmission can cost an arm and a leg.

For comparison, the G3, G5, Aztek and Solstice received very few complaints overall. Provided the previous owner took care of the vehicle and your PPI mechanic signs off on it, you can expect to get a few more years out of a well-maintained Pontiac, with typical repair costs of $500 to $1,000 per year.

Even still, peace of mind is often worth its weight in gold, so you may want to consider your options for an extended warranty as insurance against pricey repairs (e.g., power steering failure, roof issues).

But do companies even sell extended warranties on a car that hasn’t been manufactured for 15 years?

» LEARN: What is a manufacturer’s warranty?

How can an extended warranty help?

As hinted above, extended auto warranties may cost a monthly fee or a lump sum upfront, but they can be worth it if:

• The price is right
• The coverage is good
• You value peace of mind

And believe it or not, you can still purchase an extended warranty for a Pontiac. Endurance provides warranty coverage on high-mileage vehicles, so we were able to get a quote on a 24-month warranty for $172.04 per month.

The plan covers the engine, transmission, electrical system and a few hundred other parts, but it doesn’t seem to cover the Solstice’s top or top mechanism. That’s all the more reason to inspect both carefully before buying.

All things considered, owning a Pontiac with 100,000-plus miles may not be quite as expensive as one might think. Sure, they haven’t been made since 2010, but they’re simple, reliable machines with parts and labor that are relatively easy to find.

» MORE: Car warranty vs. car insurance