Pontiac Builds Excitement?

Ehh, not so much.  Until the late 50’s, Pontiac was little more than a conservative, boring, upscale version of Chevrolet.  With Bunkie Knudsen, Jim Wangers, and John DeLorean, Pontiac truly did build excitement.  The GTO in 1964, the Firebird in 1967, the 1969 Grand Prix, the Trans Am throughout the 70s (especially with the Screaming Chicken hood bird), the TPI Formula and Trans Am from ’87-92 (and the 1989 20^th Anniversary Trans Am with the turbo Buick 3.8L V6), the LT1 and LS1 Formula and Trans Am, the ’04-06 GTO, and finally the supercharged Grand Prix and Bonneville SSEi.  These were all bad-ass cars.  They really were exciting, far more so than Chevrolet as an aggregate, which has to be all things to all people and is thus nothing to anyone.  Sure they have the Corvette, but the Camaro has always paled compared to its flashier and more interesting Pontiac cousin.

Now what do we have?  The Firebird was killed in 2002.  The GTO was let go after the 2006 model year.  The Solstice doesn’t come with a V8.  There are no plans for a ’09-10 Firebird (despite the Camaro’s return) or a new GTO.  And let’s look at the 2008 model year lineup.

G5.  Coupe and GT version.  Looks like this is the Sunbird >> Sunfire, given the new numerical name (like BMWs and like the idiotic 1000/6000 deal during the 80s).  Even allowing for being the same car, “G5” doesn’t hit me in the nuts like Sunfire does, not that that name is really all that great either (but it does beat Sunbird).

G6.  Coupe, sedan, and convertible.  This is the Grand Am, which has always been a boring car, made even duller by reducing it to a number.  Is a Grand Am convertible really so special?  I don’t think so.

G8.  Formerly the Bonneville – which evokes the image of the high-speed salt flats in Utah – and now just vague number, and now the flagship since the GTO was abandoned after the 2006 model year.  The GT model has the 6.0L V8 putting out 361 HP.  Nice power and balls, but still not as exciting as the Solstice.

Grand Prix.  Not quite 1969 with a 428, but OK.  The sedan gets the 200 HP 3.8L V6 which was the base Firebird engine.  The GXP gets a 303 HP 5.3L V8.  I do like the styling of this one, particularly the GXP.

Torrent.  SUV-type POS.  Who in his or her right mind would buy a Pontiac SUV?  That just boggles the mind.  Why not let GMC make a Solstice variant – a “professional grade” heavy duty work roadster?  Come on.   I guess the idea was that they needed a Montana replacement but felt an SUV was better than a minivan.  But I’m as hardcore a Pontiac loyalist as anyone else, but if a gun was put to my head and I had to buy a minivan or SUV, I can’t see myself justifying a Torrent purchase out of mere loyalty to Pontiac.

Vibe.  Aka the Toyota Matrix.  A station wagon that thinks it’s cool.  No, it’s a station wagon.  I suppose we should be grateful it’s not the Aztek, but that doesn’t say much.  Maybe they thought they’d let the Scion Xb take the prize for ugliest car on the planet.  Advice: UGLY is not a substitute for EXCITING.

Solstice.  The GXP version has a turbo, knocking the I4 up to 260 HP.  Not bad, but according to anyone who’s tried, a V8 slips into a Solstice with no problem.  So why isn’t it offered from the factory with a V8?  One word: CORVETTE.  DeLorean tried to do this back in the 60s, and GM slammed him down and made him adapt the Camaro, which became the Firebird.  DeLorean later admitted that GM was right.  But now, we have no more GTO and no plans to make a Firebird, so giving the Solstice a V8 makes sense.  Come on: Corvette enthusiasts are always going to buy Corvettes; and the market for a V8 Solstice is there, doing so would help Pontiac without hurting Chevrolet.

Next year?  An El Camino variant of the G8 (the “sport truck”); the G8 GXP (essentially the GTO engine dropped into an equally lamely styled G8); and the Solstice Coupe, which gets a targa top, which actually makes sense and looks better than the Solstice convertible with the top up.  Unfortunately the coupe still doesn’t get a V8, and GM claims no plans for a Firebird or GTO for 2009-2010.

Can Am and Jim Wangers.  The August 2008 issue of High Performance Pontiac has an article on the Can Am, which was a 1977-only version of the Le Mans, with two doors, white with red/orange stripes, the Trans Am Shaker Hood, and the Trans Am Pontiac 400 cubic inch 200 horsepower V8 (6.6L) (except for California and high altitude, which got the Oldsmobile 403).  It was a terrific and popular car at a time when performance was almost completely forgotten.  Jim Wangers, frequently associated with the GTO, was also involved in its development, and was even interviewed for the Can Am article.  When asked if Pontiac would make something like that today, his response (echoing my own sentiment): “…You have to understand Pontiac’s marketing philosophy today….As you know you, the way it’s thinking over there now, it doesn’t want anything to do with the heritage of the Wide Track era of the 60s.  There’s no Bonneville, no Grand Prix, no LeMans, no GTO, no Firebird, no Trans Am.  It wants to distance themselves from those wonderful ‘Glory Days.’”