2008 Pontiac G8 GT: How it Should Be Done

Yup, good ol' American ingenu...

Wait. What? Australia, you say?

Ouch, that did hurt.

+1 for the G8

We as a country are in great debt to the 3,900 Australian citizens of Elizabeth, pouring their blood and sweat into this genuine Australian sports sedan. Thank you, Australia, for giving the world such a great car.

Wow neat here's an image of our Australian brothers on google maps!
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=183%20Philip%20Hwy%2C%20Elizabeth%20SA%205112%2C%20Australia&rls=com.microsoft:*&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl
All the nicely parked new cars...

clearly "bargain" hot rods arent always a bad deal.

i'd take the G8 over the GT-R anyday..sure, it isnt as fast, but the G8 is a much nicer car, and costs about half of what the GT-R costs. plus, the GXP version will probably be giving it a run for its money soon. we're not talking about getting into 3.5 0-60 times, but the 5 second range isnt that far off.

I'm not talking about getting in the 5 second range, but the 7 second range isn't that far off either. My car really gives the GXP a run for its money, at just $23,000.

And my SRT-4 at under $20,000 embarrasses Cayman S's and from anything but a dead stop crushes EVOs and STIs, but I'd still rather have a G8 GXP.

I have to ask, how the heck does the needle know when to recalibrate speed shown each time it climbs above and back below 100MPH?? As soon as it surpasses that speed it immediate slows to half the progression it did under 100 clicks? I know it's pretty much a moot question because of the speed involved, but wouldn't this be the first time an old fashioned needle guage is capable of stepped two-stage calibration?

- prndlol
"how the heck does the needle know when to recalibrate speed shown each time it climbs above and back below 100MPH??"

I believe most all speedos are electronic (no longer cable driven) and are controled by the car's computer.

Yep, most speedos are no longer cable driven. In fact, I can't name one new car that has a cable driven speedometer.

And the G8 has a button you can press when you drive into Canada or Mexico that rescales the whole thing, turning the "mph" light off and replacing it with a "km/h" one. The downside (if you want to call it that) is the new indicated max is 180 km/h (112 mph), a speed this car can exceed.

How are Australian cars for reliability?

The next step is to make the gauge face digitalized so that when switching to km/h the maximum indicated speed increases.

I can't remember a Nissan that did not have problems its first year out... otherwise, they tend to be dead reliable.

and the G8 did have problems already... for those who don't regular these blogs or just have a selective memory.

These things like Speedometer, HVAC layout, etc. have all been perfected a long time ago... but silly interior designers have to muck it all up to make it look different.

yes the gm had a bad wheel speed sensor and was our for a week.

However to fix the problem they didn't need to take 90% of the car apart.

And most of the week was wasted waiting for a part, which after a few days GM just said take it of an in stock car.

The gt-r leaks fuel, gets 'fixed' by the best nissian techs, and then cannot be filled up? not to mention the many check engine lights.

This is also how my Corvette speedometer is calibrated...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24792039@N03/2698820687/sizes/l/

Oh snap son!

(I completely agree)

"And the G8 has a button you can press when you drive into Canada or Mexico that rescales the whole thing, turning the "mph" light off and replacing it with a "km/h" one."

I've always thought this was a pretty cool feature that I think I've only ever seen on GM vehicles. It makes for less cluttered displays, which is always a good thing.

"The gt-r leaks fuel, gets 'fixed' by the best nissian techs, and then cannot be filled up? "

Maybe it only leaked if the tank was more than half full. Sounds like a perfect solution to me. :)

The '98 Cadillac Seville was one of the first GM car with comprehensive switchable metric/english instruments. Not only would the speedometer switch scales, but so would the trip computer and climate control displays. Yet another innovation that gets overlooked because panel gaps get more attention.

i think you might want to check your Categories: (you tagged the 2006 Civic Si instead of the GTR)
nice pic!

Yeah, The G8's gauges are very nicely done. I'd like to see a SLIGHTLY crisper font used (I think the numbers blur a little too much together), but otherwise it's one of the better gauges out there.

Ironically, I think I am going to stop by a Pontiac dealership tonight to test drive a 2004 BMW 330i 6-speed ZHP (Performance Package) that they have sitting on the lot :)

We'll see if they sell me instead on a G8 GT to take home.

Joe

Ha...this is what I was talking about in my post in the first write-up. Brilliant, GM.! Now get back to work.

"Here's another thing this Pontiac G8 GT currently does better than our GT-R: it runs."

ZZZZZZZZZZING!

joefrompa;
That ZHP is one fantastic car. Probably the best non ///M 3 Series until the advent of the E90 335i. I stupidly passed up a sweet Imola ZHP to buy that pig of a Mazdaspeed. GRRRR...
Message me at my carspace page if you want to discuss the ZHP further.

Agree. G8 gauge > GT-R gauge.

"The '98 Cadillac Seville was one of the first GM car with comprehensive switchable metric/english instruments. Not only would the speedometer switch scales, but so would the trip computer and climate control displays. Yet another innovation that gets overlooked because panel gaps get more attention."

