5thgen69camaro

Pontiac looks like its on its way to go all rear wheel drive. Partly because of the mission statement of a performance brand and partly as a fight to justify the brand as more than badge engineered cars. Have they succeeded so far? What differentiates a Sky from a Solstice other than sheetmetal and a slightly nicer interior? What will differentiate the upcomming Pontiac Alpha series from its inevitable Chevy counterpart? It was the Alpha more so that I started thinking about this. 3 series on a budget competition. The M3 redlines at 8400 It looses torque but gains refinement. The Firebird Pegasus had a Ferrari engine was a move in the right direction. Unfourtunately it would have been too expensive for that car. Who says it has to be? The first gen Z28 shortened the stroke to get a high reving strong motor.

So, what if Pontiac in the Alpha and Kappa took this approach. Shortening the stroke for a higher redline. Making its gains through intake and exhaust. Even if the Alpha got an LS3, trading torque for horse power might make the car more road friendly. Now you have a heap of brand identity I think people would go for. This could be a huge distinction between pontiac alpha and its chevy/caddy alpha brethern.

mdacton

I thought they were going to get rid of ponitac.....like olds and buick.

Koz

As far as I know, the Sky redline has a turbo, and not a supercharger.

5thgen69camaro

Fixed, thanks!

OutsiderIROC-Z

It'd be worth a shot, could be interesting.

Josh452

This post is garbage.

End.Of.Story.

Pontiac is fine..........Lutz made the Solstice Happen. Pontiac is safe.

graham

Kill Buick!

Josh452

Again.

This post is garbage.

Slappy3243

So just because an engine can rev high means it is refined? How would trading torque for HP make the car more road friendly? I for one do not like peaky engines. I like my torque and HP on tap anywhere in the powerband.

HAZ-Matt

The first problem is that it would cost development money to destroke the motors and re engineer them to be high RPM screamers. That said, I voted for the high HP / revs option mostly because I do not think Pontiac should offer any ho-hum motor that is a base motor at Chevrolet.

flowmotion

Interesting that you could come to that definite conclusion based on one car that sells less than 20K per year.

5thgen69camaro

I hadnt heard that. Is it in the works?

Well not just trading HP for torque but part of. Move the division in a Ferrari/BMW high reving smoother less violent direction. This thread is oversimplified really. You may not like that, but someone who does would have a reason to choose Pontiac. You on the other hand might choose Chevy for the same reason.

I dont know what your garbage post has to do with my thread. I understand you havent realized this so let me educate you. This isnt theGMsource. Please post something intelligent or dont bother.

dav305z

I agree that Pontiac needs to be distinguished by the driving experience, but don't think high revving refinement is the way to go. In fact, I think they should do the opposite.

Pontiac's positive image is tied with barnstorming, high torque vehicles from the GTO to the GTP. Dodge, and to some degree Nissan, have shown that there remains a certain cache in high torque, "American" performance.

It seems to make more sense to give Pontiac the same engines as everyone else, but with more aggressive cams and tuned exhausts. It's also cheaper. High revving, refined engines take lots ofengineering, and I doubt Pontiac would be the first beneficiary of it (we won't see a DI 3.6 in a G6 anytime soon).

Pontiac needs to survive by doing what it does best - distinctly Amercian performance. It won't have credibility as anything else.

Big Als Z

If and when Alpha shows up, it will be Pontiac mostly, a 3 series for Caddy, and Im sure that Holden and Opel will want one.
I do not see Chevy going to Alpha, it will continue on with Epsilon II.
As for this Alpha platform, I think that Pontiac should stick with Ecotec and HF V6's, and leave V8 to the larger RWD cars like a G8 sedan and possible GTO.
Pontiac is in DEEP trouble as they stand right now.
G5 is a waste of developmental dollars, stuff that could have went to a MCE Cobalt. Pontiac was already getting a Vibe, no need for two compacts, and what happend to reducing badge jobs?
G6 is now the runt of the Epsilon group. Clearly outclassed by the Aura and Malibu, the only reason for a G6 would be for a coupe or hard top vert. If the G6 is goign to be left FWD, it should fire at all cyls twars Altima, Mazda 6, and to some extent, Accord. More agressive body styling, better handling, better performance, all tuned way farther then Saturn or Chevy.
Torrent should just be the GXP model. It should be lower and street-based car. Its too top heavy, and handles like a pig. The 3400 is long overdue to be replaced. The 3.6/6spd should be STANDARD, and its handling, refinement, and overall performance should rival that of Murano. Ford benchmarked Murano for the Edge, Pontiac should have aimed for the same target. Murano, CX7, and Edge all beat out the Torrent by far.
Grand Prix, you served well, but its time to hang it up. Light a 50 year old prized fighter, you still get into the ring with faster, lighter, and better equiped sport sedans, both of FWD and RWD.

For the good...
G8: the image, the look, design, stance, quality...this is modern Pontiac. A cut-rate 5 series if you will, Pontiac's first modern strike to the claim of America's BMW. Its not to far off when you look at the car. It wont have nearly the luxury appointments, but it will keep fender to fender with one on a track, its handling and performance falls short only to the M5, but only in due time will the Evil Scientists of Holden get that special delivery from Wixom of crates of LS7's.
Solstice, the future of Pontiac. Its light weight, fully independent suspension should give us hope for the future. Hope that a hybrid platform, like the one described with Alpha, can produce small to midsized cars that will give Pontiac an image more in line with what they have been talking about.

As for high revving engines, and all that sort...as stated before, it would cost GM millions to just "destroke" its engines.

Good Ph.D

+1

For thread of the week.