Car salesmen swear that, "The feel of the wheel will seal the deal." With that in mind, I'd say they are going to sell a lot of these 2008 Pontiac G8 Gts. Let me repeat: The feel of the wheel -- not the look of the wheel. I really like the sculpted section above the center spoke where your thumb slides into the notch.
I like to play golf and tennis and both of those sports require attention to your grip...
In other G8 news, I like the way this is a performance car that's not always tugging at the leash. But it's ready to dance when you hit the gas. Don't hit it too often, though -- it only went 186 miles on the last tank. Looking over the fuel log most fillups are under 200 miles. We recorded 15.2 mpg for the most recent tank.
Philip Reed, Edmunds.com Senior Consumer Advice Editor @ 3,406 miles
cx7lover says:
08:56 AM, 05/12/08
So the tank is only 14 gallons large or so? That would annoy me to no end to constantly have to fill the tank every 180 miles.. they need to cut into some trunk space and give this thing an 18 gallon tank.
louiswei says:
09:02 AM, 05/12/08
186-mile range!! And I am complaining about the 300-mile range (city/highway mix) for my car...
15.2 mpg? V6 comparable FE? I don't think so...
rayainsw says:
09:02 AM, 05/12/08
15.2 MPG?
WOW.
( And WOT, I guess )
- Ray
Never seen even CLOSE to that low on my 2007 Corvette.......
umkai says:
09:21 AM, 05/12/08
I like driving with the shoes off, too.
1487 says:
09:27 AM, 05/12/08
the tank is 19 gallons, not 14.
15.2 isnt bad if that is mostly urban driving. People who think that is low for a 361hp car obviously do a lot of highway driving or live in a rural area. I dont get 15mpg on most tanks with a V6 but my driving is 90% urban. I am lucky to get 220 miles to a tank.
In other news: check out how the G8 stacked up to the $70k 550i in IL's luxury car test. Their performance stats were nearly identical with the G8 posting slightly shorter stopping distances and a slightly faster slalom speed. Not bad at all for a $32k car.
rayainsw says:
09:27 AM, 05/12/08
"So the tank is only 14 gallons large or so? That would annoy me to no end to constantly have to fill the tank every 180 miles.. they need to cut into some trunk space and give this thing an 18 gallon tank. "
The tank is 19 gal.
1487 says:
09:33 AM, 05/12/08
where are Phillip's shoes in that pic?
dougtheeng says:
10:26 AM, 05/12/08
Regardless of the mpg, that short a range would bother me for sure.
louiswei says:
10:33 AM, 05/12/08
"I dont get 15mpg on most tanks with a V6 but my driving is 90% urban."
If you meant you get worse than 15 mpg with your V6 then I'll have to say "sucks for you". I average about 19 mpg with 90% city / 10% highway in LA traffic with mine (which I believe is more powerful than yours too).
aspade says:
10:36 AM, 05/12/08
A 180 mile tank in the city is still a good 10 hours between fillups.
It's the cars that can't go 4 hours on the highway that annoy me.
greenpony says:
10:55 AM, 05/12/08
Ok, but it's rated at 15 in the city. 15.2 is close enough.
1487 says:
11:09 AM, 05/12/08
"If you meant you get worse than 15 mpg with your V6 then I'll have to say "sucks for you". I average about 19 mpg with 90% city / 10% highway in LA traffic with mine (which I believe is more powerful than yours too)."
it does suck for me and anyone else who has to drive in these conditions. I believe the Is is rated at 19mpg in the city vs 17 for the Aura so you should be doing better. My experience has been you cant hit EPA city numbers in an east coast city. its not just about traffic, its about the fact that there are lights or stop signs every 1/8 of a mile. I don't think you have that problem in LA. Cities like Philly, NYC and Boston weren't built around the car and it shows.
