I havelong said I had a soft spot for the lowly Pontiac Aztek...well, while I was on vacation my sons Intrepid finally gave up the ghost and is slated for Viking funeral. After almost 270k miles it has been a trooper of the first order.
He called while I was in Miami and pestered me to no end for price on the T-Bat, to which I replied "You'll never have enough money"
I did inform him however that we had been considering replacing my wifes Montana and if he wanted a good used vehicle for cheap I could fix him up with that. After several days of deliberating he finally realized he was in no position to negotiate, so we agreed on price to fit his budgetand I set about finding a replacement vehicle for my bride. Lucky for me she is pretty indifferent about what she owns as long as it is dependable, and she counts on me for that.
I found two Azteks and finally settled on a silver 04 Rally Edition. Its equipped with tow pkg, steering wheel audio controls, chrome sawblade wheels and dual zone HVAC temp controls. The vehicle has 48k miles on the clock and I picked it up for $8700. I do wish it had the sunroof option but that wasnt a deal breaker.
I know many will gaffaw and heave but I've always liked many of the features of the Aztek and I think it will serve us well as our "pack horse". The Montana has been very dependable and the Aztek is equipped with the very same drivetrain and is easier to access under the slightly longer hood. The Montana also delivered car-like gas mileage so I'm hoping for similar figures from our new addition.

Turbo the Aztec! lol

Good luck with the vehicle Tbat

I like the Azteks, much more than the Vibes.

you can turn an Aztek into a Tent haha, nice choice, do what Chris said, turbo it!

Nice choice.

Everyone I know that has owned an Aztek has loved them. Once you get over the styling it's a great vehicle. The best compromise between a van and an SUV.

Azteks are way uglier than Vibes. Yech. Especially the old puke green ones.

Do it.

I love that AZTEK.

"You'll never have enough money"...well said

Aztek or Vibe, both hideous IMO, but it isnt me buying the car. I wish you the best of luck in your purchase, and the utmost of happiness in your wife's new chariot.

Love that line "never have enough money"! Especially after all that work into TBat.

I've seen the pics of this factory exercise before and it is one badazz unit...all that aside I gave my wife the "walk around" of her new vehicle this morning and after some discussion I was given permission to alter the exhaust as long as it stays relatively quiet. So it will be getting dual tailpipes at some point in the future. Aside from that I was told that cleaning and maint will be the extent of my "playing" with her new ride...so the turbo or the L67 swap is a non-starter. I was also instructed to make my first priority an iPod interface for her music (it does have a pretty good sounding audio system)

I will have to say it has pretty comfortable seats as well...my two hour ride home with it last nite ended with no back pain and I can live with that anyday.

I never had love for the aztecs but when I seen the picture of the aztec on here I thought it was yours tbat, I was about to be jealous.

Congrats on the new ride, Tbat...somehow I knew the exhaust would get modded first...

I love the interior of the Aztecs, my ex g/f's mother had one. But the exterior......

I'm with you on that one taz...and just to prove its agreed across the board, when my son came to pick up the Montana the other day his friend that came with him took one look at the Aztek in the driveway and turned to Josh and said "your Dad bought that?!...man that sucker is UGLY!"

I even dropped by my best friends house today to drop off some t-shirts I bought for him in Florida. I told him about the whole deal and he responded with "Tell your wife I love her like a sister but I wont be caught dead in that ugly @#%*!"

Thank goodness my wife is getting good laugh out of all this since she doesnt have that kind of emotional investment in a car. It also comes from the fact that both of the vehicles I have bought for her are so far and away nicer than any POS she ever owned in NYC she feels like she is getting limo service.

Maybe the tagline on the Aztek message board says it all.
"The Pontiac Aztek...boldly unconventional, so why be boring?"

that aztek comes severely close to looking like the SRT 8 or 10 version of the Dodge Caliber ! Thats pretty wicked.

Happy to report that all is well with the Aztek so far...my wife has conveyed to me that she likes it much better than the van. She especially likes the center console/cooler box for bringing bottled water to work with her and she likes being able to lower the back windows for additional ventilation.

I have been tasked to get her an iPod interface at my earliest convience and the speedometer has gone back to working normally for now. I'm not too worried about that since it will be covered under the warranty that came with the vehicle.

We drove it out to dinner and the theater to see Star Trek the other night and I have to admit it was quite comfortable with better seating position than the van offered...also a much better sound system than the Montana had as well.

I guess she said it all when she told me "You done good Hunny"

Told ya once you get past the looks they're a great vehicle.

As long as the primary driver is pleased, thats all that matters. Enjoy the drive!

Got the new key fob programmed and the vehicle nicely detailed inside and out. It turned out great and has to be one of the shiniest silver paint jobs I've seen. I snapped a few pics while it is still clean.





I spent some time driving it this morning, over to the dealer and back and I have to admit I could get used to it. Comfy, good tunes and I like the folding armrests.

Hate the rear, side and front look good. Purty.

You know, that thing doesn't look as bad when it's not in a bright color. That's surprising.

i want those rims..>!!

The rims are a huge plus to the vehicle...the Rally model came with them as standard equipment. We looked at another Aztek that was red with a sunroof but it had the silver tri-star wheels. This one was much cheaper and the wheels make it look so much better.