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Automotive News & Views Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous
15314 messages, Last post on Nov 30, 2009 at 9:10 PM
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Replying to: woodyww (Dec 16, 2008 10:39 am)  Or just let Amazon deliver. We really should start up a TV discussion over in Off Topic Chatter. Since I don't watch TV, I'll leave that up to you and Kyfdx. 
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Replying to: woodyww (Dec 16, 2008 10:39 am) |
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So – after just over 2 years in my 2007 Corvette Coupe, I traded that in on a 2009 Pontiac G8 GT. Executive summary: This is as close to a ( reasonably priced ) 4-door Corvette as I see available today. With just over 2 years and just over 32,000 miles in a current generation Corvette, this is exactly what I was looking for. Having driven her just over 1,000 miles, I am quite pleased & satisfied! A few details & impressions. Car: Silver 2009 G8 GT with red & black seats, Premium, Sport & Sunroof. With quite a lot of ‘seat time’ in a car with a very similar drivetrain (2007 C6 with 6L80 trans. and LS2 V8 ) I was looking for improvements in the trans. behavior & hoping that GM \ Pontiac \ Holden had addressed several concerns I ( and others with the 6-speed automatic trans. in their Corvettes ) had regarding shift speed and some other specific behaviors. This trans works very well, for me. The delay between shift request & beginning of shift execution is improved compared to my ‘Vette. The actual shift events, up & down, are quicker than in my Corvette and a couple of 2008 G8 GTs I test drove, & they are very smooth – and the ‘rev match on downshift’ feature ( at least in mine ) actually works quite well, indeed! Good job, GM. [ Though listed in the Corvette brochure, no pre-2008 Corvette with 6L80 automatic actually does this at all . . . ] The drivetrain make this rather large & fairly heavy sedan feel quick & smooth – and the acceleration feels seamless & effortless. I prefer this trans behavior & the programming selected ( by far ) to the 3 & 5 series BMWs I have driven - even with their latest 6-speed ZF automatic trans. Kudos! The absolute maximum acceleration rate is clearly not quite what I am used to, in the Corvette - obviously. Mid- to high 13s in the quarter mile is quick enough for me, however, in this class car. The acceleration is very smooth – and I expect that it will prove to be ‘sufficient’. Saying quite a lot, coming from someone who has been driving a [ roughly ] 3200 pound ‘Vette for over 30,000 miles, I think. I have so far found the G8 GT to exhibit what I’d call ‘a satisfying level of quickness’. Overall, the experience in the G8 GT is rather dramatically less ‘intense’ than the Corvette – yet the feeling is remarkably similar, to me. The ride is quieter and much less firm, ( the Corvette has run flat tires – a big contributor here ) yet I find the steering feel of the G8 GT to be excellent and the body motions remain largely well controlled. The high speed handling, feeling of security & directional stability seem quite good. And the ride is really excellent on smooth but slightly undulating highway surfaces – again, very well controlled – and it certainly is quiet. On surface streets, the ride is very well damped, impact harshness is well muted ( over RR X-ings, for example ) and handling is very good, up to any cornering lateral Gs I’d use in normal street driving. The ride & handling compromise results in a level of refinement I find rewarding – and pleasantly surprising in a $30K sedan. The various systems seem to work well together, resulting in a sense of a very well integrated machine that generally gives the impression it is responding as a whole – rather than a bunch of separate parts. The interior ( with a couple of exceptions, listed below ) provides very comfortable & supportive seating and a well-finished appearance, with most amenities I care about. I find the tilt & telescope steering wheel to be particularly well done. I knew that I would miss my HUD – had one in the Corvette – and a couple of Grand Prix sedans – back all the way to 1997. I still just find it weird that none is offered on any G8. I am still adapting to the display of ‘Gear Selected’ in the DIC – so low on the dash – compared to right below my line-of-sight out the windshield. I am old & slow to adapt, sometimes – but I expect that this will be OK, eventually. I miss the paddle shifters that I had in my Corvette – and in a 2005 Grand Prix. Another odd option omission, seems to me. And no surprise. I do ** NOT ** miss having to be [ oh, so very ] careful when approaching any significant dip or severe upward angle in the road, and even some ‘speed bumps’, due to the extremely low ground clearance of the ‘Vette. I scraped the front spoiler nearly every time I backed out of my garage & onto my street – not to mention a few hundred other times. And now I can actually see most overhead traffic signals without poking my head forward in front of the steering wheel. I find the visibility good. The ergonomics are generally very good. Nothing fancy here – but very functional & convenient. I am still working to find the perfect sunroof position – but I do really appreciate again having the option of an opening roof – since the Corvette’s removable panel was really useless ( noise & wind buffeting ) at highway speeds, and could not be removed while driving, nor set \ adjusted in any way. And having the convenient option of the sunshade open \ partially open \ fully closed at any time is appreciated as well. Anyway – so far, I am well pleased with her. And at an actual transaction price near $30K – well it is the best alternative I see to a BMW 550i. And I actually like several aspects ( the looks, inside & out, the trans. behavior ) a lot better on the Pontiac! Cheers, - Ray G8 GT 09 driver . . . Notes: 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. Also: All comments above re: the trans. behavior refer only to Sport \ Manual mode. You have by now all likely seen one, but here are a few quick pics: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/rayainsw/new%20G8%20GT%202009/P1320363cro- - - pnewG8GT2009.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/rayainsw/new%20G8%20GT%202009/P1320370cro- - - pnewG8GT2009.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/rayainsw/new%20G8%20GT%202009/P1320423new- - - G8GT2009.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/rayainsw/new%20G8%20GT%202009/P1320430cro- - - pnewG8GT2009.jpg Sticker of an identical one: |
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Replying to: rayainsw (Dec 18, 2008 3:57 am)  $40K on a sports sedan I'll pick up a nice CPO 335i or E46 M3 for around $36K and use the $4K savings to buy a set of track wheels and tires- and perhaps an ECU upgrade...
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Replying to: roadburner (Dec 18, 2008 6:46 am) I hear you. A non-issue, for me, as even if I did want a manual trans, severe bursitis means that I could not... If the 335 or M3 is large enough, enjoy! I have a lot of respect for BMW and for the 3 Series in particular... Enjoy! - Ray Enjoying the automatic even more than I thought I would... |
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Replying to: rayainsw (Dec 18, 2008 6:56 am) I presume that you have no worries about GM as a going concern and that your dealer will be around to do maintenance and warranty work? Also curious about the deal you got, given the current state of the industry.
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Replying to: rayainsw (Dec 18, 2008 6:56 am) |
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| there is $2000 cash on any remaining 2008 Mazda3s (except MS3)...hmm, it's got me thinking....I rather like my sister's, and hers is the 2.0. I found a gray 's' with the 2.3L near me that is a 2008. Could this be the end for the Matrix?? | |
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Replying to: michaell (Dec 18, 2008 6:59 am) I was satisfied with what I saw as a fair [ and fairly aggressive ] sale price of the G8 - and with the overall transaction. I certainly have concerns, about both GM & Pontiac dealers, specifically. Those concerns were outweighed ( for me ) by the driving dynamics of the G8 GT - vs. anything that I think could fairly be called a competitor. The BMW 335i is so much smaller & so much more expensive [ new vs. new ] that I don’t consider that to be a fair comparison, personally. Though I will admit that the dynamics & raw performance numbers are quite similar. A BMW 535i or 550i is much closer in size & weight – and the base MSRP for either is way, ** WAY ** more expensive than even a loaded G8 GT. 2009 535i base price is now over $50K. Although I will certainly concede that the BMWs have a higher grade of interior materials & some bells and whistles available that are desirable to many. I happen to prefer the styling, both exterior & interior, of the G8 GT to either the current 5 or 3 series. And I still ** GREATLY ** prefer several of Pontaic’s programming choices in the G8’s 6L80 – even compared to the latest & greatest ZF Steptronic. The behavior suits me much better – and I did drive 3 different 335i-s. And ( again ) the 3 & 5 series BMWs ( except Ms ) do not include or even provide as an option a true LSD. Just weird. Is the BMW ‘better’, dynamically – particularly in some of the finer aspects of the ride \ handling compromise? Likely so. But this car’s ride & handling suit me very well, indeed. - Ray Happy with the new toy. . .
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