Pretty freakin close if ya ask me...I like it...I must admit.

 

Monaro is fawking sweet man... ...

 

I like the GTO better than the Monaro.

 

more ergonomic but looks cheaper IMO

 

The GTO's exhausts are disappointing.

 

lol it's a gavrill forum!

Monaro looks better.

 

I like the Monaro grille way more !! Otherwise the "Goat" looks good.

 

i like the Manaro better!

 

Make sure you have a good sound system and have the volume at...11!

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...4435&start=171

 

Does this new link work? It is supposed to take you to the clip directly. Let me know.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...617735&idx=177

 

no, it doesnt work.

 

The first link works, but the second does not?

 

Neither works for me, but you may have a Nissan-driver filter on or something

j/k

 

Can you guys explain what you mean by "it does not work"? Does the link take you anywhere? WHat do you see?

 

I can host it if you like.

 

Tell me what to do. Thanks in advance Siggy

 

Getting GM’s Goat: GTO fans sound off on ‘sucked caramel’ styling of 2004 Monaro-based model

By BOB GRITZINGER

GTO fans displeased with the Monaro-based 2004 GTO (below) will find Ford's Mustang featured on ultimateGTO.com
FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE GOING online in 1996, a pretty Pontiac GTO photo isn’t the Picture of the Week on the Ultimate Pontiac GTO Picture Site (www.ulti
mateGTO.com).

In a protest sparked by what the website owner describes as an overwhelmingly negative response to the exterior styling of the 2004 Pontiac GTO, the enthusiast site is featuring several shots of the Mustang GT concept (from March 23 to March 29) that debuted at the Detroit and Los Angeles auto shows in January.

General Motors, under the guidance of product vice chairman Bob Lutz, decided last year to bring back the fabled GTO badge on a performance coupe based on the Holden Monaro, built by GM’s Australian subsidiary. The car’s pedigree is impressive: a modified 5.7-liter LS1 V8 engine producing 340 hp at 5200 rpm and 360 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm, sport-tuned suspension and an optional six-speed manual tranny. But for GTO purists flocking to ultimateGTO.com, the latest rendition due late this year may have all the performance of a GTO, but it misses the mark because it lacks signature elements like hood scoops, prominent GTO badging and tough styling.

“We feel GM has just hijacked the GTO name to sell some other car,” says site owner Sean Mattingly.

Or, as one GTO fan posted: “GTO needs to look like it’s breaking the law parked at the curb. The styling for this machine is just another bubble car.” Or this: “You give us this? An Australian sucked caramel?”

Hogwash, says Lutz, who waded into the website bulletin board fray back in mid-January, posting a personal response to assaults on his GTO from Down Under. Lutz noted that “dyed-in-the-wool old-line GTO [fans] are disappointed it’s a non-retro-themed car with few throwback GTO cues,” but he argued that wasn’t what GM set out to do with the car.

“We wanted a modern interpretation, with a really slick chassis to go along with a big engine,” Lutz wrote. “We really would like to draw new customers, rather than traditionalists.”

Lutz assured the car “will more than live up to the GTO heritage in terms of driving excitement and performance”—but in a nod to traditionalists he promised hood scoops for 2005.

Fair enough, but most of Lutz’s comments only served to inflame the GTO masses who fired back with more vitriol, Mattingly says. In response, Mattingly felt the site had to make a statement on behalf of the beleaguered Goat fans—and posting the Mustang GT seemed like a logical choice.

“The Mustang was the real star of the auto shows,” notes Mattingly. GM spokesman Tom Kowaleski says the company respects the website’s right to free speech. But he urges GTO fans to withhold judgment on the new car.

“Once they get in the car, I guarantee 90 percent of them will come out all smiles,” he says.

But it’s the crew down the road in Dearborn with the big smiles—at least for now.

“We understand why the website chose Mustang, because it’s the only classic pony car still standing today,” says Ford’s Special Vehicle Team chief John Coletti. “This new GTO is like a Cavalier on a Camaro chassis.”

 

Im glad the old gto fans got into an uproar and were heard. While I understand that using the holden monaro saves money in terms of production. There is just no excuse for what they are doing. That car looks nothing like a sports car ir a muscle car. Like ford said its a cavalier on a camaro body. If you are going to revive a car then you need to revive everything that made the original car including the styling cues, other wise you just have a different car. Lutz is trying to take the cheap way out with this car so he can pocket more money, and sadly he will.

