Autoish Episode 9 - The Pontiac Aztek Ugliest Car Ever Made and a tease for episode 10 Mike's BMW E84 X1 35i sleeper project

In this episode Mike and Pete discuss their vote for the ugliest car ever made, the Pontiac Aztek. While it appears on a number of the worst car ever made lists, Mike and Pete feel it's more of an ugly car than a clunker.

Pete mentions that he wants to talk about one of Mike's modified BMW's in the next episode and Mike agrees it will make for a good episode. Make sure you subscribe so you can here episode 10 where Mike starts to list the modifications to his 2015 BMW E84 X1 35i sleeper build.

Also check out the Audioish Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Mike and Pete have spun off this popular podcast to cover the beginner audiophile journey for Pete. Visit the website for gear reviews and info about upcoming podcast here https://audioish.com

#autoish #autoishpodcast #pontiacaztek #ugliestcarevermade #uglycar

Transcript

spk_1:   0:15
auto ish podcast with Mike and Pete. Hey, Mike, how's it going?

spk_0:   0:20
It's going great, man. I'm Ah, I'm at her old studio Europe Home in the office. But due to Cove in 19 we're still keeping our social distance.

spk_1:   0:30
Yes, we are. Your hold it down in the office and it and it looks great. Sound quality is sounding awesome. Well,

spk_0:   0:37
that's that's the idea in my office at home is almost useless. I think when I listen to the last two other suits, I don't think I can use my office anymore.

spk_1:   0:46
Yeah, yeah, it's tough. I have I have foam padding in front of the mike here and then I have, ah, a fuzzy sweatshirt on the other side. Um, sounds professional. I have a buddy who actually recorded his audio book 100% in his closet. You

spk_0:   1:08
know, that's probably a really good place with the clothes, and it's probably very silent.

spk_1:   1:13
The, uh, it was a penguin. Random House was the publisher, and they responded back like, Well, what studio did you go to? The sounds great will refer them for other artists in your area, and he's like, Yeah, it's my closet. That's also. Yeah. So, you know, you do what you gotta do to to make it work, for sure. But so I hope everyone in your family is doing well with everything going on out there and

spk_0:   1:41
s o far. Great, man. Um, nobody in my immediate circle or in my immediate family whatsoever affected yet. Yeah. You know, a few friends of friends, but yeah, you know, nobody directly think on hopefully. Same for you.

spk_1:   1:59
Yeah, exactly the same situation. And everyone that that I know that has ended up testing positive has had mild symptoms. So that's definitely a good thing. And just kind of, you know, keeping in touch. Lots of face time about zoom meetings. That's a Skype. And, uh, so it's good stuff, but

spk_0:   2:18
yeah, same here. I don't think I've ever been on a zoom meeting before. All this seems like I'm on at least one or two every day.

spk_1:   2:25
Yeah. Yeah. And you gotta go through the same thing. Probably every meeting, right? Everyone talks over each other. Everyone asked, How do I get grid view? Yeah, exactly where we're also the I T department for our family members who are a little on the older side. So how do I get to know the link and what do I do now? And how do I get my mike to work? And, you know, like, uh where,

spk_0:   2:52
Yeah, I especially like the some of the dealers that that will Come on, I'm part of a 20 group, and, ah, some of the dealers will be in their car, so they get on on the phone there, using the blue to the sounds coming through the speaker, and it goes back into the echoes. You know, the reverb is horrible, and everybody's like, Turn down your radio.

spk_1:   3:15
Oh, my God. Uh, yeah. These are the things that we're dealing with now. So, uh, it's, um it's a new world. It's a new world, at least temporarily. Anyway, Looking forward to kind of getting back to our in person sessions and getting a good recording time in and and for today's episode, we're gonna keep it light, and we're gonna keep it fresh. And we're gonna talk about the Pontiac Aztec. Oh, yes. Where to begin? It's the question.

