Doing some shopping around.

The best of the breed Pontiac...

http://www.pontiac.com/g8/

http://www.caranddriver.com/custom/s...ticle_id=12462

 

That G8 looks nice i wouldnt mind one

 

360hp, RWD, 6speed option and "stripped V8 version starting around $25k". Nice package. WOuld make for a fun family car.

 

Wouldnt stay very family for long lol

 

If GM really does kill the RWD Impala concept then the G8 will probibly be the first new car I've ever bought.

Saw it at the NY auto show, looks way better in person than it does in pictures.

 

Yup- that's where I saw it.

My truck is coming off lease, so I need a replacement..

 

Wouldn't stay 362hp for long, either!

 

I plan on buying one if the Impala gets **** canned. I'd rather have a chevy, but the G8 looks really good. I havn't seen any pricing yet, but I can't imagine a v8 car would cost anywhere under 30k though.

 

Mid 30's..

 

Is there any chance that it ends up with a 2 door platform?
I guess as far as marketing goes that would be what the GTO is for. Marketing, not that its similar. I don't need anyone to tell me how different they are because I know.

 

I like it! I want to see one in person though just to be sure!!

 

thats once sweet *** car..

 

im not a 4DR person but is sweet.


that guy needs to take it easy on GTOs though that ahole.


with those new heads those cars are going to be kickass modded.

 

Just got to watch the video... he does need to take it easy on the GTO!

Thing is... the G8 is practically the same... Holden Commodore, slightly refined!

 

only way i can see to improve the car is to maybe offer a flat hood. it looks great otherwise, hood vents/scoops are jsut not my thing.

 

I like the G8.

 

From what Ive read this will be the last rear drive from GM for awhile. With Bush calling for major improvements in MPG GM doesnt think it can meet those numbers with the Zeta platform. The camaro and the G8 are too far along to shitcan now, but anything after that is on the chopping block.

 

Here's the article.




GM puts brake on rear-drive vehicles. And hell, I am only guessing the G8 isn't included because it is so far along in agreement with Holden, but according to the article maybe it is in trouble.


Published April 10, 2007


General Motors has put a hold on future rear-wheel-drive vehicles.

"We've pushed the pause button. It's no longer full speed ahead," Vice Chairman Bob Lutz revealed in an interview.

Two of the most important RWD cars in the works are the Chevy Camaro sports coupe due back late in 2008 and the full-size, RWD replacement for the Chevy Impala sedan for 2009. Both are expected to be huge sellers and contribute major profits to a GM till burdened with IOUs the last few years.

"It's too late to stop Camaro, but anything after that is questionable or on the bubble," said Lutz, noting that also means Camaro derivatives -- along with a big Impala sedan, "if we call it Impala."

The RWD cars, you see, would be larger and heavier than front-wheel-drive cars or are high-performance models.

So it comes down to the matter of fuel economy. Or as Lutz says: "We don't know how to get 30 percent better mileage from" RWD cars.

That 30 percent bogey arises from a proposal by the Bush administration to raise corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards by 4 percent a year so cars would have to average 34 m.p.g. by 2017, up from 27.5 m.p.g. today. On top of that, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate carbon dioxide expelled by cars, a gas that contributes to global warming. The EPA doesn't do so now.

"We'll decide on our rear-drive cars when the government decides on CO(-2) levels and CAFE regulations," Lutz said, adding that limiting CO(-2) would increase mileage, too.

"Carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of burning gas and directly proportional to the amount of fuel burned. If we legislate CO(-2) from cars, why not legislate we take one less breath per minute since humans release capricious amounts of CO(-2) each time they exhale?" offered a testy Lutz.

Lutz also points out that higher mileage will come at a price, with the proposal to raise CAFE certain to increase costs by as much as $5,000, which will be added to a car's sticker, an amount most consumers won't be willing to pay. There are no hard numbers for how much CAFE compliance adds to the sticker now.

"Rather than buy new, people would hang onto their old cars. We could eat the $5,000, but that would put us out of business."

Besides, those who see cars as more than just an appliance are eager for the new RWD offerings.

Among other cars affected are a high-performance midsize Pontiac, a replacement for the full-size Buick Lucerne sedan, a compact smaller than the current CTS at Cadillac and possible 300-horsepower versions of the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky roadsters.

"This is very disappointing," noted Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc., in Grand Rapids, Mich. Most of the cars coming are necessary to GM's turnaround as showroom magnets.

"What the public buys makes CAFE work, not what the industry builds," Merkle added. "To improve mileage you change demand, not supply, by raising gas prices through taxes. But no politician is going to do that so they throw the responsibility on the back of the industry."

Lutz also objects to the talk that carmakers can easily raise mileage with a very low investment.

"Academics assure us that for $200 we can get 30 percent better mileage. If anyone can figure out how to do that for $200 -- or even for $1,000 -- I want them in my office today. Show me how to do it and we'll adopt it," he said. "If I could increase mileage by 30 percent for $200, why wouldn't I? What's my motivation not to when a gas-electric hybrid gets 27 percent better mileage and I hope someday to get the cost down to $9,000?"

Others insist that carmakers simply have to sell more small cars, such as the trio of 1-liter concepts that promise 40 m.p.g.-plus that GM unveiled at the New York Auto Show.

"Small-car mileage only counts toward CAFE if you build them here, and you can't build small cars here at a profit," Lutz said, explaining that foreign-made cars would count toward the automaker's import fleet, and its domestic fleet is where GM needs help.

 

the issue with V8 rear drive with in GM is not really a mileage thing. it is a cost to profit thing. developing and certifying more and more architectures for the US market is a costly thing and GM is still coming out of the cash flow issues of their corporate restructuring a few years ago.
GM gets big mileage out of all the V8 models now thanks to the variable displacement technology and more advanced injection systems. heck, the Z06 is even rated at 26mpg highway while kicking out 500hp.
GM also has more models and platforms that get 30+mpg than any other manufacturer on theplanet. so average fuel economy for the fleet is not an issue

 

I think that a good idea would be to market the RWD V8 with a small, weak V8 that can easily be modded. I'm sure they can down tune the hell out of an Ls1 for example. Granted it would cost, but not as much. Than again I can't figure out what people will buy because I think most people are just stupid.


200th post! nice!