 

hahaha, ya from the outside it looks like a Pontiac parts bin. Or some crazy Frankenstein grandprix/cavalier/neon.

Basically a grand-am/prix on a camaro chassis.

 

I started a thread on this board a couple of weeks ago essentially stating that the General has screwed up again with the new Goat It has no resemblence of GTO, which was developed under the guidance of the legendary John Delorean who gave Pontiac a real performance image.

Shame on Bob Lutz and his team of adulterating the revered badge of GTO. Instead of admitting a blatant mistake, he defends himself like a seasoned politician! It will not be in the market three years from now!

 

does anyone agree with me that this is just like the monte carlo ss?? GM does what it takes to make cars cheaper. they dont make cars, they analyze the market and use economists to make the cars. the real designers/engineers are too expensive for a thrifty thinking economist!

 

gm/cars suck, period

gm/trucks so so to good

wake up gm

 

I saw it at the auto show and was very underwhelmed. It looks like a Catera 2 door with a pontiac grilll. Blah. Yuck. Boring. The interior though is nice, I love how they color match the leather with the exterior color. But it is so boring. WHat I would do is ship the Holden parts over. That car looks sick with some of it's kits. Way more aggresive than this car.

I do love the RWD and V-8 part though. At least it's not a V-6, FWD Impala.

 

yeah, that's an amusing comment from a company that's been building mustangs off the fairmont platform for the past 25 some-odd years (and it was the pinto platform before that).

 

haha did not know that. freaking domestics.

 

personally, I think it's funny as shit that folks are vilifying the man that gave dodge viper production the green light as putting economics before substance.

bob lutz is a car guy, not a bean counter.

 

He may be a car guy, but he's certainly acting like a bean counter with regards to the GTO. I don't blame the GTO fans one bit..... I think they're exactly right- Pontiac is just using the GTO name to sell an Austrailian sedan with a Corvette engine.

Hell, the GTO doesn't even have a dual exhaust system. Just twin tips on one side. I don't know what the fuck those people are thinking......

 

I think the GTO is a nice car. I am getting sick of all these Retro designed cars. Time to have something a little more modern looking.

I think Lutz is trying real hard to stir up some excitement at GM. The GTO is one of the most exciting new cars to come out from there in years.

Look at how GM in recent years killed some great historical auto names: Monte Carlo SS, Impala, etc...

 

that car is all go and no show, If I just took a quick glance then I would of thought it was just another pontiac...

On the other hand the new mustang GT ROCKs!! GM should of went retro like ford.... just w/ some updated lines like the mustang did

 

The original GTO's were all go and no show. They only look good now because we look at them as classics.


You watch...the car will be of better quality because it is NOT designed etc. by Pontiac. The car will do very VERY well. It is ismpossible to go retro on the GTO. It was a long ass car. Mustangs etc. were small couples. You can wittle those lines down to something modern. I don't see how they could do that with the GTO.

Traditionalists can be asses. The have no problem with a V6 front wheel drive Monte Carlo SS. but a rear wheel drive V* coupe bothers them. I don' get it.

 

Like I said earlier, you won't see the new GTO three years after introduction

 

 

Hahahahah the comment from SVT at the end of the article was golden.

Also the new Mustang looks to be awesome. I hope the interior is nicer too though.

 

I think the car will still sell like hotcakes. Even after all these complaints. It's a compelling package. And I am sure that GM will keep working on it and even 2 years from now it will be much better on things that it's lacking right now.

 

I have not seen anyone on this board is thinking about buying the GTO Does that tell you something also? GM is not commited to spend money on R & D to build a real GTO. The reason to rebadge a Holden says it all They can discontinue it any time with no real monetary commitment and this also indicates their faith and commitment of the GTO!!! They can drop it any time

 

You have never driven a Holden. When I was in Australia i had an opportunity to drive a Holden Commodore S and SV8. These cars are amazing. I couldn't believe how awsome they were. Definately not what you think of as "GM". I think it is a weird company thing because it is not totally GM or something like that. Whatever it is their GM is a lot different then our GM. Let's reserve judgement until we get to drive this car. If it is as good as i think it will be I would have no problem switching back to a domestic.

 

Regardless of anyone's opinion here, there is one thing that is
FACT:

GM did not do the R&D to develop a car that could truly carry the GTO. They're simply trying to capitalize on the name of the GTO by rebadging an Australian GM vehicle.

