Actually I'm the opposite. Manufacturer's studio teaser pics always seem a little cold to me since every nuance of lighting and angles is calculated to the nth degree. You kinda get the feeling you're not seeing how the car will *really* look. But the pic of the black car in that article shows some nice lines under natural lighting, and I think gives you a better idea of how it will look in the real world. It looks pretty darn good to me and I can't wait to see one in person.

 

Nope it isn't. My VE has bad wheel hop (in the wet) from the driver side rear wheel, but none from the passenger side rear! A tuner in aus explored this issue and tried everything with all the bushes in the IRS (including replacing the bushes with custom made metal bushes!) and was not able to cure it with bushes. He found that replacing the standard spring/shock with a good aftermarket spring/shock combo almost completely fixed the issue.

This seems to be what I have found with my car. After complaining to the dealer, all they did was tell me my tyre pressures were to high then dropped them way to low (didn't fix the issue either...). I took my car to the local pedders and they put it on their shock testing machine. While the front 2 shocks were identical the rear 2 weren't. The driver side rear (the one that has the wheel hop) was found to be softer than the other rear shock. Pedders didn't believe it would be outside of the 'manufacturing tolerances' of the OEM shock (but it was getting close to their tolerance), so it looks like I just got unlucky.

On the VE it is all about getting the shock to control the wheel and spring, and my softer shock isn't capable of doing that

On wheels, anything less than 19" looks small, simple as that!! There is a reason you can order 20" wheels from the factory on every VE model 18" wheels should be the bare minimum on the VE! 22" are not uncommon (aftermarket)

18" = meh
19" = good
20" = nice

The G8 concept had 20" HSV wheels. They are easy to get confused with 19" as HSV sells the concept wheels in both 19" and 20".

BTW, if your looking to buy the concept wheels you had better have a thick wallet. Expect US$3000 minimum (!!!!) for a set.

 

So all those times GM let enthusists from this board drive the concept Camaro and post what they thought is meaningless also?

For me, the G8 is a GTO with all the negatives fixed, like back seats I can get in and a usable trunk. I think many GTO owners (including myself) will be seriously looking at one of these. I also suspect that many of the people who passed on the GTO because they need a car with a usable trunk, and backseat (there were a lot of them) will be all over this car. What will be interesting will be how the traditional Gran Prix buyers adapt to this car and RWD. Chicago was the Grand Prix biggest maket...and I can't see many current GP owners there going for RWD in the snow.

The biggest disappointments in this car I see so far are XM or and touchscreen stereo without the nav. I also do not like any of the current wheels offered.

 

Also the car in the top picture is a V6 car if you go by the wheels, which is why it looks so homely.

 

I thought I should add a pic of 22" wheels on a VE. They aren't very good 22" but I can't help that :P This car is also lowered and those wheels make the HSV brakes look small!

 

^that looks nasty.

 

+1....

 

Good post!

 

No, I didn't say it was meaningless. The G8 is a real car. Just saying that an unbiased review would probably be more interesting. As far as using the Camaro Concept as an example, I don't know where you're going with that. Although interesting to read, those concept test drive reports had about ZERO to do with what a production car driving experience might be like.

With all that said, I'd consider a G8 over a GTO any day - that is, for my specific needs. I'd need an M6 though, or "no sale".

 

Since you directed this at somebody who was agreeing with my comment I'll clarify what I'm surprised isn't already obvious.

The review isn't meaningless - it's just that anyone with half a brain is going to take this positive review with a grain of salt.

A review doesn't have to be unbiased to have some good feedback in it, and just because a review has good feedback in it doesn't mean it is at all unbiased.

 

When will it have a manual transmission?

 

.......later.

All I've heard is that it won't be launched with one.

 

I'm getting the feeling - never.

 

Simply ridiculous...

 

The 300C is rated 15/23 for the V8 RWD and 15/22 for the V8 AWD. 18/26 for the V6.

The FWD Impala V8 is rated at 16/24 and the V6 18/28.

Call me crazy - but I think GM will skip on putting the V6 diesel in the G8.