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2004 GTO a fine achievement by GM
By AP
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Nearing the end of a 250-mile romp through the still smoky hills of Southern California earlier this month, I pulled over and handed the keys to Dave Himmelberg.
As program engineering manager for the new 2004 Pontiac GTO, he's one of the key figures responsible for bringing this legendary nameplate back to life.
While sitting in the passenger seat as we careened along Highway 33 through the **** Smith Wilderness Area, I closed my eyes and listened.
The deep, rumbling bass note of the 5.7-liter V-8 was intoxicating. With Himmelberg's foot heavy on the gas pedal, the big engine demanded attention. When his foot went to the brake, the roar subsided a bit but remained a sonic soother.
So, yes, based on exhaust note alone, this new rear-wheel-drive coupe that has born and built in Australia deserves to wear the name of one of the kings of American muscle cars.
To me, the 2004 GTO is a stunning achievement from General Motors. Its straight-line acceleration and mountain-curve handling, sporty and uncluttered interior with room for four adults and even its $32,495 base price (including destination) make it a winner.
In fact, only the milquetoast exterior disappoints me.
In short, this car sure doesn't look like one of those brazen, brawny GTOs from the `60s, or even what I think it might have looked like had it not gone away in 1974, but it sure sounds, sits and steers great.
But more on that later.
Credit for the new GTO goes to Bob Lutz, an automotive legend himself who worked at BMW, Ford and Chrysler and now serves as head of product development for GM and chairman of its North American operations.
Lutz drove the Holden Monaro in Australia and decided this rear-wheel-drive tourer would be a quick and appropriate way to get the GTO back in U.S. showrooms. Once approved, it only took 18 months for the car to reach U.S. buyers.
The original GTO was a $295 performance option on the Pontiac Tempest-LeMans back in 1964. Chief Engineer John DeLorean, who became famous making a car of his own, applied the name GTO (Italian for Gran Turismo Omologato, a label used to describe a car put together for racing).
Projected GTO sales of about 5,000 grew to more than 32,000 for that 1964 model. With a boost from Ronny & The Daytonas' "Little GTO" ("Three deuces and a four-speed and a 329, Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her whine"), the car became a hit. Over the next 10 years, more than half-million were sold with the 1969-1971 "Judge" GTOs earning particular loyalty.
But the gas crisis as well as changing times and changing tastes ended the muscle-car era. The last GTO was a 1974 model.
Over the next 30 years, compact cars, minivans and sport-utilities all became popular modes of personal transportation.
But, more recently, both nostalgia and performance have become hot trends with car buyers.
And that's where the new GTO comes in.
"We asked, `How do we rekindle the love affair that Americans had with GM when we had 50 percent market share?"' asked Mark Hogan, GM's group vice president for advanced vehicle development. "We looked back in the history and found that one of the things we did best was exciting, fun-to-drive muscle cars. Certainly, the GTO was one of the first of those."
So, starting in March 2002, engineers such as Himmelberg and Bob Reuter and their counterparts in Australia began turning that country's Monaro into this country's GTO.
In the end, it required 450 new parts, moving the gas tank in front of the rear axle and getting the vehicle to meet U.S. crash, emissions and cold-weather standards as the primary tasks.
And, getting it to sound right.
Early on, Himmelberg said, one of the Australian engineers rode with him. "She said, `This rumbling at idle. Don't you think we need to get rid of that?' I said, `Absolutely not. We want more of that."'
In the end, by adding resonators and changing "flow paths" of pipes and doing work to muffler and catalytic converters, he got the sound he wanted.
"It became almost like tuning an instrument," Himmelberg said. "You're going for a certain kind of harmony."
The final product is actually too loud to meet Australian noise pass-by standards, but it meets (barely) U.S. state and local limits and should please buyers.
To produce the new GTO so quickly, Hogan said, meant starting with a sound powertrain. This car has a 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 that's also used on the Corvette and is slightly revised from the one used in the Monaro. It produces 350 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 365 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm.
"Like the 1964 car, this vehicle more than anything was a powertrain program, like John DeLorean did back 40 years ago. We focused on making this car perform from a powertrain perspective like no other," said Reuter, vehicle chief engineer for GM's international and joint-venture programs.
On the road, this motor is a whooping, hollering joy to drive. GM lists 0 to 60 mph times of 5.3 seconds with the manual transmission - at $695, it's the only option available on the GTO - and 5.4 seconds with the four-speed automatic. (That standard shifter requires a $1,000 gas-guzzler penalty, too, because it does 16 mpg in city driving and 21 mpg on the highway, vs. 17 and 29 for the manual.)
For the record, the 1964 GTO had a 325-horsepower, 389-cubic-inch V-8 and a three-speed manual with a Hurst shifter.
One of the biggest problems, to me, is Pontiac's signature front end, with its dual-port grille, wide lights and low, integrated fog lights. I see the GTO and I think Grand Am, a cheap model that's frequently found in rental fleets.
Yes, all Pontiacs share this family resemblance, but what if the family isn't particularly good-looking?
Notably, while the three-letter GTO label gets liberal use here, only Pontiac's arrow symbol, but not its name, is found on the car.
"I think you're going to see us doing more of these global collaboration efforts," Gillespie said.
Hogan also mentioned GM-Brazil as a possible source of future U.S. products. Over the past 10 years, GM has been globalizing into one company, he said.
The new GTO is one result of that thinking. And it's a good one.