That in itself is pathetic. That's why so many true GTO fans are outraged.

Imagine if Ford had stopped making the Mustang back in the 70's. Then 30 years later, they slap a Mustang emblem on an exported Ford that has nothing in common with the original Mustangs except for an 8 cylinder engine and RWD.

A lot of people don't know this, but in the late 80's Ford was considering changing the Mustang to a front drive platform and giving it a small turbocharged engine. But public reaction was so negative and they got so much negative mail/comments, that they decided to keep the Mustang RWD and 8 cylinder. But the new Mustang was too far along in development to cancel. So they built it anyway. It was called the Ford Probe.

BTW, that's also the main reason that the Mustang went virtually unchanged from 1987 to 1993. Seven years of the same exact body style......

 

hmmm, never knew that. Well, Ford engineers really did a good job on the up coming ford mustang. I hate domestics but, if the new mustang interiors looks anything decent, I may have to jump aboard.

 

Ditto, TOM2, I guess some people just don't get the point. I don't care about the perforomance of the Holden and that's a different issue. You can't call a dog a cat just because you named the dog cat. You can't call a Holden a GTO just because you named it GTO.

I feel strongly about this because I used to own a 1966 GTO tri-power with factory Hurst shifter. That car was a classic! Wish I still have it now----sigh. GM wants to call this Holden piece of shit a GTO just ticks me off!!!

 

From MotorTrend

June 18, 2003

With its high-output V-8 engine, rear-wheel-drive configuration, and high-torque off-the-line acceleration, the all-new 2004 Pontiac GTO more than delivers the legendary power and performance of its original namesake. In fact, it will deliver 10 more horsepower than originally announced.

The new GTO will produce 350 horsepower at 5200 rpm and 365 ft.-lb. of torque at 4000 rpm. In addition, the GTO is expected to achieve impressive performance times of 0 to 60 mph in less than 5.5 seconds and run the quarter mile run in under 14 seconds.

"There's no doubt that outstanding power and launch feel was the priority for this vehicle right from the start," explained Dave Himmelberg, GTO program engineering manager. "The original GTO was the standard bearer of its class in terms of power - and that's exactly the standard we set for ourselves when developing the modern version.

"Anyone who drives this vehicle is going to know it's a GTO from the moment they turn the key and press that accelerator and hear that throaty Pontiac exhaust note - this car will definitely push you back in your seat."

GM engineers pulled out all the stops to create the GTO's exhilarating power and off-line performance, taking an engine already known to driving enthusiasts for its superb performance and reliability / durability -- GM's award-winning 5.7-liter Gen III LS1 V8 -- and refining it for substantially more power and the low-end torque, with special exhaust tuning to emphasize its performance-oriented character.

To achieve strong launch capability, GM engineers adopted the LS1 V8's high-lift camshaft (increasing low-end torque, without giving up power). They then took advantage of the engine's torque on the low end and changed the transmission gear ratios and final drive ratio for the kind of launch performance one would expect from a GTO.

In addition to off-the-line launch feel, the higher lift camshaft also boosts torque over most of the rev range by an average 5 percent thereby ensuring great reserves of power for sudden acceleration and freeway passing. Compared to the original camshaft, the new configuration provides 20 ft-lb more torque from idle up to 4400 rpm.

The horsepower increase over the original engine setup results from improved airflow into and through the engine and the exhaust system. This includes:

— Increasing fresh airflow through the air cleaner with a larger 100mm diameter inlet pipe
— Reducing exhaust backpressure to a very low static pressure of (40 kPa) with a slightly larger diameter size dual pipe system
— An all-new true dual exhaust system. It includes dual catalytic converters, one on each exhaust bank; two small resonators, one between each catalytic converter and the mufflers; and pipes-only running from each muffler all the way to the dual chrome exhaust tips which are packaged next to each other at the rear fascia.

On the GTO, the LS1 can be mated to GM's most aggressively geared (M12) six-speed manual transmission, but the electronically controlled Hydra-Matic 4L60-E transmission is standard. Both the manual and automatic transmissions use the same low-geared 3.46 final drive axle ratio to maximize off-line acceleration.

The 2004 Pontiac GTO will be available in Pontiac dealer showrooms before the end of 2003 in limited numbers. Pricing has not yet been finalized, but it is expected to be less than $35K.