spk_0:   3:47
Um, yeah, that's Ah, that's a tough one. I mean, where do you begin this? This car is probably on every single list ever printed or written about the worst car ever made. The worst Carver build the ugliest car ever made. Um, so it's a little cliche almost to talk about the Aztec in this because it's it's such an easy target. Um, similar to the PT Cruiser. It's an easy target. Um, but for me, um, I think it belongs on the ugliest car list first. I mean, it is an ugly vehicle. Yes, and the designers really just I'm sure when they were done, they had toe wonder what the hell they were thinking. But, um, but, you know, as far as the worst car ever made, I don't know if it if it really is in terms of, um, production quality. I don't think that it was a terrible car from a reliability standpoint. I mean, I don't have those stats in front of me, but it was built on the GM platform for a lot of their, um there vans or minivans? That kind of stuff. I do believe so. It was probably a tried intrude platformer chassis. Who's just ugly as hell.

spk_1:   5:04
Yeah, maybe a car that was, you know, a decade before its time in some ways, right? If you were going Teoh invent, you know, without any preconceived notions of what's currently on the road. But if you were going to invent ah, car that was gonna be in between a minivan and the Jeep, that's really what they were going for. You probably end up with a pretty ugly car. If you really didn't think about you know what we currently see on the road? You probably end up with something very close to the end. Aztec. You have that front knows that's very similar to those you know, late nineties Jeeps. I mean, start vans, and then it gets weird as you kind of go to the back. Oh, yeah,

spk_0:   5:48
it's a it's very weird. And I don't care what angle you look at this thing from A from an aesthetic standpoint thing. It's just horrible to look at. Um and ah, you know, I'm now on the Wikipedia page, which is I'm cheating a little bit. But, um, but, you know, the first thing that comes up is his picture of the grey Aztec, and I'm just like, Oh, it just reminds me all over again just how ugly this thing was. Yeah, but I love how, um, when it was originally marketed here on Wikipedia, says it was the sport recreational vehicle way created their our own class for this

spk_1:   6:29
beauty, right? Yeah, it's It's one of a kind for sure. With that, um, that knows in the front I can't get over right because it does have that, like, sloping front that you would see in a minivan. But then this four whole grill kind of looks like a cat fish that high light up on top. Yeah,

spk_0:   6:53
see, what I see is like an alien man. I see this thing. It's like looking at you. It's a little angry, but not in a cool way. It's It's not, like angry like sports car angry. It's just Yeah, it's just ugly, man. It's got multiple eyes, and yet it's got like I don't

spk_1:   7:10
know it. Headlights are weird. Yes, yeah, it's Ah, it's an odd one. There were some quirky things to a Z kind of get into some of the the tech on the car or you get under the hood. Um, interestingly, if you wanted to change the battery on your own there's a bar that goes over the top. So you have to actually remove the barn and get to the battery. It's not just a simple pullout on replace situation. You you gotta, um, actually removed this the safety bar over the top. You know, little little things like that kind of makes it a quirky car.

spk_0:   7:49
Yeah, not totally uncommon to have some kind of a tie down on a battery. Um, but you know what you're referring to could be something out of the normal. I'm not really that familiar with that car, but, um, with regards to how the batteries in there. But, um, what I do find really interesting from some of the stuff I was just reading the tailgate was a split tailgate. So it's a two piece tailgate, which, which we have in the X five BMW's had that in the X five from the beginning, um, and basically gives you a tailgate like a pickup truck that the bottom half folds down, So put stuff on it, and it's easier to load things onto it. The Aztec apparently had two impressions, you know, spots where you would sit like a seat molded into it with cup holders so you could hang out in the back like you're tailgating, which I think is kind of interesting. And and apparently they had volume controls for the radio in the back, so you could be sitting back there with control of the radio. Your cup holders air there and, you know, the center console popped out and it was actually a cooler, which I think is cool as hell. I mean, e thought about some really cool stuff with this

spk_1:   8:58
thing. Well, see, right, it's an outdoor car, but now am I correct in saying it's two wheel drive? I believe it's a two wheel drive vehicle.

spk_0:   9:12
Oh, that's I'm not certain. I thought there was an all wheel drive version of

spk_1:   9:16
It has an option, but I believe as a base model, it's a two wheel drive.

spk_0:   9:22
Ah, that's probably right, because I think the the minivans that they use those chassis is back then were front wheel drive cars.

