teal98

Well I finally pulled the trigger on a new G8 GT.

The various rebates were too much to ignore, as was the chance to have a piece of history, so I now have a new 2009 G8 GT. If I'd been a little quicker to make up my mind, I'd have a GXP (yes, I can tell the difference!), but the GT is a great car

I'll still have a Camaro for a second car (probably get the old teal '98 back from my brother and give him the '02, so that I can enjoy the T-tops).

Anybody interested in a 1970 Cutlass Supreme (no room in the driveway)? It's a four door. Minimal collector value. Too old for the "Cash for clunkers".

SSbaby

Congrats! G8 is an exceptionally well balanced car, especially for its size.

Even though I can have a VE now, I'd rather save my pennies for a Camaro if/when it becomes available down here!

Enjoy!

Z284ever

Congrats! What color?

teal98

Thanks!

It's Panther Black Metallic and has the Premium+Sport packages. I'm looking forward to a car with room for 4.

teal98

I looked carefully at a Dodge Charger, but I prefer the look of the G8, and I'd always been jealous of you folks down under (until April '08).

I hope you get the chance at a Camaro. I was considering waiting, but finally decided to go ahead with the G8, whose look I actually prefer (I'm probably in a minority here), four doors and all.

Z284ever

Sounds nice. If I were in the market for a new car right now, the G8 would be at the very top of my list.

SSbaby

teal98

I look forward to your review of the car once you manage to distance yourself from it.

I've only ever driven the auto VE V8 and most have complained about the transmission's temperamental attitude... but driven 'normally' it's pretty good.

Having said that, I will only consider a manual as my next car as I have two automatics in the family and both are very average but competent (Camry, Highlander)!

Darth Xed

Congrats! Awesome car!

Jason E

Congrats! I'm jealous. I priced out a GT to replace my wife's car, and did find a helluva deal...but $520 a month for 5 years, when we pay $311 on her Comp G and have only 2 years left to pay on it, was more than she wanted to pay. The only real reason we thought about it was so we too could have one of the last Pontiacs Her Comp G only has 36k on it, and she drives about 5k miles a year now...no reason to tie up a ton of cash in a car for her.

It still hasn't sunk in with me that Pontiac is dead...I'm taking this WAY harder than I did Olds...

CLEAN

I'll give you one now (been 2 weeks today)! VERY happy w/ it. The gripes are minor...
1. The gauges are a bit hard to see, they're recessed into the IP, and there is a reflection from the silver accent strip on the dash behind the steering wheel. This problem is solved by turning on the parking lights during the day (DRL's dont turn on the dash lights), this lights up the gauges, ala Corvette, during the day and makes them much more readable.

2. The DIC is a little funky, it has an average MPG, but not an instant, and the average only updates like every 30 seconds, so thats a bit different.

3. On the radio, if you want to tune in a station, you don't use the tuning ****, you use the cd track select button. Over here, generally you have a volume **** and a tuning ****, and everything else is buttons. This one is a bit backwards because what appears to be a tuning **** is actually for the audio menu. Not a problem, but just different.

4. The transmission is a bit jumpy. The upshifts are ok, but you can really feel the downshifts when slowing down. Once or twice I've had the car lurch on me as I was almost stopped because it hit a lower gear, and I wasn't on the brakes enough, and it actually jumped a bit. Never had that before in an automatic.

5. The cupholders are almost a little too big, cans and coffee cups rattle around in there quite a bit.

Now, as far as the likes go, pretty much everything else! . The car is solid as a rock, seats are GREAT, though I don't like the manual tilt, that's a pain. Am getting used to the center mounted window swithches, haven't had those since our '92 Camaro . Good handling, great acceleration, good brakes, good visibility, doors open wiiiide, rear a/c vents for the little monkey back there, and kick *ss styling! I'm VERY glad I got this. I did manage to ding a wheel yesterday for the first time I think EVER (been driving for 22 years), just missed a turn into a parking lot and caught the back of the rear wheel. It's fixable, but still tough to swallow on a 2 week old car.

I would highly to extremely highly recommend this car to anyone looking for a 4 door sedan.

