See that's exactly what I loved about owning my GTO. Aside from the trunk you can almost call it practical. Mileage wasn't terrible. Didn't turn many cops heads. And the one's it did always respected it enough to give me a break. But the best part was not seeing another one every 5 minutes. And the rare time you did see another one, there was an instant feeling of gratification. That point, or wave, because you know they're in love just as much as you are. I miss my Goat...
@@dr.lyleevans6915 manual was able to get 28 hwy on these gtos so I believe that with the corvette. Auto was 22 but I think that was due to the gearing. My 05 auto would go into 4th at 35 mph lol
The GTO was a LS2/T56 & IRS in a plain wrapper for $30k .When I drove it, I had to have it. It's a very solid, quiet car. No one notices it. Cops don't see it either. 500hp were just a cam & a set of heads away (and a few other bolt ons & tuning). I added a stronger clutch & it has given me 30k trouble free miles. It's also very comfortable inside, it loves long trips. I have 2 other newer & faster GM's, but my GTO gets the most use. It's a unique car & I like it a lot.
Just for the record... I fucking LOVE my GTO! It looks tame, but it's more luxurious than a pony car. Nicer seats, nicer gauges, better suspension for the road, MORE HP @ 400. Its a really nice car.
Good luck getting parts for it. The "auld" one is very rare anymore. Lots of inexperienced drivers got their mitts on them as prices went down. 400 hp & 400 torque+inexperience+alcohol (sometimes)= GTO/Monaro power pole wrappers and labels. Parts are already scarce and due to become scarcer (ie: more expensive). A minor accident now totals the car. Junk or scrapped vehicles are scrounged for worn out and abused parts at top dollar prices (buy these cracked, rain soaked, leather seats please, only $500 each). Now as repair prices soar, we realize it truly was an import after-all and like a VW or BMW, it will eat you alive in imported parts and long lead times should you decide to continue using it as a daily after parts start to wear out.
best comment. I'm cross shopping this with an e46 m3 (more power, less maintenance, but worse handling) but forgot about the parts availability issue. Compared to a used M car though the parts are probably not as expensive.
Engine parts are super easy to find, though. Body parts will be the tough part. Chassis parts aren't so bad; I can have most of them ordered in from local parts stores, they just don't stock them in the stores, which is reasonable.
Had my 06 Brazen Orange for 9 years now. Not my dd so it's still fun to drive everytime I take it out. The power is relentless and with a few suspension upgrades it's a whole different car! I love it, will never sale
Thank you for this info. My BOM is stock and I have put 2200 miles on it in all the years I've had it. I wondered what suspension upgrades to do. This will help.
The most underrated car and i love that about it. What you dont get from the tests is that the car is faster then the numbers they give you. It just takes some time to get the launch right. Love my GTO from day one and mine is about 5 years old now. What a great car.
@@harrishustlenow I would say my 06 6speed walked away from an auto time after time but it was a buddy's 04. Personally I don't care how fast the auto is, The manuals are just fun. Even my 21 kia daily is a manual
@@Matp345 sorry to break it to you, they were lazy prior to 2000s. You can easily find alot of used sports cars with autos than you'll ever find manuals. I remember when my dad switched from manual trucks and autos. America was majority of lazy drivers since the 80s
Owned 3 of them. It's like a black belt who wears a suit and tie. A sophisticated bad-ass. So you can listen to this old dude tell you about a car who doesn't have one in his garage, and most likely was a teenager when the original came out. Or, you can listen to someone who has owned one for over 6 years, it's a fantastic vehicle. Only needed exhaust and intake on each of the ones I owned, and that's it. It starts conversations everywhere, and people always love seeing one. It's quiet on the inside, fun to drive and very fast. I will soon buy my last one (maybe), and use it for the post-apocalypse zombie hordes that I will inevitably have to outrun. It's weight will prevent the car from being flipped over by the zombies while I am napping, and it's humble exterior will blend in with the sea of abandoned sunfires and cavaliers where I will be parked. It's common sense.
