Pontiac G8

[Modernmusclecar]

Originally Posted by Vegas Bound

Point is, street racing posts are a banable topic on this forum.

Ya but most take place in Mexico or alot on private roads...the right location wording on here is key. It's been like that for years

[PhantomBlack]

Originally Posted by NEstyle

Don't forget about the PPVs. They're cooler than G8s and SSs, but I'm biased.

I almost bought a caprice before the camaro, sweet looking ride man I love them.

[bayarea408]

lol its a damn Yacht, bigger than the truck behind it, very cool.

[pyroguy]

The G8, SS, and Caprice are all awesome cars. The G8/SS has about a 6 inch longer wheel base than the Camaro and the Caprice has approximately another 6 inches longer wheelbase. All are freaking sweet and will surprise a lot of people who don't know what they are. The SS is probably the best road course car, the Caprice is going to be the cheapest car to purchase for a build, and the G8 is a great all around car as it is the lightest of them all.

[NEstyle]

Originally Posted by pyroguy

The G8, SS, and Caprice are all awesome cars. The G8/SS has about a 6 inch longer wheel base than the Camaro and the Caprice has approximately another 6 inches longer wheelbase. All are freaking sweet and will surprise a lot of people who don't know what they are. The SS is probably the best road course car, the Caprice is going to be the cheapest car to purchase for a build, and the G8 is a great all around car as it is the lightest of them all.

The G8s and Caprices aren't quite that long, lol. They are long, though.

Here are the wheelbases:

118.5 ppv
114.7 g8
112.3 camaro

[SlingShot]

Originally Posted by pyroguy

The G8, SS, and Caprice are all awesome cars. The G8/SS has about a 6 inch longer wheel base than the Camaro and the Caprice has approximately another 6 inches longer wheelbase. All are freaking sweet and will surprise a lot of people who don't know what they are. The SS is probably the best road course car, the Caprice is going to be the cheapest car to purchase for a build, and the G8 is a great all around car as it is the lightest of them all.

I loves me some Chevy SS. The 2014 SS was proven to be faster around a road course than the 15-17 with MRC. The SS was built on a improved Zeta chassis, that used all light weight materials. This improved the weight balance to almost 50-50. The improved chassis was referred to as the Zeta 2 chassis. IMO it will out handle the 5th gen Camaro.

[pyroguy]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

I loves me some Chevy SS. The 2014 SS was proven to be faster around a road course than the 15-17 with MRC. The SS was built on a improved Zeta chassis, that used all light weight materials. This improved the weight balance to almost 50-50. The improved chassis was referred to as the Zeta 2 chassis. IMO it will out handle the 5th gen Camaro.

I love my sleeper vehicles. My Camaro is not a sleeper, but my G8 was. I'd love to get my hands on a Chevy SS. Even with the slower track time, I'd take one with MRC for the everyday driving experience. Of course I'd have to get a manual because what vehicles are out there as a V8 RWD sports sedan with a manual transmission anymore?

[NEstyle]

Originally Posted by pyroguy

I'd take one with MRC for the everyday driving experience.

Don't forget the expensive repair bill when it shits the bed!

[lbls1]

Chevy and GM should re-think the affordable performance sedan segment. Back in '08 the G8 had real potential, but its only fault was that it was introduced on a fledging Pontiac line that was soon to close. It was still a good idea when Chevy picked it up a few years later, but IMO it missed some important styling updates. If this line took off under Pontiac 12 years ago, who knows that it could've still been with us today.

[102SS]

Originally Posted by lbls1

Chevy and GM should re-think the affordable performance sedan segment. Back in '08 the G8 had real potential, but its only fault was that it was introduced on a fledging Pontiac line that was soon to close. It was still a good idea when Chevy picked it up a few years later, but IMO it missed some important styling updates. If this line took off under Pontiac 12 years ago, who knows that it could've still been with us today.

Not going to happen there is too much dollar investment and no ROI on it.

You want a 2 door coupe Vette or Camaro

You want a 4 door sport sedan Cadillac has it.

Seen a nice Black CT5 V yesterday it looked sharp I bet the price was too

[pyroguy]

Originally Posted by lbls1

Chevy and GM should re-think the affordable performance sedan segment. Back in '08 the G8 had real potential, but its only fault was that it was introduced on a fledging Pontiac line that was soon to close. It was still a good idea when Chevy picked it up a few years later, but IMO it missed some important styling updates. If this line took off under Pontiac 12 years ago, who knows that it could've still been with us today.

Unfortunately Pontiac got the political ax. In the bailouts from the government, as I understand it, GM had to cut so much "fat" in order to get the money and the government said you already have a reasonably priced every person everyday kind of car manufacturer. It's either Chevy or Pontiac and Chevy is too big to kill.

