2000 Pontiac Montana: Overview

Vehicle Highlights

General Motors' OnStar assistance system is a new option for Pontiac's minivan. Montana shares its underskin design with the Chevrolet Venture and Oldsmobile Silhouette and, like Venture, offers regular- and extended-length bodies. Montana's 3-door regular-length model is shelved for 2000, so all models now have dual sliding rear side doors. Front seats are buckets, while second and third rows can be fitted with bench and/or bucket seats to accommodate from six to eight passengers. A power sliding right-side door is optional on 7-seat versions, which also offer a second-row integrated child safety seat.
A 3.4-liter V6 with automatic transmission is the sole powertrain. Front side airbags, antilock brakes, and puncture-sealing tires are standard. Optional on 7-passenger models only is traction control and automatic load-leveling. Optional on extended versions is Montana Vision, a rear-seat entertainment system with a dashboard-mounted VCR, 5.6-inch TV monitor, and headphones. The instrument cluster is slightly revised, and child-seat tether anchors are added for all rear seats. Montana's performance and accommodations mirror those of similarly equipped Chevrolet Ventures.

COMPETITION

Chrysler started the minivan trend back in 1984, and they remain one of our Best Buys today. Though the competition has heated up, we still feel that the Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager are two of the best you can buy. They offer all of the creature comforts in a pleasing package at a fair price. Our other Best Buy is the Honda Odyssey. It's a little bit smaller than the Chryslers, but more sporty to drive, and it has a super-convenient flip-and-fold-away rear seat.
Trailing at a close second are the Recommended Chevy Venture and Ford Windstar. Though these vans are comparably priced and offer loads of neat features, we feel they can't match the road manners of our Best Buys.