Autosavant: 2008 Pontiac G8 GT Review

[69Firebird400]

It’s not every day that a car with a 361 HP, 6.0 liter V8 is introduced in the US. Even less often is that vehicle a four-door sedan. Never in recent memory has such a vehicle been introduced by GM. Its price hovering around $30,000 makes it a rare vehicle indeed. But perhaps not for long. Because with that big V8 under the hood at that price, the Pontiac G8 GT is a performance bargain. And it's a great car, too.

Besides being the most powerful sedan available under $30,000, the G8 is the best sedan Pontiac has sold in decades. Gone are the bulbous body cladding and horrid interior materials. In their place are discreet rocker panel extensions below the doors, shapely wheel arches, and yet another well-implemented GM interior featuring nice perforated leather seats.

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[PMC the 1st]

What Works:
Fast, nimble and comfortable, and an awesome value besides; Pontiac builds the poor man's 5 Series.

What Needs Work:
Soft brake pedal; no redline on the tach; exhaust is too quiet.

Bottom Line:
This is the Pontiac we've all been waiting for.
More Than Just Thrust
And when the road turns, things get even better. All G8s, V6- or V8-powered, get the same suspension tuning. GM calls the setup FE2, and it delivers a ride and handling compromise that falls just short of perfect.

This big, heavy sedan is fast on a mountain road. Very fast. But it also rides right, with proper compliance, buttoned-down body motions and a tight overall feel...

With that tank topped off with premium... We flogged it with an empty right seat and found the G8's balance to be ideal. There's good turn-in, slight understeer at the limit and power oversteer when you want it.

Even with its standard stability control off, the G8 GT is fast, stable and just plain fun to toss around. So there may be a bit more body roll than there should be, and the steering wheel feels a bit large at first, but neither gets in the way of the fun or the pace. We also have to thank Pontiac for the G8's soft rev limiter and the rev-matching downshifts of the six-speed automatic. Together they add to the G8's lick on a mountain road but not necessarily in our handling tests.

At the test track, the G8 GT circles our skid pad at 0.85g and zips through our slalom course at over 65 mph. These numbers are behind smaller cars like the BMW 335i and the Infiniti G35 S, however, all but match the performance of the Dodge Charger SRT8 and the last BMW 535i we tested.

The G8 GT's four-wheel disc brakes are also worthy. They help produce a stopping distance from 60 mph of just 109 feet with excellent fade resistance, and they can hang with the best from Germany. But they're also activated by a soft pedal that provides little feel. It's the one real dynamic flaw in an otherwise impressive package.

This time Pontiac's engineers cared how their car felt, not just how it performed. For the first time in a long time, they decided to sweat the details. And the result is a Pontiac without any goofy missteps, colossal blunders or overtones of trailer-park style. They even resisted the temptation to put a big silly wing on it, leaving the G8's two hood scoops and four real exhaust pipes to state its case.

Restraint also found its way to the G8's interior. When you consider its well-shaped seats, simple white-on-black gauges and two-knob climate controls, it's clear that Pontiac's designers didn't take any unnecessary risks. Instead they built an honest, interesting interior that doesn't try too hard. Even our test car's optional red-on-black interior fails to feel overdone.

Pontiac obviously looked to Audi for the overall look and layout of the interior, and the results are a real argument for such acceptable plagiarism. Tactile feel is high and the interior's simple layout works. The driving position is also spot-on thanks to a tilt and telescoping steering wheel and a height-adjustable driver seat.

Rear seat room is also worth mentioning. You can play volleyball back there. And the trunk? Huge: 17.5 cubic feet.

Better Than the 6000 STE
And so we're smitten. Won over. The Australian-built 2008 Pontiac G8 GT is the best Pontiac since John Z. invented the GTO. No, not that GTO. The first GTO in 1964. You know, the one Ronny and the Daytonas immortalized in song. The one that started the whole muscle car thing. The Tiger.

No, we're not kidding.

The G8 GT is better than the 6000 STE, the Bonneville SSEi, the Grand Prix GTP, the G6 GXP and the Aztek UGLY. It even makes the Solstice feel like a half-ass effort. When it hits dealers in early March, the 40,000 examples of the G8 being shipped in from Down Under will reinvent Pontiac along the way.

Pontiac needs a win and the G8 is it. Just ask Motorhead Steve.



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[GMfan1111]

the lack of a redline on the tach is a curious omission but other than that I have always liked the G8. However In the long run Pontiac should offer a better V6 alternative like the DI 3.6 liter V6 for customers who still want to have fun but are alittle more stingy about fuel costs than V8 customers