Airwolf

My friend is in the market for a new vehicle and i'm desprately trying to sell him on a domestic. I'm not one of the people that pick sides between Ford or GM, to me the profits go back to the US and that is what counts.

We have a used '04 GTO on the lot that is selling for the price of a new V6 Mustang. I used to own a Pontiac Grand Am, and it had its share of problems, the interior was not so great, but it was an American car and for that reason i loved it, eventually traded it for what i have now which is an '06 V6 Mustang. (Choosing the Mustang over a different used GTO we had.)

First Impressions on the GTO, firstly the seats are far superior to the Mustang, extremely comfortable, interior is refined, very clean, smooth and quiet, handling the car is a very effortless experience and it drives great. I may not be the best to compare the GTO to the Mustang as i have never had the pleasure of driving a GT Mustang, only my V6. The 04 GTO with the LS1 has a 4-Speed automatic transmission which seems to shift pretty hard at high RPM's, but that is expected. It's 350 Horsepower and 365 ft.lb. of torque blew me away. Without much effort at all the car screamed down the road, even with 3 people in it, V8 roaring under the hood.

Suffice to say i'm in love with the car, all but one thing which is the very bland exterior styling, the very reason i bought a V6 Mustang over the GTO, (Also lack of warranty on the GTO) paying equal price for the car and more insurance on the V6 Mustang (I have no clue why a GTO costs less to insure with 150 more HP over mine...) This might have been a stupid move and i still question it, but my goal now is to get my friend to move over to the side of the domestic Muscle car, and i think the GTO is the perfect starting car for him. I've done a bit of reading on it and it seems to be a reliable, well built vehicle, my personal impressions on the car give it an A+ rating.

Obviously there is one thing i am worried about, that when/if he does in fact acquire the GTO, it will leave my future car in the dust. I'm not one to race, in fact, i have never raced, its merely the principle of the matter.
I plan to trade the V6 in for a '08 Bullitt when it is released, and keep that car for quite a long time.

The question is will the '08 GT be on equal footing, or on better footing with a car that has 50 more horsepower? Advertised Ford Racing performance packages say the vehicle can be upgraded to 325hp. Still below the GTO. Supercharging is not something i want to do due to the annoying whine of the supercharger. There have been rumors that the Bullitt might have a 5.0, might have performance upgrades, but i'm not going to believe anything yet.

Honestly i'm looking for an unbiased opinion, one on one, which car is the superior vehicle in terms of performance. The LS1 Pontiac V8, or the 4.6L Ford V8.

05GT-O.C.D.

The GTO is a better performing car, but not much. You can make up for the difference with a few mods and it will be a drivers race. If memory serves, the Goat is a boat and the extra weight anchors it down.

theedge67

I raced my friend's 04 GTO about a year ago and it was pretty much a dead heat up to 100mph. I got a jump on him at first because his car walked sideways on launch, and mine just went straight. He caught up, but was losing time every shift (he had a 6sp. manual and had to shift into 4th to make it to 100, I only had to top out 3rd, thus making him shift 1 more time than me) When we let off it was for all practical purposes a draw, we were within a few feet of each other, both bone stock cars.

The GTO is heavier, 37XX lbs I think vs. 34XX lbs for the GT. His complaints are the brakes are crap (he has since upgraded them) as they are actually smaller than the GT's in a heavier car. Also his suspension is giving him problems with his camber being off. He says it is a known problem since the car rode over here from Australia on a boat and was strapped down VERY tightly for 3 months and hurt some bushings or something. Also he hated the skip shift feature. It makes it impossible to shift 1-2-3-4-5-6 when normal driving. The computer MAKES him shift 1-3-5 if he is not giving it much gas, supposedly so the car can get better mpg. Total crap design if you ask me.

theedge67

Also if you look at 0-60, 1/4 mile, skidpad results on the two vehicles, they are very similar, and it would definitely be a drivers race.

05GT-O.C.D.

I've never heard of that before. That's aweful. I guess I was wrong - I thought the reason GM couldn't sell any GTO's is because the car is butt ugly, apparantly there's a second reason... what a stupid shift idea.

