2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Truck

More than twenty years after the death of Chevrolet’s famous El Camino, General Motors is giving Americans another chance to own a new car-based pickup. But like Pontiac’s defunct GTO, this icon returns with a bit of an Australian accent.And it won’t get the El Camino badge. Previewed at the 2008 New York auto show, the 2010 Pontiac G8 sport truck is essentially a lengthened G8 sedan - sans a back seat and trunk. Instead, GM’s performance division worked a truck bed onto the G8’s body, which first originated in Australia as the Holden Commodore. And like the G8’s Holden cousin, the sport truck has already been an overseas hit as the Holden Ute. Powered by the same 6.0-liter V-8 engine in the G8 GT, the sport truck (a temporary label for the vehicle, consumers can choose the Pontiac’s final name at www.pontiac.com/namethiscar) will put out 361 hp and 385 lb-ft of torque. Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, Pontiac says the G8 sport truck can blast from 0 to 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, just a hair behind the G8 GT sedan. Covering the 74-inch cargo bed with an available tonneau cover should help improve track times, but for those wanting a true American “Ute” work-car, the cargo bed will hold a little more than one-half ton and the Pontiac can tow up to 3500 pounds. To handle extra weight, GM stretched the G8’s wheelbase by four inches, adjusted the rear suspension, and reinforced the G8’s key structure areas with 60 new components. However, there aren’t many new components inside the G8 sport truck’s cabin. Drivers will notice the same dashboard, controls, and options that adorn the G8 sedan, as well as 8.5 sq-ft of additional storage space behind the front seats. We expect the sport truck could get Pontiac’s G8 GXP treatment - a 402-hp, 6.2-liter V-8 engine - as early as the 2011 model year. This, of course, provided it doesn’t speed to the fate of its forefather El Camino. The 2010 sport-truck-to-be-named-later will arrive in showrooms in late 2009. Click the links below for high-resolution G8 sport truck wallpaper images, as well as coverage of the G8 GXP.

Pontiac G8 Behind the Wheel

PONTIAC can’t get a break. It finally rolls up to the party in its G8 sedan — with a big snorting engine under the hood, herds of leather in the cabin and a keg in the trunk — only to find the festivities are over. The last drunk has staggered out. The pool is being skimmed. It’s too much, too late.

Back in the halcyon days of 2002, General Motors had a plan for Pontiac. The division, tarnished by three decades spent selling restyled Chevys, would transform itself into the American version of BMW, building rear-drive performance cars without the high German prices. The G8 would be the flagship, and its role was to make such a notion seem not quite so preposterous.

But today, with G.M.’s future in doubt, the G8 power-slides into unknown terrain. Some people at G.M. say this midsize sedan is the future face of a Pontiac unit that will be downsized and refocused. Some say the G8 is doomed to die in 2013, or that its V-8 engine will be swapped for a less thirsty turbocharged 4-cylinder. Others, including tight-fisted members of Congress, insist that G.M. could never make a car this good in the first place.

So, “Mad Max” fans, the G8 may be the last of the V-8 interceptors. How fitting that it is built in Australia. The G8, which supplants the Grand Prix, was engineered Down Under, where the same basic car is the Holden Commodore.

The G8 is sold in two versions — the base model (with a 3.6-liter V-6) and GT (6-liter V-8) — with a super-high-performance GXP scheduled to go on sale by February. A fourth version with a pickup bed called the Sport Truck may or may not arrive next fall. (Aussies love these car-truck combos, which they call “utes.”) Mere talk about the trucklet has restored a lustrous sheen to the feathered ’70s hairstyles of those who loved the Chevy El Camino.

At $28,875, the base G8 is a fine automobile, though light on power (256 horses) and heavy on weight (3,885 pounds) compared with a comparably set-up Nissan Maxima or Mazda 6.

Yet the base car suffers no visual slights. It has the same flared fenders and 18-inch wheels as the GT. It rides on the same impressive suspension, with struts in front and four links in the rear.

Mainly, though, the base model exists to remind you that for an extra $3,365 you could have had the GT. It offers two extra cylinders and 105 more horses, plus another gear in the transmission, larger disc brakes and a six-CD changer with MP3 playback.

To opt for the V-6 and not the V-8 is to squander a basic American freedom — to buy the biggest, most powerful car available. And even if supersizing seems like a liberty the nation can no longer afford, in this instance logic sides with extravagance. The V-8’s cylinder-deactivation system pulls the GT’s economy rating up to 15 miles a gallon in town and 24 on the highway, almost on par with 17/25 for the base car.

Indeed, the GT is where the action is. This car is a class-jumper, a $32,240 four-door with the power and grace to hang with luxury-sport titans like BMW’s 5 Series.