Full Article Here
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By AP
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Nearing the end of a 250-mile romp through the still smoky hills of Southern California earlier this month, I pulled over and handed the keys to Dave Himmelberg.
As program engineering manager for the new 2004 Pontiac GTO, he's one of the key figures responsible for bringing this legendary nameplate back to life.
While sitting in the passenger seat as we careened along Highway 33 through the **** Smith Wilderness Area, I closed my eyes and listened.
The deep, rumbling bass note of the 5.7-liter V-8 was intoxicating. With Himmelberg's foot heavy on the gas pedal, the big engine demanded attention. When his foot went to the brake, the roar subsided a bit but remained a sonic soother.
So, yes, based on exhaust note alone, this new rear-wheel-drive coupe that has born and built in Australia deserves to wear the name of one of the kings of American muscle cars.
To me, the 2004 GTO is a stunning achievement from General Motors. Its straight-line acceleration and mountain-curve handling, sporty and uncluttered interior with room for four adults and even its $32,495 base price (including destination) make it a winner.
In fact, only the milquetoast exterior disappoints me.
In short, this car sure doesn't look like one of those brazen, brawny GTOs from the `60s, or even what I think it might have looked like had it not gone away in 1974, but it sure sounds, sits and steers great.
But more on that later.
Credit for the new GTO goes to Bob Lutz, an automotive legend himself who worked at BMW, Ford and Chrysler and now serves as head of product development for GM and chairman of its North American operations.
Lutz drove the Holden Monaro in Australia and decided this rear-wheel-drive tourer would be a quick and appropriate way to get the GTO back in U.S. showrooms. Once approved, it only took 18 months for the car to reach U.S. buyers.
The original GTO was a $295 performance option on the Pontiac Tempest-LeMans back in 1964. Chief Engineer John DeLorean, who became famous making a car of his own, applied the name GTO (Italian for Gran Turismo Omologato, a label used to describe a car put together for racing).
Projected GTO sales of about 5,000 grew to more than 32,000 for that 1964 model. With a boost from Ronny & The Daytonas' "Little GTO" ("Three deuces and a four-speed and a 329, Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her whine"), the car became a hit. Over the next 10 years, more than half-million were sold with the 1969-1971 "Judge" GTOs earning particular loyalty.
But the gas crisis as well as changing times and changing tastes ended the muscle-car era. The last GTO was a 1974 model.
Over the next 30 years, compact cars, minivans and sport-utilities all became popular modes of personal transportation.
But, more recently, both nostalgia and performance have become hot trends with car buyers.
And that's where the new GTO comes in.
"We asked, `How do we rekindle the love affair that Americans had with GM when we had 50 percent market share?"' asked Mark Hogan, GM's group vice president for advanced vehicle development. "We looked back in the history and found that one of the things we did best was exciting, fun-to-drive muscle cars. Certainly, the GTO was one of the first of those."
So, starting in March 2002, engineers such as Himmelberg and Bob Reuter and their counterparts in Australia began turning that country's Monaro into this country's GTO.
In the end, it required 450 new parts, moving the gas tank in front of the rear axle and getting the vehicle to meet U.S. crash, emissions and cold-weather standards as the primary tasks.
And, getting it to sound right.
Early on, Himmelberg said, one of the Australian engineers rode with him. "She said, `This rumbling at idle. Don't you think we need to get rid of that?' I said, `Absolutely not. We want more of that."'
In the end, by adding resonators and changing "flow paths" of pipes and doing work to muffler and catalytic converters, he got the sound he wanted.
"It became almost like tuning an instrument," Himmelberg said. "You're going for a certain kind of harmony."
The final product is actually too loud to meet Australian noise pass-by standards, but it meets (barely) U.S. state and local limits and should please buyers.
To produce the new GTO so quickly, Hogan said, meant starting with a sound powertrain. This car has a 5.7-liter LS1 V-8 that's also used on the Corvette and is slightly revised from the one used in the Monaro. It produces 350 horsepower at 5,200 rpm and 365 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm.
"Like the 1964 car, this vehicle more than anything was a powertrain program, like John DeLorean did back 40 years ago. We focused on making this car perform from a powertrain perspective like no other," said Reuter, vehicle chief engineer for GM's international and joint-venture programs.
On the road, this motor is a whooping, hollering joy to drive. GM lists 0 to 60 mph times of 5.3 seconds with the manual transmission - at $695, it's the only option available on the GTO - and 5.4 seconds with the four-speed automatic. (That standard shifter requires a $1,000 gas-guzzler penalty, too, because it does 16 mpg in city driving and 21 mpg on the highway, vs. 17 and 29 for the manual.)
For the record, the 1964 GTO had a 325-horsepower, 389-cubic-inch V-8 and a three-speed manual with a Hurst shifter.
One of the biggest problems, to me, is Pontiac's signature front end, with its dual-port grille, wide lights and low, integrated fog lights. I see the GTO and I think Grand Am, a cheap model that's frequently found in rental fleets.
Yes, all Pontiacs share this family resemblance, but what if the family isn't particularly good-looking?
Notably, while the three-letter GTO label gets liberal use here, only Pontiac's arrow symbol, but not its name, is found on the car.
"I think you're going to see us doing more of these global collaboration efforts," Gillespie said.
Hogan also mentioned GM-Brazil as a possible source of future U.S. products. Over the past 10 years, GM has been globalizing into one company, he said.
The new GTO is one result of that thinking. And it's a good one.
Full Article Here