Martin Huang mine needed a water pump when I bought it at 85k but I'm over 100k now no issues. Breaks and oil is all this thing has needed. I drive about an hour and a half in it every day.
This isn't a Pontiac mate, this is a rebadged Holden Monaro from Australia (which there for not a real true Pontiac unlike the real GTOs from the 1960s).
These cars are so under-rated. Bought my 06 pbm GTO with 34k on it and I've never had more fun in a car. You don't see too many on the road these days yet it's been reliable (after some modest suspension work)
I see from the video that traction was limited, hence the 13.5 sec 1/4 mile. But it ran 108 mph which is very respectable! With some wider street tires, high 12's shouldn't be a problem at all. Man, I've been watching MotorWeek since I was about five years old. I'm almost 30 now & their still testing new cars/trucks! I love this show & I hope it keeps going for many years to come :) Thanks for the video, I've been looking for this test of the LS2 GTO because I missed it when it aired.
The rear tires have some trouble grabbing the road even with upgraded tires, but some rear suspension upgrades eliminate the shudder that really holds it back.
Wider street tires are a bit of a challenge. They did not leave enough room in those wheel wells for naughty folk like us to just slap on a set of 275 drag radials. In order to get more rubber under one, you are going to need wheels, and probably going to have to roll or cut the fender lips.
It would be real nice to bring back Pontiac as a low volume performance oriented division and pair it up with Buick and GMC dealerships. Keep Pontiac strictly as a performance/luxury car! No trucks, suvs or vans. When you think Pontiac, you should Invision High performance.
Just needed a different name and people would have loved it. Shows the power of marketing. I owned an '06 manual and it was a fantastic car. Could light the tires on the on ramp, great for long cruises (would see 25-27 mpg with full exhaust) and the at never looked like it was trying too hard. Classy and fast. I even ran a 12.7 at the track on the stock tires with just headers and drag bags in the rear springs to deal with the wheel hop.
Exactly, it is a sleeper. There is no mistake mine is a V8. I have JBA headers, mids and Pypebomb axle backs. Loud deep rumbling. Has some sweet popping when it downshifts.
I bought my 06 6 speed Gto for 3k with a blown transmission in washington, i drove from cali to go get it. Rented a uhaul and towed it back to cali and put in a brand new t56 - magnum.
Monaro. Built in Australia by Holden. Unfortunately Holden's parent company General Motors (U.S) closed Holden in 2019 so just like Ford Australia we no longer build cars in Australia. They shut the doors after 72 years.
Perfect everyday car. Fast, comfortable, doesn't draw too much attention but commands respect. Also, I know for a fact it does not take 5.1 seconds for it to reach 60, but that was with a manual transmission. The autos obviously do it faster.
No, the autos are 10000% slower lmao. 5.1 might be an automatic 04 but the m604 is 4.8-4.9. The ls2 05/06 manual m6 is 4.5-4.6 and the auto ls2 6.0 is about 4.9
I’ll let you know after I put this driver side tie rod on when I post it. I’ll do 4.6 I think in mine and it’s bone stock. I’ve done 4.5 once on brand new tires and brand new ish clutch. My clutch is over 5 years old and I’ve been doing a shit ton of suspension work to it up front and the rear. I’ll tag you in it !
@@YoungManDub actually i have shorty headers now that might be why the 4.5/4.6 and I’ve shaved a few lbs off mine. Bone stock the 04m6 is 100000% under 5 seconds.
i love my 2005 gto. put longtubes on it last year with a full exhuast. my cam kit just came in the mail this week. im super excited to get it installed
They're related, but not the same car. The GTO started live as the VX (2000) Holden Commodore sedan. Initially released a s a show car, the Monaro was a huge hit, which gave Holden the confidence to build it. '02/03, and Pontiac wants to import it to become the GTO. The G8 is based on the next generation of Holden Commodore; new chassis, floorpan, body panels, interior. What you know as the Pontiac G8, its parent car is the VE Holden Commodore
@JaSt321 Yes and no, the chassis is tuned by the Australians but if you dig deeply enough it's a modified Opel Omega B chassis. The Monaro/GTO/VXR is a brainchild of a global market, essentially it's like every other car made in the world these days. The only difference is that unlike most cars built today it's awesome enough that everyone wants to lay claim to it's creation.
