This weekend was the most time I've ever spent in our 2008 Pontiac G8. And I have to say that yes, that car can go pretty fast. Really easy to move in and out of traffic, jump onto the freeway in front of fast-moving cars and hit those extra-legal speeds. In fact it seemed at its best when it was going fast.
Only a few things about it that I wasn't crazy about is that it seemed like the throttle had a bit of a lag like when I was trying to backup. If I carefully touched the throttle, like I usually do when going in reverse, nothing would happen. And so when I went to press down more, the car would suddenly lunge backward with the engine revving. One time I did that I felt obliged to apologize to my passenger. She had thought that I was trying to pull a 180 just to get to that parking spot behind us right quick. "Calm down, Caroline. We'll get that spot. Eesh," she said.
My other gripes are the radio controls which another editor had already blogged about and that huge battery/oil display that takes up space in the center of the dash. Do we really need that there? Every time I'd go to glance at the time I had to remember it's not up there, it's located in the radio display.
Oh, and our G8 received a number of compliments when it was out and about this weekend. One time I parked in front of a Toyota dealership and one of the Toyota guys pulling up in a stickered Highlander pulled alongside me, "Is that the G6?" "It's the G8," I replied. "That's a good-looking car!" he said but not in a surprised way. And in another instance my friend who was walking me back to my car said that it looked like a Mercedes. But then again, it was kinda dark outside.
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 7,750 miles
lazyhater says:
04:18 PM, 08/18/08
The front plate is still crooked.
lazyhater says:
04:20 PM, 08/18/08
No one at Edmunds care to fix the crooked plate?
phinneas519 says:
06:55 PM, 08/18/08
lazyhater, your username makes your otherwise mundane comments classic.
billt9 says:
08:02 PM, 08/18/08
Who cares about driving backwards. An American car this big is for plowing through whatever's in front of you.
mopar424 says:
09:54 PM, 08/18/08
A car that wants to lunge at every opportunity is the car for me.
sgude says:
05:28 AM, 08/19/08
This is the new Darth Vader of American cars. Tint the windows to complete the effect. Then every time you start it, say "Now, I am the master."
1487 says:
05:37 AM, 08/19/08
How typical that a car salesperson can't even differentiate between their competitor's cars. Not surprising since most salesmen seem to know little about cars in general.
dougtheeng says:
06:11 AM, 08/19/08
"lazyhater, your username makes your otherwise mundane comments classic."
+1! Now if a few of the other consistently cynical posters would change their names, we'd have a real good group of posters!
"Who cares about driving backwards. An American car this big is for plowing through whatever's in front of you."
?? lol. I've had the reverse lag problem before, mostly in trucks it seems. Its a pain.
joefrompa says:
07:32 AM, 08/19/08
Electronic throttles, for the most part, seem to have not yet mastered the finer touches of the right foot. I haven't driven too many cars with electronic throttles that have the fine-touch adjustments of a traditional cable-actuated throttle.
Edmunds long-term blog cars don't get many personal touches, so I imagine that the front license plate isn't the only thing that's never fixed :)
Joe
slickersdrip says:
09:22 AM, 08/19/08
Joe,
I don't think that there will be enough peer pressure on the long term blogs to get them to fix that front license plate, unlike turn signal covers or shift knob adjustments for the Ferrari. Now if the G8 was more BMW-esque, the editors would probably do an unnecessary brake job for the G8 as well as fixing that front plate.
-Christopher
lazyhater says:
09:23 AM, 08/19/08
"lazyhater, your username makes your otherwise mundane comments classic."
Thank you :)
lazyhater says:
09:24 AM, 08/19/08
"Edmunds long-term blog cars don't get many personal touches, so I imagine that the front license plate isn't the only thing that's never fixed :) "
slickersdrip beat me to it, but they fixed every little issue on that 308.
joefrompa says:
10:56 AM, 08/19/08
Because it was a used ferrari, not a brand new G8 with a crooked part that isn't even OEM :)
And yes, I agree, the M3 should not have gotten a big brake kit....that's what happens when you give car guys a big budget and little accountability.
I would come in there and clean things up :)
By spending that money instead on an BMW e30, Porsche 944 Turbo, Original ZR1, some sort of trike, and hmm....
Joe
lazyhater says:
11:21 AM, 08/19/08
"Because it was a used ferrari, not a brand new G8 with a crooked part that isn't even OEM :)"
The plate holder/mounting hardwares are the parts that are crooked, they are OEM.
The plate is straight onto the holder.
bloodyr says:
12:53 PM, 08/19/08
The dealers usually install those plate holders, so it looks like they just did a sloppy job.
hondacura4 says:
06:21 PM, 08/20/08
"Electronic throttles, for the most part, seem to have not yet mastered the finer touches of the right foot. I haven't driven too many cars with electronic throttles that have the fine-touch adjustments of a traditional cable-actuated throttle."
The Honda NSX had drive by wire but it was so good that nobody really noticed. Makes me wonder why some of Honda current DBW systems (Civic Si) are not as well executed.
emale says:
02:40 PM, 08/21/08
one of those service bulletins that your dealership loaded was supposed to help alleviate the sudden acceleration problem...apparently it didn't work!
misterscoopman says:
11:22 AM, 08/29/08
I rented one of these last week on vacation and I had the exact same problem when backing up in parking lots. My wife (who does not find my left foot my most endearing trait) hit me after I lunged backwards... Thanks for letting me tell her it wasn't me, it was the car.