Last GTO
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Another flop for GM.
The GTO was a very good car with a boring design.
Almost the opposite of the original.
They didn’t get what everyone else already knows: design sells. Especially a muscle car.
I have to say, they are getting better. And the Camaro won’t make the same mistake…
Actually, the original GTO was nothing more than an ordinary-looking midsize with a big V8, wery much like the current GTO. The new GTO is a blast to drive, and is probably one of the most underrated performance cars out there. But evidently too many people expect their performance cars to sport over-the-top, look-at-me styling that they lose the whole point of a performance car – performance. I’m very happy with mine.
I see these things as being collectable someday. Not really anything like it from it’s era. Not alot of them in production either. I think I’ll buy one and have it wrapped in plastic for the next 20 years.
probably would have been more successful without the GTO name.. there are too many expectations that go with it
I still need to disagree with those who say the design was boring. Sure, it’s not like the new Mustang, but never since my 91′ Alfa Romeo Spider have I got so many thumbs-up and smiles than I have in my GTO. It can’t be my graying hair or the defeated middle age look I now sport, so it must be the car.
even though the styling is a bit too bulbous 90s, it’s a handsome car. i checked one out on my last visit to the pontiac dealer and the interior felt/looked better than any of the other “real” pontiacs. *cough cough* G6 *cough cough*.
and yes, i know the G6 costs less but the difference is in design – you can have a nice design with cheap materials.
I just bought a 2006 GTO and have to say it is the best “sleeper” car out there. GM really missed the boat on this one. The GTO and the other HOLDEN line could have been a huge success if GM had read the consumer correctly.
Now, with gas over $3.00, I wonder if GM is on going to kill them selves by focusing on a new GTO and not a high milage car.
I love Muscle cars and pray that they survive but I fear that this may be the last muscle car I can afford to drive.
The GTO was an absolute success, because it opened GM’s eyes to the types of cars it needs to build dynamically. It also opened up the minds of North American heads to the use of Holden for development and production in the future…
GM should have brought over the full line of Australian Holdens.
Monaro
Commodore
Maloo
Senator
And so on. And keep the original names. Better yet kill the Buick brand and give us Holden. Nobody wants a fake GTO.
Actually, the original GTO was nothing more than an ordinary-looking midsize with a big V8, wery much like the current GTO. The new GTO is a blast to drive, and is probably one of the most underrated performance cars out there. But evidently too many people expect their performance cars to sport over-the-top, look-at-me styling that they lose the whole point of a performance car – performance. I’m very happy with mine.
I’m like you. I thought the GTO being a “sleeper” was part of it’s physical charm along with a handsome interior. The engine and chassis are a blast and a good match for one another. The GTO presented a good value in a market of few others.
That you are a satisfied owner of a desirable, collectable car is what’s important. I hope you enjoy your car and care for it well.
All the people who commented on the GTO must be employed by GM or Ford and must be brain dead. It is easy to be brain dead in Detroit because it is an epidemic there. This GTO is a dog with fleas. I don’t know if I would even drive it if I won it in a contest! It is vintage GM. It is not-competitive. Why the heck Nissan want to invest a penny in this company is beyond me.
This is the best car GM sells in the States… by far. And its a handsome car… much prettier than the retro characatures that are popular on the roads these days. I guess Pontiac can keep selling crap like the G6, G5 and the Australians can keep the good cars for themselves…
Clarkson and the top gear team all voted this car the best muscle car of 2005- but it was in aussie GTO guise – i.e much more “muscle” lloking
Have you even driven one? It was overweight, soft, poor handling, the shifter was terrible and seats had no support. You can’t do anything in it… but pose at car shows. And it looks like an over-inflated Cavalier.
GM has to do better next time than this turkey…
This GTO was as wrong as all the other GM experiments lately. They still to do not understand that the buying public is much smarter then they were 20 years ago. You can’t “borrow” another car and put fake badges on it, roll it out and say “this is the all new GTO”. There was no planning done before hand. The car looked awful and will go down as being a failure.
The GTO was just another failure in a row of failure GM has produced lately. The GM people are realizing much to late that the buying public is much smarter then they are in choosing and buying cars. You just can’t rebadge and existing car, roll it out and say “here is the all new GTO”. It did not work. No longer are people faithful to one car line.
…The current GTO is the most competitive car GM sells, except for certain Cadillacs…
And “Yes!” the other Holdens should be sold in the US…as Pontiacs. If Saturn can sell Opels (Didn’t Buick sell Opels?), then Pontiac should have Holdens. The G5, G6, Solstice and perhaps the GP should stay…The defunct Bonneville needs a rear drive replacement and the GTO should have an updated replacement along with a rear drive 4 dr under another name like “Lemans”. The Maloo pick up may do nicely here also, but Chevy will probably get it instead if it comes here.
That’s actually a really good idea.
Turn Opels into Saturns, and Holdens into Pontiacs.
Is there valid argument against that?
listen to this kids:
the real gto has to bee american!!!!!!!!!!!!
For years, Holdens had a split grille that would have been quite easy to turn into a Pontiac one.
And I agree with those folks who talked about the original GTO. The Tempest was not a great-looking car. And at least the Aussie Monaro was better than the last all-American GTO, which from memory was based on a Ventura.
this car was based on an austrailian car, get real! no wonder it did not suceed
If Ford brings it’s Australian Falcon and other rear drive models to the US, will the same argument ensue?
By the way, I said nothing about manufacturing all the Holden/Pontiacs in Australia. Most of the manufacturing could be done in the US. However, Holden has a definite edge over GM/US when it comes to cost efficient rear drive platform design because they never stopped making them.
Ford/US is in the same boat as GM now that both of their “modern” rear drive platforms have been dropped (First the big 90’s T-Bird and Lincoln Mark VIII, then the smaller “Retro Bird” and LS.). At least Ford continued to design and market modern rear drivers in the US in the 80’s and 90’s…until this very year, in fact. Their Australian arm could be of great help to them.
GM/US should be very thankful for cars like the GTO, the CTS and the Solstice. These vehicles, along with the next Holdens, point the way to the future.
Jeepers, Anonymous, I guess you’re right. A well built interior, V8, rear-wheel-drive, decent standard equipment—what you are saying is that Americans really hate those Australian traits.
Douchebag, the last all-American Goat was a Ventura. That means a Chevy Nova. And the year before that, a warmed-over LeMans, from memory. In neither case did they get even close to the Judge. In comparison to that crap, the Australians did far better than what Pontiac alone managed to do in the 1973 and 1974 model years. People forget just how bad it got.
it was the damn yanks that stuffed up a hot looking car. Have a look at the real holden monaro, that thing is sex on wheels, not the like the GTO with is bloated nose and too small wheels. Ruined the whole car. Damn yanks
Have to agree with Anonymous above: the original design was more aggressive, and the last VZ Monaros looked very butch with the new bumpers and phat wheels. Why the US market didn’t take the bigger wheels and, say, mods from the HSV Coupé is beyond me.