When the screen went tumbling my stomach dropped.. thought they rolled it haha I love my Goat wouldn't change it for the world I get a lot of stares and questions (mostly from idiots who thing 6.0 is 6 cylinders) but oh well wolf in sheeps clothes
The answer to that is, "Yup...it's a not even a *big* V6. Say....wanna' race? Maybe put a few bucks on it......just to make it interesting, you understand...."
I had a 06 GTO with the 6.0 and 6 speed. It was a heavy car but it drove great and pulled like a monster on the highway. I got hit by a drunk driver and it was totalled. Got an 07 Monte Carlo SS next and it was an absolute piece of shit compared to the GTO.
Ive owned a barbados blue 04 for 2 years now and the car is amazing to drive. I like to floor it in first all the way up to 5,000 across an intersection when it turns green.body styling in this car is amazing. it is very calm to the eye, rather than a corvette or camaro. Looking to upgrade to a C6 Corvette personally now though,
Bring this car STOCK with an automatic transmission to a fully prepped drag strip , drag radials, perfect track temp, perfect weather conditions and this car is capable of 4.7 0-60 and 13.3 1/4 mile GAURANTEED once you get enough passes.
Nothing that can't be fixed by using Holden/HSV body panels Holden Special vehicles version of the Monaro has a much more aggressive body kit, and it all bolts on without any cutting or shaping necessary. You can blame Pontiac for the front and rear styling, not Holden. All of these GTOs came from Australian factories
This is one of my favorite cars brought to the U.S by an American company. I actually would have preferred that they didn't use the GTO name as it would have been better marketed as a "new" performance oriented coupe from GM. Well stated though, an adult oriented sports coupe that doesn't scream "look at me, I'm fast", like the Camaro's, Corvettes, Mustangs, and even those god awful looking WRX's. Yes, there is a place for those types of cars but I REALLY like the GTO for what it is
its is a muscle car by definition, large displacement engine, mid size car, long hood short deck two door design= muscle car. it's does not matter that a german designed the chassis or if Australia really contributed anything to this program. all that matters is its a 4.00 bore small block pontiac gto get over it.
Don't know where Germany comes into it.Germany has nothing to do with this car. The whole car is from Australia.It was here in Australia before anywhere else..So how about "you" get over it!The engine & gearbox is American though.Read wikipedia (Holden Monaro) Idiot... We Aussies can do some things right...Just appreciate it man! GM is all over the world...or was...
Corpse711- The gto comes from the Opel Omega sedan platform. It's basically an Opel Omega coupe. Technically it is a German design at its roots. Aaron Monke knows his cars.
@@MyAb111 Well 100% of youtube videos about this car all mention it is imported from Australia and it is The Australian Holden Monaro. In the uk Its called the Vauxhall Monaro.Germany didn't start Making the Holden Commodore till 2018. Germany has nothing to do with the GTO or Monaro. Check it out on Wikipedia. Holden Monaro-Australian designed car. Last one was made in around 2004-2006. Germany is not mentioned anywhere. I'm afraid Aaron Monke doesn't know what hes talking about..Sorry mate! Please dont say any more stupid crap until you read wikipedia (Holden Monaro) man!!
Poor OP got whooshed, I've owned my 06 model for 2 years, was my dream car as my Pops had a 67. These cars represent the same culture and spirit. Still crushes RTs and GT ponies. Fantastic Machine
Friend had two of these both manual, 04,06 4 was stock, 6 had many mods from full headers exhaust Cai bigger tb , lsx intake head work cam tune suspension work, was a complete beast drove excellent interior was absolutely awesome and comfortable , as always they kill a design that is still great to work on. He now has a g8 manual last year for Pontiac in sun set orange metallic definetly not sell that one
I'm a Ford guy but this GTO deserved the name and alot more respect than it got. the first gto's were nothing more than a performance package on the tempest.
