2008 Pontiac G8 GT: Cheaper than the Smart...

Is this the first oil change called for by the engine oil life monitor on the G8? I certainly hope it is since I changed the oil in my wife's G8 at 1,628 miles (personal preference after a break-in period)and reset the oil life monitor. We are now approaching 11,000 miles and the DIC has not told us that it's time for an oil change. I am not completely surprised by this since I had a 2004 Silverado that went ~8,000 miles between oil changes and the G8 holds nearly 9 quarts of oil. With that noted, I am quite surprised by the low total price for your service.

Oh, and have you guys checked the oil level since you got it back? $15.95 in total parts seems exceptionally cheap for nearly 9 quarts of oil and a new filter.

Agreed....you can't go to pepboys and buy 9 quarts of cheap, crappy oil and a bottom-end filter for $16.

I just shopped a G8...I didn't see 0% financing. Anyone know if it's available? Maybe I'll buy one with that financing so I can help justify it...and to support my local economy.

joe

That oil change deal was probably a "loss leader" special that you see from time-to-time to get people into the service department. But yet they didn't try to upsell us any unnecessary service.

Plus we imagine that most cars that they take in on this deal won't have the G8 GT's abnormally large 8.8 quart capacity.

Joe,
Currently there are no low-financing deals on the G8, though there are cash-back incentives.

Wow, 9 quarts of oil is a lot. I don't know if I remember right, but my uncle has a Hummer H2, and he said it holds 10 quarts. Does that sound right?

No tire rotation needed?

And here I was thinking 6 quarts was a lot. 9... You'd have to buy two 5 quart jugs.

How much oil does the Fortwo take? 2 quarts? 1.5?

So, with the difference between the Smart service and the G8 service, you could buy how many tankfuls of gas?

At the current price, that's almost 60 gallons of fuel or approx. 900 miles of American V8 muscle. That's not too SMART, is it?

Wow...since when do small blocks take that much oil?! I always thought they used relatively little oil for their displacement, do to OHV construction?

A large oil sump is a very good thing to me. It makes the oil last MUCH longer and helps avoid starvation due to consumption with fools who don't check their oils.

Capacity rarely has much to do with engine size by the way, and more to due with lubrication needs/design and desire for oil change intervals.

To give an example, my father's '99 Boxster 2.5 liter flat-six engine has a 9+ quart sump (it's close to 10 quarts, but it never really needs more than 9 to 9.5 quarts after each change). The oil change interval is supposed to be once a year or every 15,000 miles.

My 2.0 liter Civic Si takes 5 quarts. My wife's Subaru Legacy GT (a flat-four design) takes ~4.5 quarts max.

It's all by design.

Joe

service on American cars is always cheaper. Not that anyone ever mentions this. C&D had a long term GL320 CDI and the maintenance costs were about 10 times what they paid for the Escalade over $40k. They only spent about $210 on the Escalade over 40k miles which is great.

$210? How the heck did they do that?

My 06 Civic SI for 40k miles includes:

lets say 4 oil changes at $50 per = $200

4 tire rotations done by me = $0

One air filter = $10

One set of tires (granted, the escalade could miss this with SUV tires) = $500

One cabin air filter = $15

And of course various inspections done by me :)

I'd be curious how the GL320 CDI, which has a similar maintenance schedule and tire setup to the Escalade, would cost 10 times the amount to maintain as the Escalade during an in-warranty period.

I'd think a reasonable cost for an oil change on the G8 would be $60...9 quarts of cheap DINO oil = ~$27, $4 cheap oil filter, and then $30 for 1/2 hour of grease monkey time.

Joe

P.s. Oh yeah, maintenance/repair costs on my wife's '03 Saturn Ion 3, mostly done by me, over a period of 50k miles? Around $1500, including 2 sets of tires.

For years, the dealer down the street charges me $15 to change my 6 quarts of oil. Yes, dealers often use oil changes as loss leaders. Smart dealers on the other hand, apparently use it as a gouge leader.

The Escalade didnt get replacement tires during their test. If you subtract tires all they paid for were oil changes and tire rotations. Actually, they may not have paid for tire rotations if it was AWD.

Why dont you read the test if you take issue with the numbers? The GL had very expensive services (big shock) and need wipers multiple times as well as tires. Never assume that a luxury import has the same maintenance schedule as a domestic product. I have found that luxury cars tend to recommend excessive service in order to boost dealer profits.

With my old car my average service bill was $30-$50 for either just an oil change or an oil change and rotation. There wasn't much else to do in terms of scheduled maintenance. No fuel filters to change, no tranny fluid to be replaced, etc.

So – I drove a 2009 G8 GT. The current incentives bring the actual transaction price of a G8 GT ( Premium, Sport, Roof ) to approx. $2K below invoice. Just over $30K, on this ‘old invoice’ 2009.

Executive summary:

I do like the G8 GT – a lot.

Background:

I currently drive a Corvette Coupe with A6 \ 6L80 trans. – driveline is very similar to the G8 GT. I have driven 2 2008 G8 GTs. And posted my impressions here – several months ago.

I waited for the 2009 for 3 primary reasons:
1 = A [ model ] year of US production. In case there were any significant issues.
2 = XM.
3 = A color I really wanted = Silver.

I was also hoping [ expecting? ] that GM \ Pontiac \ Holden would address the few issues I had with the drivelive.

