GTO – Car of the Day

The Lesser GTO?

garythepowers — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:49:31 +0000

In 2004 GM imported an Australian muscle car and sold it to the US as the Pontiac GTO. It was 40 years after the original GTO was first introduced to the world. The GTO may not have been the retro-mobile along the lines of the upcoming Camaro or the new Challenger, but it was true to the GTO formula. Take a small coupe, stuff the biggest engine in it and let the tires smoke!

The 2004 GTO was powered by the infamous LS1 and was putting out 350hp and 365lb-ft of torque. The 2004 received high marks for speed and comfort, but was much aligned for being a “Bland Am”. In 2005 and 2006 the GTO was updated with 50 more horsepower and 35lb-ft of torque. The newer GTOs also got a little more physical appearance improvements with some hood scoops and split dual exhaust.

In the GTO community what really separates the 2004 vs the 2005/6 GTOs is simply the engine. Under the plain hood of the 2004 pumps the 350hp LS1 and beneath the hood scoops of the newer models is the 400hp LS2.

Both versions of the GTO enjoy a large aftermarket of go-fast goodies and tuning opportunities for the GTO driver who wants to go faster. An interesting tidbit about the LS1 is that given the same mods it tends to respond with more horsepower.

SLP makes a “421HP Bobcat” package for the 2004 GTO that gives the LS1 a 71hp boost for $3405. SLP makes an identical Performance Pac for the 2005/6 GTO called the “455HP Bobcat” sold for $3868. That gives the 2005/6 GTOs merely a 55hp gain.

If you study those numbers you wil realize that LS1 produces 16 more hp for 463 less dollars. Of course if an ’04 GTO owner and an ’06 GTO owner were to both purchase the same Performance Pacs the ’06 GTO would still have 34 more horsepower.

All these factors have made the 2005/6 GTOs slightly more desirable than the 2004 GTOs. For the thinking muscle car fan, a good case can be made for the rarer slightly less powerful 2004 GTO. However, a slightly less powerful 2004 GTO is just a few mods away from being faster than a stock LS2 GTO.

Oh and you should have some money left over for mods because the 2004 GTOs are being sold less than $15k.

So is it the 2004 the “Lesser GTO”? Well it has less horsepower, less appearance modifications, mods cost less and the selling price is less. So yes the LS1 GTO is the lesser GTO, but sometimes less is more.

GTO 0-60 in 4.1 Seconds!

garythepowers — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:28:07 +0000

This October 23rd was another trip to the strip for the GTO. The location for tonight’s racing was the Texas Raceway in Kennedale and is billed as “the FASTEST little racetrack in Texas“.

It was a cool autum evening with temperatures dipping into the 50s at race time. Thursday nights at the Texas Raceway are their “Street Legal” race nights. You get to see all the street racers come out and compete. The racers vary from, I kid you not, a 1998 Chrysler Grand Caravan to Ford Super Duty Diesels and all the regular cars one would expect like Mustangs, Civics, Camaros, Firebirds, Lightnings, SRT-4 and myriad cast of others.

So what is the measure of speed for a car? is it the 1/4 mile or 0-60 times? The 1/8th mile doesn’t get a lot of consideration in this argument, but with a decent racing simulator you can calculate your 0-60 and 1/4 mile times from an 1/8 mile run.

Tonight the GTO hit a new personal fastest time of 8.22 in the 1/8th mile, that would be good enough for a 12.6 in the 1/4 mile and a trip to 60mph in 4.1 seconds.

The measure of speed in a lot of cars is very simply a stop light drag. A street light drag can be legally performed at your local 1/8 mile strip. Most street cars will cross the finish line at a short track going only 70-90mph. It is very similar to going from a dead stop to highway speeds.

So once again the GTO proves itself as a very fast street car. My GTO is slight modded with 160 degree thermostat, a dyno tune, CAI and drag radials.

GT500KR vs GTO

garythepowers — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:00:16 +0000

For those of you who don’t know the GT500KR is a Carroll Shelby version of the GT500. The GT500KR is a Mustang GT with 540hp coming from its supercharged 5.4 liter V8 engine. Each GT500KR starts its life off as a simple GT500 and then is sent to Las Vegas to Carroll Shelby’s speed shop and is converted into a KR. KR stands for King of the Road. The price tag on a GT500KR is nearly $80,000. There is only plans for 1571 of this cars to built in the US for next 2 years.

