2010 Pontiac G6

The G6 was introduced by Pontiac for the 2006 model year as its midsize car, replacing the outgoing Grand Am. The alphanumeric designation, I guess, was supposed to make it sound more modern and sporty.

Whereas the '05 Grand Am had been on the N-body chassis, shared with the Olds Alero and Chevy Malibu, the new car was on GM's global Epsilon platform, used on everything from the Fiat Croma to the Saab 9-3.

The G6 received a slight styling refresh midway through the 2009 model year, which this Summit White sedan has, creating a "2009½" model, however that was to be the final model year for all coupes and convertibles.

The basic sedan, a big seller to rental fleets, carried on through 2010, among the last Pontiacs made or sold, as the entire brand was a goner for 2011. This particular hooptie is almost certainly an ex-rental, with the normally-aspirated LE5 ECOTEC 2.4L under the hood, flailing out 164 SAE net horsepower.

This one was snapped with a Sony a700 and 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom lens in May of 2025.

2010 BMW 535i xDrive Sports Wagon

It was not that long ago that we had a twin-turbo wagon available in rear wheel drive or all wheel drive versions that came with a 6-speed manual as the base transmission from the factory...and everyone went and bought a crossover SUV instead. In retrospect, maybe we didn't deserve the E61 535i xDrive Sports Wagon; we just weren't worthy of its longroof splendor.

Under the hood of this righteous sled was BMW's N54B30, a 3.0L DOHC 24V twin-turbo straight-six with double-VANOS variable valve timing, putting out 300 SAE net horsepower. This was enough motor to slam the speedo needle to the 60-mph marker in only 5.8 seconds.

This Jet Black example was photographed in November of 2018 using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO zoom lens.