The 2005 GTO and GXP go head to head against the BMW 330i, Mustang GT and Infiniti G35 in independent testing.

SPEED, July 1, 10:30 pm eastern

 

That actually just aired sometime in the last few days - I noticed my cable DVR recorded it (I have keywords "Mustang" and "GTO" set up) and I watched it last night. The '05 GTO beat the '05 Mustang GT in every category (as one would expect, given the GTO has a 100hp and 80 lb-ft torque advantage over the Mustang), but it didn't beat the Mustang by much in any category. Interesting thing I noted was that their 0-60 times were a full second slower in each car than the car magazines' test times. (Over 6 seconds for each car in this Speed Channel test.) It was obviously produced and paid for by Pontiac as a 30 minute advertisement for the GTO. They actually had a couple of nice things to say about the Mustang, however. (I'm sure they would have said more if Ford had produced and paid for the show.)

The GTO is actually quite a performer - was neat to see Rhys Millen drifting it at full throttle! This show confirms that the best thing about driving a GTO is that it doesn't look like a Cavalier from that vantage point.

 

100 hp, 80 lb-ft, and a Pontiac-paid test, and all they could manage was a slight advantage in the GTO which, by the way, has an MSRP $8000 higher than the Mustang. Nice try Pontiac, but it's still a failure.

 

For what it is,the GTO is a nice car.I checked one out the other day,just to see what they were going for with GM employee pricing.Great engine although,for 100hp more ,its just a tad faster.I think my GT handles better.And, I think the GTO is not visually exciting.I love the way my stang looks.Plus the shaker 1000 is so cool to listen to.

 

Hahah....reminds me of friends setting me up on blind dates "..but she has a great personality!"



Jay

 

Pontiac would have been more successful with that car if they had NOT named it a GTO.

 

I second that. People think GTO and see heritage. There's nothing to compare this GTO and the GTO of old. Both the Corvette and the Camaro/Firebird have always carried some trait over from vehicle to vehicle. GM just rebadged a car and I guess hoped for the best.

 

This just in...

2005 Pontiac GTO, at $32.5K, runs the 1/4 mile in 13.5 seconds, and looks like a rabid goat doing it.

2005 Ford Mustang GT plus a super charger and a few other mods, also at $32.5K, runs the 1/4 mile in 11.5 seconds.

Edit: I guess that answers the Mustang vs. GTO debate.

 

It just goes to prove GM doesn't have a clue. Remember the late 60's Le Mans (I do...we raised Holy Hades in my friends). Remember the mid-70's "J" block Grand Prix ?? My dad freaking loved his. Even thru the late 70's and Early 80's Pontiac could still hold it's head high with what they could produce (Sunbird V6 was a SLEEPER). The first Trans Am's were 10 times better than the Camaro's. The last car I would have even considered was the Bonneville SSEI (and it was overpriced)...Now...they have nothing....The GTO can only claim it's engine as having anything sexy. The car (interior and exterior) shows no flash and a commitment to being bland.
Too bad they killed the retro-camaro...I was really looking forward to the Pontiac version..

Jay

 

My father-in-law had a '79 Pontiac Trans Am with the t-tops and the phoenix on the hood. I had a lot of fun in that car. But I agree that now Pontiac has nothing that I would ever consider.

 

AGREED... it doesn't resemble a GTO in any way IMO :scratch:

 

I was actually parked in a lot today with my Mustang right next to a GTO. The guy driving the GTO was so old, he could barely get out of it. Not quite sure if this is the typical age of the GTO buyer, but if it is, the ones they DID manage to sell won't be owned for very long.

 

They should have either kept the Holden name, Monaro, or made up some other name besides GTO. It really may have sold well, if they didn't target the muscle car industry, and then just disappoint them with the looks. Oh well!

-Andy

 

Same mistake Chrysler's making w/ the Charger.

The muscle car era is a period of auto making that people are still passionate about. I think it's insulting to the namplate what GM and Chrysler have done to the GTO and Charger.