2023 now. My 2006 GTO has 32K on it. Procharged pushing 675/653 in street trim and 812/783 with small pulley and meth injection. Leather seats, freezing cold A/C, rides great, eats Scat Packs and 'Stangs (if they don't hit a pole) easily, embarrasses Hellcats from a dig (not a roll in street trim) and gets more looks than any newer muscle that is 1000Lbs. heavier. Every cruise/show I'm in gets a crowd. Totally underrated car with leather interior, the best seats GM ever made and easily modded to stand up to muscle 18 years newer. BTW, CJColvin is a clueless dinosaur, ignore his uneducated BS.
I put on the larger pulley for daily driving. Makes about 9 lbs. of boost. Hwy MPG is around 22 in 6th gear, in town MPG not so good, probably around 15, because the car is so much fun and I have no discipline. :) @@LetTheWestBurn
Remember being on a Pontiac lot when this car was first delivered, I told the salesman that "I'll give this car 5 years then it will be gone" do to the fact it had a $30,000 base price. He said to me "no way this car is here to stay." I wonder if he ever remembered that convorsation when 06 came around.
JetNinjaMonkey it wouldnt stay because of a 30,000 base sticker price he says... now what would that have to do with anything?? when 03 cobras based at 34,000 and m3 s much higher. its now 2018 and both those cars still in production the "the prophet who pats his own back while wrong" lol
That's crazy powerful!!! The appearance is ok, but the power holy crap!!! Ima make sure I don't fuck with one even though I have my 2014 5.0 lol GTOs aren't a joke lol
@ChallengerGuy22 the 05-06 brake rotors are actually 12.6 inches up front (reviewer was wrong) and are the same PBR calipers that are on the 05 LS2 vette. as well as the pads between the vette and GTO are identical.
I love mine. All stock minus an intake and in the dark Midnight Blue color, doesn't draw a lot of attention while getting on it ;) if I could do it all again I'd buy a 6 speed, but I got mine WAY cheaper cuz it's an auto.
Looks pretty handsome in Quicksilver Metallic but the wheels that came out in '06 look better. I don't care what the Goat loyalists say, this car looks great and the engine speaks for itself.
If they really wanted the later GTO to be as loud as its predecessor, they should have asked Holden for permission to use HSV parts. Holden Special Vehicles are to Holden what Shelby is to Ford. The HSV GTO coupe had a very loud body kit, Brembo brakes, upgraded suspension, and in some rare cases, all wheel drive. If asked to do it, they would have been happy to do so. Instead, Pontiac took the lazy option and just changed the front and rear styling
"based on the holden monaro?" mate it IS a monaro with different front plastic and the steering wheel on the other side. Australia has been building some of the damn finest RWD muscle cars for 40 years and the world is finding out. Clarkson and Hammond both SHIT themselves when they took these for a drive. American inspired, Aussie built.
GET ONE! i had been wanting one since i was about 9 when i saw them on tv, 3 weeks ago i finally got one and im extremely happy with it! great touring car, fast, and fun car
I love my 05 GTO. I always get thumbs up when people see me get on it. Nothing like shifting to 2nd in this car....large amounts of torque and then chirping 3rd.....lol
@ChallengerGuy22 Mach1 has an older gen dual piston PBR caliper. the C6/05 GTO PBR caliper are newer design and bigger. larger rotors mostly help with fade not stopping distance.
