hello all, i currently own a cl, but my car has to many miles (130k+), because of all the miles i dont wanna slap a blower on it, and im seriously considering getting a low miles 06 GTO, any comments, concerns, gripes? anyone heard any horror stories, i dont want to make the wrong decision here, thanks in advance...

 

what is your "goal" out of a car

 

haha, i like speed but i dont like racing much you know having the knowledge that you can whoop most other cars around you, and i want something that most people dont have, something different and uncommon, what convinced you to get the gto?

 

GTO is exactly that, on the street you'll beat most cars out there. Racing would be kind of expensive, the fenders need to be modified to fit anything bigger than 265 tires. Handles great though so I've heard and the interior is really nice, especially the back seats.

Don't see them much either, in any given month I'll probably see 3 or 4 only

 

Handling wasn't as bad as I expected either when I drove one.

Good bang for the buck IMO.

 

Costco got it on. The handling is a lot better then I expected, while the stock suspension does have a lot of sway........you really can still control the car in a very fast manor. I did a canyon run with a GT3 and an Elise........there were 7 people on the drive. NO ONE COULD BELIEVE HOW WELL THE GTO KEPT UP...and frankly I don't think I ever got out of 3rd!!


There are a few suspension pieces you must replace...the front radius rod bushings leak....the rear subframe bushings should be replaced to firm up the rear. This is about $300 + labor. (I had about $700 in bushings at my house before I even bought the car).

As far as spring/shock upgrades. I'm at a loss here...this is the first car i've owned that hasn't been dropped the first week i've bought it. I've now had the car for two years. I am like a chick in a shoe store that can ONLY buy one pair of shoes. With my other cars I went through multiple setups before finding what I like. I don't want to do that with this car..I want to find something I like and stick with it. I am very close to H&R Springs and Koni shocks I think........or KW V3 coilovers.


Power....it's got it I dont' really plan to touch the motor anytime soon. I did a diablosport tune and Ported and Polished the Throttle Body. The car layed down 370/370 in that form.


Costco is right, the biggest rear tire you can really do is a 275. I currently have 245/40's all around which doesn't seem like a lot for a car with 400+ lb ft....but I really don't mind. I don't loose traction often...and sure bigger meat would be nice. But I'm perfectly happy where I am now. That said...my next set of tires will most likely be Rcompounds that I'll use on the street.


I've tracked the car 2x's now and was very happy with what it did knowing the suspension was virtually stock, etc.

Interior is great...seats are amazing. I have one or two rattles but i've also driven this car HARD including on dirt roads.

I have the M6 and my avg gas mileage is 19-20 mpg....i've seen as high as 25 on the hwy.


One thing to think about is the trunk....it is SMALL.....I can fit a set of golf clubs and two weekend bags and be fine....and i've also never ran into a situation where I couldn't carry something. That said I bought a new home theater system at best buy a few months back and I had to take EVERYTHING out of the boxes and use the trunk/back seat/front seat to cart everything home.

 

Check for insurance increases before! I know your a few years older, but my insurance would have gone up some 2k every six months.

I was ready and had the $ to buy a 06 GTO, I even test drove my friends, but my dads mis-information made me change my plans as soon as I found out how much the insurance would go up.

besides the insurance increase, the car is great, all it needed was an "oh-shit" handle for the passenger.

 

When I sold the CL and bought my goat, my insurance went up $32 every 6 months.

Of course, I'm 50 yrs old... But I was surprised how modest the increase was.

miker - too bad you live so far away! (check my ad in the BM).

 

was 24 and married at the time............mine actually was cheaper

 

well, im pretty much sold on getting one, maybe the only drawback is that its gonna be a DD for me, luckily for me though im half and half (city/expressway) most the time,
CLpower - you get crazy good mileage, is that only with the manual, or does it just vary like that?

 

wow, i'd be sooo all over that if you werent so far away =*(....... really clean looking and low mileage exactly what im looking for, btw, where did you get the holden monero badges, i like it a lot, especially on the steering wheel, makes it look less and less like a pontiac (since its not)..........

 

sorry to hear that, but were you able to find any nice ones around in south fl though? and if so how much were they asking?
thanks

 

yea, i really think this car fits the bill for me, just a matter of time now finding the right one

 

Yeah, I found a few with around 10-15k miles for $18-19,000 asking price, this was way earlier this school year, might have even been during the summer. Carmax had a few, but, they were mainly 5.7L. Most of the cars were in up north in Florida near palm beach area.

