Thoughts on Pontiac G8 / GTO's?

So what are the Hive's thoughts on the Pontiac G8 / GTO's?

I drove a few different Mustangs and I really didn't gel with them so a buddy brought up the 04~06 GTO's to check out. I thought I'd toss in the G8's for good measure.

My only concern is parts availability but thought I'd check out here first.

Thanks!

Not a lot of specific information from me but I love the GTOs for whatever reason even though they are heavy. Keeping the drivetrain going should be easy but parts availability for GTO specific parts concerns me as well. I know some of the interior parts are NLA and near impossible to find but if you find a clean one you should be good for a while. 

Summary: I like em and you should do it! You came here to be enabled, right? 

I drove a GTO briefly. I was impressed. It was also the first LS powered anything I drove, so maybe it was just that. The interior was super nice, but the seats move slowly and that was annoying.

99% of the G8s won't have a manual if that matters to you. You're far more likely to find a GTO with a stick.

Both are good choices despite being porky. 

G8's with a manual are unicorns but all get the nice 6.0. 

The only negative on the GTO is the holden specific parts are pricey - think bumper covers and body panels.  From memory that made them more pricey to ensure.  Otherwise you want to go with 05 as I believe it got the 6speed and the 6.0 vs the 5 speed and the 5.7.

Carryon.

I've driven both. I thought they were both bad ass.

84FSP said:

Both are good choices despite being porky. 

G8's with a manual are unicorns but all get the nice 6.0. 

The only negative on the GTO is the holden specific parts are pricey - think bumper covers and body panels.  From memory that made them more pricey to ensure.  Otherwise you want to go with 05 as I believe it got the 6speed and the 6.0 vs the 5 speed and the 5.7.

Carryon.

All the manual GTOs got the 6 speed T56. The trunk of the GTO is hilariously small. This is due to some US safety regs that forced GM to move the fuel tank up behind the rear seats.

parts availability for OE is pretty much non-existent.

My understanding is that the GTO has pretty tiny wheelwells, so it can't fit nearly as much tire as a 4th-gen F-body or similar.

As stated, the 05 GTO got the LS2 and a 50 hp bump, so it's better than the 04.

My neighbor has one.  It's quick (he cammed it and ported the heads).

I just can't get over the styling.  It's a personal thing, but damn they're just about as exciting to look at as a piece of blank paper.

I really like the GTOs. I prefer the LS2 so you get the bigger bore which opens up cylinder head options a lot.

I had a friend that bought an 06 new, and he had parts availability problems from day 1. Obviously the LS stuff is easy its the GTO specific things. He did H/C/I. That was an incredible all around car, drove super nice, handled okay, lots of power everywhere.

A few years later a different friend bought an 05. It was just a bolt on car, but I remember just an OTS canned tune making a massive difference when it was stock. The LS2 GTOs have a notoriously bad stock tune. He had a bunch of the suspension problems since it was a little older. Getting good upgraded parts was hard or very expensive, but after essentially replacing every bushing in the front end and new shocks and struts, I drove very well.

Also the stock shifter is not great, if you choose to replace it, just pay the money and go MGW.

When you change the diff fluid, just get the Torco stuff

Both of them told me, half jokingly, if I ever find GTO parts just buy them ill always be able to sell them for more. I was at a swap meet a year or so later and found an instrument panel, a rear bumper, a door, and some small trim pieces. I went ahead and bought them and within 2 weeks I sold them all at a hefty profit.

In reply to clutchsmoke :

Gracias - I must have been thinking of the 5.7 to 6.0 years offered.

tuna55 said:

I drove a GTO briefly. I was impressed. It was also the first LS powered anything I drove, so maybe it was just that. The interior was super nice, but the seats move slowly and that was annoying.

The seats are super slow. Which was so weird because the only way to get into the back seat is to tilt them forward. And you have to wait. and wait. and wait.

I think the only way to get a manual in the G8 was in the GXP package which was pretty rare. 

They are super nice cars for that era GM. That's when GM starting turning around their interiors to not be total crap. The GTO is cool, but the G8 is much better. I don't understand how the trunk got bigger, while adding a second set of doors...

