[IAMCANADIAN]

My mom's Torrent is getting a couple things fixed on it so she was given a silver 2009 Pontiac G5 4-dr (we have 4-dr G5s in Canada) to drive around until it's finished getting repaired.

Interestingly enough, this is the first time that I have driven, let alone riden in a G5 or Cobalt, which first came out almost 5 years ago. 5 years is a fair chunk of time in the automotive world and the 2011 Cruze replacement could not come any sooner. While other markets can purchase the recently introduced Chevy Cruze, North America will have to wait another year until it hits showrooms.

The G5 and Cobalt are popular in Canada (and not just in rental car lots) where compact cars reign, however GM hasn't been able to regain the #1 sales title from the Honda Civic in 11 years. Also, with the Corolla and Mazda 3 near the top of the list as well, it's clear that the twins aren't up to the challenge. That doesn't mean that they don't sell well - they definitely are hot sellers for GM and are priced competitively, they just haven't enjoyed the success that the Cavalier/Sunfire twins experienced in the 90s.

As I grabbed the keys and walked outside of our house, I was presented with a silver base model sedan wearing plastic covered steel rims and bodyside moulding that did nothing to improve the already bland rental car lot image. I've seen plenty of these cars over the years, however I never have spent a lot of time observing them and if you thought they looked bland in pictures, they look even more bland in person. The coupe at least gives it some form of excitement that supposedly is synonymus with the Pontiac brand.

Once inside the "rental car queen" theme continues with the sea of grey interior. GM attempted to use the VW Jetta's interior as influence for the G5/Cobalt and that's evident with the use of good quality materials - however, on the downside, the interior is completely devoid of any style whatsoever. To make things worse, the seats are incredibly uncomfortable and the rear quarters are cramped and even more uncomfortable.

It's been a long time since I've been in a car that didn't have power windows, locks or mirrors. While most people can live without these "luxuries" for at least a day, it would be nice to see at least power door locks as standard fare. Considering most people don't roll down their windows constantly and rarely adjust their side view mirrors, I think those two features are excusable from the feature list on the base model. This isn't criticism directed strictly at the G5 and Cobalt, however, it's directed towards base model compacts and sub-compacts in general. On the plus side for the G5 and Cobalt, it's nice to see a base level car come standard with features such as a Driver Info Center, automatic headlamps and an MP3 player jack on the stereo.

After a rather marginal first impression, things started looking better once I started up the G5 and put it in D. For 2009 the G5 gets an updated version of GM's popular 2.2L ECOTEC engine which now includes variable valve timing to improve performance throughout the powerband while not sacrificing efficiency. While it's still tied to GM's old but smooth shifting 4-speed automatic, it has a surprising amount of power and makes it hard to believe that it only has 155 horses. The engine is surprisingly refined and is relatively quiet unless you put the pedal to the floor when the VVT switches things up and an almost VTEC-like transition occurs as the tach needle zooms to the 6800 rpm redline. Unfortunately the sounds that it emits while it does so is more noise than music to one's ears like a Honda VTEC 4-cylinder. Still, it's nice to see the G5 and other cars in this segment break the stereotype of "gutless 4-cylinder compacts". The G5 may not be as fast as a Corvette, however it has a plentiful amount of power for most drivers' commute.

Equipped with the standard "FE1" soft ride suspension, the G5 rides well as advertised. The front strut/rear torsion-beam setup is certainly not high tech and doesn't evoke any sportiness, however, it wasn't overly meant to in the first place despite what the folks at Pontiac say. The GT's FE3 setup or the Cobalt SS' FE5 setup is a totally different story though. No, the FE1 is strictly tuned for comfort. While this characteristic would be expected more in a Buick than a Pontiac, it does an excellent job of soaking up bumps and imperfections on the road. This is a far cry from the loud and uncomfortable jolts that plagued the Sunfire and other domestics of the past. As I said before, the base G5s definitely do not evoke any sportiness, however rest assured they handle corners without much body lean and complaints from the tires and chassis. In addition, the electric power steering FINALLY has a decent calibration and while it still lacks roadfeel, it's significantly better than the setup in my mom's Torrent and Saturn Vues of the past. Finally, brakes had good modulation and did the job well considering their standard front disc/rear drum setup.

Of course the benefits of having a 4-cylinder compact car is good fuel economy and the G5 is no exception. On a 30 mile commute with 90% highway driving I averaged 6.4L/100km or 36.7 US MPG according to the DIC which, if accurate (quite often trip computers are not), is a very good figure.

While the Pontiac G5 may not live up to the Pontiac name (at this point very little of its models do), the G5 is a great commuter car in terms of refinement, ride comfort and economy. I think it would've had more success as a Buick and perhaps the new Chevy Cruze may get a Buick sibling in the future.

Until then, should you desire a compact car and would rather support the Big 3, you'll no doubt get a good deal on a G5 or Cobalt - however you're better off waiting for the all-new Cruze or looking at the competition. Should you decide to test drive a Cobalt or G5, you might be wise to rent one from your local rental car company (chances are they'll have one there) since it allows you to see how well it holds up after mileage and constant abuse.