Here is my car at the local cruise in, and since my mom works at the dealership and she was able to talk them into bringing the new GTO up to park beside my dads

Here are a few pics:

 

.

 

And here is the goat

Mods: I consider this to be third gen related but if you think different then I will understand

 

i dont like 67 GTOS (dont look as good as the 64) I think the new GTO is stupid ( even tho its fast with 350hp and 6 speed) But i like that thirdgen bird on the far left side

 

im not a gto lover , but i do love that they are all pontiacs.Pontiac boys gotta stick together.

 

I personally only see one 'badass' poncho and it's in the middle.

 

Coming home we did a little race and I hung with him pretty good SO................HA LOL

At first my dad did not like the new one either, but after he drove it back to the dealer he had a very different opinion

 

The new GTOs are beautiful. I guess Im in the minority on that opinion though. Your TA is also very nice, I love that body style.

 

Yeah with some big ugly red letters under the hood.

 

Your not alone. I love the new GTO. I got to test drive one to. That thing is badass. The sales rep didn't mind that I was speeding during the test drive either.

 

Is it just me or does the new GTO look like a slightly modified Grand Am? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I like the car....I was just saying.

Anyway, I love the ThirdGen....very clean ride.

 

:hail: Pontiac

 

Exactly! Its NOT a GTO , sure they might have used the GTO name but its nothing but a hopped up grand am with a v8.

I also like the car but its not a GTO.

Looking at how pontiac destroyed a name like GTO makes me kinda glad they dont make the firebird anymore. Imagine WTF they'd do to that!

 

I don't really understand the people who don't like the new GTO. Our thirdgen's are V8 powered rear-drive performance cars with (some of them) decent handling. The new GTO is v8 powered, rear-drive and has pretty good handling, at least we have it. Pontiac has nothing else like it in its lineup right now, and chevy only has the'vette. I say we should be grateful that GM is selling the GTO.

 

:rockon:

 

i don't see how Pontiac destroyed the GTO name. the new and old GTO comparison is the same as the new and old Camaro/Firebird comparison...did they destroy the Camaro name when they made the newest Camaro? i think the new GTO is a bad *** ride

 

well the GTO is one of pontiac's (GM's) Australian cars. the Holden Monaro and i think C&D didn't like the handling. they sed that the f-body were better all round and cheaper

quote from C&D "Australia is a land of rough roads, so the control arms are stout welded steel and forged iron, and the crossmembers to which they attach are beefy stampings and tubes. It all contributes to the GTO's 3821-pound curb weight, a 550-plus-pound hike above a base Corvette coupe. Elevating the fuel tank into the trunk pushed the GTO's center of gravity in the wrong direction, too."

"Standing 1/4-mile: 14.0 sec @ 102 mph" that's a 6sd and the 4th gens r faster than that stock

i feel GM just scrapped together a car to replace the f-body (since it fail the new crash test requirements )....atleast for now....i hope

 

Although I don't like the bland styling of the GTO, my problem lies in the concept and thought process at GM. The original GTO was designed as a high performance car to satisfy demand. Fair enough. While you can argue the same point today, Pontiac/GM had a car to fill that spot, out beloved F-Body. Ford knew there was demand, and Chrysler did too, as they've been toying with the charger for some time. Yet somehow, GM killed our F-body. In the rush to satisfy the demand, they took an EXISTING car from Holden, and slapped GTO badges on it. GM fumbled the ball with the F-bod, and they knew it before the final cars were even produced, but it was too late. The GTO is what they came up with. While no actual proof of this is actually out there, you don't need to look very far to hear that this is actually EXACTLY what happened.

ss85tadude: Good to see you had NICE day with some other Pontiacs. Nothing like a good cruise in!

 

It looks like a grocery getter. They did a great job on interior and under the hood, but it doesn't look like a GTO, it looks like your european style sedans .

 

they should have gone retro with the gto. with all the problems and all the good points. it should be a bullet in a strait away and a slug in the turns. i wouldnt buy one just because of its looks and who makes it. i want american not down under cars. and im sorry id rather drive a new ford mustang than that gto at least ford is finally doing something right.
jon

 

i URGE you to tell me what the original GTO was. thats whats wrong with people. they have some sort of clouded view of what the car really was. it wasnt the Judge. it wasnt anything like that. it was a Le Mans (in a nutshell the same as a Grand Am of today) with an appearence package and bigger engine. thats it.

the hiatus was for legal reasons. the car needed a redesign, and the plant was outdated. when a car is redesigned it needs to seel a certain amount to be considered a success. basically it needs to sell enough to recover production costs. the 4th gen plant in St. Therese couldnt meet the demand. now they could move it someplace else yes, but gm had signed a contract saying the fbody would be there until 2008 or until the plant was gone. the plant is now gone and the camaro design is all but released to the public. check out the 5th gen section of cz28 and read over there.