Tonight I raced number 250 in my GTO and won and then I promptly lost the next race. While my 2006 GTO is fast, it is really out of its league with the GT500KR. The only reason I got a win was because this was a new GT500KR with a driver trying to figure out how to put an estimated 511rwhp to the ground. Apparently the GT500KRs are a bit underrated. By the end of the night he was running almost half a second faster than me and trapping nearly 10mph faster than my lowly GTO. The GT500KR is really in a whole different league than my GTO. The only reason I got a win was because it was one of his first runs down the track.

It was great to see such a rare car running at the track. I may never see another out there. Most people aren’t buying their GT500KRs to run at the track. This car was trailered in and still had the window stickers on it and factory plastic over the seats and parts of the dash.

The owner admitted that a person would be better off buying a GT500 for only $46,000 and then adding the bits that make the GT500KR a better car. However just adding the bits that make a KR the King of the Road wouldn’t create another GT500KR. A KR is a rare special car touched by the engineers at Carroll Shelby’s speed shop and when you get that car you get a piece of automotive history.

The GT500KR is also the car that is used as the basis for the new Knight Rider TV show. It is the modern K.I.T.T.

Keep an eye out for the all the Shelby GT Mustangs. There is a Shelby GT350 and GT350-H which are 4.6 liter V8 powered Mustangs with performance more like the slighty quicker Mustang GT. However, if you see any GT500s, remember that those cars are powered by the same engine as the Ford GT supercar.

What happens when you sell a GTO?

garythepowers — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:19:54 +0000

This summer I purchased my GTO from a fellow automotive enthusiast. For the sake of this article we will call this guy “Ronny”. The fact that Ronny had a 2006 GTO 6-speed told me a lot about him as a car buyer. People don’t buy 400hp Pontiacs on accident. Guys don’t drive down to their local Pontiac and say “You got any more of them Aztecs or maybe a Grand Am I can take off your hands?” and then end up with a 4 seater Corvette. (especially the manual transmission version) You show at dealership on mission to get a vehicle that assisting in hitting “extra” legal speeds very quickly and often.

So this Pontiac GTO didn’t end up in Ronny’s garage by accident. He wanted power. He wanted comfort. He wanted sport. And being a family man, he needed more than 2 seats. The GTO fit the bill perfectly. And for 2 years he enjoyed his 6 liters of V8 fun. Recent back pains that were exacerbated by the manual transmission forced Ronny to sell his high horsepower funmobile and that’s where I came in.

When I test drove Ronny’s car it was the 4th time I had driven a GTO and his car was in great condition. The day I picked up the GTO seemed like a bittersweet sweet day at Ronny’s house. He was glad to have this large transaction behind him but a little sad to see the GTO leave. Several times he commented that if this car had been an automatic he wouldn’t be selling it. The funny thing is, if it had been an automatic, I wouldn’t have been buying it.

So with an open spot in his garage, the family man and horsepower freak goes on the quest for the ultimate vehicle that can satisfy his fatherly duties and his need for speed. Ronny had identified that vehicle as the Mercedes E63 AMG Wagon. Let’s just run a quick comparison of the E63 vs the GTO. The Merc has a bigger engine — 6.2 liter vs 6.0 liter, more horsepower — 507hp vs 400hp, and more torque — 465 lbft vs 400 lbft, compared to a stock GTO.

Today I’d like that think that the GTO is a fond memory in Ronny’s mind and that he totally satisfied in his screaming V8 Mercedes. A station wagon that can beat a stock GTO down the drag strip. Can it beat his former GTO? Well, Ronny has asked to be invited out the next track night so he can find out.

Stay tuned for upcoming track results in the near future.

0-60 in 4.3 Seconds

garythepowers — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:26:37 +0000

0-60 times are used all over the automotive media as a benchmark for measuring a car’s performance. The magazines will publish varying times for each cars. This leads to the wildly inaccurate sport of bench racing.

There are numbers that the magazines publish and then there are the numbers that cars and normal drivers can actually run.

This week I took my GTO to the drag strip and I ran a run that equates to a 0-60 time of 4.3 seconds. I hit a 8.3 in the 1/8th mile that would equal a 12.9 in the quarter mile. The best time I’ve seen published from the car magazines is a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds.

