Pontiac G8 American Sport Sedan

Pontiac's fortunes have been eclipsed over the past several decades by Chevrolet, as GM continues to pour new models and money into its best selling brand. As GM's performance division, Pontiac has keenly felt the neglect, and has been steadily losing sales as buyers shop elsewhere.

Fortunately, Pontiac's role in General Motors is beginning to change and they're getting some outside help in doing it. No, I'm not talking about the Toyota-derived Vibe, rather the Holden-derived Pontiac G8, a full sized premium sport sedan, the new flagship of the performance brand.

Tapping Holden for the G8 makes perfect sense, as the car is already built and sold in Australia as the Commodore. A thoroughly capable full sized sedan in its own right, building the G8 for the American market has been a boon for Holden as the company is able to fully utilize capacity in building the G8 alongside of the Commodore. Previously, Holden built the Pontiac GTO for the American brand, the first time the two GM divisions have collaborated on a design.

The Pontiac G8 is a welcome shot in the arm for Pontiac, a thoroughly capable rear wheel drive sedan. Powered by a 3.6L V6, or 6.0L and 6.2L V8s, the fully packaged G8 offers a good mix of performance and premium appointments, the same sort of package that many Chrysler 300 buyers are seeking and, if I dare say, what some BMW 5 series drivers expect. Indeed, comparisons between the G8 and the 5 Series have been frequently made, particularly in the areas of speed and handling.

The G8 offers a long list of standard interior accouterments including:

Highly bolstered two-tone sport seats with color-coordinated gauge cluster and GXP embroidery Leather-trimmed steering wheel and gear shifter Power-adjustable front seats Fog lamps Alloy sport pedals A 230-watt Blaupunkt audio system XM Satellite Radio As far as safety and equipment goes, the G8 doesn't disappoint in this area either:

Four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and traction control Electronic stability control Seat-mounted thorax air bags and dual-stage frontal air bags for front passengers, with automatic passenger sensing system Roof rail side-impact air bags for both seating rows OnStar Of the G8 models available, the GXP is the the top performer and comes equipped with a 6.2L V8, a slightly tamer version of the Chevrolet Corvette engine. Offering explosive power and BMW like handling, the GXP produces more than 400 horses and 400 lb.-feet of torque and is mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.

Front suspension is controlled by multi-link MacPherson strut; direct-acting stabilizer bar; progressive-rate coil springs; fully adjustable camber, caster and toe; while rear suspension is four-link independent; progressive-rate coil springs over shocks; stabilizer bar; fully adjustable camber and toe. The brake system consists of four-wheel disc w/ ABS; ventilated front and rear rotors; quad-piston front calipers; single piston alloy rear calipers.

Clearly, the Pontiac G8 represents a strong, bold move for General Motors' performance division, a step that will likely help to bring additional fun-to-drive models Pontiac's way as customers notice and embrace the changes.

About the Author

Matt is an automotive columnist for a pair of regional print publications and is an online writer for several automotive sites including The Auto Writer and Auto Trends.