spk_1:   9:29
Yeah, it's and so it's got this. Um, it comes with a tent and a blow up mattress.

spk_0:   9:36
Oh, yeah, that was the camping option. Yeah, I remember that. I remember the the the ads back then showing the tent as well, which I mean that that's got to be the most unbelievable part of the whole thing. That is, that's got to be the part. And I think I might have mentioned this in our very first episode on auto Wish E. I would have loved to have been in the board room when this thing is pitched and everybody's like, Yeah, and then the guy comes out and says, Oh, and wait, look, we made a 10 option. Yeah. Yeah, and they green light

spk_1:   10:10
it. They're like, Yeah, go ahead. Yet camping. Could a car with these kinds of quirky options Beavan made today? Do you think anyone would jump out on the limb and do that? Kind of

spk_0:   10:22
No. I don't think a manufactured today could could pull this off. Um, you know, they've got a cater to the to the stockholders. The car's gotta sell, you know, um and looking at this, apparently even Pontiac back then, They had originally hoped to self 75,000 of these per year, which is ludicrous. I mean, that even think that that many people will buy this thing, but they really thought they were on to something special, and it wouldn't be the first auto manufacturers to completely miss the mark in terms of what their projections are right. But I think it said, and I'm looking for it now. I think it's said here that they had to sell 40,000 year to break even from there. Ah, you know, from their costs of production in their r and d And there best selling year with second year with 27,000 units. So not only was it an ugly car, but it was a loser. I mean, they lost money to even make this. So, you know, let's go back to the boardroom. I mean, those guys made a huge decision on this car that probably cost the brand everything because Pontiacs gone. Yeah. I mean, there are a failed, um, brand or mark for GM. And they're gone.

spk_1:   11:45
Yeah. How how did the dealers? Now, that would be an interesting question. How did the dealers handle that? Right. You know, we think about now you think about the marketing for vehicles, right? The email blast. And OK, here's our leader. We know that these cars cell, we have a good program on it. What? I mean, how did they handle a car like this? I mean, did the buyer was so specific?

spk_0:   12:15
Yeah, well, you know, from Ah, dealership perspective, I can only speak to BMW. But, um, you know, when the when the manufacturer comes out with a new car, you drink the Kool Aid you really dio I mean, and there's there's times where I've been to these riding drives. That's what BMW calls. And they launch a new car, and they they bring the dealers out and we drive the cars, we drive on the track and we get all excited about him. And and, you know, it's really hard being a car guy not to drink the Kool Aid. And I come back to the store after these launches and tell everybody how awesome the car is. And wait until you see this thing with yourself. You know, thousands of these air. Yeah, they're unbelievable. And then the car comes onto flops, which, you know, happens even would BMW. Um, you know it. Sometimes they missed the mark with ah, with the public or, you know, here in the U. S. I mean American consumers have never really warmed up to station wagons. Um, out. He's kind of held that market in the luxury segment. BMWs never been able to make its mark there. But in Germany, they saw, like, crazy. I mean, the, um the hatchbacks in the wagons over there very popular. And, you know, for the most part, they don't understand why we don't warm up to him, but yeah, you know, I'll go to these riding drives and allow you, You know, this thing's amazing, and they tell you all the cool attack and all that stuff, and I come back, and then it flops and you're like she you know, they were wrong, and I and I bought into it.

spk_1:   13:48
Yeah, yeah. I'm looking up now to see if there's any interesting newspaper ads from around that time. And, ah, so far, everything that I'm seeing skips over that car completely. You see it in the pictures. But there's no price point on it or anything. It's just Yeah, we got it. If you want it, it's here. Uh,

spk_0:   14:09
yeah, I do know that they missed the mark in terms of, um, their initial pricing point. And I think they were going for Gen X at the time, and Gen X wasn't really at a point yet where they could afford, you know, an expensive car and definitely not this oddball, unique sport recreational vehicle right on. And then, ah, you know that that car came out in 2000 I think is a 2001 model. So we're talking pre 9 11 too. So, you know, 9 11 happens. And, um, you know that that car is just in a bad spot, like everything else in the world, but right. Um, and I think what sparked its its best year ever were all the incentives that came out after 9 11 and that that car got a lot of assistance and rebates, which it needed.

