Could they make the Pontiac GTO any worse?

[crisis]

yes, and they were all american designs too. the car itself isnt bad, its just that this was supposed to be a remake of an american designed car that had a massive v8. first:not an american design, they had to literally just steal it from another entire country! second:the engine IS indeed a v8, and a rather big engine. but, it doesnt really fulfill its purpose, as it is about .7 liters smaller then the original, which it is supposed to imitate. it just doesnt feel like the muscle car its supposed to be to me. when i first learned they were re-making it, i was expecting something a LOT more like the old ones, AND felt/looked like a real gto, or any muscle car for that matter. it just doesnt dop it for me i guess

The .7 of a litre is really immaterial as it is a completely new and more efficient design putting out more power. I cant see how the ultimate engine capacity is really an issue. Surely The LS1 is better than whatever the last GTO had. In any case this one has an LS2 which is bigger. I dont think GM really appreciated why the US GTO fanatics wanted to see the car reborn. It seems that GM could have basically built a bunch of the old models and sold them as reissues. What the US GTO fraternity refuse to appreciateis how good the car is in its own right. Maybe they should have just released it as a new model called the Monaro. In any case your last comment is fair enough.

[crisis]

it was a bit of a misjudgement by pontiac to label it as a GTO. they clearly forgot about the rabid fanaticist patriotism of some americans who don't realise it but are actually in the market for an old GTO, not a new one. pontiac is american, didn't they realise the amount of expectation people would have at the thought of a new GTO?

How faithful is the current Corvette to the original, or the Mustang? The only difference is that the change has been gradual and continual.

[clutch-monkey]

i get the feeling that lutz wanted to introduce the monaro to the states, and then some marketing guy decided that labelling it the GTO would help sales.

[crisis]

I wonder Which??? GTO the current one was supposed to represent.

[crisis]

Or maybe one of these?

[CdocZ]

exactly my point! could they have at least picked a foreign design that at least looked relatively like the old ones? also, to put my opinion as simply as i can.....i know the car is very well engineered and all.....its the soul of the car that i dont like.

[crisis]

exactly my point! could they have at least picked a foreign design that at least looked relatively like the old ones? also, to put my opinion as simply as i can.....i know the car is very well engineered and all.....its the soul of the car that i dont like.

There has to be no foreign design made in the last twenty years that looks like any of those different versions. My point is niether does any recent incarnation of a US built muscle car.

[clutch-monkey]

its no fault of the car. its pontiacs fault for their name whoring, as well as the hardcore GTO fans because of their inflexibilty(FFS modify it if its bland!). i've been on some american forums and people who buy the new GTO are perfectly happy, but fans of the old one keep talking about how it looks nothing like it (so buy an old one).

[Slicks]

i get the feeling that lutz wanted to introduce the monaro to the states, and then some marketing guy decided that labelling it the GTO would help sales.

Bingo!
Thats exactly what happend. Lutz drove the car and fell in love with it. He wanted Pontiac to have a come back in the performance department, and what else says performance than "GTO". That name striked fear in the hearts of racers back in the day...
The Monaro is undoubtably a very nice car, but in all respects doesnt deserve the GTO name. I agree, it should have been introduced as something different, maybe a Le Mans (baby GTO).

[Slicks]

I have to comment on this.

It aint a people mover. Its a two door coupe version of a sedan. Nissan do it, Mercedes do it BMW do it, etc. If the definition of being more muscular is to have bolt on plastic everywhere youve lost the plot.

Its not the definition, but the GTO (monaro) looks bland, some people like that but other do not. GM wanted stand out looks to go along with the performance.

The original muscle cars were muscular because they had powerful motors. And maybe a spoiler and a black strip here or there. They had crappy handling, brakes and suspension so I suppose GM could put rear drums on it and leaf springs.

They had crappy handling because of thier weight, tire technology, and most of all no one cared about handling back then. If they wanted handling they would buy a sports car (like a vette). BTW theres nothing wrong with leafs...

Corvettes are more sports cars than muscle cars imo but each to his own. The fact is many Americans cannot accept it because it is not made in the USofA. Boo Hoo.

No, the fact is many American DONT know its made in australia. They think its just some kind of re-worked Grand AM. If they truyl knew what it was then sales would be good. BTW "buy american" doesnt really work anymore, so scratch that out.

[fpv_gtho]

For what its worth the Monaro would be fairly close to what the GTO would look like had it been kept in production. IMO the original Monaro's and 1970+ GTO's didnt look that far apart, so considering Holden have always had a locally made car in production, the Commodore wince 78 infact, the Monaro never really had to be designed from a clean slate, or be heavily retro

[Luciferous]

I don't see the point in making the body kit look plastic...

Ugly, ugly, ugly

[Luciferous]

They had crappy handling because of thier weight, tire technology, and most of all no one cared about handling back then. If they wanted handling they would buy a sports car (like a vette). BTW theres nothing wrong with leafs...

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I was under the impression that Muscle Cars weighed F-all. In a comparison between a HK Munro and its current incarnation, I was surprised to see the HK undercut the 2002 model but 500kg, but I suppose it makes sense, no safety equipment or other crap they make you stick in cars these days...

My Dad's cab chassis Patrol has leaf springs, there's nothing wrong with them per se, but you gotta remember what application best suits them ie NOT on sports cars...

[fpv_gtho]

I'd be interested to see the difference between the car then and now as well, see what a difference the VB, VN and VT have played. The Falcon i'd expect would be reasoably similar XA onwards as they say elements of even the XK Falcon are still evident in the BA

[Luciferous]

Well I mean the weight was the only thing I was arguing, the tires were crap on Muscle Cars, and I'm pretty sure about 30% of the power was getting sucked up by the transmission alone....