Anyone who’s driven a Pontiac in the last 30 years might read that sentence and think that G.M. piped nitrous oxide into my test car. But the comparison is defensible. Despite the yawning cultural chasm between Australia and Germany — in Oz, the sound of breaking glass is the unofficial national anthem; in Deutschland, littering is rarer than Miller Lite — the two nations have the sort of curving, open road systems that breed fantastically cohesive rear-drive cars.

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And that is exactly what we have in the G8. Setting the tone is a cabin whose studied relationship among steering wheel, seat and pedals make it easy to find the optimal driving position.

The interior is all black and silver, and the controls are of seriously high quality. The back seat is as amply proportioned as the front, with a wide pass-through for large items like snowboards. My one complaint is that too-thick windshield pillars make it hard to see through corners.

I know this because I was constantly seeking curves through which to toss this car. Pitched hard into a turn, the big Pontiac claws through the corner. It won’t wallow or pitch or track wide of the intended line.

The G8 is similar to a great stereo system in that it’s defined at low volume levels, yet able to be cranked up without distortion. No matter the speed, the steering returns the same measured response as the throttle pedal, as the braking system, as the body motions. Other cars this harmonious are usually found in German showrooms.

Like a BMW or Mercedes, the Pontiac is a heavy machine that feels stout and energetic rather than cumbersome. This is due primarily to its 50-50 front-rear weight distribution and its stiff structure, which frees up the chassis to absorb bumps rather than to mitigate body flex.

The powertrain gets the rest of the credit. The V-8 puts out 361 horsepower and has a torque plateau as big as Ayers Rock. Its output flows through a 6-speed manumatic transmission and a limited-slip differential that helps the rear tires bite the pavement.

I was also able to spend some time in a preproduction 2010-model GXP. Because I’m a conscientious, well-trained consumer, this more powerful, almost visually identical car immediately made me forget the GT that I had, up to then, raved about.

Lest anyone forget that Pontiac pretty much invented the muscle car (with the 1964 GTO), the GXP is a reminder. Forty-six model years later, the formula still works: put an oversize engine in a salaryman’s sedan. Performance meets stealth.

But the GXP can do things no ’60s-era muscle car could — like turn and stop. It brings refinement in equal proportion to its aggressiveness.

If the GT is a half-price BMW 550i, then the $37,000 GXP is an M5 for hard times. Its Corvette-derived 6.2-liter V-8 speaks Wookiee, grinds out 415 horsepower and mates to an available, fluidly shifting 6-speed manual. This engine clips more than half a second off the GT’s 5.3-second time in the 0-to-60 m.p.h. run. G.M. says it will do the sprint in 4.7 seconds.

Though its pulse is quicker, the GXP has the same integrity as the GT. Pontiac added 14-inch Brembo brakes up front and it upgraded up the suspension. Both cars feel finished, resolved.

The G8s are an accomplished family of sport sedans, the kind of cars that make Pontiac’s old “We build excitement” ads something more than ironic fodder. They also make a convincing claim to a niche that Detroit has largely left unfilled since the ’60s — the sporting, affordable, rear-drive midsize sedan.

It’s a pity that America isn’t in the market for a sharp-looking V-8-powered anything right now. Personally, I hope someone will invent a time machine within the next week or two and have the good sense to set the controls for the year 2000.

Pontiac G8 GXP Specifications

Pontiac G8 GXP review

Today Pontiac announced the flagship of its GXP performance series, the G8 GXP high-performance sedan, at the New York Auto Show. This 2009 model will join the Solstice, G6 and Torrent GXP models in Pontiac dealerships in late 2008. The G8 GXP takes the G8`s responsive driving experience, refined passenger environment and aggressive good looks to a new level. It also delivers an enjoyable driving experience, thanks to a 6.2L V-8 that produces in excess of 400 horsepower.

“More than just raw power, the GXP delivers the sophisticated yet exciting driving experience that enthusiasts expect in a car costing far more than the GXP,” said Jim Bunnell, Buick-Pontiac-GMC general manager

Engine performance

The heart of the G8 GXP is the 6.2L LS3 small-block V-8, currently rated at 402 horsepower (300 kW)* and 402 lb.-ft. of torque (546 Nm)* pending final SAE certification. This engine is the newest member of GM`s small-block V-8 family. It features a revised, larger-bore cylinder block, high-flow, L92-style cylinder heads; larger-diameter pistons; unique camshaft and camshaft timing; revised valvetrain with offset intake rocker arms; high-flow intake manifold; and high-flow fuel injectors.

The LS3 engine has an aluminum cylinder block with cast-in-place iron cylinder liners. Larger bores help create a 376-cubic-inch displacement. The block casting also features revisions and machining in the bulkheads to enhance its strength and improve bay-to-bay breathing. New pistons were designed for high-rpm performance.