spk_1:   15:03
Yeah, I guess there was recall issues as well. So as soon as the car came out, there was, uh, there was leaking fuel. And then he the vehicles. That's not so. There was immediate recalls as soon as it launched, including airbags. Um, and then there was additional safety features afterwards that were recalled, but and it like, right out of the gate, they were plagued with issues from their, you know, but the interesting thing. And if we go back to last week's episode, we kind of talked about some of the reviews. If you go on in edmunds dot com, if you're on a car so common, you do look at some of these reviews, they're generally positive. If you're on, cars are comin. You're looking at the used reviews. There's no one star reviews for this car, period.

spk_0:   15:53
Yeah, like I was saying before, I don't think that would surprise me too much. I think it was, ah, well known platform for GM. So, um, you know, it's not like the PT Cruiser, which was a one off. I mean, it kind of built that car for that crappy idea, but, um, you know, the Aztec was built on a chassis that existed and a Nenjiang and drive train that existed. So, um, from reliability standpoint, it's probably a decent car, except for those recalls. But, um, but overall, mechanically is probably an OK car.

spk_1:   16:26
Yeah, yeah. I mean, the reviews are generally very positive. People enjoy driving it people. You know, if you were an outdoorsy type, this car has some pretty cool stuff, like you had mentioned the cooler We have. We talked about the tent. The mattress that's built in. Um, it's got something that I generally like in older corns. It's got that bigger lap, third window in the trunk. You see that on the Jeep Cherokee? Um, the original Jeep Cherokee. You see that on the jeep Wagoneer? So you get you have no blind spot. You just check and you could see everything right. I imagine it has some, You know, people who like it probably are enthusiasts for it. You know, I could This is just me kind of guessing here, but I could totally see, you know, a 20 something hipster going at this car and getting it on cars dot com for for two grand and making it their, you know, their everyday car. I could totally see that.

spk_0:   17:28
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it has, like a you know, come back. Yeah, like a crazy secondary market, um, rash on maybe the hipsters or some other group. Finding this is to be a really cool car and and, you know, maybe modifying them and making them cooler. And, you know, I wouldn't be surprised. It's got a lot of cool stuff going on there. That definitely was ahead of its time. I mean, having a cooler built into the center council. It's

spk_1:   17:57
pretty cool. It's pretty cool. You know? There was Oh, gosh, not Was it the damage? COBOL. I had a little like refrigerator system built into the center console so you could fit to, like, 12 ounce water bottles in the center console, and it would be cooled chilled

spk_0:   18:20
from the, uh from the A C system. I mean, is it just blowing through there? I don't remember, really. And common, but having having a separate cooling unit cooling that I think would be unusual. I mean, some cars have that, but you're talking Rolls Royce and you know, BMW seven series, stuff like

spk_1:   18:42
that. But right, Yeah, called cash from them, went in tow, look at cars. And I saw that I was like that. It wasn't a cobalt. It was like a like a crossover. And it wasn't on the market for very long. I think it like Carly lasted for maybe three or four years, but it had the slight little refrigeration system in the center. I thought was the coolest thing. So If I was in the market around 2002 at the time of the Aztec, I would definitely think the cooler was cool. I think like the the tent on the camping activities were kind of, Ah, quirky thing and you know it. These cars that were a little bit odd ball from a certain period. It's kind of interesting. Um, how they do kind of have this, like, coal enthusiast piece to it. I have a buddy in Seattle who has a Saturn Vue, and he works on a company word him and, like, three other guys all have Saturn views, and they literally park together, have a role little clique.

spk_0:   19:39
That that one definitely is a surprise to me. I can't imagine that car being anyone's favorite, but, um, you know, I never owned one, so I

spk_1:   19:49
right, I couldn't imagine it either. But he's really into it, and it's or its friends.

spk_0:   19:57
I'm gonna have to look that one up later and just see who in the world finds that car cool, but or why? If anybody could.

spk_1:   20:05
Right? Right. Well, um, we should We should get into your project one of these days to talk about the X one that you had done some modifications on.

