Somewhere at Pontiac corporate headquarters, there is a policy - whether written or tacitly understood - that says aluminum wheels, body cladding, and a tachometer are all that's required for a vehicle to be, as the commercials say, "built for drivers." I can understand how people who are forced into the minivan lifestyle would like to retain some sense of style and performance in their vehicle, and Pontiac is perfectly happy to exploit that desire with their marketing. But let's tell it like it is: the Montana is a floaty, boxy minivan with a cheap, dated interior and a louder-than-average exhaust bolted underneath. Fog lights will only distract for so long.
Might as well get the bad news over with first right? And now on with a more complete review of this minivan. First things first, I love sporty vehicles. I have always owned and driven sporty vehicles because my lifestyle does not necessitate a van, SUV, or wagon. The closer my tooshie is to the ground while driving, the better. I love flinging a car through corners and highway ramps. I mention this to give the reader an idea of the lens through which I viewed the Montana. Second, I have always viewed domestic vehicles with a critical eye. Call me prejudiced if you wish, but again I mention this to give the reader some idea where I'm coming from.
Space, configuration, and comfort
I rented a base model 2004 Pontiac Montata from Avis for a 9-day, 2500km ski trip to Quebec. The van was packed with four adults plus gear. I would estimate there was easily 500kg of human and other cargo so this van was well loaded. This leads me to the Montana's biggest strength - size. The interior is a large, utilitarian space with plenty of openings and fairly flexible seating/cargo configurations. For our trip, we folded the rearmost seats flat and the middle (of three) centre row seats flat. Our skis and other long cargo went between the two rear seat passengers with the rest of the gear piled in the back. This provided a relaxed, comfortable highway environment even for the people sitting in the second row. Legroom and headroom were never an issue. The dual-sliding rear doors were also much appreciated for this setup.
Sheer size cures many ills in a vehicle of this category, but Pontiac engineers appear to have worked overtime and found ways to create problems and complaints. Rear seat passengers had no cupholders for the entire duration of our 9-day trip. Unbelievable you say? Impossible in a family van? Nope. Every single coffee, water, or juice box had to be clutched in our eager little fingers until done. Even when we removed the rest of our gear from the back, the skis remained in the van every night (we would only be driving them straight to the ski hill the next morning). Pontiac put the cupholders in the plastic covering on the back of each seat, so with the middle seat down there were indents for cups ... but our skis covered them completely. If the middle seat weren't folded flat there would be no cupholders at all. There was also a lack of storage cubbies throughout the van and no pockets behind the front seats. Over the course of the week coffee cups and tissues began to litter the floors along with maps, CD cases, or anything else that was unfortunate enough to fall down there.
Pontiac's idea of HVAC also made life unpleasant for rear-seat passengers. With temperatures consistently below freezing (and often under -20°C) the side glass frosted up quickly. We tried, oh we tried, but there doesn't appear to be any way to direct airflow over the glass. There are controls mounted to the roof that allow rear-seat passengers to control airflow and heat, but we never discovered which vents they control. Eventually we started calling this contraption the Fisher Price Activity Centre, because you could spend several minutes enthusiastically twisting knobs without actually achieving anything. And so the side glass would slowly, inexorably frost over leaving the rear seat passengers with no view of the passing scenery. Visibility is otherwise quite good. The Montana has a good view forward, and so long as the windows are clear it's a cinch to reverse it and park. The engine seems to warm up quickly which helps with the defrosting. Interior fit and finish is grey (aside from Pontiac's trademark Angry Red instrument lighting) and conservative (aside from some odd bulges and curves.) Some of the switches and other materials are a hard, cheap-looking plastic that knocked my overall impression of the van down a few pegs.
Here come the Pontiac engineers again. In one word, I would describe the ergonomics in this vehicle as careless. The cockpit is utilitarian and has a decent layout for the most part, but I developed a profound dislike for several elements. First and foremost is the wiper/cruise/indicator stalk to the left of the steering wheel. It tries to do too many things, none of them well, and some of the controls are small, fiddly, and profoundly unintuitive. It also has unpleasant bumps and ridges that interfere with the simple act of indicating a lane-change. Other controls are scattered randomly along the centre-stack in unrelated clusters. The rear wiper/wash switch is a healthy stretch down and to the right, and I have long arms and a good reach. I pity a small woman trying to activate that thing in heavy freeway traffic with a tractor-trailer in the next lane spraying road goo all over the place. On the instrument cluster, the high-beam indicator is located high and in the centre while the fog light indicator is on the far bottom left. I could go on, but in short I found this lazy approach to ergonomics to be inexcusable. The Montana borders on unsafe in this regard. I was forced to drive through some difficult conditions on this trip and there were times when I felt flustered. It's been fifteen years since I felt flustered behind the wheel.
The washer for the rear window releases a torrent of blue fluid down the glass. During one particularly bad, salty stretch of highway I went through two big jugs of juice in about three hours. The front nozzles are integrated into the wipers themselves and they work really well, releasing fluid in controlled, efficient jets that cover the glass thoroughly. What happened Pontiac? Was the rear washer another last-minute afterthought? Built for drivers indeed.
Performance and road manners
I will admit I don't have tons of experience with other minivans to benchmark this one against, but I have driven trucks and vans at various times for work, etc. so I'm not totally unfamiliar with large vehicle handling. The Montana is a people-moving appliance. Period. The suspension likes to float over undulations and bumps and highway curves are an adventure unless approached cautiously. The brakes will dive and fade when asked to stop quickly, especially from higher speeds. The steering is vague and seems to be prone to weaving - it's two hands on the steering wheel at all times with this vehicle ... unless you're busy hunting for that rear-wiper switch or something.
The engine, a 3.4L V6, is a decent unit. It provides a good launch and it cruises effortlessly until you get into the hills. Pontiac decided to gear overdrive really tall for improved fuel economy. This is fine until you need to pass or head uphill, at which point the transmission downshifts once or even twice, sending the engine into full-roar mode. We drove a lot of hilly terrain during our ski week, with plenty of looooong 6% or 10% grades. The transmission seemed confused at times, and would sometimes launch into an unprovoked surge forward when the driver is just trying to maintain speed or accelerate slightly. Road noise is acceptable unless the engine is roaring away at 5000RPM.
Pontiac did get the fuel economy and range right with the Montana. With the cavernous 95L tank we were able to do nine days of highway driving on just four fillups, and most times we weren't anywhere close to empty yet.
Miscellaneous
- Why does Pontiac insist on sticking plastic cladding to the exterior of everything they sell?
- The factory stereo is surprisingly loud and the CD player is a nice bonus. Just remember to disable the speed-sensitive volume control.
- The remote keyless locking/unlocking gives no audible or visual confirmation when it's been activated.
- Clunks and rattles over bad pavement were minimal, but then considering the soft suspension I should hope so.
Conclusion
As stated above, I am not a van guy. But if I were ever forced to become a van guy the Pontiac dealership would be among the last I'd visit. The Montana reliably did what it was asked on this trip, but during that time it reinforced every stereotype I've ever held about minivans in general and Pontiac in particular. I am not the target demographic for this vehicle so perhaps I see its faults with unusual clarity, but the faults are there, and I can't help but think other manufacturers are doing better in this category.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 30
Condition: New Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: base
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.