If Pontiac is now out-of-business, is it unwise to buy a used Pontiac?

If I had the extra money I would get a Pontiac Solstice in a heart beat. Pontiac is was a brand of GM and General Motors is still around and should be able to supply parts (especially since parts are shared across divisions on occasion) and servicing.

I believe the law requires auto parts to be available for ten years, after that years model.

Sorry, i would not buy anything produced by GM.

Invest in a vehicle that is dependable and reliable. a Toyota or Honda.

It will be here today and here tomorrow.

I sold my Trans-Am after having it for ten years, with very little in the way of problems. And I wouldn’t have sold it at all if I didn’t have to (relatively speaking).

I personally wouldn’t buy a Toyota, especially with their new found habit of letting recalls go until someone finds out there’s a big problem.

And, anyway, according to this the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix are essentially the same beast.

Not really, you can take it to any GM dealer. The parts are all the same.

GM is still around, but more importantly, @mrentropy is correct; the Vibe is a rebadged Toyota Matrix. Normally, I’d still be a little hesitant, but Toyotas last forever. My Toyota is 25 years old and still going strong.

The Vibe got a lot of good reviews from what I can remember out of Consumer Reports, especially as a used vehicle, reliability and all.

Pontiac primarily went out of business because nobody was buying from Pontiac for some odd reason. They made a few good cars by the end of the division’s existence, but I don’t think that there was any realistic “appeal” for the brand. Tough, too, because they just put out the G8, which is a lot like the Vauxhall Astra VXR that GM only sells out of US borders.

I would agree with the others, though, that getting a cheap car for reliability should be high on the list, so the Matrix might be better for that reason.

I just saw the link that @mrentropy pointed to and would like to add that CR was usually recommending the first-generation Vibe, and have actually not seen any reviews on the second-generation.

I’d buy a car from a company that went out of business b/c then maybe one day it will be super collectible. I don’t think the Vibe will have that effect though.

Someone asked me a similar question when they learned I had a Harley Sportster. I said “I hardley believe you recently heard that Harley is facing shutting its doors with it’s current market share and performance, but if it did, fine b/c then my bike is worth more money.” (Due to the fact that it would become a piece of Americana