DaltonThomas If that awful A4 did a 4.6, I expect the M6 to time around 4.2-4.3 (that seems a little fast for this though; 4.6 is probably correct for the M6, 5.0 A4)
Those brakes still sound small but its a good performer if they had just called it a G8 coupe i think there would have been less complaints about the looks.
i just saw 06 GTO in a GM dealership 2 days ago and out of the corvette, camaros and others new type of GM cars in that dealer the GTO didnt even last 2 days and someone bought the GTO. what im trying to say the GTO are getting hard to find people :) oh and the other day a cop said nice badass car you got there :D
Not to mention, a Maserati is as temperamental as a Ferrari. If you don't get it tuned every three months, it will start to play up. Servicing something like that would cost more than two sets of tyres for your GTO. The GTO on the other hand is generally content with being serviced about once a year if the miles are fairly average
@mustangdocter no... its a australian holden manaro... The vaxhall manaro is imported to europe from ausie. They all use the LS line of engines (in basically corvette spec). Those are the facts.
@CCMedic09 I agree, I'm looking at one myself. I drove one a couple of days ago and it was a surprise and a disapointment. surprise because it was so damn smooth and a great drive. the disapointment is that it was in an accident and had to much cosmetic work to be done for the price. but I still have high hopes it's a great alternative ( and cheaper ) then a 928 in terms of Rarity, price and running costs.
Holden wasn't the first car company to take the best components available and build a masterpiece. I'm not certain who was but a good example that predates 1978 is the 1966 Shelby Cobra. I'm not discrediting Holden sir, in fact I'm complementing their work. They put together a fantastic vehicle using the best GM had to offer globally, that's something all GM guys should be proud of.
You are correct the Pontiac GTO is a Holden Monaro Badge swapping and rightfully Australians are proud when we see Holdens sold and rebadged in the US .Its ironic that some people from the most patriotic nation in the world (The US)slam aussies for being proud and patriotic about something GM imported to the US from Australia .Australians should be proud but many are angry that GM saw fit to close down Holdens operations completely and did not even give Australia the chance to keep the Holden name.Judging by the comments on youtube in regard to th G8,GTO,and the Chevy SS they were well received in the US and many Americans are proud of their Australian heritage but one wonders that had GM done a little more to promote these cars that just maybe Holden could still be operating and producing more instead of GM being greedy and taking Australian tax payers for a ride.
ive seen much better 0 to 60 times on the cars stock as well as 1.4 mile times in the low low 13's and high 12's. tracition of the stock tire is a problem...pick up some exhaust intake headers and a chip and youll be in the 12's add a cam and ive seen ppl hit almost mid 12;s that way.
I want this car! I have a 3.4 L V6 Grand Am, and i was looking into mustangs. But for a bigger corvette engine and a decent price, im going with the gto. Slap on some black rims on a black gto and you're all set
@ForgeCafeVideos lol, well seeing as I work for GM and the fact that I actually leased one for 2 years so, i do know what i'm talking about. The GTO was made in south Australia at our plant in Elizabeth. All we did to import our cars was switch the dash, the handbrake and the front grille. It is an australian car mate. Just let it go...you're wrong.
Did you not understand what I said? I wasn't talking quarter mile times. In your comment below you were talking about liters. The lap, and quarter mile times are pretty low for the gt500 and don't match up with it's statistics.
Those BS Goodrich tires did it's out of the box performance numbers no favors. You put some decent summer sport tires on there and times drop considerably.
The new GTO may have sold better if it was re-badged as the New 2004 Grand Prix GTP. I myself love the restyled 04-08 Grand Prix but I know a lot of die hard GTP fans like the 97-03 body-style better. If you park the 03 GTP coupe and the 04 GTO side by side there's a striking resemblance between the two cars, almost as though the GTO really should have been the next generation Grand Prix GTP.
@JaSt321 Which Holden is owned by... GM? I'm happy even this a rebadged Holden, i hardly doubt they would put a Holden in NA. And, that's why we got the Pontiac GTO.
@cwhcj I agree with you. I seen some 04-06 GTO's with like 60k miles on then for around 15 thousand or more but then I found my 02 Z28 for 8 thousand with only 63k miles on it so I got a darn good deal because they were asking 9500 at first