My friend was lucky and found an 06 with just 30 miles on it in summer of 07 from some dealership in hialeah.

 

What are R compounds anyway? Are they street legal slicks or like the BFG drag radials or something? Some really grippy tire compound? Is it street legal? I have no idea, please enlighten me

 

I was at the tracks last Saturday (by California Speedway), and there must have been a GTO meet, cuz I've seen so many in my life before... They did pretty well... But you can never tell what mods they have... or if they're stock.

 

Everything but the steering wheel badge came from Hunter Holden is Sydney (AUS). The steering wheel badge is an overlay from a US company. Graphics Expressions or something like that. JHP.com has the wheel centers for $100...

 

Basically a road course slick for the street....but with tread

 

you should fly out to OR, buy hemhaw's, and enjoy the ride back that thing's gorgeous!

 

I traded in my 02 TL Type-S for an 05 GTO with an automatic a few months ago. First I recommend you check out the gto forums (not sure if I can link them or not), PM if you want the address. They will be able to provide you with a VIN check so you can know the history of your car. You can also research any potential problems.

Now for the comparison between the two. First, and most importantly if your looking at a GTO, is the power difference. Unlike the Type-S you don't have to wait until the higher RPM's to really pick up speed. You also have to be careful though, you can't just mash the throttle going slow unless you want to break the rear tires lose (which can be fun as long as no one is around). Gas mileage is decent, I got around 15 MPG around town (no highway) with an automatic. Interior is nice also, still not sure if I like it over the Type-S or not. Also note that if you do have a lot of people in your car it's a pain to get into the back seat, but once your there it's pretty nice.

Things I miss - no heated seats (not a big deal in FL but it is in RI), no heated mirrors, no sunroof, no door lock/unlock inside (06 does have it), no memory seats, small trunk. It's my DD and I have driven it in the snow (with snow tires) and never been stuck.

As long as your willing to put aside some of the more luxury features its a good car to live with. Driving on the highway is a blast, you can pass cars with ease. Also you rarely see other GTO's, unlike a Mustang which you see everywhere. Look around and you can find a deal, I got my 05 with 6,500 miles from a dealer for only $20k, which is a pretty good deal.

 

Ive driven one a few times and if you just want to DD it, its totally possible, then if you want to get on it..well the name speaks for itself.

my dad almost regretted buyin his gto when he saw yours on the BM. same year and color CGM ftw

 

www.ls1gto.com is a great forum for you to check out

 

If or when you get one, make sure you post pics!!! Pics are mandatory, or you get banned



I definitely would have gotten a GTO had I been able to afford it. Actually it would have been a very hard decision between an S2000 and a GTO and probably some other car.... but yeah. remember, post pictures!

 

def going with the gto and pics with it, unfortunently, im also gonna go for the auto because the miami traffic sometimes is horrible for stick, and im daily online searching for my next one, im very picky though, looking for a midnight black with red interior, hard to find or a blue on black int,
RIgto - how much did the dealer give you for your trade in, and how much were they originally asking for the gto before you got it down to 20, that sounds like an unreal price good find.

 

They killed me on the trade in - I think it was $6k and my car only had 72k miles on it. The only draw back of the car is it had a golf ball sized dent in the back (how it was when I got the car), besides that it was in pretty good condition. $20k is actually what they were asking for a Colombus day sale, before that they had it listed at $21.5-22k, not sure of the exact value. They weren't going to move on that price and I was fine with that. It was a 2+ hour drive for me but it was well worth it for an 05 with that low of miles. The reason it was so low is they were afraid they wouldn't be able to sell it before it started snowing in NH, which can get pretty bad I guess. I think they realized after they held the car for me they listed it too low because a few parties came in, some with cash to get it.

 

I'm sure you're checking autotrader. Tampa sometimes seems to have some for a good deal. I wanted to get one a few years ago but I love not having payments. When you get yours, let me test drive it.

 

lol, will do, yea for some reason i keep finding them in tampa, scared of the 4 hour drive for nothing..... but yea, im checking autotrader, carmax, ebay, craigslist, and ls1gto.com, at the gto forum they have some pretty sweet ones, i saw a twin turbo'd one going for 30, it was instataneous death for me had i picked that up, something like 700 horses i think.....

 

I had an 05 for about two years. It was a manual and when I moved to the boonies, I had a 100 mile daily drive and gas was killing me. It wasn't too bad but not great either. I really miss that car!!! No complaints.