1487 says:
11:10 AM, 05/12/08
Assuming you put gas in the G8 when its close to empty you should be getting over 250miles per tank at 15mpg.
chavis10 says:
11:47 AM, 05/12/08
My Mazda3 averaged 15.6 mpg according to the trip computer on it's last tank. I filled up friday night and my calculation was 15.8mpg according to the gas pump cut-off amount. City driving is brutal and people tend to forget the huge range listed on their window sticker below the boldly print EPA estimates. On my 2000 mile highway trip I averaged 29 which is dead on what the EPA says I should expect for highway mileage.
thegrocer says:
11:53 AM, 05/12/08
That's not bad considering I had an LT1 Roadmaster that did 15 mpg in the city and a Grand Marquis with the 4.6L that did 17 mpg in the city. 15 mpg is what I would expect for a 4,000 lb V-8 full sizer...
cx7lover says:
11:57 AM, 05/12/08
That doesn't add up at ALL, 186 divided by 15.2 miles equals 12 gallons.
They have a 7 gallon reserve??????
That is getting a little crazy.
louiswei says:
12:04 PM, 05/12/08
"its about the fact that there are lights or stop signs every 1/8 of a mile. I don't think you have that problem in LA."
Oh trust me, we got that problem here too in LA all right...
My daily drive to work is 10-mile one way and I counted about 55 traffic lights/stop signs in between. That's about a little less than 0.2 mile per one.
My car is rated at 18/25/20 by EPA.
1487 says:
12:30 PM, 05/12/08
the IS305 is rated at 18/25? I thought it was higher but I may be thinking about the old standards. Sorry to hear you have a similar traffic light density in LA. I always thought there were more suburban style roads with 40mph speed limits out there. You find a lot of those types of roads in Southern cities like Charlotte.
You have to do a considerable amount of highway cruising to get the respectable mileage figures found here at IL. The 15mpg for the G8 is one of the more realistic numbers I have seen for a tank.
If they are getting less than 200miles per tank they are obviously not waiting until the car is close to "E" to refill. If I put gas in my car as soon as it said "low fuel" I would probably have 2-3 gallons left in the tank.
ahightower says:
12:40 PM, 05/12/08
That wheel looks kinda big.
crowb says:
12:50 PM, 05/12/08
I agree about the steering wheel being a crucial contact point in a car though. Even in cheap cars now you are seeing more leather wrapped steering wheels and such. The builders might scrimp on arm rests and other areas, but it does make sense to have the one thing you touch most have high tactile quality.
I think the Honda Fit I drive falls into that category. Hard plastics abound, but the steering wheel and shifter are very nice for the price range.
louiswei says:
12:58 PM, 05/12/08
"I thought it was higher but I may be thinking about the old standards."
Maybe you were thinking about the IS250?
It really depends on where in LA you are talking about. What you have described might be true in places like OC but in where I live and work (South Bay) it's another story all together.
I do agree with you that Southern cities like Charlotte and Atlanta are much better places to drive and get better FE. I can speak for that given that I recently just moved to LA from ATL.
autoboy16 says:
02:30 PM, 05/12/08
louiswei, good luck with that 6:11pm traffic! It never fails!! Thats something I don't miss about ATL!
-Cj
thebigal says:
05:14 PM, 05/12/08
Yes, I will agree that the feel of the steering wheel will make any car feel better - even if it has a cheap interior... My 7 year old truck has a leather wrapped wheel and my work van which utilizes the same wheel design but is not leather wrapped. The difference is night and day.
firstwagon says:
07:48 PM, 05/12/08
Please don't try to compare city mileage with others, there are too many variables.
for example... I drive a Legacy and my sister has a Forester. Both are 4 cyl 4wd cars that should get about the same mileage.
In real world though I get 25 mpg on my daily commute and she gets 15 mpg. Both commutes are done in the same city and both take about 30 minutes each way.
The difference is she travels 10 km in 30 minutes and I travel 25 km. She lives and works downtown and I live further out. We both deal with lots of light and stop and go but I can get up to speed between problem spots and she can't.
Both are city driving though.