GTO has surprisingly generous rear seat room. Like, with the front passenger seat all the way back, my 5'9" height and 32" inseam were not cramped in any way.

This is the 05 GTO I had for about a year and a half:

I liked it, but it never really "spoke" to me. As a DD, it was great. Super comfy and fast, with a great interior by mid-aughts GM standards. Some of the best seats I've ever plunked my ample backside upon. But... it is porky. And surprisingly isolated. I know it was fast, but it never felt 400hp fast, you know? By contrast the 2011 Mustang GT I had later felt every bit of 400hp fast.

Other downsides, the interior looks really good, but the materials aren't the greatest, and mine was showing it's age. The stitching was coming apart at the top of the back seats, and some of the plastic trim wasn't looking so hot. Also, the paint was crap. My car had a bunch of stone chips in the front and I had to be super careful not to burn though when I was correcting that area.

But at the end of the day, I had it as a toy, and in that role, it wasn't great. Just too big and heavy for something like autocross, and while I'm sure it would have been OK on track days, it would have destroyed the tires, too. Lots of power, lots of weight, and not much tire CAN be a recipe for fun, but after a while it gets frustrating.

I have a GTO, and its a great car, but maybe not the best sports/pony car. I did upgrade the suspension rather extensively (I didnt think it was any harder/more expensive than any other car I have owned, maybe its not as good now), the brakes are the same as on the C5 and it will chew through a set of pads and rotors on a good track weekend, the shifter is kind of not great, its much more nimble than it should be for its size, though getting more rubber under the front is a challenge, but not impossible. Its more like an E39 coupe than a fat-Fbody. 

I used to take it to the track every chance I got, but now its just a cruiser. I dont think I will ever sell it, even as I drive it less and less. 

As much as I like it, the GTO is a surprisingly bland looking car. It's just too close to "large cavalier" territory. If it were badged as an impala I would not have questioned it at all.

iansane said:

As much as I like it, the GTO is a surprisingly bland looking car. It's just too close to "large cavalier" territory. If it were badged as an impala I would not have questioned it at all.

It does help avoid unnecessary police attention... I have never been stopped once in the GTO, but I get stopped in my GTI on occasion (Im a rather sedate driver, so on occasion is about the most I am ever pulled over). 

Well, I'm going to check out a 2006 on Saturday just to see if I like it or not. It's got 60K miles  for $20K and looks to be lowered a bit. Just going to see if if I'd be comfortable in one.

A few hours south is a '04 with only 30K miles for like $15K

For serious track abuse, I've got my 302 swapped XR4Ti even though I'm sure the GTO  / G8 would be faster

I test drove an 04(because I detest early DBW) and would have brought it home if the transmission wasn't borked. Smooth, fast, comfy, big back seat, good sight lines, decent fuel economy(if you keep your foot out of it). I really liked that car. 2nd gear syncro was not included in the pricetag.

Nice styling, good cruiser, but not a lot of fans of the suspension.  They weigh a lot; the GTO was 35-3800 pounds.  You'll feel it.

iansane said:

As much as I like it, the GTO is a surprisingly bland looking car. It's just too close to "large cavalier" territory. 

To be fair, the original GTO was just an old man's Tempest with some badges and hoodscoops. And while nowadays we look back on the original Tempest/LeMans and think they look awesome, in the context of the era, they were considered kind of a snooze-mobile. 

The space ineffciency is hilarious.  I was installing nitrous on one, pulled up the carpeting/rear seat, and I swear you could have hid a gallon jug of milk in a few places.

In reply to NickD :

That's true. I used the same point when some coworkers complained about new darts when they came out. Not that I would own one of those.

But, GM wasn't trying to harken back to a plebian snoozemobile when they reused the GTO name, they were trying to capitalize on the muscle car lineage that cars like the judge had.

In reply to iansane :

Also true. The '05-'06 cars with the hoodscoops, dual exhaust and rear spoiler were definitely a step in the right direction. The Sport Appearance Package with the recessed grilles and different lower bumper also gave them a little more visual bite.

It didn't help that a year after they launched the GTO, Ford dropped the first of the retro Mustangs, after years of the pretty pedestrian-looking SN95 and New Edge cars.