The trick with the 0-60 numbers that are published by car magazines is that they are often performed by experienced drivers that are used to squeezing the best time out of any car. And of course thae automotive manufacturer wants the fastest times possible listed in the magazines.

However, what happens is people end up with cars that are a lot faster than they think. Cars that can really only achieve their amazing 0-60 times with highly dangerous and potentially damaging runs that need a professional driver to pull it off. This is ends up with people with false ideas of how fast their car is and ends up with people who may be a little over confident in how fast their car actually is.

A few years ago I raced a guy with a 2002 M3. The day he bought he car he proudly proclaimed that his car could hit 0-60 in 4.8 seconds. I then asked him “but can you hit 60mph in 4.8 seconds?” We lined up and I raced him in my 1998 Jeep. A 1998 Jeep really has no chance of running with an M3, but my Jeep had a little work done and could hit 60mph in about 5 and a half seconds. Long story short, the M3 wasn’t able to pass the Jeep until the Jeep was traveling over 70 miles an hour. (And when I say the M3 passed the Jeep, it isn’t accurate, the M3 flew past the Jeep, the M3 had to be going nearly 90 at that point)

Anyway, if you want to find out how fast your car is, how fast it really is, get to a track or get a good accelerometer.

As for Blue Lightning, it only needs 4.3 seconds to hit 60.

GTO VS the Automotive Press

garythepowers — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:35:46 +0000

The Car of the Day is driven by my obsession of cars. My obsession of cars is fueled by every time I get in my car. While on the road I have time to focus on the other cars around me and cars I’d like to be driving.

Since I’ve been driving the GTO it has hurt my daily obsession with cars. I still spend time thinking about cars, but I now spend time thinking about the GTO and how great it is.

The GTO is a blast to drive. I love the LS2 engine and its 400hp. I think about how nice the interior is from the leather wrapped steering wheel and gear shifter to the alcantara inserts on the door panels. It has a very cool A/C that works even in the heat of a Texas summer.

The greatness of the GTO has me thinking about car reviews and the automotive press in general. When the GTO came out it didn’t receive a lot of great press. There are a lot of cars that do things better than the GTO. The GTO isn’t as fast as a Corvette, it doesn’t handle like a M3 and doesn’t look like the new Challenger. Car reviews are all about comparisons and it is difficult to find any review that doesn’t make at least one comparison, directly or in passing to competing vehicle.

All this comparing dilutes the actual virtues of the actual vehicle. The GTO never won a comparison test it was in. I think it came in last in every comparison. It was compared to a Dodge Charger SRT-8, a Cadillac CTS-V, Ford Mustang GT and even the Mercedes SL500. The GTO did very well in all the performance comparisons but was never able to take the top spot. The only place the GTO won was with the individuals who purchased the GTO.

The point of this little rant is to simply say, don’t take someone else’s opinion of a car. Check out the car for yourself. Don’t dismiss a car because it loses a comparison, just take it for someone else’s thoughts. That writer may well have different views on what a perfect car is or may be sponsored by a certain manufacturer. Or the author may be jaded from years of reviewing high end cars.

So take a test drive, go to an auto show or a simple car get together and check out the car in real life.

Cars Night Out

garythepowers — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 02:52:33 +0000

This past Wednesday Evening my GTO and I partook in a GTO get together that then moved to a local auto meet up all kinds of car enthusiasts. The GTOs actually had the best showing of a single model.

It was a blast meeting other GTO owners and seeing what they are doing with their vehicles on the road to customization. One guy was a week away from his supercharger install another fellow already had his supercharger, albeit it was in his trunk. It was actually some surplus hardware he picked up from a customer.

We got to meet all kinds of car fans, SRT4 guys to Mustang guys, there was a turbo charged NSX and brand new STI.

Next week the GTO attendance at the car meet up may be down due to the fact that several of the guys are going to join me and some friends at work at the drag strip in Denton. So come out for a little test and tune at the Denton drag strip if you are in the area. All cars are welcome and you can run as much as you want. It should be fun times.

The Wind in your Hair

garythepowers — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:14:26 +0000

There’s that “wind in the hair feeling” that people say they have when they are enjoying their car or motorcycle. I’ve been enjoying that feeling with my new GTO. I don’t think that feeling has anything to do with wind or hair. It is about everything in life lining up and making sense. It is about a time that everything seems right with the world.

