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We drove one of our favorite roads, from San Diego to Borrego Springs, over winding roads with good visibility into the desert in full springtime bloom. We came back without a single dissatisfaction with the performance of the Pontiac G8 GT in those qualities that matter most: engine, transmission, suspension, and brakes.
The 6.0-liter overhead valve engine makes 361 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque, which peaks at a fairly high 4,400 rpm, although the engine doesn't feel peaky. Overall, the GT feels trim. In fact, from the driver's seat, it feels smaller than it is. It has more power than any Pontiac in history (take that, you Firebird Trans Am Ram Air big honkin' hood scoop muscle cars), but it's totally tame until you want to use that power. Then it will accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5.1 seconds and knock off the quarter-mile in 13.6. And with all that torque, the engine just lopes through places and situations that cause other sedans to take a harder swing.
But maybe the best thing about the all-new G8 is the six-speed transmission in the GT. Pontiac has joined the slim ranks of the savvy, by making a tight-shifting automatic transmission with manual control that's absolutely faithful to the driver's commands. It makes sport driving of the GT such a pleasure.
There are three modes to the Driver Shift Control transmission: Cruise, Sport and Manual. Cruise is fully automatic; Sport is automatic with more aggressive shift points, and Manual is, totally, manual. In Manual, it will short shift: that is, upshift under hard throttle but below redline. Sometimes that's a useful and smooth technique, and far too many automatic manual transmissions are programmed to disallow that; the thinking (by some engineer, somewhere) is that hard throttle means full speed means full revs. No, not necessarily.
The transmission employs rev matching for smoother downshifting, and the revs are just right. There are rational limits to the manual control, however: It won't let you downshift if the lower gear would cause the engine to reach redline where there's a rev limiter. But it will allow you to reach redline on the upshifts. It won't upshift for you, in manual mode, which you control with the lever. No paddle shifters, here. Not missed.
Cruise mode is true, too: for smooth cruising. You don't feel each downshift at every red light and stop sign. It understands gliding.
Sport mode is actually useful. Some aren't, because they just make the power delivery jerky. It can be an engineering tightrope walk, to find that happy medium between cruise and manual. It's a function of the programming and the engine characteristics. But it works with the GT.
However, Sport mode on the G8 with the V6 doesn't do much, but make the shifts rougher. That's because the V6 and five-speed transmission lack the range of the V8 and six-speed. We got some good miles in the base Pontiac G8, and through the twisties, in Sport mode, it kept kicking down like crazy. But it was smooth in Cruise, and true (and fun) in Manual.
The V6 is basically the same engine as in the Cadillac CTS, a 3.6-liter making 256 horsepower and 248 pound-feet of torque at a low 2,100 rpm. The acceleration is good, but the exhaust note is raspy and not very pleasing, when you're hard on the throttle. On the freeway at steady light throttle, the engine is quiet.
Also, the suspension in the Pontiac G8 doesn't have the same taut feel as in the Pontiac G8 GT. The variable-ratio, rack-and-pinion steering rates are different; also, the G8 brake rotors are smaller. The standard G8 is for those who love the style but don't really want the performance. It's less aggressive in every respect. It only gets one more highway mpg, but at least it runs on regular fuel, unlike the V8 which needs premium.
The 6.0-liter V8 engine (built in Mexico) uses active fuel management, which edges it up to its EPA rating of a combined 20 miles per gallon, pretty good for 360 horsepower. Unthinkable, in fact, until recently. We averaged 16.2 miles per gallon during our miles, some freeway mixed with hard two-lane running for a couple of hours.
The ride is excellent. Compared to the new Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, a $50,800 challenger to the BMW M3, which we tested on Arizona back roads on the day before we drove the Pontiac, the G8 GT's ride is more pleasing, lacking all harshness. Even so, we never hit a spot where it felt in over its head, too soft in a corner or undulation or both. And we tried to find that spot.
We used the brakes good and hard, although not relentless so they didn't get hot enough to find the point of fade. The vented rotors are big, more than 12.5 inches front and rear, and there are twin-piston front calipers and single-piston rear. The brakes meet the high performance standard set by the engine, transmission, and suspension.
The suspension is firm enough, and the handling is tight. During our hard drive to Borrego Springs, the electronic stability control activated maybe three times, just at the right times. Only once, maybe, when the rear end slid out. Another couple times it must have been the traction control, because we were pointed in a straight line, foot near or on the floor out of a slower bumpy turn, with the rear wheels imperceptibly bouncing. In that situation, some systems will cut the throttle so much the car falls on its nose and makes your curse; not so with the Pontiac G8 GT, which cuts the throttle just for a split second and then lets you continue to drive the car.
The cornering on the four-wheel independent suspension is confident, precise, and sharp. The steering rack is mounted forward of the front axle, which Pontiac engineers say improves the response. The Australians used their experience from road racing V8 Holdens to mount the engine low and rearward in the chassis cradle, improving the balance; little tricks like a rear-mounted battery helped balance the car to a 50:50 weight distribution front-rear. There is a traditional Pontiac wide track. The chassis is stiff, with 80 percent of its steel being high-strength. The 18-inch tires give good bite, and the optional lower profile 19s should be better. All these things add up. We've got a powerful Pontiac that handles! And it's a regular sedan!
The Pontiac G8 GT isn't much like the GTO, its predecessor from Holden. The GTO used a version of the Corvette's 6.0-liter engine that made 400 horsepower, but it was a muscle car all the way: rude and crude (and fun for it, but that's another story). Rough suspension, heavy exhaust note, and a six-speed manual transmission.
The exhaust note in the G8 GT could stand to be more aggressive, but that's not likely to happen nowadays. We opened the window just so we could hear it better. With a car like this, you want to enjoy the rumble.
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