LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

To keep the formula or buy a gto???

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Old 04-14-2009, 04:50 AM
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Question To keep the formula or buy a gto???

So ive recently been thinking about selling my formula and buying an 05 gto.

my options are pretty much keep the formula mod it out and skip the gto, keep the fomula as it is and finance the gto,
or sell the formula finance the gto and get a handfull of mods for it.
The reason i want a gto is its newer and would probably have a warrentee and be a little bit more of a solid car,
the only downside is it would cost more to make it as fast compared to my formula.

other things to concider are getting around in the winter, im thinking the gto might be better at that as it is a heavier car

what do you guys think i should do?

also sorry if im in the wrong part of the forum
Old 04-14-2009, 04:52 AM
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i would get both
Old 04-14-2009, 05:19 AM
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I hate GTO's. There's nothing about them that impresses me. To me, they look like an overweight Cavalier. The only up side that I've heard about them is their interior. Because I'm cheap I would rather stick with a performance car that is paid for than have to go through the financing hassle once again.
Old 04-14-2009, 06:52 AM
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you can get a 2000+ zo6 for what you would pay for a GTO or close to it.
Old 04-14-2009, 06:53 AM
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I was going to buy a GTO, then I drove one. What a pile of junk. the ride was sloppy and the performance was poor. I drove two others including one with 3k miles on it so I know it wasnt abused. They all rode like crap. I found my 96 Z/28 after that paid cash and starting modding right away. Stick with a winner.
Old 04-14-2009, 09:31 AM
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If you can afford it I would do both. I can't till I have enough cash to get a GTO and make the Camaro a track only car. I love GTO's the interior is sweet and they ride great. The 6.0 is a beast and with a 6speed they are really fun to drive. I work at Pontiac dealer so I drive them quite a bit.
Old 04-14-2009, 09:49 AM
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HAHA not to jack the thread but I work at a Cadillac-Pontiac dealership and about a year or two ago some guy leased a GTO and he put headers and NOS on it. The guy was a total idiot for putting all this money into a car that he didnt even own. So when it was time to trade it back in GM actually denied him and they made him buy the car. So all in all the ended up having to buy the car after putting a ton of money into it.. He wasnt happy at all.

If you have around $50k to spend buy the new CTS-V..... Oooo man thoes are bad *** we got 1 in here at the dealership... Man that thing idles like it has a mild cam in it and sounds GOOOOOD.. Only bad thing is its an auto
Old 04-14-2009, 10:24 AM
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I owned a GTO and put about 35k miles on it. Headers, dual 3" exhaust, cam, nitrous. That is by far the best all around car GM ever made. Honestly an f-body is a complete peice of **** in pretty much every way in comparison. My GTO weighed in at 3820 while my T/A with no A/C weighs 3760, not much difference. GTO has a better interior, rides better, no leaks, no rattles, better suspension, better brakes, better motor, stronger rear, etc. BTW they are cheaper to mod cause an LSx is a better and cheaper platform overall. I was running 12.20s@113 on the stock tires, and 11.80s@122 on the stock tires with a 100shot. Not to mention it got 26mpg and was comfortable as hell. Only real downside is trunk space

I would drop a LTx car for a GTO in a heartbeat, no questions asked
Old 04-14-2009, 10:31 AM
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keep the formula, make it ridiculously fast. birds always look better no doubt about it, gonna cost less for stuff too id wager. only problem is / will be if you need stuff they dont make anymore
Old 04-14-2009, 10:40 AM
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gto's are gay..keep the bird
Old 04-14-2009, 11:12 AM
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Like mentioned above, if you want a new solid car, why not get a c5 (I like frc or z06) and keep the formula.

Keep the formula for winter and get some winter tires, if you don't already have them.
Old 04-14-2009, 11:25 AM
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Originally Posted by dkishton1486
HAHA not to jack the thread but I work at a Cadillac-Pontiac dealership and about a year or two ago some guy leased a GTO and he put headers and NOS on it. The guy was a total idiot for putting all this money into a car that he didnt even own. So when it was time to trade it back in GM actually denied him and they made him buy the car. So all in all the ended up having to buy the car after putting a ton of money into it.. He wasnt happy at all.

If you have around $50k to spend buy the new CTS-V..... Oooo man thoes are bad *** we got 1 in here at the dealership... Man that thing idles like it has a mild cam in it and sounds GOOOOOD.. Only bad thing is its an auto
you can get the CTS-V in a 6spd toooo.

Get the GTO!!! regardless... The decision is whether or not to keep the Formula....If you CANT mod either car with the purchase of the GTO, Then sell the Formula...They made plenty...Once its gone, If u miss it, you can get another one! BUT, I bet u DONT! And if you DO, It will be an LS1 powered car, NOT the same old LT1.
Old 04-14-2009, 11:31 AM
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Something to consider is how much is the Formula worth? Is it really going to affect the payment on the GTO much? The only reason I say that is because in my area you can buy 94-97 Z28's and Formulas for $2000-$4000 and they are "nice". I use nice loosely as everyone has a different idea of the word.

