it may be badged a pontiac, but the monaro is an aussie icon through and through
very chirpy car this, handles well but is quite the whale i must admit
ive driven one though and personally i reckon its pretty good.
i dunno wat its like in the US atm but here in australia, petrol prices are goin UP UP UP and its gettin harder and harder to manage and upkeep cars such as the Monaro.

Here, there are different versions of the monaro/GTO
theres the
- Holden Monaro CV8
- Holden Monaro CV8Z
- HSV GTO (more performance oriented i think)
- HSV Coupe4 AWD

 

Glad to see you get both sides of the car world
luxuary and speed =)

 

before i even read the thread i was going to suggest a monaro front. I dont like the stylign changes made to the GTO for the us market. The HSV GTO coupes we get in australia (based off the monaro) have some crazy styling cues to check out if you want something even more aggressive.. but the regular monaro is a great looking car.

I bet your gonna have a heap of fun with both cars :P

 

congrats ry, i knew it was coming after you saw my friends GTO's at that meet earlier this spring...

i also have the V8 bug and i am considering the next gen M3/Camaro or if i feel i need a 4 door 550i... god i hope the M3 comes in a 4 door...

 

i just threw up in my mouth a lil...

 

That my dream summmer car.

 

if you decide to part out i call dibs on his rims

 

You'd be surprised how good it is. My buddy gets 22-24mpg on the highway. I get 24-26mpg at half the motor.

 

You're right. GM does an excellent with gas mileage for large displacement motors. The manual version of the GTO and Corvette are not dinged with gas guzzler taxes. The GTO equipped with automatic does have a gas guzzler tax because of its poor efficiency.

 

interior shots of the GTO please... did you get the blue interior Ry?

 

No...I wanted to but after comparing each of them, I actually thought the black looked better. Also, there was no blue/blue in my area.

Here are a few interior shots that I took to show the hand control installation. Notice how they got the linkage up under the kick panels, unlike on the TSX where the controls were left open and hanging down.

 

Awesome car. Great to get one since GM discontinued it already. So it might be worth money in the long future.

 

great ride, I actually test drove a used red one before purchising my tsx in OCT 05. damn fast and I think they look good on the outside and inside, and your blue is sweet and yours looks even better, love the lenses front and back.

 

Nice ride rmpage! The interior looks pretty nice, and I'm sure it's a blast to drive.

 

Nice!

My bro has a Yellow '04 GTO with the LS1 in it. Lots of fun to drive. I know the 6 speed isn't an option for you, but it really does improve the gas mileage. He gets about 19-26.

Congrats, and enjoy that thing!

 

My friend I drove GTO once time and car was very powerful to drive. It was nice and smooth. It is very easy to get a ticket with a lot of HP out there.

 

I tryed reading everyones posts to see if this had been covered allready, but I dont belive it has.
"paralyzed from the waist down and in the left hand [quadriplegia]"
If you cant use your left hand, do you have to brake and accelerate with your right hand then?
Wouldent it be dangerous to speed if you need to use your right hand to steer and then break and gas?
So wouldent your hand be off the wheel while breaking?
I just wasent sure how the mechanical aspect of it works.
I have a friend who cant walk and uses hand controls which he says can be difficult in normal winter driving (live in Edmonton Canada) and simply trying to drive then usen the turn indicator and hand control along with bad roads can cause problems.

 

I use both hands. My left hand works well enough to grab the speed control handle and move it accordingly. All that requires is enough finger strength to wrap the palm around it, and wrist/shoulder strength to move it forward/back/up/down. The paralysis in my left hand is in the fingers (ulnar nerve trauma, radial nerve is mostly OK) which are weakened but not completely immobile.

Basically, I can grab the handle fine, but doing something like catching a tennis ball or building a plastic model would prove impossible since I don't have the grip strength or dexterity in my fingers anymore. In reality the control configuration I use is identical to that used by paraplegics with full hand function. Very few people can tell that I'm a quad unless I say so, and then show them why.

 

Quality is hit and miss on all cars made in Australia. A shame you have downgraded in quality.

 

Same here, they're two different things. I love the TSX's motor for what it is -- an exceptional, n.a. gem of a four-banger. And I love the 427 rat motor in my '69 Caprice for what it is -- a gas-hogging torque monster that roars at you when you get on it, pushrods and all.