I can kind of relate, our SS only had 38k on it, but dam, this is SOOO much more car! I'm not trying to spend your money for you, but go out for a good long test drive in one. On my initial 5 mile or so test drive, to be honest, I wasn't that much impressed w/ it. It was obviously way more rewarding to drive than the SS was, but not so much that we wanted to pull the trigger, so we didn't. After a week, the dealer came up on their trade in for our car to make their car move, so we took it. It was only after driving it for a few days that I really started to appreciate it for what it is. It is nothing short of what the intermediate American sedan WOULD HAVE BEEN had they not fell off the FWD cliff in the 80's. The fact that it's the last Pontiac didn't hurt either of course. In closing, I'd just say to take one out on a real long test drive, and decide based on that, not on the $200 a month, I mean you're getting a new car here so the loan term is subjective. Wifey can't pry it out of my hands now, I drove the vette a bit yesterday, and I think it'd been about a week since it'd been started.

routesixtysixer

1. This is my single biggest gripe about this car. Did they not drive it in sunshine before signing off on the cluster design? I have considered contacting Chris White to see if he can program the cluster illumination to default to "on" all the time. I know he can fix the DIC so it has white illumination instead of orange/red, so I think this is worth checking on. I have also considering pulling the clear lense over the cluster to fix the terrible reflection problem.

2. Agreed; my 08 Sierra DIC is much more functional and much easier to read/operate.

3. Never really noticed this before.

4. You may have a problem here. My tranny does not do this; I know they have had trouble with sticky servos in the 6L80. If this continues I would call to dealer service attention.

5. True.

I have about 1,500 miles on mine now and it's currently #1 on my all-time list of cars I have owned (and, believe me, that's a long list).

SharpShooter_SS

Excellent choice, congrats man...... that would be the combo I'd go for were it possible. Enjoy!! Too bad about the GXP though, that would be sweet, especially with the m6.

CLEAN

I think if we just black out the silver strip behind the wheel, either w/ black tape or flat black paint if you're brave enough, that should all but eliminate it. It's the top edge of the strip that is the problem.


I think I've found out the reason......

R377

Congrats on the purchase! I think that's what, 4 or 5 G8 GTs that have been purchased by regulars in this forum now? Who says we don't put our money where out mouths are

For the griping, there's not much significant from me, mostly petty stuff. Overall this is a fantastic car.

1. I have no problem with reading the gauges, not sure why others do
2. The car is a bit too heavy, and consequently a little too thirsty (I've never done better than 24 mpg on the highway no matter how much I baby it)
3. The HVAC doesn't remember to keep the external temp displayed
4. The centre stack buttons don't appear to have been reversed for LHD (e.g. HVAC power is on the lower right instead of lower left)
5. No autodimming mirror
6. The radio controls are definitely not very intuitive
7. Too quiet ... I replaced the mid muffler and resonators with an X-pipe to help a little bit, and have now resorted to the "washer mod" to give me more sound.
8. No RDS on the radio

Jason E

To be completely honest, I've never driven one I'm afraid to! Unlike pretty much EVERY customer that walks through my door, when it comes to me buying a car, I do the numbers first and drive later. It keeps me more unbiased, unfortunately!! If I can make the numbers work in my head, THEN I go for a test drive.

Because of where my wife and I are at in life (bought a better house 10 months ago, she has student loans, have 2 horses that cost as much as kids in many ways, I'm still putting the finishing touches on the RS, have house upgrade plans in the works), spending more money on a car she'll barely drive just doesn't work for us Sadly, if it was a toy for me? We could justify it more Something I'd keep as a toy for a long time, and truly enjoy, is a different story for us. She came from an '03 Ion that I despised into the Comp G. If she still had the Ion, I doubt she'd care all that much. To her, that was more money she could've spent on horses....or shoes...

She likes cars, just not enough to pay extra for one herself. If I needed a DD (I'm blessed to have demos, but cursed because I don't have a DD I REALLY want to drive), I'd probably be buying one today, taking it off the road in the winter and using my truck, and driving it until the wheels fell off as a tribute to my favorite GM division of all time.

Just not in the cards for us, at this point. But I'm really glad to see so many GM enthusiasts embracing this car....hope it sends a message to GM about the value this car brings to the table! I'm happy for all you G8 owners...its the first Pontiac made since '02, aside from the GP GXP, I'd pony up my money to purchase brand new, given the right conditions.