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Sedans Pontiac G8 2008 Pontiac G8
1265 messages, Last post on Jul 21, 2009 at 10:14 AM
You are in the Pontiac G8 Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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With the new incentives just announced, a dealer with a 2009 G8 GT in the color I’d buy & with the options & packages I’d want says the selling price would now be approx. $2K below invoice. MSRP $34.1K ( approx. ) Sell $30.1K ( approx. ) - Ray Worth a 20 minute drive to look & drive & investigate a possible ‘deal’ sometime very soon. . . |
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Weight is no where near as important as suspension setup and weight distribution. In the old days a total weight made a big difference because the added weight per a square inch of rubber contact did not add enough traction to compensate for the additional overhead of breaking or making directional changes on a vehicle that has more weight/momentum to resist change. That said, huge improvements in tire technology have changed this phenomena. For example, a dodge viper weights 3400 lbs and handles pretty good.The first thing taught in racing school is how to keep the weight even as possible on all four wheels for optimal handling. I own a 09 G8GT and a vette. The G8 GT is a balance vehicle which handles good not great. It is an excellent compromise between handling and ride. When I get out of the g8 and get into the vette the difference between the two is huge. For me personally, I would prefer a stiffer suspension and heaver sway bars. Most average drivers would not want to make the trade off since the ride will deteriorate. GM is smart to offer the GXP which will most likely provide a better package for me. Comparing a RWD car that has 50/50 weight distribution to a FWD vehicle that has 60% of the weight on the front tires is crazy. FWD cars never feel balanced and are boring to drive. You can't change the angle of the car when negotiating corners, weight transfer during takoff kill traction, torque steer, rear tire liftoff during hard breaking are all bummers on any FWD car. The FWD design is ass backwards.
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Replying to: mrpushrod (Nov 05, 2008 9:05 am) Can you elaborate a bit? My current 'ride' is a 2007 Corvette Coupe... Thanks, - Ray Driven 2 2008 G8 GTs - and off to drive a 2009 tomorrow, if the planets align..... |
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When you jerk the steering wheel back and forth on the vette going say 40MPH it is obvious that the car is two inches off the ground and there is virtually no sway in the suspension. Feels real crisp. When you do the same in the G8 there is some sway and give initially. That said, when you drive on a twisty washboard road with the vette the impact of the washboard surface is harshly transmitted into the cabin. It also bounces around a bit. They probably don't have much rubber to isolate the suspension, sway bars, etc. Furthermore, the vette takes a bit more attention to drive since wider tires follow road surfaces easier, etc. I tested quite a lot of the new cars prior to buying the G8. The G8 is by far the best bang for the buck. I liked the CTS too but interior space is superior in the G8. The g8 rides more like a 5 series BMW or Mercedes than a Maxima or Accura. Torque from the V8 is also a big plus.
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Replying to: mrpushrod (Nov 05, 2008 10:07 am) I appreciate that - is your Corvette a Z06? If not, is it Z51? or 'Base' \ F55? Thanks, - Ray Base Coupe... |
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Replying to: mrpushrod (Nov 05, 2008 9:05 am) While you may be right about suspension setup and tire technology, given 2 cars, same power, same size tires, and one weighs in at 3300lbs and the other 4000lbs, the one that weighs in at 3300lbs is the one who is going to handle better. I agree with the ideas of FWD v. RWD, however you CAN tune a FWD suspension to handle and feel good. For instance, I'd put any FWD race car up against a stock G8 and the race car will feel better, handle better and turn better lap times. In most racing organizations for road race, they actually decide on what class you are based on HP to Weight Ratios. Not FWD v. RWD v. AWD. Show up with the Dyno Sheet and put your car on the scales... To that end, for a street car, the G8 is a great compromise of size, ride, and handling. I don't expect the suspension upgrades on the GXP to be anything earth shattering. Nothing you couldn't get from Konis + Bushings + Spring + Sway Upgrades on a G8 GT. The GXP really is giving you the 6.2L engine, and the 6MT as the significant items that can't be had in the aftermarket. Suspension and Brembos both are easy aftermarket bolt ons as far as I'm concerned. -mike Motorsports and Modifications Host
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Replying to: paisan (Nov 05, 2008 7:59 pm) as far as I'm concerned." Easy - perhaps. For those more mechanically adept than I. Not typically 'cheap'.... |
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So – I drove a 2009. 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 . . . |
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Excellent post "paisan". No matter what, I would still always prefer RWD. I love the feeling of power sliding a RWD car. Also there is the challenge of shifting as much weight as possible to the rear wheels during takeoff. Although, with the G8 Auto this is not an issue (accept in the rain), it barely lays rubber during acceleration. No FWD vehicle can provide me with such enjoyment. Then there is the torque steer issue. Every time read an article about a FWD sport sedan, the first thing stated "torque steer is virtually eliminated". That's when I know the author owns a FWD. As far as after market parts, etc, those days are done. I have gone as far to weld on custom stabilizer bars, etc on some of my past dinosaurs. I purchased the G8 for a daily driver vehicle for my wife and a family car for both of us. As such it blew away the competition. Maxima, Avalon, Taurus, Accura products, Chrysler products, etc. The interior is spacious, plus it feels very confident in both in the twisties and at high speeds on the highway. The only other comment about the weight/suspension issue that was not mentioned was size of vehicle. I bet there are tracks where you can get a midget FWD car to beat a Viper. Just make the turns tight enough to make the Viper feel huge. Yet on a huge oval track a super small lightweight vehicle would not be ideal. Larger size/longer wheel base aids in tracking. For example, I own a F150 and it is a no brainier to drive on the highway. It is like having laser steering. The G8 tracks awesome on the highway especially at speeds above 80MPH |
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