spk_0:   20:21
Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, a little more than some modifications, but we

spk_1:   20:25
can certainly talk about that car. Yeah, we should definitely get into that. Um, maybe we'll say, Well, teas that one for the next episode. But I would love to talk about that. And then the, um, street racing. Ah, event that you went to

spk_0:   20:41
Oh, yeah. Um, there's kind of like a cannonball about that one. Yeah. Yeah, that was, uh that was crazy. I actually have some video. It may have put that up on a website or something.

spk_1:   20:54
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That'd be awesome.

spk_0:   20:57
Yeah. And and destroy everyone knows I wasn't racing.

spk_1:   21:00
Yeah, right. Yeah. And

spk_0:   21:02
if I was, I was in Mexico.

spk_1:   21:04
Yeah, yes. Um, Well, what else we want to cover about this car? Did we miss any? Any details? I think

spk_0:   21:14
we've pretty much covered. Um, most of what that car is. I mean, like I said, the very beginning, I think it's just the ugliest car ever made. I don't really think it fits in the category of worst car ever made. I think you know, um, the Cadillac Sim. Iran definitely belongs on the list. The PT Cruiser belongs on the list. There's lots of other cars. And if we if we leave the American car manufacturers alone, we can look at fun. Things like there were no, um, for way Go. I mean, that's a That's a beauty right there.

spk_1:   21:48
Yeah, I'm down. We should do it. Um, all right, so we'll leave on this note. I'll give you give you this. 2005 Pontiac Aztec S T D. That's what. Great. Um, that's not great. Uh,

spk_0:   22:08
does that that I'm going to assume that that's the standard model. So it does not have

spk_1:   22:12
the camping package E. I would assume that's correct. Um, with 85,000 miles on it, you want to give it a price point would give it an estimate.

spk_0:   22:20
Sure. What year was it again?

spk_1:   22:23
2005.

spk_0:   22:24
2005. 86,000 miles. Yep, 26 50.

spk_1:   22:31
Who? This one. The bargain. Then it's 2000 0 damn. 2000.

spk_0:   22:37
All right. Say, I was swayed a little bit by the possible re marketing resurgence of the Aztec. So I thought maybe maybe somebody was hot for the car. I don't know. Yeah, to thousands. Probably be realistic.

spk_1:   22:52
Yeah, I was looking at a picture

spk_0:   22:53
of that. Does sound like low mileage, though. I mean, the cars. 15 years old.

spk_1:   22:57
Yeah. That's decent on the miles as I'm looking at this, but specific car, I'm noticing the get It doesn't have a lid on the gas can on the gas cap. It's just exposed. Let me look at another one. Yeah, that's weird.

spk_0:   23:14
Can't speak to that. Is it just missing?

spk_1:   23:16
You know, it's I guess when you come standard, it doesn't have a lid on the gas cap. You

spk_0:   23:23
know what we what we really need to do for a future up. So we need to find a cheap as tech by it and drive it around, and it will do a review. That's awesome. You know what? We should see if we can get one on Tero.

spk_1:   23:39
Oh, yeah, that's a good idea.

spk_0:   23:40
It would do like a daily rental when this cove it craps over and we'll do like a one day rental for me and one day rental for you. We'll drive it around and then we'll

spk_1:   23:48
do through an episode. And you know what would

spk_0:   23:51
be really funny. Is that at the end, if we both went and bought one?

spk_1:   23:55
Yeah. Yeah, we loved it so much he became enthuses. Yeah,

spk_0:   23:58
I get it. Now. Have to have.

spk_1:   24:00
Yeah, Yeah, I need this. Ah, it's all about the tent.

spk_0:   24:05
Yeah. I'll get to search out one with the camping package. That's going to be a month,

spk_1:   24:10
huh? Yeah, absolutely. It's really funny. That's good. Um Well, on that note, I will wrap up today's episode. Thank you for listening to the auto mish podcast.

spk_0:   24:20
Yeah. Thanks, everybody. Yeah. Don't forget to listen to audio wishes. Well, our ah spinoff podcast specifically talking about audiophile gear and, um, you know, sound music, stuff like that.

spk_1:   24:33
You absolutely, like subscribe. Drop a comment. And we're looking forward to seeing you back here next week with another episode. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.