Impressions:

Compared to my Corvette, the G8 GT [ even with the Sport Package & 19” wheels \ relatively low profile tires ] is a much less ‘intense’ riding car than my Corvette. Understandably so. Yet I was still pleasantly surprised that the ride \ handling compromise is so close to what I would consider ideal – for a 4DR high-performance sedan. Well controlled & well damped.

The interior is somewhat ‘plain’, one could argue – and the missing “Atari Gauges”, with only a very small rubber shelf & not even a raised lip seems a rather odd solution to THAT issue. Oh, well.

I find the seats comfortable & supportive, the visibility good. The ergonomics are generally OK. Nothing fancy here – but very functional.

I will certainly miss the HUD, and particularly the ability to display the MPH, RPM and the current gear selected a whole lot closer to my line-of-sight than the DIC. Again – oh, well.

The trans. appears better sorted \ tuned \ programmed than the 2 2008s I drove some time back. Upshifts and downshifts were quick & well-managed. Downshifts in particular were smoother than in those 2008s. I will miss the paddle shifters on my Corvette. One more time: Oh, well.

Think, think, ponder ponder . . .

- Ray

F.Y.I.
Here are my trans. comments from a test drive of a 2008 G8 GT.

The trans. downshift behavior still concerns me a bit. I currently drive a GM V8 with the 6L80 trans. Corvette Coupe. With 2007 calibrations & hardware version. For 2008 the 6L80 version in the Corvette was substantially revised & updated ( hardware & software ) to quicken both the upshifts and downshifts – and to do a better job ( by some reports ) on the “rev match on downshift”. My 2007 does not do this at all ( or does it so poorly as not to be worthy of the name ) on 3 – 2 or 2 –1 downshifts.

Sadly, though, both of the 2 G8 GTs I have now driven seem to do a reasonably good job when manually commanded to downshift from 6 – 5, 5 – 4, and 4 – 3 ( the relatively “easy” ones ), but - I was ** NOT ** impressed with the 3 – 2 or 2 – 1 downshifts I tried. And I tried several.

These were not at all extreme downshifts – not 3 – 2 at 60 or 2 –1 at 35, for example. More like 3 – 2, while slowing through 30 or 25 MPH and about to accelerate – requiring a ‘blip’ to something like 2500 RPM. To me, these downshifts felt more like someone driving a manual trans, downshifting, and abruptly letting out the clutch – without a throttle blip. Seems to accomplish the actual downshift a bit more quickly than mine – and responds a bit more quickly – meaning: command to beginning of shift execution seems a bit quicker. But not nearly what I had hoped for, however, after reading the 2008 Corvette technical data & reviews.

Somewhat disappointing. Probably not a deal-breaker, for me.

Note: The trans. ** DOES ** perform ( in several respects important to me ) much better then the 6L50 in a 2008 Caddy CTS I rented & drove a couple of hundred miles last month . . .

Geez, and I thought the 5.1 quarts my little 2L uses was a lot. 9 is just plain crazy.

1487 - Can you actually provide the link to the test you are referring too?

C&D's website shows no long term test of a GL320 CDI and a google search didn't turn up anything either.

Air filters don't last longer than ~30,000 miles, nor do cabin air filters. I didn't mention fuel filter or trans fluid changes....brake fluid should probably be flushed though.

Joe

"With my old car my average service bill was $30-$50 for either just an oil change or an oil change and rotation. There wasn't much else to do in terms of scheduled maintenance. No fuel filters to change, no tranny fluid to be replaced, etc."

But how much money did you have to spend on coffee so that you wouldn't fall asleep while driving your appliance?

joe,

They may not have posted it yet because its in the December issue. I reread it and those figures I gave no not include tires. The GL just had numerous expensive "inspections" and other services that most GM vehicle dont need within the first 40k miles. The last service was like $400. If I was at home I would provide the details for you. $2100 is ridiculous, even for a luxury vehicle.

Agreed. But it's downright odd honestly on a modern vehicle, luxury or not.

Now, I'll be the first one to say that Subaru (not exactly a Mercedes/Cadillac quality brand) dealerships will charge $300+ for a 15,000 mile service and $600+ for a 30,000 mile service...so I could see with oil changes and a few other things a Subaru adding up to $1500 over 40,000 miles based upon dealership-ripoff servicing.

Compare to, say, a BMW X5. $0 for all "inspections" and servicing for 4 years, 50,000 miles.

Not saying that's the norm or that it's cheap after that point, but just a comparison between the luxo-marques.

"1487 - Can you actually provide the link to the test you are referring too?

C&D's website shows no long term test of a GL320 CDI and a google search didn't turn up anything either."

Probably too late, since these threads seem to 'die' after they fall off the front page, but:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/car_shopping/long_term_road_tests/2008_mercedes_benz_gl320_cdi_4matic_long_term_road_test?cid=327

Thanks man. I check up on 2nd page comments that I've been in :)

So I just read it.....seems like the dealership was ripping them a new one. Ridiculous.

But ironically, they then followed it up with:

"On the other hand, the Mercedes burned 1818 gallons of diesel fuel at a cost of $7218, while the Escalade, at today’s prices, would have set us back more than $14,000 for gasoline. "

I'm assuming that's at the $4.00+ a gallon prices, but holy cow...double the cost in gas?

Joe