B Ferg It is awesome! My only complaints are that the automatic shifts kind of slow and the traction control is way too aggressive. I have a Rotofab intake, Pypes headers, mid muffler delete, solo axle backs and a tune.
when Pontiac finally had a great lineup, they killed the brand. the g8 was technically Australian, but still. I drove a v6 g8 and it was a blast. oh, I miss Pontiac 💔
+9890jsp Thank years and years of sub-par models. The 08/09 Pontiac line-up was a band aid on a bullet wound. Too little too late unfortunately. I blame all the people that hated the cars like the 04-06 GTO too. Peoples negativity = poor sales
I'm still pissed that GM decided to kill Pontiac! Just when the division was starting to get it right, they pull the plug. I can see them killing hummer ( overweight, no speed, crappy mpg AND sucks off road!), Saab ( didn't like the professor/dentist/hippy car). and Olds ( can't wait for grandpa to get his settlement checks!), but to kill Pontiac and Saturn was just wrong. To me, the only reason that they killed Pontiac instead of Buick is because Buick is big in China, and they didn't want too much competition for Chevy. Woulda been best if they sold it privately or let Holden have the rights to it. Pontiac is still missed by many of us.
I'd rather still have Saab over Pontiac. Saabs at least were original and the new 9-5 looked very promising, as well as the new 9-4. They tried to be different and be more than simply rebadged GMs, unlike Pontiac at the time. Sure, the 9-7 was the worst offender and the 9-2X was just a rebadged and redesigned Impreza, but at its death, the 9-5 was brand new and looked like nothing else from GM, the 9-4 looked interesting and potentially could have saved Saab would it have been unveiled a couple years earlier, and the 9-3 would have seen a redesign not much later. Saab might have been the smallest "division" (they were never a true GM brand IMO, just like Jaguar never was totally a true Ford brand), but it had the most loyal fan base and had the most promising future at its death, with two new cars. They were an alternative to the usual luxury cars available on the market and not only tried, but were actually anti-conformist. In fact, I believe the GM takeover is, at the very beginning, what began the process of Saab's death. Anti-conformism and originality doesn't fit with mass profit, cheap solutions and excessive budget cutting, which is what GM does so well (remember the ignition switch scandal? I do) and better than every other automaker group. GM is the most American of domestic car makers, and I mean this by its ideology and business practices. Constant budget saving, constant cost cutting, often if not always at the price of the consumer. Saab did not fit into this and was forced to share GM platforms at the maximum, and the best example of this was the 9-7. As for Pontiacs, they were basically rebadged Holdens and Chevys at that point and had been for the last decade (except for the Solstice), and Saturn was literally just Opel USA when it was killed off. I'd be interested to see how Pontiac would fare today, as the general car quality immensely improved after the Recession (I recall to you that the Corvette still had the same steering wheel as the Cobalt before the Recession, just as a little example), and I believe it would probably have had went back into performance a couple years ago. However, at the time it was killed, it simply wasn't promising at all. As for Olds, it doesn't really count since it had been killed for half a decade when the Recession made its first victims. It simply wasn't selling anymore and I cannot see how it would have looked like after the Recession since it had been killed for so long and was still based on GM platforms from the 1990s at the time. As for Buick, the thing is that China is the biggest country in the world and holds potentially the biggest market in the world. That, plus there's the fact that they're still insanely popular over here, simply because it is the equivalent of Mercury back then or GMC right now: a midrange luxury car ranging between the everyman's car (Chevy-Ford) and the all out luxury car (Cadillac-Mercury). People, especially older people, see Chevys as basic but Cadillacs as all out luxury cars, and they see Buicks as better Chevys for not much more. Same for GMC. The result? I probably see more Veranos than Cruzes, see more Encores than Traxs and definitively see more Sierras than Silverados. Plus, their performance line-up might still be deficient, but the Regal is definitively interesting (especially the GS), and the previous gen Regal was definitively an underrated car on a very healthy platform (Opel Insignia). I have to agree about your feelings over Hummer though. A useless brand based over what should have stayed an experiment between AM General and Schwarzenegger. Sure, the H2 had crazy potential off-road and the H3 was interesting, but they were way too focused (the Wrangler at least had the merit of not doing 8 mpg) and basically useless.
