NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – These days, every entity, from the Red Cross to the Holy Cross, depends on some sort of advertising to increase sales, enrollment, or as the case may be, blood donations. Marketing has its fingers in most aspects of daily life, making it difficult to distinguish hype versus reality, others’ impressions versus our own.

Such was the case during a visit to GM’s Southern California design center last week, an outing dedicated, in part, to a test drive of the 2007 Pontiac G6 Convertible. Before hitting the road, we heard about GM’s devotion to Pontiac, one leg of a newly-created so-called brand channel, the result of which will be an increasing number of Pontiac, Buick, and GMC dealerships co-existing under one roof, with Pontiac offering “seductive performance.” Hence, the G6 coupe, sedan, and now, hardtop convertible.

That’s the hype part. The reality part is that the Pontiac G6, while perfectly fine in many respects, is not a performance car. Not in terms of its powertrain or its handling.