New Pontiac G8

[blackcaraddict]

Originally Posted by WatchThis

So because of the cars looks, it bombed? What should it have looked like?

Alot more muscular...let's face it, it was a sports coupe with the looks of a sedan - to me it kind of didn't have an identity.

And simracer, I had an SHO too, a forest green '93 5 speed, and yes while the motor was bulletproof (Japanese made Yamaha, of course), the tranny was a different story. I wish I had taken a picture when the shop pulled the tranny out and there was a baseball-sized hole in the bellhousing. Figures the only thing that held up in that car was the one piece that WASN'T american made. Did love that car though, especially the cheese-grater wheels, I thought that car was the ****!!!

[WatchThis]

Like I said, looks are subjective. To me, it looks very muscular, especially from the front and rear. I can see how the sides are little lacking to some people.

And to who ever said the car was discontinued: wrong. The car was in for a three year run from the beginning.

Anyone who's ever actually driven these cars know they are far from failure.

[Joshua312]

Like others have stated...The GTO should have looked more aggressive. Why would someone want to replace their love of the Firebird with something that looks like every other regular coupe on the road.

I had a Firebird and always had hopes some day GM would bring it back and re-invent it with a new look. Instead we got the re-invented GTO which was nothing to gawk about.

You say driving them will take away all feeling of the car being a failure...but do people want to ride around in a powerful blah looking car? As sales reports show...apparently not

[WatchThis]

Originally Posted by Joshua312

Like others have stated...The GTO should have looked more aggressive. Why would someone want to replace their love of the Firebird with something that looks like every other regular coupe on the road.

I had a Firebird and always had hopes some day GM would bring it back and re-invent it with a new look. Instead we got the re-invented GTO which was nothing to gawk about.

You say driving them will take away all feeling of the car being a failure...but do people want to ride around in a powerful blah looking car? As sales reports show...apparently not

Although rare, is that why there are still NEW Trans Ams for sale? The Firebird's looks didn't exactly swamp showroom floors with customers. The Firebird was discontinued, this GTO wasn't. And the GTO was never meant to be a Firebird replacement. The Trans Am is a boy racer type car, while the GTO is more of a Gran Touring car with an asinine amount of power.

And yes, the GTO looks great. I get more compliments in this car than I did in my (what thought looked great) Mustang. I have a friend with a red 04 Z06 and he's been in my car with me, and says he doesn't get as many looks in his Z than I get in the GTO. I almost always get at least one person to come up to me and start asking questions when I go to the gas station.

[Joshua312]

Okay WatchThis...it's obvious you are going to be close minded on this topic because you own a GTO and reading your responses...talking about people looking at your car and giving you compliments. So I'm not even going to bother going back and forth with you on this.

Calling the Trans Am a boy racer type car...wow haha

[blackcaraddict]

Originally Posted by WatchThis

, while the GTO is more of a Gran Touring car with an asinine amount of power.

That's not how the general public perceived it - the Gran Touring part. Yes it has alot of power, but it is very plain jane looking and manufactured by Pontiac - it has a certain stigma attached to it. You may not want to hear that, but that's an unbiased fact.

[99blackSE]

The goat should have looked like the Holden Monaro VXR, end of story

http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-20...A-1280x960.jpg

The new G8 looks pretty good, would be a great grocery getter.

[paul34]

Originally Posted by 99blackSE

The goat should have looked like the Holden Monaro VXR, end of story

http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-20...A-1280x960.jpg

The new G8 looks pretty good, would be a great grocery getter.

Yup, the pontiac badging has a LOT to do with the goat's perceived "rental car" image. Do an ADM conversion, and it looks

It's the same case with the G8... the only thing wrong with it is Pontiac's badging and front ends =(

[simracer]

Originally Posted by blackcaraddict

And simracer, I had an SHO too, a forest green '93 5 speed, and yes while the motor was bulletproof (Japanese made Yamaha, of course), the tranny was a different story. I wish I had taken a picture when the shop pulled the tranny out and there was a baseball-sized hole in the bellhousing. Figures the only thing that held up in that car was the one piece that WASN'T american made. Did love that car though, especially the cheese-grater wheels, I thought that car was the ****!!!

Very cool. Glad there are other former SHOnuts on here. Yes, I sort of thought about getting one of those decals for my SHO of Calvin peeing on a Ford logo. I figure that would have thrown folks for a loop. And then have the Yamaha tuning fork logo on the other side. But I had too much respect for Bill Waterson and Calvin & Hobbes to ever actually put the sticker on my car.

Sounds like your car was a victim of the sheared pin in the spider gear and the differential then ate through the bellhousing. Did they manage to get it repaired or replaced? I heard folks had a hard time getting that fixed for a reasonable amount and in a reasonable amount of time.

At the time it was a way cool car. If you think about the late '80's the car was putting out 220hp from three liters. Not much else that was naturally aspirated could touch it. About the only american sedan that could keep up at the time was the Dodge Spirit turbo. These days it isn't uncommon to find a sedan capable of mid six second 0-60s, but at the time, it was pretty unusual.

It was fun too to pop the hood at the gas station and see everyone's eyes bug out when they saw that intake manifold.

I thank God for the SHOtimes e-mail list and the SHO Club. Great resources. I couldn't have owned that car without them.

Now that I've officially hijacked this thread, blackcaraddict and I can take this offline. Sorry folks!

[WatchThis]

Originally Posted by Joshua312

Okay WatchThis...it's obvious you are going to be close minded on this topic because you own a GTO and reading your responses...talking about people looking at your car and giving you compliments. So I'm not even going to bother going back and forth with you on this.

Calling the Trans Am a boy racer type car...wow haha

I'm sorry. I stand correct, I was dreaming that people look at my car, and no has ever said anything about it. I will roll over and let you call the GTO a failure when there's less than 700 brand new ones left right now.

And yes, the Trans Am is every 17 year olds wet dream.

99blackSE, I'm not sure about that. The Vauxhall VXR is very nice looking car, but the GTO (the old one) didn't really stand out like a VXR does. (Or at least I think it does.) I would love to do the standard Monaro conversion, but that's big time $$$, and even more for the HSV stuff.

[Joshua312]

"DETROIT | General Motors Corp. confirmed Tuesday (February 2006) that it will quit making the Pontiac GTO high-performance vehicle this summer.

GM decided to stop production of the GTO because of new U.S. safety requirements, Hopson said. The GTO shared a platform with the Australian Monaro, which has been discontinued.

The original GTO was an icon of the muscle-car era from 1964 to 1974. Revived in late 2003, the current GTO, which starts at $31,990, received high marks for performance and power and has a 400-horsepower engine. But the styling was considered boring.

Last year GM sold 11,590 GTOs, down 15 percent from the first full-year production in 2004, Autodata Corp. reports"


Hmm looks like it wasn't scheduled for a 3 year run initially like you stated...you were the *wrong* one, or did the dealer tell you that to sucker you in and think your getting a limited production car? Let's just face it...less than 700 new GTO's left on lots. Who cares? What does this have to do with these cars being in demand or hot sellers. How many new 2006 Cavaliers are sitting on the lot? Probably less than 700 my friend

[Corey Bit Spank]

4000lbs? It will surely turn on a dime.