10th Oct 2007, 16:15
Sorry, meant Nov 07 in above comment. GM is taking a wait and see attitude to see how well the new Camaro and just released Pontiac G8 do. There is some talk of a G8 Coupe instead. If it ever came to be the Pontiac version of the Camaro may be called the Firebird or the GTO. But again, as of November 2007 there is no talk of this happening.
7th Jan 2008, 09:04
What happened to the GTO? The Ford Mustang is still around even though it's smaller and the heritage from the Pinto. For the money it's a little pricey. I'm going to wait for the new Camaro.
29th Feb 2008, 14:50
We first saw the modern GTO at a local car show. The area dealer brought two out. I loved everything about it except the lack of hood scoops and proper duals. When the '05 came out, these issues had been addressed.
In March '07 we bought a left over new Torrid Red '05 six speed for $26,000! What a fantastic car and incredible deal. At the time, my wife wanted a new Mustang which I also like, but the rear seat leg room is lacking and I have two tall sons. After driving the car, she fell in love with it, as did both of my sons. In fact my younger son took his road test in it! And passed!
This car is so impressive. When you turn the key on you get a VA ROOM on start up that makes me smile every time. This car sounds mean and it is. It has zero squeaks or rattles, almost no wind noise at speed and no wind buffeting inside with the windows down. I've had cars in the past that had this very annoying problem.
We've had no problems or failures after 20,000 miles, and this car gets a workout. It's ready for the third pair of rear tires. It gets power shifted frequently.
As for the styling, this car looks beautiful to me. It's interesting that the automotive magazines complained about the styling yet they had nothing negative to say about the similarly dated BMW's styling, or I would say, lack of style. I never cared for BMW cars much, and have seen how they are put together at a friends body shop. He thinks they are junk and I wasn't very impressed either.
Classic, timeless, simple, clean and muscular are some words I would use to describe the modern GTO. Do I care if anyone else like it? NOPE! On-line I read a lot of negative remarks about it and most of these people sound like they're jealous. In the real world we get positive comments everywhere we go, from very young to very old people. Sure, there's the occasional moron in the Honda or whatever with a chip on his shoulder that has to blow by with the fart can blasting. My wife had nearly everyone at work raving about it and wanting rides, except of course the one whiny, jealous A-hole that always seems to be in the crowd. Oh well, some people you DON'T want to like your car.
Last month we drove through the local Pontiac lot and saw another red '05 six speed with 30,000 miles on it for $17,999! It looked like a brand new car. It was identical to ours except it had a red interior and ours is black. One week later we bought it! That is now my wife's and I get the first one for my own.
26th Aug 2008, 13:50
I have a 2006 impulse blue GTO and I can't wait to get rid of it. It is constantly in the shop. I almost suspect that the car may have been in a car accident and dealer tried to cover it up. I got it new almost a year ago and am very displeased. It is in the shop right now for back firing and blowing black smoke, not to mention the paint came off the door handles and the passenger window is broken. It took two weeks to get the parts in. It has always smelled like the car was mildewy after it rains but cannot track where it is coming from. The driver's headlight leaked had that replaced. The driver's door never lined up correctly and was told it couldn't be fixed. Had the back seat covers replaced for stitching coming out and replaced the driver's seat cover because the leather was already wearing out. I am not trying to put this car down trust me I was raised not only a GM employee child but specifically a Pontiac Girl. I am very sad and disappointed in the problems this car has and the list goes on.
7th May 2009, 15:24
To the above comment:
I've been around a lot of cars, and the one you are describing must have been in an accident at some point - that or flood damage. The only thing that sounds normal is the stitching on the backseat, which has been acknowledged as an issue, and is fixable under warranty now.
The door not lining up? I SERIOUSLY doubt that's a factory error, especially considering that this car is known for its high build quality, and fit and finish. Sounds like an accident to me.
Passenger window broken? Yeah, that's Pontiac's fault for sure... *shakes head*
You got worked by an unscrupulous dealer. Don't blame the car because you didn't do your homework.
Ever heard of www.carfax.com?
19th May 2009, 20:39
I looked long and hard for a low mile clean GTO, and I finally found one on the 4th try, the first two were at a nationwide dealer, you know the one that advertises that they will buy your car if you buy there or not.
The first one a torrid red on red 05 had obvious water damage throughout. The other, an 04 Bermuda blue was absolutely beautiful until you started looking closer, it had all new weather stripping on the drivers side and original sun faded on the other side, it had a new instrument cluster and for some reason new back seats and a new rear end. I passed on this as well, and went to a local Chevrolet dealer to look at what they claimed was a clean low mile trade in, a blue 04 that smelled a little funny, but when I popped the hood, the right side undercarriage had yellow paint pen words describing the model. When I looked under the car, sure enough there were clean fresh welds on the frame.
I finally found a silver 04 at a Pontiac dealership that passed inspection, and I love the car and plan on keeping it till it falls apart.
Motto of the story, be picky and take your time; there are a lot of wrecked GTO's out there.
30th Dec 2009, 22:24
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this car wasn't a much bigger hit with American car buyers. The handling is a riot of controllable (and hugely satisfying) oversteer, it sounds magnificent, it has four comfortable adult-sized seats, in the (admittedly unlikely...) event that you're careful with your right foot it'll return reasonable MPG... and more to the point, it was a proper full-blooded 400 bhp muscle car for $33,000. Or, about the same as a loaded (and comparatively limp-wristed) Mustang GT. America, you *really* missed the boat on this one.
Was styling really that much of an issue? Really? The country that spends most of its car-buying dollars on either anonymous four-door blandmobiles or ridiculously gaudy full-sized pick-up trucks? Are Americans really that obsessed with ostentatious flash and overwrought styling that a clean, muscular design coupled to a fantastic chassis just wasn't quite enough? The GTO was a handsome, if somewhat conservative, coupe that was very much in keeping with what GTOs always were. The Tempest of the 1960s is a styling knockout only to those without the gift of sight; the revered Judge-era cars were somewhere between bland conformity and cartoon excess... the Monaro-based GTOs differed from this how, again? The 5.7 Litre cars were like Tempests: Handsome, purposeful, but hardly game changers. Take the front end off of a mid 1960s GTO and it could be just about any Yank tank of the period. The 6.0 Litre cars had a bit more show-off muscle in the detailing... much like the '69-70 originals.
European journalists, who generally sharpen their knives at the mere mention of any unsophisticated, supersized rubbish from "the colonies" (i.e. America and Australia both) fell all over themselves praising the handling of the Monaro (GTO), and wondered who in the their right minds would spend 30,000 GBP (about $50,000 U.S. at the time) on a two door sports coupe and buy anything else. In the light of the fact that Americans, the very people who gave the world the muscle car in the first place, spent decades championing an awful lot of very charismatic but incredibly s*** examples of the form and could have had this 400 bhp monster for less than 18,000 GBP at the time, *and didn't*, I really am at a loss to explain it myself.
There is plenty to kick General Motors in the pills about, but the failure of this car shouldn't be one of them. This one is on you, American car buyers. And for those of you who did wise up and buy yourself a Monaro/GTO when you had the chance, I salute you. You showed remarkably good taste and sense.
6th Oct 2007, 22:20
"...that's all there will ever be"... until 2009 when the newer and much better GTO is expected. THAT's the one to get!