Saturns were pos economy cars and total trash. More in the junkyard than on the road but Pontiac was my fave of GM. They never should have gotten rid of the L67 supercharged 3.8. The 3.5 and 3.9 were not good replacments.
@Chris Atkinson the Saturn S-series were a lot better economy cars from anything else GM had to offer at the time. The S-series cars aren’t bad. Everything else Saturn made (except for the Sky) was trash.
@@wiibaron The only SRT that could be compared to this car is the 2009 Charger SRT-8 which takes 4.7 seconds to reach 60 mph and 13.1 seconds through the 1/4 mile. The Firehawk is much faster and is even only a few tenths slower than the Viper ACR of the time which takes 3.6 to hit 60 and 11.6 through the 1/4. This firehawk is a beast.
@@Viper81766 lol I had 2 SRT vehicles and they were reliable. 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and a 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat but the old 2004 Chrysler Sebring sedan is a whole different story 😅. I'm not going to lie I'm a GM guy at heart and YES I was worried about Mopars reliability without a warranty. It was always in the back of my mind When will this car break down 🤔
They had to that was the deal with the government had to remove a couple comanies because they were bankrupt thats why they got rid of hummer and pontiac because the sells were low
I bought a G8 GT with the supercharger and Kooks long tubes from SLP. I can tell you these cars are a beast! You can't touch any other car with this power for anywhere close to the price!
Theyre not really a "sleeper". Their aggressive styling kind of gives away the secret under the hood. A sleeper would be something like a Ford Taurus SHO that doesn't look aggressive or give any clues that it's actually a fast car. But, I agree, G8s are bad fucking ass as are the newer version of it the Chevy SS.
I wish Pontiac was still in production. They were so cool. The Grand Prix, Bonneville, Tran Sport, Trans Am, Aztec, Catalina, GTO, Sunbird, Solstice, etc. They were all so cool.
Holden Special Vehicles already did this with the Club Sport R8 Bathurst edition. Take away the Pontiac and Firehawk badges, change the body kit, and add a supercharger. Razor sharp, fast, and when you combine the high pitched whine of the supercharger with the bellow of the V8, they make quite an impression
You should see its Australian HSV Cousin, the Club Sport R8 Bathurst Edition. Supercharged as well, they will do the quarter in 11 seconds, or disappear into a cloud of tyre smoke, whichever you're in the mood for
I suppose that was a good one for Pontiac to go out with. Pretty much true to the original GTO formula of a family car that had real guts. Sad that Pontiac is gone. They contributed so much to the auto industry for all those decades.
I've owned a few Pontiacs, Bonneville, Grand Prix GTP, Grand Am GT, and now currently an 09 G6. I loved them all in they're own ways and now I want this modded G8.
And we loved it. It was a bargain compared to ANYTHING from the Germans, and today, it still is. It combined great power & performance with everyday usability & value.
What a good shout by Pontiac. Normally only manual cars are interesting but when cars are this rowdy and go 0-60 in under 4 seconds, I would want both hands on the wheel
I've never been a GM guy but was ok with Pontiac. Makes me want them to revive it so it can compete against Dodge. I also wish Ford would revive a RWD V8 sedan against Charger
That's a bad ass car. 500 HP, with almost 500 lb-ft of torque? Nice! The only (minor) complaint I have is they should've at least given you an option to be able to stagger larger sized rear tires. 245 series are pretty small for all that torque. And PLEASE tell me there's an available manual transmission.
Agreed. There's something all true sports cars need. A manual transmission. Controlling any car is a lot more entertaining with a manual. You can hold a lower gear in anticipation of punching the throttle. With an auto, you're forced to wait on the kickdown. What a bummer.
The last devision I was have chopped was Pontiac. Buick and Oldsmobile had the same feel across the entire platform, and axing one of them would have made NO difference. Pontiac built excitement until the bitter end.
I’m surprised they didn’t do a SLP Firehawk using the G8 GXP as a base car to start with. The larger engine would have resulted in probably at least 550 horsepower after adding the supercharger.
