1990 Pontiac 6000
By Jim Mateja
Chicago Tribune
January 22, 1990
Think of the Pontiac 6000 S/E as an insurance policy.
The S/E, formerly the STE, which bowed a few years ago as the ultimate luxury/performance model in the midsize Pontiac 6000 series, is offered only as a four-wheel- drive luxury/performance sedan for 1990.
With four-wheel drive, unless the snow is up to the door handles, you can hop into the S/E and get where you need to go.
But 4WD also has changed the car`s character. The emphasis now is more on luxury, less on performance. Perhaps it wasn`t intentional, but that`s how it turned out.
The 4WD S/E is powered by GM`s new 3.1-liter V-6 engine, which develops 140 horsepower, or about 20 h.p. less than GM`s 3.3-liter V-6 engine. The V-6 would be a welcome substitution under the hood when the roads are dry providing you have an underground gas tank in your back yard.
On dry roads with the 3.1, the lighted squares in the fuel gauge grow dim rather quickly thanks to the added weight of the 4WD hardware. The fuel economy rating is 19 m.p.g. city, 23 m.p.g. highway, which seems mighty generous of the EPA.
The 3.1 is a bit slow off the line. Once up to cruising there`s no problem, but getting there sometimes seems laborious. The S/E comes with a 4-speed automatic.
The S/E doesn`t handle like an Audi Quattro, either. While the Audi with 4WD is loose and limber, the S/E at times feels cumbersome, despite fully independent front and rear suspension and Electronic Ride Control.
The S/E has cast aluminum wheels, body- colored bumpers, aero moldings, body-colored wheels and fog lamps. The car looks like a miniature version of the Bonneville SSE. Perhaps we expected it to act like one.
What you have to accept with the 4WD S/E is the fact it`s meant as a four-wheel-drive sedan alternative to a utility vehicle.
Not only does the S/E offer full-time 4WD, it also has antilock brakes as standard, a combination akin to wearing belt and suspenders for that extra measure of protection.
We had to rely on both the 4WD and the antilocks while test-driving the S/E. When the snow started piling high and others took to the shovels just to clear the way to the street, we only had to clean off the windows, turn the key, and head to the store. The S/E made its own pathway down the pavement.
Maybe the 3.1 falls a few horses short, and maybe you swing a bit wide in a turn, but when the roads are filled with snow, performance takes on a new meaning: You can move when others are stationary; you can follow a straight line when others are swaying back and forth; and you can stop when others are sliding past the sign and through the intersection.
We drove the S/E to Michigan when ice was on the pavement here and snow was on the roadway from Indiana to the Detroit city limits. Snow plows were busy dropping salt and sand to provide traction, but cars and trucks whose drivers acted as if the roadway was clean and clear lined the ditches along Int. Hwy. 94.
The S/E never even wavered. Perhaps it doesn`t get off the line quickly, and perhaps you have to put up with wide swings in tight turns. But despite the shortcomings, it only takes one winter storm to appreciate the car.
As for the antilock brakes, we found ourselves on the Ohio Street bridge in Chicago in the early morning hours. The surface was slick. Suddenly the car ahead decided to pause and gape at a mini-van that just had its left front fender autographed by a 4-door sedan.
No other lane was open to avoid the car ahead so we hit the brakes. They pulsated quickly. The S/E stopped in a straight line about a whisker`s length from the bumper of the car ahead. Without antilock, we have to assume the gaper ahead would have had us for a traveling companion that morning.
The S/E was designed for snow-caked and rain-soaked highways and not for off-roading. The body was raised a fraction of an inch to accommodate the 4WD hardware, but there isn`t sufficient clearance to take on sandy beaches or rolling countryside.
If you find you`ve pulled over onto a soft shoulder, however, and the wheels have started to sink, a button located behind the gear shift lever in the center console will lock the center differential to help get you out by ensuring drive power to at least one front and one rear wheel.
Standard equipment also includes air conditioning, power brakes and steering, AM-FM stereo with cassette and digital clock, leather-wrapped tilt steering wheel, power windows/door locks, cruise control, Goodyear Eagle GT+4 all-season 16-inch tires, and power driver`s seat with lumbar support that uses an inflatable bladder to puff up the seat.
Two other noteworthy points: The orange backlighting on all the instrumental panel and radio controls may overwhelm you. It looks like the control system for the space shuttle. The radio alone has more buttons than the neighborhood tailor. The S/E also has a set of radio controls in the steering wheel for ease of use. Nice, if only there was an on/off switch.
The S/E is priced at$29,049, which is considerably more than many 4WD utility vehicles.
Only 1,500 to 2,000 4WD S/Es will be built and sold for the 1990 model year. At least that many doctors who need to guarantee travel regardless of weather will take care of the `90 allotment.
Pontiac said it expects to offer 4WD in a passenger car in the 1991 model year, too. We suspect that the 4WD sedan will be called STE but that it will be a 4WD STE version of the new W-body 4-door Grand Prix sedan rather than of the current A-body 6000.
1990 Pontiac 6000 S/E 4WD
Wheelbase: 104.9 inches
Length: 188.8 inches
Engine 3.1 liter, 140 h.p. V-6
Transmission: 4 speed automatic
Fuel economy:19 m.p.g.city/23 m.p.g. highway
Base price: $29,049
Strong point: Traction
Weak point: Mileage
Looks like everyone who owns a CDW27 car "Spent too much on a car that will someday be worthless"