I have to agree that the GTO does look like an overweight Cav but at the same time they are a usefull car. Full back seat for whatever nice interior and they look totally different once they are lowered and have rims.

I personaly drive a blown C5 everyday and to be honest it is kind of a pain. bottoms out on everything, they really dont drive that nice, they are loud inside. Dont jump down my throat for saying that. This is my third C5 and they are all the same.

I say both would be great. I have the vette and a camaro gets annoying having to store them both and the girlfried doesnt like it that she got kicked out of the garage (thats were I keep her )
Old 04-14-2009, 11:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Grr
My GTO weighed in at 3820 while my T/A with no A/C weighs 3760, not much difference.
That's a heavy T/A. The curb weight for most f-bodies were in the 3500 to 3600lb range.
Old 04-14-2009, 12:04 PM
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Honestly I dunno what I would do. I've owned only 4th gen F-Bodies and my dad has an '06 GTO which I drive alot and like so this is pretty unbiased. People talking smack on GTO's need to own one first. GTO's aren't my favorite cars because I am an F-Body person but they are overall much better cars. In terms of comfort the Goat kills all F-Bodies, plus the interiors are extremely nice. There are no rattles and creaks, the car handles much better in stock trim and the LS2 with a mail order tune is an animal for being stock. For a DD a GTO is way better than an F-Body. That's coming from someone who has daily driven both for extended periods of time. Again, I'll take an F-Body over a Goat anyday because I am an F-Body person but in the end the Goat is a better car hands down no questions asked. Depends whether you want a raw muscle car or more of a refined sports car, for me I'll take the muscle car but there are many advantages to the refined sports car.
Old 04-14-2009, 12:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Grr
I owned a GTO and put about 35k miles on it. Headers, dual 3" exhaust, cam, nitrous. That is by far the best all around car GM ever made. Honestly an f-body is a complete peice of **** in pretty much every way in comparison. My GTO weighed in at 3820 while my T/A with no A/C weighs 3760, not much difference. GTO has a better interior, rides better, no leaks, no rattles, better suspension, better brakes, better motor, stronger rear, etc. BTW they are cheaper to mod cause an LSx is a better and cheaper platform overall. I was running 12.20s@113 on the stock tires, and 11.80s@122 on the stock tires with a 100shot. Not to mention it got 26mpg and was comfortable as hell. Only real downside is trunk space

I would drop a LTx car for a GTO in a heartbeat, no questions asked


Have you looked at prices for LSX stuff lately? Everything is like twice as much as it is for LTX stuff. I have owned three LSX vehicles and traded DOWN to LTX because they ride better and are cheap as hell to mod. There is no way it is a cheaper platform overall.
Old 04-14-2009, 12:44 PM
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I vote for a Vette as well. C5Z's aren't much.
Old 04-14-2009, 01:10 PM
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To be honest i had not even thought about vett's untill you guys had mentioned them and in searching autotrader i could probably find a decent one in my price range when it gets to be time to buy something, the only thing is i doubt that a vett would get around in the winter as well as my f-body even, and the gto would actually have a decent back seat which could be handy from time to time such as when im driving around with more than one friend.... im thinking more and more that i will probably sell my current firebird just because it would allow for more money to put down towards something new and or mods like exhaust or h/c, but the main downside with the vetts is they would only be ls1's when id much prefer an ls2 if i go that route, and that being the case i could always get a newer v6 firebird 00+ and make it a sleeper and drop an ls2 in it......
Old 04-14-2009, 01:17 PM
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Originally Posted by 96FirebirdFormula
To be honest i had not even thought about vett's untill you guys had mentioned them and in searching autotrader i could probably find a decent one in my price range when it gets to be time to buy something, the only thing is i doubt that a vett would get around in the winter as well as my f-body even, and the gto would actually have a decent back seat which could be handy from time to time such as when im driving around with more than one friend.... im thinking more and more that i will probably sell my current firebird just because it would allow for more money to put down towards something new and or mods like exhaust or h/c, but the main downside with the vetts is they would only be ls1's when id much prefer an ls2 if i go that route, and that being the case i could always get a newer v6 firebird 00+ and make it a sleeper and drop an ls2 in it......
Just mod the LS1 in a C5 vette.
Old 04-14-2009, 01:27 PM
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Originally Posted by Grr
I owned a GTO and put about 35k miles on it. Headers, dual 3" exhaust, cam, nitrous. That is by far the best all around car GM ever made. Honestly an f-body is a complete peice of **** in pretty much every way in comparison. My GTO weighed in at 3820 while my T/A with no A/C weighs 3760, not much difference. GTO has a better interior, rides better, no leaks, no rattles, better suspension, better brakes, better motor, stronger rear, etc. BTW they are cheaper to mod cause an LSx is a better and cheaper platform overall. I was running 12.20s@113 on the stock tires, and 11.80s@122 on the stock tires with a 100shot. Not to mention it got 26mpg and was comfortable as hell. Only real downside is trunk space

I would drop a LTx car for a GTO in a heartbeat, no questions asked
evidently not you stlill have an LTX lol!


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