Airwolf

The one we have is a 4-Speed auto, so no shifting involved here. My V6 is a stick, and i'll probably be sticking with a manual when i upgrade to the GT.

theedge67

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. I actually think it makes you skip from 1-4 if I remember right. If you give it a little gas it will let you shift normally. If you're just putzing around town, it shows a little picture in the digital display that shows the shift pattern, with a highlighted line from 1-4 I think. If you try and just go to 2nd or 3rd, the shifter will not go. It's a huge jump, I've driven it a few times. You go to 4th and it feels like it about dies, pops the rpms down to like 800.
It actually ends up making the gas mileage worse because it forces you to drive more aggresively to avoid the skip shift. GM engineering at it's finest!!

burningman

The GTO is actually a great car.. Pontiac screwed up the styling with the new nose and tail. not to mention all the little crap they did to make it legal here (computer) If they had kept the HSV GTO front and rear I'd be all over it. But you can get the body parts to convert it back to it's former glory easily enough so no biggy there.

I would only get a manual of one though. I can't stand slush boxes

Lord Umoja

Ive got an 04 Mach 1, dyno'd at 292.5whp and 317.5 wtq. That comes to roughly 350hp at the crank (18% drive line loss, and my crappy math) and it is completely stock save for a Bassanni catted X-pipe, Bassanni Catback system, and a good professional tune. I am telling you this becuse I race my car on friday nights at the local drag track, and Ive raced the 6.0L GTOs, both manual and auto. They usually run 14.2s while my Mach runs 13.8s and I just got the car in june so Ill admit Im a poor driver when it comes to racing. The GTO is 300lbs heavier than the mach and has a very high rear gear ratio in the range of 3.15 if I remember correctly. Even though the 400horse 6.0L motor is in the GTO they still are still slow becuase of the 3.73 stock gears in the mach and the 300lb advantage. I think you'll be fine against the GTO in an '08 GT if you put on a free flowing exhaust and get a good tune. From my experience at the track, the GTO has a serious bark but no bite what so ever to back it up.

Evil_Capri

Just an FYI . . . Machs have 3.55 gears not 3.73.

bob

Seems to me IIRC, the 300hp GT vs. 350hp GTO is a very tight race, probably all comes down to the driver, However the 400hp GTO puts the smackdown on the GT.

jay_wx

I drove a Formula Firebird one time with the skip-shift - man that sucked big time. It was great when you got on it, but the rest of the time it was really lame and not much fun to drive.

FireFighterHill

The GTO is not purely american! Its a rebadged Australian Holden. They are ugly, and Ive handed one in my town his *** a few times.

Knight

I test drove a 04 GTO and did normal driving and i never had to skip shift. I never had the computer lock me out.

So reguardless if the car had that feature or not, it didn't do it when i was driving.

Another thing to think about is that the GTO requires premium gas and the Mustang GT only needs regular... thats a big yearly savings right there.

vistablue mustang

Did a google search for that one and this is what I came up with, IMO this would not have helped sell the car. I would still get the Stang reguardless.

theedge67

20,000 miles a year @ 21mpg, $.20 extra for premium fuel = $190 a year extra for gas. Not terrible, and not necessarily a deal breaker for me, although it sure hurts when you have to push that 93 button on the pump.

ScottyBoy302

Yes, the skip shift goes 1-4 if you try to shift into second beween about 2000-2500rpm. It's a bit annoying, but after driving it for a few hours its pretty simple. Even without changing driving habits I only get blocked out by mine maybe once a week.

And the skip-shift is not a reason the GTO doesn't sell. It can be overrode with a $30 skip shift eliminator plug/wire that you can buy from just about any place that has anything to do with GMs. The install is less than 5 min. As a matter of fact i'm going to pick one up this afternoon.

Burke0011

That is one fiiiine looking Grand Prix.....

StangPower05

Tell your friend to get the GT. A stock GT will walk a 04 GTO with 350hp. Ive seen it happen in videos and on the road!

SONICBOOST

I think the gto look's like a modified muscle chevy caviler with that nose and rear end