Raw And Certainly Uncut
I had the opportunity to drive a 2008 Pontiac G8 GT last week. Equipped with Holden’s L76 6.0L V8, the G8 GT is Pontiac’s long-awaited replacement for the flagship GTO that ended production in 2006. Before the drive, I had read a couple reviews that openly compared the G8 to German competitors such as the BMW 550i. Oh-ho… wow. No, no, no. It’s solid. It gets that for a start, for sure, because it is. It’s a very solid performance car without a doubt. But for certain people (me included), 361 horsepower doesn’t cut it if the vehicle is seriously lacking in other areas…
Raw: The Good
It was the first word that popped into my head post-drive. Raw. The G8 GT’s 6.0L V8 delivers a whopping 361 rear-wheel horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque, and you can feel it—oh so well. Put your foot down, and you get an exhilarating rush as 60 mph comes up in only 5 seconds coupled with an awe-inspiring sound. All that torque goes straight for the rear wheels in a very unsophisticated but effective way. Unlike similarly priced performance cars (Evo and STI, I’m looking at you), the G8 operates in traditional muscle car fashion: sans any ultra-high-tech computer-controlled aids or torque-distributing systems other than a fairly basic limited slip differential and your average traction and stability control. That being said, it does a great job at more than just straight-line power: with a reported 0.88G on the skidpad and a 60-0 distance of only 109 feet, the G8 GT has some extremely well-balanced and surprisingly fun handling for a 4100-pound car. I found the steering response to be especially pleasing on the winding roads that the test drive route followed. The steering is very well weighted and you go exactly where you aim, even without any twitchiness when you’re not trying to drive enthusiastically.
Uncut: The Good
How much would you literally have to cut off the G8 to make it the length of cars in its large sedan competition class? The answer is, a lot. At 196.1 inches in length, the G8 is one hell of a huge car. As I previously stated, it also weighs 4100 pounds. None of this seemed to affect the handling, but it does affect overall feel… in a good way. I took a seat in the back before the drive just for testing purposes, and I can safely say the only cars I’ve found to have equal or greater foot room are town-car or limousine-type things. There was such a plentiful amount of room in all dimensions, and I’m just over 6′ in height. Headroom usually isn’t a problem in most cars, but the G8 has so much that you could probably be closing on 6’6″ and not have any issues. Lastly, the trunk is cavernous. With 17.5 cubic feet of space, you can fit every last bag in for your week long road trip… but wait! Who said you’d ever want to take this car on a week long road trip?
Raw And Uncut: The Bad
Because I was just talking about interior size, I figure the interior is what to start with in talking about the definitive cons of the G8. Let’s start with materials. Is that aluminum on the dash? No, it’s very cheap plastic. What about the bezel around the gauges? Cheap plastic. And the door panels? The switches? The air vents? You can guess. I know lots of automakers use plastic in cars. This didn’t seem like any normal plastic, though: this seems to be the kind that deserves a place in economy cars like the Chevrolet Aveo or Saturn Ion, and maybe that’s because that’s where it’s derived from. I’m not sure about this, but I can only assume. RAW materials? I think so.
Next, we have the transmission. I also choose to describe this as raw. For a manual transmission, raw is a good thing; it’s a good old rough and visceral driving experience. There’s one problem, though: the G8 GT (and the base G8) have a five-speed automatic that is simply poor at best. A raw automatic transmission has nothing but what it needs to work, as I see it. It’s the kind of automatic you find in an economy car whose driver lacks the ability to drive stick, hence the reason for said automatic. It just leaves something to be desired. A sporty automatic transmission is no easy feat to accomplish for an automaker, but companies like Volkswagen with their Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) and Mitsubishi with its Twin Clutch Sportronic Shift Transmission (TC-SST) have pulled it off. The G8 5-speed has a manual shift option, but it’s so poor that I’ll leave out any further description of it. To add more insult to injury, the automatic also curbs fuel economy to a low value—even lower than you’d expect from a monstrous V8: 16 city and 24 highway. In a car with this much power and handling finesse, I’d like to be more involved: give it a proper six-speed manual!
Lastly, there’s the in-car technology. No, I’m not talking about what helps you drive the thing; I’ve already said that the G8 has little in the way of advanced systems in this department and that works just fine. I mean the interior’s features: what you can use, interface with. A large LCD in the center of the dashboard indicates a possible navigation system, which the car actually lacks. In the way of musical entertainment, the G8 GT’s Blaupunkt system is actually quite good but lacks better iPod connectivity than just an auxiliary input. There is also no sign of bluetooth connectivity, which in this world full of idiotic, cellphone-wielding drivers, is quite necessary. And about the seats: if you don’t get the black-on-black leather, you’ll regret it. The cloth material used otherwise feels as cheap as it looks—and it looks pretty damn bad.
The Verdict
From a distance, the G8 GT is a big, aggressively-styled modern-muscle cruiser. Once you’re in the driver’s seat, the only thing that’s keeping you there is the excellent driving experience that this new-age Pontiac gives you—trust me, the interior feel is that bad. So what market is the G8 in? Just who is Pontiac trying to sell them to?
The aggressive styling, the even more aggressive V8, and the most aggressive sacrifices in the cost-cutting department lead to one sad verdict. The diet-Corvette performance, the ability to carry a bunch of screaming children and all your stuff in the back, and the affordable pricing ($29K-$34K, with slightly used models as low as $24K) can only mean one thing. If you haven’t already guessed it, this is undoubtedly not necessarily the new benchmark for performance sedans: it’s the new benchmark for the typical mid-life crisis car.
A good try overall at a new market segment, but I can only hope the Solstice Targa will be a better showing from Pontiac.