It reminds me of the days of driving my first car that I had a hand in selecting. It was a 1979 BMW 320i with a fresh paint job and a few mechanical mods to make it a little quicker than stock. And the 320i needed all the help it can get to get additional power. It was only rated for 110hp and 157lb ft from the factory, but it was still fun to drive with the famous BMW suspension and a 4 speed manual transmission.

Whenever I would wash my 320i I pop out the rear vent windows roll the windows down and cruise over to pick up my girlfriend. All was right the world. Will Smith did a good job of capturing this feeling in his song “Summertime”.

Now I have another car that bring that feeling with simple 2^nd gear scratch brought forth from the LS2 V8 overpowering the rear tires.

Get a car you love. Get a car that is fun to drive to you. Get a car that makes every trip a chance to get that magical “wind in your hair feeling”. How you define fun to drive is up to you and there are plenty of cars to match whatever your definition of fun to drive is, whether it is style over performance or fun to drive in the twisties or high mpgs or ultimate power. Figure what is fun to you and starting enjoying your ride every time you get to drive it.

The GTO is THE Car of the Day

garythepowers — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:31:56 +0000

The GTO is the car of the day and will continue to be the COTD for some time since I now have one my garage.

After years of following the Pontiac GTO and its rebirth with the 350hp LS1 to the next year with 400hp LS2 and the subsequent addition of the dual exhausts and hood scoops. I was at GM’s Auto-Show-In-Motion and drove the 2004 GTO. 4 years ago I remember being impressed with the GTO’s interior treatments. Everything I touched a feeling of quality that belied it’s Pontiac badge. There was a Blaupunkt stereo staring at me from the cockpit. Blaupunkt was the same company that was supplying stereos to BMW in years past. It was a big surprise to see the German stereo in an American car.

A couple of years ago Jeremy Clarkson did a special where he came to America looking for a good car. He only found two cars worth praising one was the Ford GT, the other was the Chevrolet Corvette. The Corvette has a long history of being the American automotive benchmark of performance and power. Sometimes the Corvette engine finds its way into other GM vehicles. The GTO was blessed with the same LS2 engine that powers the Corvette.

There is definitely something to be said about 400hp, it makes for an extremely quick vehicle. Are there cars faster than the GTO? Sure. Is the car next to you faster than the GTO? Probably not. The list of cars that can actually outrun GTO is a short and exclusive list of the most powerful cars on the planet. Cars in the same price bracket that can outrun the GTO are nearly non-existent.

The short drives I did tonight gave me a taste of how ridiculous 400hp is on the street. The GTO already comes with too much power to easily put down on the pavement, which may be one of the first places I look. Some drag bags and stickier tires may just be the ticket. That plus a couple of simple mods seem like a nice place to start.

A big thanks to the previous owner taking car of the GTO, for putting the car up for sale and being cool to deal with. He even gave me recommendation on the best sticky tire for the GTO. You should see the car he is looking at replacing his GTO with….but that’s another article.

You can read a little bit of Laura’s point of view on the GTO on Laura’s Blog.

The Holden Monaro

garythepowers — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:16:20 +0000

The Pontiac GTO actually didn’t start its life as an American car. It is an import from Australia. The Holden Monaro is how the car is known “Down Under”. The Holden Monaro is built under the GM corporate umbrella. When GM was looking to bring a rear wheel drive coupe to the American market Bob Lutz found the Holden Monaro to be the right car for America. The car was re-badged as a Pontiac and the GTO was reborn.

The Monaro presents an intriguing option for the American GTO owner and that is a full on Monaro conversion to create a truly unique and special car. I’m very interested in driving an unusual car that people don’t recognize. And if people don’t recognize your car, then that can turn a 400hp GTO into a real sleeper.

To be honest I’ve never been much of a fan of exterior mods to a car that are simply for “show” and add no “go” to the vehicle. However, if those exterior mods can convert to the car to an extremely rare Australian import, that is a completely different prospect. The ability to take a mildly rare 400hp coupe to a true one of kind makes the GTO/Monaro a unique car. I’m looking forward to the performance and exterior mod options that the GTO presents.