A reader at the Cars.About.Com site took issue with my review of the 2006 Pontiac G6 GTP Coupe. Here's his letter, with Guide Aaron Gold's comments:

The G6 coupe earned NHTSA's TOP PICK for rollover protection [Ed. Note: The G6 coupe was one of several cars to receive a 5-star rating], and JD Powers [sic] Awarded the [2005] G6 [Sedan] the Best Midsize Entry Car for layout and execution. Strategic Vision awarded the G6 the Total Quality Award for best ownership experience. The Orion, Michigan plant [where the G6 is built] was recently named 4th best plant in North America. GM has won tons of awards and is not producing the demons of the past...it seems that is not being said in any review. I owned a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am and the G6 is a huge leap forward in every respect. I think there is a huge gap between perception and reality. Here's the reality: 60,000 Americans will be out of work soon due to poor perceptions about US cars which are clearly not warranted today. You would think that when [American cars are] better or competitive it would be noted. Apparently not. This is like saying Hyundai['s quality] is the same as the crappy Excel they started with instead of the Sonata that they are doing today! Being underestimated got the Japanese all over our market... now the South Koreans are surprising everybody... But the biggest underestimated surprise is GM and Ford, and they have just begun their assault. -- J. S.I composed a reply, and I decided not to post it at About.Com. But I will post it here, and I welcome your thoughts:

Dear J.S.:

I'm glad that you're a loyal GM owner --- I just wish your loyalty was rewarded with a better car, because I know that GM can build a better vehicle than the G6 GTP Coupe that I reviewed. I don't quote JD Power Awards in my reviews, because I don't know what criteria they use for their honors, and I haven't tested every car on the market. I also have no idea what "4th Best Plant in North America" means, nor do I have means to test such an assertion.

I don't test perception, I test cars. In the real world, consumers have to decide which car to buy based on how well that car meets their needs and on how well that car delivers for the money. The G6 GTP Coupe earned three stars out of five, a middling score to be sure. I don't underestimate GM and Ford; as a matter of fact, I have very high expectations of domestic manufacturers. If they'd start building better cars and stop blaming their workers and the media for their problems, the South Koreans, Japanese and Germans would be in big trouble. With the short-sighted planning and quarterly profit-driven philosophy that dominates the US corporate world, though, foreign manufacturers will continue to have an upper hand in our marketplace for the foreseeable future. And that's the reality of the global economy.

Enjoy your G6, and drive safely --- we're going to have to agree to disagree about this one.

Best,

Jason Fogelson