The 1989 Lincoln Continental also did that. So we should be impressed that GM started introducing it on their cars 9 years later?

So did the E34 5 Series, which was introduced at about the same time as the Lincoln.

My 88 thunderbird converted KPH to MPH and vice versa.....magically, you focused on a different number in the speedo ring.

Freaking electronic gizmodo!

Joe

P.s. That car was a wonder for it's time....if Ford had continued on that tract, they'd be world renowned for their sports-touring cars. Let's tick off the list:

-in 1988 a 2.3 liter turbocharged intercooled engine putting out 190 HP and 240 TQ (which, by the way, was VERY easily modified to make much, much more safely).

-in 1988 it had a 5-speed manual tranmission connected to a limited slip (posi-rear) RWD drivetrain

-in 1988, it had an electronically controlled suspension for sport or comfort

-in 1988, it had a switch that would modulate timing for regular or premium gas

-in 1988, this Ford had power windows, locks, seats, external mirrors, sunroof

-in 1988, this car achieved an ~7 second 0-60 run (stock) while getting ~22mpg city and ~31 mpg highway (old EPA estimates, new ones would probably be 19 city and 28 highway).

That drivetrain was a freaking rock and WAYYYYY ahead of it's time. For $80 I added a cold air intake and a manual boost controller set to 17 PSI....I was putting out around 280-300 crank torque.

WHAT HAPPENED?????

Now I'm driving a freaking 2.0 liter Honda Civic and desiring fine german sumptuousness.

Joe

I had a 1984 Turbo Coupe I ran as my work beater to keep the miles off my M6. The Ford wasn't a bad car, but it had more than its share of glitches. In all fairness it was an old car.

"I had a 1984 Turbo Coupe I ran as my work beater to keep the miles off my M6. The Ford wasn't a bad car, but it had more than its share of glitches. In all fairness it was an old car. "

My very first car was a 1983 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe (virtually no changes in 1984, '83 was the first year). I loved that car, and not just because it was my first car. It did have its glitches and stupid Ford-isms (heater core leak, leaking rusting trunk below rear window, cable actuated clutch, etc.), but the rest of the car was so good that you could easily overlook its glitches. The car had a lot of advancements and technology that were way ahead of its time.

I miss the sound of that loud turbo whistle from the Garett T-3 turbo more than anything.

Maybe I'll buy one and restore it someday.

"The 1989 Lincoln Continental also did that. So we should be impressed that GM started introducing it on their cars 9 years later?"

Should be be impressed that many manufacturers dont do this 19 years after Lincoln introduced this technology? The GTR doesnt even have it and it costs $70k. I think it is impressive that GM uses this on most of their vehicles today because most manufacturers dont have it on their high end models.

1487 - Why be impressed either way? I think most manufacturers either put both numbers inside the gauge or leave the gauge in the metric (no pun intended) used in the country of destination.

It's not exactly a "feature", unless you regularly traverse across two national borders which use different metrics (pun intended) :)

On the ford thunderbird - If you gentleman haven't driven an 87 or 88 thunderbird turbo coupe 5-speed, you were missing out. ALL kinds of advancements from the 83-85 model. On man I miss that car. Can you tell it was my first car?

I bought it for $200 at an auction in delaware in 2001 with 123,000 miles on it. I sold it with 151,000 miles on it still going strong for about $750.

It had a blown throttle position sensor, which resulted in the car literally stalling at random times when shifted into neutral at speed or when coming to a stop. I figured out I could restart the car just by popping it back into gear while it was moving :)

I learned how to drive stick on that car....resulting in the need for a new clutch. I drove it in PA winters w/ bald rear all-season tires. I broke a belt once while spinning the tires hopelessly in ~6 inches of snow with 2 people sitting on the trunk.

Oh and I decided to put off the timing belt replacement....thank God it was a non-interference engine :)

Joe

The previous owner of my 1984 was my law partner, who had fitted 15" Mustang alloy wheels. He claimed it was very bad in the snow. I threw on a set of Dunlop D60A2 A/S tires and never had a bit of trouble(well, I did high-center the heap on a snow drift once). It was fun to motor along and watch the nervous Nelly bedwetters sliding off the roads in their "safe" FWD vanilla sedans.

Roadburner - My 88 had 225/60/16 as stock size...I was a broke college student at the time, and couldn't afford new tires. So I just replaced them as they blew out...of course, I was car-stupid at the time and replaced each tire with a different brand and speed rating. When I sold it, it had had 3 blowouts and had 4 mis-matched tires on it.

Stupid college student with no money tries to save money by endangering life.

Joe

When my son was a toddler I would take him to daycare in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. The daycare was located at the end of a winding road that also featured some really neat elevation changes. Since the T-Bird didn't have any airbags, I put my son's child seat in the front passenger bucket seat and I would tear down that road every morning with the turbo on boost 95% of the time. One day my wife was taking our son to school in her Pathfinder, and the following conversation took place:

"Mommy, there's no car in front of you."
"Why do you say that, son?"
"It means you can go FAST, Mommy!"
"Does Daddy go fast?"
"Yeah, Daddy goes REALLY FAST!"

Guess who got called on the carpet that night...