New, high-flow cylinder heads aid engine breathing and are based on the large port and valve design found on the LS7 engine and other GM L76 engines. The larger-capacity, straighter intake port-design optimizes intake flow to the combustion chamber, an effect augmented by large valves, measuring 2.16 inches (55.0 mm) on the intake side and 1.59 inches (40.4 mm) on the exhaust side.

Pending final testing, the G8 GXP is expected to deliver 0-to-60 mph performance of about 4.7 seconds, and a quarter-mile time of 13.0 seconds at 108 mph.

Six on the floor

A new six-speed Tremec TR6060 manual transmission is optional on the G8 GXP. This next-generation manual smoothly transfers the engine`s power and torque to the rear wheels with a reduction in shift throw. The transmission features a host of refinements including premium gear synchronizers; stronger gears, housing, and bell housing; a single-piece counter shaft; and machined gear teeth.

The standard Hydra-Matic six-speed 6L80 automatic transmission is technologically advanced and robust. It uses a clutch-to-clutch operation and an integrated 32-bit transmission controller to deliver smooth and precise shifts. The six-speed has a generous 6.04:1 overall ratio that enables a “steep” first-gear. The result is strong launch acceleration along with “tall” overdrive ratios that lower engine rpms for better fuel economy and reduced noise.

A 3.27 final drive ratio comes with automatic-equipped GXPs, and a 3.70 gear is matched with the manual transmission. A limited-slip differential is standard.

High-performance suspension

The G8 GXP rides on the G8`s 114.8-inch (2915 mm) wheelbase with wide front ( 62.7 inches / 1,592 mm) and rear ( 63.3 inches / 1,608 mm) tracks. The four-wheel independent suspension is fully adjustable and is tuned for the highest performance in the G8 family. The GXP`s ride and handling was developed and validated on racetracks and highways around the world, including the famed Nürburgring racing circuit. It rewards the driver with sharp, immediate responses, as well as a well-balanced road feel during spirited driving.

The suspension employs a MacPherson strut design in the front and a four-link, coil-over-shock design in the rear. A direct-acting front stabilizer bar, decoupled rear stabilizer bar and lateral ball joints on the rear suspension deliver increased lateral stiffness for more responsive handling. The front suspension features fully adjustable caster, camber and toe; the rear suspension has fully adjustable camber and toe, for more precise tuning.

Steering and brakes

The steering rate for the GXP is tuned to provide immediate response with definitive driver feedback. Like the G8 sedan and GT, the GXP`s steering box is located ahead of the front axle line for a quicker, more direct feel.

The Brembo braking system matches the GXP`s boost in performance with an equivalent increase in stopping power. The system includes 14-inch (355 mm) vented front and 12.76-inch (324 mm) rear disc rotors, with special quad-piston alloy calipers in front. The alloy calipers on the rear brakes have single-piston actuation. The four-wheel disc brake system includes standard anti-lock brakes and traction control.

Wheels and tires

The GXP rides on 19-inch polished aluminum wheels with a special machined face. Performance-oriented summer P245/40R19 tires are standard, and a comparable all-season tire is available. Combined with the suspension and steering enhancements, this setup gives the GXP exceptional cornering grip.

Exterior styling

The G8 GXP exhibits strong Pontiac design cues. A unique front fascia with a lower splitter and a distinctive rear fascia diffuser contribute to its sporty look. The dual-port grille, fog lamps, bold wheels and confident, wheels-at-the-corners stance are all unmistakably Pontiac traits.

Interior amenities and comfort

The G8 GXP`s interior is driver-oriented with aesthetic and tactile details like instruments with a sporty appearance that match the car`s performance. Interior materials consist of satin and chrome trim and high-quality textured materials throughout. The instrument cluster glows with crisp, white light on the primary instruments. Pontiac`s signature red lighting illuminates the rest of the instrument panel cluster.

Standard comfort and convenience amenities include:
Highly bolstered two-tone sport seats with color-coordinated gauge cluster and GXP embroidery
Leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear shifter
Power-adjustable front seats
Fog lamps
Alloy sport pedals
A 230-watt Blaupunkt audio system
XM Satellite Radio
The seats offer firm support to hold occupants in place during aggressive cornering. The standard heated leather seats were designed to deliver excellent comfort during long drives. They are available in Ebony or an Ebony/Red two-tone.

Safety

Maintaining the G8`s tradition of a full suite of standard safety features, the G8 GXP includes:
Four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and traction control
Electronic stability control
Seat-mounted thorax air bags and dual-stage frontal air bags for front passengers, with automatic passenger sensing system
Roof rail side-impact air bags for both seating rows
OnStar
End of Pontiac G8 GXP review.