2008 Pontiac G8 GT: Don't Look Back In Anger

That is a terrible placement for a bright light....and that's just weird how fuzzy it is. Any other G8 owners confirming this?

I don't think I've ever seen a fuzzy mirror...could it be an electrochromatic mirror acting funny?

Joe

Wow, this is bad.

I bet they have no issues with the rearview mirror on the Australian version. Must be one of those changes "to better suit American consumer preferences."

Every GM vehicle that does not have a dash mounted passenger airbag status icon has this feature in the rearview mirror. Why? Simple- older generation cars were not designed with this light in place because the seat sensing passenger airbag deployment systems had not hit the market during their developement. Instead of an expensive retrofitting, they just placed the indication lamp in the mirror. Since the G8 is an Australian vehicle, it does not need the Pass Airbag indicator on it's dash so they had to put it somewhere. Why don't you Edmunds editors do a little research before posting stuff like this? You can tell who hasn't spent much time in a American cars based on posts such as this.

Also, for the last freakin' time- the G8 DOES NOT have a Corvette derived LS based V8 engine. This engine is Vortec Maxx from the Silverago/Sierra pick-ups. That is why it lacks some of the rumble of the LS1,2,3 engines. Again, do these editors ever read anything?

Right, and a passenger-seat occupant sensor probably isn't required in Australia, which is probably why GM rigged it on the mirror in the U.S.-market car.

Apologies to chavis (I guess), I was in the midst of posting my comment while you were posting yours. Trust me, it's not my editorial illiteracy that's causing the repetition here.

Just because the light is there on other GM vehicles doesn't mean its a good place for it. I've also never seen a fuzzy mirror, thats strange and unacceptable. I don't care for the thick mirror surround, but I do like the compass usefulness.

Chavis - "Also, for the last freakin' time- the G8 DOES NOT have a Corvette derived LS based V8 engine. This engine is Vortec Maxx from the Silverago/Sierra pick-ups. That is why it lacks some of the rumble of the LS1,2,3 engines. Again, do these editors ever read anything?"

Who said it has Corvette engine? They said it has a 6.0 liter putting out 361 HP and sounded like an "old man exhaust package"....

And it does indeed need more presence (IMHO) for it's power, looks, and overall execution.

The "rumble" is in exhaust and intake tuning...which was obviously tuned quietly for this car (subjectively).

Perhaps you need to read more of what was posted?

:)

Joe

The mirror may (or may not) be fuzzy, but please don't judge it from the photo. Photos do lie, especially in cases like this.

Btw: I like the old man exhaust. You young whipper snappers need to keep things down. While you're at it, stay outta my yard. :)

We understand why the light is on the mirror, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

In principle, I have nothing against the airbag sensor light being in the mirror, if it helps the designers make a clean dashboard layout. But I agree that an overly bright light in this location would be annoying.

BTW, the airbag sensor light in the Aura DOES dim at night, so that's something. Too bad it eats up valuable space on the center of the dash.

That airbag sensor needs an electrical tape mod :-)

@ Suby-- the game last night drank my milkshake, served me, and burned down my rec center. I still wore my #6 SC jersey today out of support and defiance.

Anyway, that looks just like the rearview mirror of my dad's LS1 Camaro. That weird "can't quite see through" kind of way. I do like GM very much, but there seem to be some serious quality issues that keep recurring.

That huge mirror is one of my main dislikes in Onstar-equipped vehicles. They couldn't put the buttons on the dash -- they had to make a monstrosity of a mirror that blocks out a big chunk of the view out of the windshield.

Joefrompa -- The mirror in the G8 is a manually dimmed unit, as shown by the switch on the bottom. If it was electro-chromatic, there would be a light sensor on the face of mirror next to the Onstar buttons.

The mirror design itself doesn't bother me (I have them in both my GM truck and GM car, but the airbag light would bug my eyes. Granted it may have been easier to place that light there rather than retrofit on the dash (there wasn't a spare "blank" panel somewhere???), but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be annoying. If it was bad enough, I would just order a GM spec mirror with the onstar buttons minus the light and figure out a way to jump the switch so the lightless mirror would think the lamp is lit.

That light would be irritating, but I think a fuzzy mirror would bother me a lot more.

This looks to be the exact same mirror that was in my wife's (now gone) 2005 Buick Terraza. I HATED that it seemed to be one of the few leftover modern GM holdouts to get by without the electrochromic rearview mirrors in most of their other products. I see I was wrong.

Still, I had no issue with fuzziness, though it also had a bit of a vibration issue.

Also, as brn points out, photos lie. Especially photos of mirrors that are focusing on the mirror surface and surround. Mirrors have depth, so to show the fuzziness would've required (attempting to?) focus through the mirror on whatever the reflection shows.