 

The charger will fair much better than the goat (can we call it a goat?) IMO.

Automakers are faced with the dilema of alienating their customer base.
It is a large risk introducing a new line. Especially one that goes retro.

Ford is fortunate to have hit a home run.

GM seems to be stuck in the mode of lets produce a performance car that we'll over engineer and have to charge Joe puplic bookoo dollars for it.

Ford says lets re-introduce an American icon that truly performs, that people want, and that they can afford.

If GM were to ask the car buyer what they wanted, they may just come up with something that people would buy. Simple concept. If they are going to survive, they need to stop force feeding products down peoples throats that they don't want.
We pay what they pay now, so now we should go out and buy a GM product?

I would love to see a retro Camaro, Charger. GTO, or even a Duster. How 'bout a 'Cuda?

There is nothing like '60's, '70's pure American styling and muscle.

 

If they had brought the GTO back as the LeMans, it would have been better.

As I've said before, I wasn't that interested in the car until I drove it. Then I was hooked, but the styling is bland.

I have a bunch of articles that I have saved from when they first started talking about bringing the GTO back, some of them from Australian newspapers supplied from some folks down under. In one of them it talks about re-creating the magic of the original 64 GTO, a basic sedan with a powerful motor and subdued styling. Thats why the 2004 GTO had basic styling. Obviously they underestimated. Most people don't remember that car, instead remembering the 65-67 and 68-71 body styles.

 

Hey now, we should not be hating on the GTO. It's really not in the same segment as the Mustang. It's more of a "luxury sport coupe" than an "affordable GT" type car. The interior materials and a lot of other aspects of the car are nicer than the current GT, and 100hp is certainly nothing to sneeze at. I think the G35 is a more direct comparison though.

A agree it's not really a good successor to the original GTO, but that's more sheetmetal than anything else, the drivetrain and mechanicals are solid muscle car.

I still like the GT I ordered better, but any comptetition in the V8 market is good for us.

 

The GTO, while perhaps not the most exciting or au currant design -- but then, neither was the original back in '64 -- is a nicely balanced and executed design, if in a more mid-'90's vein rather than mid-'00's. But hey, it worth noting that its well worth having a modern GTO to kick around at all rather than the Grand Prix as Pontiac's performance torch bearer. Makes for a great Q-ship though for those who don't insist on some screaming loud design to get Johny Laws unwanted affections.

As for heritage, the neo GTO does hew rather closely to the original. The GTO, as the name suggests, was originally meant to be more of a grown-up gentleman's performance sedan/coupe with at least some emphasis on taste and refinement, aesthetically (pre Judge days mind you), and with a decent handling and touring capability, dynamically. The orginal GTOs were, for a number of years, actually quite restrained -- outright plain in the case of the '64 -- in their styling and comportment, much as is the current rendition. Pontiac made a choice to, rather than going retro in any particular styling elements ala the Mustang, to create a GTO that retained the original's character -- refined big motor coupe -- as if it had never been discontinued and had been allowed to evolve naturally all those years. And in reality, Pontiac was pretty limited by the fact that the GTO/Monaro is an already existing car.

It was only later that the GTO started becoming almost rather goofy caricatures of itself and the musclecar image, what with the aforementioned GTO Judge, which, IMHO, really started becoming just a clown show at that point. But, for better or worse, it is these over-the-top GTO image that has become lodged in the public mind.

Perhaps they should have just called it the Le Mans, but a rose by any other name ...

 

I agree. However, there is a good reason why the over-the-top GTO image has become lodged in the public mind - it was truly an animal inside and out. The new GTO is an animal inside, but a ... I don't know the right word for the outside. Not nocking the new GTO, I do appreciate the efforts, but IMO the GTO is definiately not the right badge for the car.

 

With the GM employee discount being offered to everyone this month, the GTO is priced right with my 06 Mustang. Awful tempting.... 400HP for the same price. I'd jump ship if only the GTO wasn't so bland, and the Mustang didn't look so good!