The week that I tested the Pontiac G8 GXP proved to be very ironic in a lot of ways. Here’s why I say that. In 1961 just before I joined the Navy, my dad owned a ’56 Catalina that was very slick, and I had recently bought my first car which was a 1950 Pontiac coupe that I paid 50 bucks for. Adding to the irony, was the word that Pontiac was in fact done, and the final irony was that we had Jim Hopson, Communications Manager for Pontiac scheduled to be our guest on the radio show. So it was a week filled with a fair amount of irony and nostalgia for me.
But enough reminiscing and on to the reviewing; and with that in mind, let me make one thing crystal clear. From the moment I fired the GXP up I knew it was going to be very hard for me to find something about the car that I didn’t like. However, I did manage to find something I don’t like and it's the red readout on the information center in the gauge cluster. It's impossible for me to read with sun glasses on and near impossible without them. I just couldn’t get the lighting bright enough and truthfully, on a lot of cars that would be enough to kill the deal for me so to speak but not so with the GXP because I loved everything else about the car.
Let’s start with the numbers. Powered by a 6.2 liter V8 engine pumping out 415 horsepower with 415 lb-ft of ground pounding metal moving torque that propels the GXP from 0 to 60 under 5 seconds. It blazes through the ¼ mile in 13 seconds at 108 miles an hour yet it’s as docile as a lesser sedan on the road. Oh how I love American muscle in my cars. My sons and I went to Sedona to play some golf and I can assure you, with the four of us in the car and the trunk loaded with four, let me repeat, four full sets of golf clubs I’m pretty sure we had the GVW somewhere around three tons but you would never have guessed it by the way the Pontiac performed.
The GXP features track tuned suspension, 19-inch polished aluminum wheels, massive Brembo brakes, and a limited-slip differential. All G8 models have four-wheel independent suspension, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, electronic stability control, and front-side and head protection air bags. With the G8 you also get XM Satellite and Bluetooth standard. My tester was the come-and-get-me red and I have to say it looked really good although it’s far from flashy which may help avoid the local Leo’s focusing on you too much.
Driving the GXP, as you’ve probably guessed, is a blast. This car is crazy quick fast, meaning it doesn’t really have to spool up to get going, tickle the throttle and the car gets moving very quickly. It takes just a bit of getting used to with the throttle though as it is a bit touchy off the line. The steering is solid although at higher speeds it feels just a tad light but not bad at all. The handling, with the independent suspension, is flat and sure and the ride is really solid without much jarring at all. Like I said, we were loaded down yet the ride was very supple and on the twisties, the car was perfect. It stays flat and while I couldn’t get up enough speed to really push it in the corners but I've driven enough cars on the track to know that this car would do just fine. And when you need to stop in a hurry, the Brembo’s will haul the G8 from whatever down to zero in a heartbeat. I have to say that I believe just about everything I’ve read about how well this car handles when pushed to its limits.
While the interior isn’t opulent’ it isn’t spartan either. What it is though is very roomy and functional and pretty darned comfortable. There was plenty of legroom in the front and back. My tester had leather interior, seat heaters and power seats and although you have to crank a wheel to adjust the back rest, trust me, for the money it's not a terribly big issue. And the money is where this car sets itself apart from European performance sports sedans. The G8 starts at $28,000 and you can get it pretty well loaded for just over $32,000. The GXP starts at around $36,500 and my tester came in a just a bit over $40,000 and I’m here to tell you, you get an awful lot of bang for that kind of buck.
Speaking of European cars, you may have heard some of the PR about how the G8 numbers compare very favorably to the BMW 5 series. And maybe you’ve had the same thought some Beemer folks have vociferously shared with me that the G8 isn’t by any stretch a BMW to which I say, of course it isn’t. However from a pure numbers perspective, it certainly isn’t far off. Most of us can think back to a time when BMW was pretty much the only one building well engineered cars designed for drivers that earned the slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine” but even BMW has gone a bit over the edge with Techy gadgets that don’t necessarily contribute to the driving experience.
I’m here to tell you that isn’t the case today with many American cars. As far as I’m concerned when it comes to pure driving excitement today, to borrow a phrase from Pontiac, for the money there isn’t anything out there that can top the G8 GXP, the CTS-V and certainly not the Corvette and ZR1. It’s just a shame that due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, people aren’t buying cars right now and changes have to be made. Pontiac has never been terribly profitable and the GTO was a huge disappointment so losing the brand is not surprising. I just hope the G8 GXP will be reincarnated as an SS Impala. Wouldn’t that be just too damn cool?