 

hey Abubaca, i bet u to it (the Holden Monaro)

i wouldn't go that far

from when i saw C&D test it, that's how it sorta came out to be, bad handling but it's still not as good in the 1/4 as an F-body

EDIT: back when i joined this site (over a year ago) my mechanic (who has alot of friends on the inside) told me that they had to stop the f-body due to the fact that it didn't pass the new safety regulations (just like how the vette doesn't have an 1983 for the same reason, i'll have to look into that) but he told me that in 2007 a RWD V8 sports car was to be released and that happens to be the camaro anniversary. here's a site i found 2007 camaro

 

I like the T/A and the 67, but that new GTO doesn't do anything for me. It kinda looks like something my grandmother would drive.

 

But if you think about it, How did they make the GTO back in 64'? They took the 2 door family car of the day and stuck a huge motor in it...Exactly what they did with the new car. I mean Im not a hug fan of the styling, the cars are australian made anyway... But Im just saying their reasoning for GTO isnt far off.

 

this is getting way off topic but its nice to talk about other cars then f bodies seeing how tight the mods are on here about sticking to the point. Anyway.

The GTO isnt a GTO. So what its got a 350 or whatever. They should have made a built up 400 or something for it. its got newer styling...A point of remaking a car such as the Mach1/gto should be to ressemble the older cars we loved. Ive got the same opinion as almost all of us. The new GTO is just a run of the mill pontiac with gto badges on it not the real thing.

Ford actually is trying a little at ressembling the cars of the past with shaker hoods, similar tail lights, body style etc. But I think what would drive people crazy for the machs is a nice 351 cleveland in the engine bay.

anyway nice pontiacs none the less. Id drive em all excpet the GTO daily.


Nate:lala:

 

The difference is the Tempest had style. Whatever this new one was before they slaped the badges on it, does not.

 

i got to drive one at the gm raod show in motion a while back.....open course they setup, the dude didnt care if we beat on it....so i did several times (new gto 6spd). I was very impressed with it. It was alot more nose heavy then the 4th gen fbody, but the shifter is super smooth, clutch was great, interior ill admit was ten times nicer then the 4th gens......

all around id say its the best bang for the buck in a new domestic rwd car for 30k sticker.

 

more like 35k sticker after the damn dealer mark ups...

thats why they have not been selling as fast.. all these damn dealers adding on 2-5k..

i work for GMAC and i dont even get a discount on this one.. wait till the 05 year.. new front end.. GFX package and a few odds and ends that are new.. PLUS cheaper price..

thats why GM hates dealers... all these friggin mark ups.

 

Regardless of what the original GTO really was, GM needed to make this new car into what everyone thought the GTO was. The name GTO has an almost religious presence to its name amoung car guys. It was the first muscle car. The car's myth had grown to a greater degree then what the car really was. People had certain expectations about what a car called the GTO should be and GM totally missed the mark. Yes the new GTO has the best interior on any GM car ever made. Yes it has a great powertrain. Yes it has very high build quality. Are people excited about any of this? NO. YOu cant wrap all of those good things in a boring package and expect it to cause excitement especially when you are using a name like GTO. If Pontiac had released this car and called it a Grand Am, this thing would be flying off dealership lots and everyone would say how its such an amazing step forward from the last Grand Am. Everyone would be nuts about it and the styling wouldnt matter because the last generation Grand Ams were boring too.

MY final argument is this. When I was at the Chicago Car Show this past winter, Ford had its new Mustang, Bronco, and GT there. GM had the new Vette and the GTO. There was a halfway decent crowd around the Vette but nobody was staying too long. You could get right up to the car within a minute. The GTO had NOBODY around it. I watched fro a good 10 minutes as people started walking towards it, saw what it looked like and turned around and walked the other way. There were maybe three people actually checking it out. At Fords area, you had to wait in line 10 minutes to even get close to seeing the new Mustang and the GT. Even the Bronco had a line. People stayed and looked at the GT and Mustang for a long time. I myself must have been there for at least 15 minutes per car just looking. Ford got it right, GM dropped the ball. Even if GM makes a new new GTO in 07 or whenever, the response will be lackluster because they screwed up so bad the first time.

 

...I'm sure there were several good reasons, but my point is that GM allowed it to happen. Maybe not by choice, but you can be sure that Ford would've made sure it was built.

 

Just like the Ford Probe right? o wait, wasnt that supposed to be the mustang replacement? and FWIW the mustang is Fords "halo" car. its their top car, just like the vette is for Chevrolet. gotta compare apples to apples.

they made the GTO what it is because Pontiac is moving upscale. you will see a revamp of every car they have in a push towards BMW and the like. the GTO is a VERY good match up for the M3 and M5. thats why there isnt a retro GTO. just like the 07 camaro wont really be retro either. it will have retro cues but not be a full on first gen-***-new car. retro DOESNT sell. look at the PT Cruiser or the Prowler. BOTH were in trouble only a couple years after introduction.

