The 2010 G6 GT Mystery

There is an ongoing debate about how much ESC/StabiliTrak does help an experienced driver.

I tend to side on the side that argues that even experienced drivers make mistakes, and good, experienced drivers accept that.

But, there's another camp that argues that ESC will help in all situations where the car loses control, because ESC can kick in before your brain can even send the commands to break in many cases.

Obviously, ESC is designed to prevent those "two wheel only" situations where your car is horizontal… or crossing into oncoming traffic.

The way it works is by dynamically shifting power to breaks based on which ones are losing control. The idea is that you can't tell each break to operate independently, but ESC can tell which wheels could use additional breaking power to regain control.

In short, it detects skidding and "steers" the vehicle with the breaks to prevent spinouts or loss of control.

Considering that GM adds additional ESC controls, called Active Handling, to Corvette… even GM would probably agree that experienced drivers will want to use it off the track. Cadillac also has Active Front Management, so clearly, ESC is a baseline tool.

Also, considering it will be required on all cars shortly, NHTSA estimates it would save 5,000 to 9,000 lives each year if every car had ESC.

Bottom line: ESC is a powerful safety feature that most should want on their cars.

I suspect the 2009.5 and on GT models lost StabiliTrak because GM knew that the G6 was mostly going to be a rental fleet item as only the G8 (and possibly Solstice) were the candidates for surviving GM's bankruptcy. Sadly, neither of those made it either.

P.S. I think you're right, Lampoon. Those 2009.5 GT units were probably sitting on the production line during the cut-off, which is why they got sold as 2010's. It would also explain why I've only found three in a nationwide search. I wonder if that makes it the rarest Pontiac trim ever sold? There were twenty 2010 Solstices made.

Okay folks, finally found one that fits what I was looking for. Completely stumbled on the answer by accident (had put this all out of mind a long time ago).

Turns out I was right with my original hypothesis. The 1SH package for 2010 MY is indeed badged as a GT, and it does indeed have StabiliTrak.

The confusion stems from a handful of GT models that were 2009.5 units, but shipped as 2010's. Those do lack StabiliTrak as previously noted. They carry the pre-2010 build codes, that's how you can tell quickly.

There are only two ways to know if you have a 2010 GT with StabiliTrak, either have the dealer do a build order for the FX3 StabiliTrak code to appear, or see if it has 1SF, 1SG, or 1SH. Personally, I suggest both if you're in the market for the best G6 ever made.

For a breakdown of these packages, check here.

And yes, I did a couple of build orders on these 2010 G6's to verify they weren't 2009.5 models rebadged.

Now the bad news… these 1SG/1SH optioned G6's are insanely priced. You could get a V6 G8 for less money and just a bit more mileage.

One final tidbit that I found. Many 2010 G6's include OnStar Remote Vehicle Shutdown. Good to know if your car is stolen… or if you miss a payment.