Junkyard Find: 2001 Pontiac Aztek AWD
It takes a lot for a 21st-century vehicle to make it into this series, and the Pontiac Aztek has no problem qualifying. Here in Denver, you see Azteks all over the place, presumably because they make sense for the outdoorsy lifestyle that’s so big here (you also see a lot of Vanagon Syncros, presumably because there are lots of masochists here). That means that they’re going to break something not worth fixing and show up at the local self-serve wrecking yard, and I will photograph them. Today’s Junkyard Find Aztek is in excellent condition and appears to have every single option available when new, from heads-up display to air-mattress-inflation compressor. Let’s check it out.
If you’re going to go into the mountains in the winter, you want your Aztek to have Versatrak AWD.
This must be the first letter of the Aztek Alphabet.
The owner’s manual is still here.
This is the sort of “we’re-gonna-tow-this-heap” form used by angry apartment-building managers.
I’m tempted to pull a heads-up speedometer display out of a GM car of this era, just to tinker with it. The dash on the Aztek is so deep, however, that it seemed like too much hassle to break out the tools.
The interior is very nice for a 14-year-old car that was sufficiently unloved to get towed away and junked. I couldn’t check the odometer, because it’s digital.
Yes, the Aztek came with an air mattress. This one doesn’t have the tent, though perhaps I didn’t look hard enough.
Seems like this thing really would be good for camping trips. Too bad about the ugly.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Being a mechanic is a lot like being a school teacher. If you get the schedule-maintained cars/prepared and motivated kids, you have to really be a bust to fail. If you get the rattletrap junks/kids with wack family situations, you gotta be REALLY good to shine.
I think that Aztek was worth saving. It had so many cool things in it!