 

At least they didn't go retro... the american car companies always FUBAR the styling on retro-style cars. Just look at the '05 Mustang, or the Shelby Cobra concept. Ick!!

Just my $0.02

BTW - That old GTO... 389 or 400?

 

I hate to break it to you guys but incase you havent heard/read, Chevy is about to dirty the Chevelle name, to compliment pontiac's doing the same w/the GTO...i think they designs both look good, but agree that they're prolly unworthy of their names (the new ones that is)

 

i haven't heard about the chevelle yet, but as long as they do the 07 camaro right then who cars....but right now i guess GM is gona do what ford did with the mustang...retro ....but like i sed...as long as they do it right it'll be sweet

 

gm isnt doing jack with the chevelle name unless it goes on to replace the monte carlo name. i blame that dumbass magazine article.

 

worn out 400 soon to be 455:lala:

It's hard to stay on topic in this thread LOL

 

Yeah lets keep in on topic guys

 

figures... just when I get ready to put in my .02... oh, well... my fav. would be the old GTO (minus the writing on the hood)

 

The writing is just a snap on cover that we snap on for shows. LOL everyone still comes up asks him what year is it? LMAO

 

as far as f bodies being retro they just wont be. Theres different generations of f bodies and each is very different. They release cars like GTOs/Mach1s/Cobras/etc probably as a marketing ploy to have buyers say OOOO I gotta have the new ___. I dont think they ever though about making the cars look retro. I believe with the sort of technology etc that we could make some really awesome retro cars and they would be flying off the shelves. But replicating something done such a long time ago its never going to be correct and theres always the issue of how much all this work is gonna cost.

My opinion is if its not feasable to make a name like gto/mach1/etc today then they should just stick to what theyre good at. Making cars the same.

Nate

 

Tri-Power?

 

I like the 67 GTO. The new GTO just looks like an ordinary car. I feel GM is trying to cash in on the name. I know if they called that the New GTA instead of the New GTO I would be very upset. An engine does not make the car.

 

I say the new GTO is a hell of alot better than what we have now.

 

First, GM didn't build the new Chevelle, Imagine motorsports did.


Imagine

My thoughts on the goat.

The old market for the goat was much larger then what it is for the new gto. Before it ranged from teenagers to old gearheads. Now it's for a middle-aged man who couldn't afford one in the 60s, or one who had one in the 60s.

Weight. I don't need to go any further.

An auto GTO runs LOW FOURTEENS. How can that get any respect these days?

The car isn't terribly priced, knowing what it is compared to. A GTP(Supercharged V-6 Grand Prix) is 30 grand. It also runs low 14s. The new Bonneville GXP with a Northstar is 37 grand.

Much of the advertising includes the LS1 motor. I don't remember seeing this much for the F-bodies and the vette. They need more to brag about then something that has been in production since 97.

I could go on.

What kind of race was it that you kept up with him?

 

ya...my buddy's 2000 Z28 auto ran a 13.5 with just an air lid and hypertech. i think it might of even been 13.4. even stock stock it ran 13.6

 

That T/A is sweet! Love the color.

As for the GTO, the '69 and '70 were the best Goats EVER!

 

Nice shot. Im also very Pro-GTO, and just reading the few posts kind of makes me laugh. Oh well, thats for another thread on another board. I have driven one, and its the best thing GM offers outside of teh C6 and CTS-V. Thanks GM for giving us another RWD performance car with a hi-po V8...cant wait for next year! Now just hurry up with Zeta and give me back my Camaro.

To thoes who want the new Mustang...welcome to 1998 when 300hp was the benchmark.
Retro styling
Retro horsepower
And a face only a Ford fan boy could love. I hope GM doesnt go retro with the Camaro. De-Evolution is not my idea of making an "advanced" sports car.

 

the new GTO has nothing to do body wise with a grand-am. they dont even use any of the same parts at all, whatso-ever. that it looks similar is the grill, and thats how all new pontiacs are. do you guys not know where the GTO comes from? i would be surprised if you didn't. its the australian holden monaro GT. basically a cadillac catera with an Ls1, a T56, and right hand drive. well we put it over here with a new grill, left hand drive and new badges. do you accually expect a 2005 GTO to have the same feeling, look and flare 30 years later? absolutely not. besides looks, they have gotten as close to a modern day muscle car as they could have. hopefully the next version will be more square, but looks are my only complaint.

 

You can say "its just a hopped-up Grand Am" if you want, but remember... the original GTOs, like that '67, were just hopped-up Tempests. Its basically the same thing, different era.

 

its just a hopped-up Grand Am

i think so