You might look at the G8 as a poor man’s C63 AMG. The poor man in this case would be a wise shopper. If I were writing a comparison test between the Pontiac and the Benz, considering the fact that the Pontiac costs $30,000 and the Benz about $24,000 more, the G8 would win. Performance-wise, it’s a fairly close second to the C63 AMG. That’s saying a lot.
It’s as if General Motors let the Corvette engineers work on the G8. Or maybe that Pontiac took a lesson from Chevrolet, and let the engineers do the car, not the bean counters. That’s been GM’s problem since longer than I can remember. It's not lack of talented engineers.
Let’s do this by a tale of the tape:
Pontiac G8
$30,000
great shape, looks hot
rumblin’ 6.0-liter, old-fashioned pushrod V8
361 horsepower, 385 pound-feet of torque
0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds
tight handling, comfortable ride
6-speed automatic transmission with obedient (!) manual mode
good bucket seats, handsome instrument panel and gauges
Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
$53,800
powerful looking with new aerodynamics and contours, but still basically a Mercedes sedan like old men drive
thundering 6.3-liter, hand-assembled, 32-valve aluminum V8
451 horsepower, 443 pound-feet of torque
0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds
impeccable handling, stiff ride
7-speed automatic paddle-shifting transmission, smooth and high-tech but no more fun than the 6-speed in the G8
incredible bucket seats, lame instrument panel and gauges beneath the character of the car
I was able to put more than 200 miles on the G8, driving over one of my favorite roads, from San Diego out to Borrego Springs, twisty and remote. Riding with me was Al Oppenheiser, chief engineer for the G8 platform, and I picked his brain for the review I'm writing for www.newcartestdrive.com.
There was never a moment when the car wasn’t a joy—and I don’t say that about many cars. I think 360 horsepower is a great level. When you get to 400, there’s too much power to have as much fun, because of the higher speed and risk when you hammer it. To my way of thinking, 360 is sporting, 400 is racing.
And I was wonderfully impressed with the transmission. In the intro to this Road Test Blog I mention that sometimes I rant. My #1 rant is against transmissions whose manual mode is more like automatic, because they don’t let the driver choose his or her own shift points. I’m insulted that they call these modes “manual.” What it means in many cars is: the geek engineer who electronically programmed this transmission will sometimes let you shift when you want to, but retains the right to shift your car whenever he wants to, or not allow you to shift when you want to, never mind that he can’t see out your windshield but still presumes to know more about what gear you need than you do, and sometimes he seems to know squat about smooth or high-performance driving.
But I’m taking the attention away from the G8. The six-speed automatic transmission is pure! Thank you, Pontiac—for listening, and for understanding driving.
Watch for my full review at www.newcartestdrive.com.