That said, I think the G8 would have done magnificent had it been given a proper chance. To me it should have been a Bonneville, or Grand Prix with the marketing campaign they started for the '08's where it was the most powerful car you could buy for under $30k ($29,995 with zero options). Also, they made the G8 virtually uncustomizable. You could get a sunroof, sport package which was some fancy pedals and 19" wheels, leather package which gave you leather and an option for red inserts, and that was about it. I get that the car was coming over from Australia, but it could have been a big hit if they'd moved it to America or had a plant in America and Australia because the Charger has DOMINATED the sport sedan market with wild and crazy engines.

Also, the SS had the interior the G8 should have had, or the G8 had the exterior the SS should have had. Whichever way you want to look at it, the SS is an awesome car, but is very vanilla when it comes to exterior styling, IMO and the G8, while I still want another one, had very minimal interior styling and the darn hazard light button was a giant pile of garbage (if you've owned one, you know what I'm talking about). I think the G8 could have been a BIG hit for Pontiac if done differently, but as a sideline quarterback I think I could do a lot of things better at GM.

Originally Posted by 102SS

Not going to happen there is too much dollar investment and no ROI on it.

You want a 2 door coupe Vette or Camaro

You want a 4 door sport sedan Cadillac has it.

Seen a nice Black CT5 V yesterday it looked sharp I bet the price was too

If GM, Ford, and basically everyone else wasn't killing off non-sports cars there could absolutely be a market for it. The problem is that everyone wants a SUV, truck, or crossover right now. To be honest, I'm surprised that Cadillac is still pumping out as many cars as they are. However, I didn't know that the CTS was officially dead yet so I looked up the CT5-V. What the f*** is this 2.0L 4 cylinder "V series" garbage?! Even the CT6-V has a very small displacement V8 with 4.2L, even though it's twin turbo. I'll give it that the CT6-V is quick, but wow. At least the 6 still has a V8. The CT5-V is 360hp and 405lb-ft torque. That's kinda sad especially since the ATS-V was over 400hp. What GM needs to do is come out with a performance SUV to answer Chrysler's SRT series SUV/crossovers. Can you imagine a twin turbo V6 AWD Blazer or twin turbo V8 AWD Tahoe?

[lbls1]

^You bring up some very good points. Here are a couple of observations, however.

1. For as much as the crossover and SUV lines are popular, it seems that Honda, Toyota, Acura, Lexus and even BMW are not having obvious problems when it comes to manufacturing cars and sedans. The ones that are having the problems are the american manufacturers.
2. Some american makes, as I see it, are putting themselves in a very bad situation by chasing the current crossover trend. Buick comes to mind when I say this. Its not that Buick crossovers are bad, some are actually attractive. The problem is that all of Buick's competitors are making attractive crossovers, with quite a few of them being sold at reachable price points. The same thing could be said for Chevrolet and Cadillac. By making a company as an entity that only sells one type of automobile, one deprives itself of a competitive edge by not competing in other genres that are still current. As it stands, it seems that both Toyota and Honda are still selling their sedans at very competitive quantities. I feel that Buick and possibly Chevrolet are setting themselves up for failure by not competing in wider markets.
3. The american crossovers (its my opinion) are not overly compelling to look at or to own. Blazer is somewhat attractive, but to be honest I could very easily look at any crossover with the same response to its visual envelope. It just seems that as a whole the american offerings are undewhelming, even when you compare it to the offerings of a decade ago. To sum up, to me it looks like there is still confusion within the management of the american car makers, and by not resolving on a convincing line of vehicles to sell it may worsen their position in the automotive market.

[lbls1]

Originally Posted by 102SS

Not going to happen there is too much dollar investment and no ROI on it.

You want a 2 door coupe Vette or Camaro

You want a 4 door sport sedan Cadillac has it.

Seen a nice Black CT5 V yesterday it looked sharp I bet the price was too

I realize that it won't happen. Its very obvious, as even the current lines you mentioned are having their own problems surviving in the market.

I was just saying that it could have been different if the handling of the G8 was more successful 13 years ago. We could have carved an additional spot for an attractive sedan that doesn't necessarily require you to spend a fortune on it. Now, anything that has a lot of content will cost you. A v8 Camaro, or a Corvette costs a good coin. You do get your money's worth out of them, however; But they are still expensive. The problem is that if they continue to not sell we will lose even the few players that we have left that have any sense of content and desire. Forbid it that the automotive market will become a market solely of crossovers and hybrids, but it certainly looks like it is headed in that direction.

[MTCobra]

Originally Posted by pyroguy

The G8, SS, and Caprice are all awesome cars. The G8/SS has about a 6 inch longer wheel base than the Camaro and the Caprice has approximately another 6 inches longer wheelbase. All are freaking sweet and will surprise a lot of people who don't know what they are. The SS is probably the best road course car, the Caprice is going to be the cheapest car to purchase for a build, and the G8 is a great all around car as it is the lightest of them all.

I also owned a G8 GT. Headers, intake ECM/TCM tunes, CTS-V calipers. Wheels and tires, sway bars, etc. Thing was a sleeper and surprised a lot of people. Lots of guys have built monster G8’s.

I wanted a manual so I traded it in and eventually bought a ZL1 but I keep
Looking for a G8 GXP manual to strip and run at the road course.