I think BMW has successfully been doing that for years with the 3 series coupes, plain looking coupes for alot of dough. Also I think the LS2 (rumoured) will solve all the problems people have with the weight of the car.

 

LOL, more HP isn't the solution to the problem, it's a bandaid. I'd rather it weighed 3400 lbs and had a 400 HP LS2

 

Just a thought.

Everytime GTO is mentioned, it seems to create a debate every bit as repetitious and predictable as the SS vs Z28 debates that pop up just as regularly.

In the SS-Z28 debate, the root can be traced directly to the point Chevrolet decided to yank the hood scoops off all other Camaros, and change the SS to the "track" car, against Z28's historical role.

With GTO, I think the whole thing can be traced not so much to people wanting a retro mobile (the group I believe wouldn't be completely happy unless the car had a carburetor & AM radio again) but to Pontiac's new direction.

GTO has always looked like other Pontiacs, and has always be essentially an engine package on a midsize car (only the Judge & the '74 Ventura based versions stood apart in add ons). Suppose the problem is with Pontiac's styling direction?

Pontiac has moved away from tacked on body cladding, and is moving away from agressive lines, and more toward a smooth look and alot of power under the hood. The G6 doesn't look as agressive as the Grand Am did, though it will be alot quicker than the GA ever was. The new Grand Prix (though done before Bob Lutz's new direction for Pontiac) doesn't have the visual impact the old GP did when new. The most agressive looking car in Pontiac's line up is the Bonneville, which is almost a decade old.

GTO represents exactly where Pontiac is going. Understated styling, little or no tacked on body parts, but a great interior & heaps of power. The GTO also represents what GTO has always been, a car that could blend in on a Pontiac dealer lot.

I personally like sleepers, cars that blend in but pack alot of firepower underneath. I love the element of surprise when running the freeway grandprix with an unsuspecting "fast" car, and I also love not gaining undue attention.

But perhaps the real problem is in Pontiac's styling direction, not in GTO's dull (in some people's view) looks. GTO is the direction future Pontiacs are going. Though I'm fine with it, perhaps the Excitement division might want to slightly alter course.

 

While I agree i have always hated the "Over doing it" mentality styling wise with Pontiac and their use of cheesy body cladding, the GTO hopefully does not represent the styling of the future.

Pontiac is going back into the 1990's then? That GTO looks like a car that should have been built 12 years ago, not 2004 Hopefully Pontiac can figure out a compromise between overdoing it and bland as hell.