One of the hardest and most clichéd facts to accept in life is that all good things must come to an end. The encore at your favorite artist’s concert, the final bite of that perfectly prepared steak from the fancy chophouse you’ve been saving up for, or the rollercoaster returning to its launch bay after 60 seconds of adrenaline-pumping, undulating thrills.
Maturing, at least for me, is recognizing that the low point that comes after such an insane dopamine rush is part of what makes the initial excitement worth it. Currently, we at The Autopian are going through our own “return to base” falling-action on one of our greatest sagas: It’s time for us to sell the Aztek.
The quirky crossover from the long-gone American brand Pontiac was welcomed by the car market with the same enthusiasm as one might welcome a kidney stone, with many calling the SUV one of the ugliest cars of all time. It was a car so cemented as the world’s collective punching bag that it was driven by someone whose very nature can only be looked at as the worst scourge in our society: a teacher. Only someone as sick as an educator could drive such a machine. (This is a Breaking Bad reference for those who don’t see the hyperlink).
The car was a bit before my time with this lovely publication, but watching from the sidelines and catching up on it after the fact gave me nothing but heavy belly laughs every time it was spoken about. Who else but us would be stupid enough to put it in hypercar parades in Monterey?
And while the car might not be that beautiful (although pretty enough for Hyundai to copy Pontiac’s homework), it was a rallying cry for the site. David didn’t just promise that we’d buy one if we got 200 new members, but he also said he’d daily the thing for a month and even live in it for a week. It may have been a lofty, masochistic ambition, but you all did it, and David had to pay the hilarious price for your commitment and generosity.
As for when I came along to the Aztek days, I had to put on a brave face and go to Porsche Santa Clarita with David for the launch of the Macan EV, all so I could watch him set up the factory tent and mattress pad (arguably GM’s rarest ever parts) so that he could camp in the PSC lot in the middle of a frigid December.
And on the note of beautiful tent, did we mention that we’re selling it with not one, but TWO of them, ready to go and deploy in parking lots everywhere?! And look at how small it folds up!
It’s taken us on trips that had me accompanying David to a haunting middle-of-nowhere town outside county lines so that David could buy an (admittedly awesome) ratty old truck; a night that saw me alone in the dark for what felt like hours with zero visibility and a sincere escape plan if I never heard from him again.
That drive home was also the first time I got to deal with the car’s self-driving eccentricity, which was easy to adapt to but still not recommended. Here’s Mercedes talking about it during the team’s trip here for last year’s Galpin Car Show:
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This is all a long way of saying: the car has been through so much and has been graced by nearly all of our sweaty, flatulent rears, but now, the jig is up. This beautiful beast could be yours, and if you don’t have the moxy for it, that’s fine too! Just look at the photos below and reminisce on the good times we had with it.
The Exterior
Overall, the exterior is pretty dang clean. Closer inspection will show some scratching and cracks on the front right fender from wild barbed wire that jumped in front of the car when we drove to get DT’s truck, and the headlights are a tinge foggy and yellow. Still work plenty fine though!
The Interior
Pretty much nothing wrong with the interior! Clean as can be; the only hangups you could really levy against it is whether or not you like old GM interior quality, especially some of them plastics (which I’m on record of being fond of). It’s even got a great condition center console lunch box!
The window switch on the driver’s door isn’t well secured, as the door plastic seems to have expanded a bit. The dash is decent, but the front edge may have also expanded a little, and the driver’s seat has a few extra creases than when new due to all the seat-time. But otherwise, the interior is nice!
The Elephants In The Room
Okay, its tires probably need to be replaced relatively soon here, and there’s a not zero underbody rust, but take it from me: it rides really well!
If you’re interested in making this historic machine yours, you can find the listing for the car here.
[Ed Note: We decided early this year to auction the Aztek off for charity, with all proceeds from the sale donated to Watch Duty, a volunteer platform and phone app for real-time wildfire information that proved essential during the recent Southern California Wildfires.
I was living in Santa Monica, which borders Pacific Palisades, and my wife has family near Altadena. Being able to track where fires were at any given moment, almost real-time, was a huge deal, and almost certainly saved lives.
Also, thank you Cars & Bids for a really nicely-done listing. -DT].
This is gathering momentum. Auction has a post on GM Authority website.
https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/11/2003-pontiac-aztek-being-auctioned-for-charity/
WOW! Thanks for sharing, that’s awesome!
The tires don’t look THAT bad. I drove one of these as a rental once, in the same color, and though it wasn’t the worst rental I ever drove, it was far from the best. I WAS embarrassed to get out of it at restaurants at dinner time. And this was way before Breaking Bad. Maybe it would have been funnier post-Breaking Bad.
Thanks for donating to WatchDuty, it’s such a valuable resource!
Clicked through to the auction page. Gotta say that TravidDacy is the worst alias ever. David you wouldn’t last very long in Witness Protection.