Wanted to post this here as this is the only portion of this website I check and this seems like a good place to post such a thread....

I posted this on various G8 boards....

First and foremost... I'm a GM dude... If you cut me open I would bleed GM Blue out of my veins. That said I always stuck up for GM and simply could not believe all of the stories I've heard about bad GM quality.

I'm 34 years old and have alway had GM products in my life... My father, brother and rest of my family is the same way! Even now I own 2 Camaros, a GMC truck, Saturn VUE and will probly own more in the future.

That out of the way... This G8 GT has got to be the biggest dissapointment I've ever had to experience in all of my car life!

I soooo wanted to Love my car... the premise of a Great looking V8 RWD GM Family/business type car was 100% what I've wanted from GM in the last 10 years. Yes I know Caddy has the CTS but in my profession a Pontiac sets a better message to my customers than a Caddy.

Since owning this car I've experienced...
1.) ALL of the Horrible Suspension problems that are plauging quite a few here in this community... It's not only unsafe but completely EMBARRASING! You can hear the issues inside and outside of the car!
2.) HORRIBLE Paint quality, the paint chips so easily that it looks like someone took a sand blaster to my car! Not just on the front but ALL over! My old Impala with over 200K on the clock looked like a show car by comparison!
3.) Failing door locks, both drivers side door locks are DEAD! I have to manually lock both and even then it's a struggle depending on where it's positioned.
4.) I get an intermittant transmission slip when going down the highway. The Dealer says it's the transmission trying to "Find" itself through down shifts and not to worry. ???
5.) **** Poor performance! Even with a Vector tune I have not had good runs on the 3 times I've gone to an 1/8th mile track. I drag race for a hobby and I know how to make a car run but sadly this car cannot keep up with cars of equal size & HP

I'm in sales and I put on average 1K/wk in miles... When I bought the car I said to myself that I'm goign to drive this thing till the wheels fall off! I'm now at 52K and far out of warranty! I had no idea that after 1.5 years of owning it that the wheels might just fall off for real! Worst part of this is that NONE of these problems arose until just a few months ago at about 42-45K on the clock!

I can't believe I'm saying this but if you're looking at purchasing one of these cars you'll be better off if you run, not walk, RUN away from the dealer!

So, here I am... Stuck!

I'm going to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ with Pedders, salvage yards, aftermarket parts and paint shops just to bring me back to whole again!


WORST CAR I'VE EVER PURCHASED!

 

For someone who drives so much I don't see why you don't automatically buy a 100k mile warranty just so you're covered for the first couple of years? And while I'm sorry you're having so many issues, the fact is that no matter how good QC is there are lemons that do slip the net, & unfortunately you found 1.

 

I agree with you on the warranty... It was a huge mistake... I've always done that but skipped this time... My fault...

As for a Lemon? A Simple search on any one of the G8 boards will net you many results of people experiencing these same issues... the Suspension especially...

 

Not sure how "**** poor performance" is a quality issue. Every G8 GT I've seen tested by the mags performs pretty well (and pretty consistently from car to car, it seems).

I don't know what suspension issues you are talking about, but certainly the other issues you mention would **** me off. Though you'd have to be more specific about the trans issue. "Slip" = ?? Torque converter unlocking briefly? Does it happen at steady throttle, or are you dipping into the pedal (perhaps without realizing it), which can cause the TC to unlock in preparation for a downshift, should you cross a shift threshold.

In any case, I'm sorry to hear you are disappointed with your car.

 

Well, now we know why they didn't want to continue offering the G8 in Chevy showrooms.

In seriousness, sorry to hear about your troubles. I wonder if our resident Aussie SSbaby can chime in with his thoughts. I always thought people were pretty satisfied with their G8s.

 

Of all the GM cars I (or my wife) have had with a model year of 2000 or newer, which would include:

2001 Monte Carlo SS
2002 Monte Carlo SS
2004 Grand Prix GTP
2004 GTO
2006 Grand Prix GXP
2006 Envoy SLT
2008 SRX4
2008 Envoy SLT

The only one that had what I would consider an issue was the GTO... it had what I'd call the bad paint problem where it seemed to chip easier than others cars Ive had, like you are experiencing... but more seriously, I had the infamous GTO's 'strut rub' suspension problem with the front tires.


That's interesting considering the GTO and G8 are related and, if I am, right, were assembled at the same factory in Aus?

Is Camaro having any related issues to the G8 problems? Considering they are related as well, but built at different plants...

 

I've owned only GM cars and never had a problem. Aussy cars not up to American quality? Or did you just get a bad one. That sucks, but it happens.

 

Camaro did have issues before, during and after launch, but if you'll recall production would quickly be haulted (such as with the transmission issue), fixed and started again. So GMNA has been pretty responsive to problems with "their" version of Zeta.

Are quality controls not as tight in Australia?

 

Can you go into a little more detail about some of the suspension problems?

 

Suspension problems are affecting a lot of G8s. I have barely 10k miles on the clock and my front end is clunking over bumps. The day I had it into the dealer, I was the second G8 with the exact same problem. The ball joints in the lower control arms of the front suspension have some kind of issue causing them to fail, requiring replacement of the entire LCA. Because it's happening so frequently, the parts are always back ordered. I'm hoping mine come in before my dealership has to stop doing business at the end of this month (their franchise was unceremoniously yanked by GM).

Oddly enough, this is not a problem with Aussie cars, just NA. Which leads to speculation it could be some kind of environmental issue (salt/water getting past the seals).

BTW, word is an announcement will be coming from GM in October regarding the LCAs. Not sure if it's a recall or what, but with any luck you'll get it covered under some kind of program. At the same time they're supposed to have improved replacement parts so they're not just putting the same crap back on. Let's hope, at least.

 

There's a bulletin about to go out about the suspension noise. Don't know when exactly it will go out but it's in the pipeline.

 

Fingers crossed...mines been perfect so far.

 

Ours as been solid so far as well.

 

I have had experiance with two G8's and the only issues I have had are...

On the performance side...your car must not be tuned right. My GT picked up 45 rwhp with tune and LT's. I had it running 13.2's all day long. The GT is tuned very conservativly from the factory, so it responds well to tunes.

In terms of build quality..

- Both G8's and my GTO were delivered with swirls in the paint. I have had issues with the paint coming off the door handles on the GTO. No chipping issues with the G8.
- Both A6's would jerk around and act stupid on acceleration.
- The GXP has a leak in the roof somewhere I just found out about today. We have had steady rain for a few days now, and I went to pull out the development and like a half cup of water flew out of where the A-pillar and headliner meet. Needless to say it will be going to the dealer.

As for the GTO, it has had some issues with busted bumper clips from the factory, backseat coming apart, trunk latch breaking. The standard issues those cars have. It only has 11K miles a is about to go out of warranty..haha.

 

First, I don't think you're overreacting.

I've harped for years on stuff similar to this.

Now, I know that all car companys have problems, and I think that by and large GM does a better job than most, but that's simply not good enough. ANY flaw with the vehicle that can be substantiated is inexcusable and many of them are avoidable.

GM needs to step up to the plate with your car on everything I see on your list except the paint chips. Paint chips are about impossible to quantify in normal terms. Dirt roads? Lots of pothole repairs in your area? Gravel trucks about? Could be about a million things. Touch it up if it's an issue for you.