At least I get to drive it’s baby brother, got myself an ‘09 G6 GT, with the 3.5, V6, loaded optionally A-Z. Got a Super Tune chip , got rid of the resonator and run only 91 octane pump gas (at $6.50/gallon Canadian), but worth it. Love my Pontiac 👍🇨🇦
Actually they made even less than that ......there are 29 Total with 28 confirmed Registed as still alive and 1 being a clone car built in 2008..... none are lost to accidents as of yet. I belong to the Fire Hawk Registry, all numbers are verified by SLP..... I am the proud owner of a 2000 Fire Hawk Trans-Am number 0099 of only 456 made that year and 1 of only 1,811 cars made before they pulled the plug on our beloved F-Boats!
Steep price for 2009 but then again this was more then just a car, it was also an investment since Pontiac was to be no more and this was a rare special SLP Edition. Real beauty !
no launch control, no 10 speed autos, no bullshit, and still a 4.0 second 0-60! this car is the absolute limit of speed without any of the computer stuff we have now
thay. made this car only for two years from 2008 to2009 the Pontiac g8 was a great gorgeous and strong car with all trimmed level it was pmw 5. killer even the. pmw m5 to saad Pontiac brand gone in 2010 and i hope it comes back again because they use to make gorgeous cars
the headlights remind of a 2000 era Maxima a rare look, kind of a down under styling. They either SLP or MOtorweek should of done a break job before filming the show, as it was used by other media folks and the brakes likely got trashed.
Pontiac should have supercharged the 04, 05 and 06 GTO. I bet Pontiac would have still been around today if they did. Love Pontiac. I've owned 4 Fiero's, 84 firebird, two 98 ls1 Firebirds and two 04 GTO's and currently drive a 01 ls1 Firebird formula.
@sexyboi142 Wrong. The Cobalt and G5 are not J-Bodies. Not are they "essentially" cavaliers. The G5, Cobalt, and Ion all were built on the GM Delta platform. Not the J-Body.
@studpuppy69 No it's NOT a cavalier. The Cobalt/G5 are both on the Delta platform. Not the J-platform. The only thing they "might" have in common is an engine option. Nothing else is the same between those cars. And they last fine when you take care of them. So do Cavaliers.
The Camaro and Firebird "F" body cars were made in St Theresse Quebec Canada. The new 2010 Camaro and G8 are based on the Australian Holden Zeta platform. ASC will make a Trans Am body kit for your new Holden Zeta camaro. ASC made the WS6. SLP made the RS/SS camaro...and Firehawks.
vf 2017 hsv clubsport lsa (550hp) is 62000usd brand new , commodore ss v redline 42000usd in oz . G8 Firehawk ( 500hp) was good value for 56000usd back then
I'm not a gm fan at ALL! I bleed the darkest of ford blue. But this ausi is the shit what a great package half the price of an m5 with great looks and ls power reliability! Plane out in out awesome!!!!!!!!
@studpuppy69 - Cobalt was ground-up a different design than the Cavalier. It just happens to fill the same niche. The Cavalier was outdated. Much of the vehicle remained the same between its beginning circa 83 and the end of the run. The thing lacked character, lacked identity, and lacked soul. I owned an 86 and my friend had an 01. We found the vehicles to be different mostly aesthetically. The driving experience remained the same - poor.
It kinda looks like a 3 series from the side. But Pontiac wont be gone for more than 15 years I guarantee it. They're going out with a bang cuz when they bring it back they'll be able to build anticipation. It's called Marketing.
@TEAMLSX i would, this thing is super fast for a 4 door and even fast for a firehawk..... faster and quicker than a 92 firehawk actually. 92 0-60 in 4.6secs and 1/4 mile in 13.2. this does 0-60 in 4secs and 1/4 mile in 12.1.
While this is wild...it's also very strange. I still have my 2002 Firehawk Trans-Am that I bought in 2002. What gets me is...why didn't they do this with the very last Trans-Am? The bird in Firehawk is all Trans-Am.
Unfortunately they don't sell well as more people want a sedan and insurance companies hate 2 door cars. They once charged a guy the same insurance rate as a CR-X when he had a Civic 2dr DX. Now this is one badass Ponitac , this is a true collectors item. I've never seen it up here (Canada) but I wish they had. Sad to see Ponitac discontinued , I thought maybe Chevy. Oh! Well. GM had to many brands anyway. I guess the 300M is going to need a V10 to compete with that. Warp drive!!!
