http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/vehicleentry?vehicleid=100

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/vehicleentry?vehicleid=4

How can you trust a car that doesn’t even have clean door lines or a glove compartment that rattles visibly at idle. Oh, and thanks for the trick little air pump and goo in the trunk but a tire would be nice. But that was done to shave weight….um yea.

Great track or weekend car but for my daily drive I’m glad I went with the 09 Mazda 6. I can deal with getting to the next stoplight 1 second slower.

Did you observe any abrupt shifting in the sample you had? I drove a G8 GT over the weekend and it had a weird, REALLY aggressive 1-2 shift. Other up and downshifts occurred as expected, but it was weird.

Might’ve been a bad transmission, though.

I believe for 22k you can show up any car costing less than 60k. Please

Given the mpg difference between the V6 and V8 versions, I’d choose the V8. My (wife’s) driving habits get no benefit from the V6. A few daily 2 to 5 mile errands with a monthly 50 to 100 mile trip. Simply keeping the RPMs low will solve 90% of the consumption issue. Another several thousand dollars on a supercharger kit will even get me that extra 1mpg back if I really (really, really) want it.

I’m actually surprised people are so bothered by the mileage on this car. It’s not a Civic. It’s not even a Camry. It is a full size car. The Camry, Avalon, and Accord are cars for different purposes (not to mention at least 300 pounds lighter). The Ford Taurus offers slightly better V6 mileage. The G8 gets better mileage than the Magnum/Charger/300. Mileage is comparable to the WRX and Evo. Even the extra money spent on a 5-series gets you Dodge mileage. Either you have a vehicle preference or you choose the Camcord for the appliance factor or trade in protection. People harping on this can’t keep their foot out of it or don’t want anybody else to have the opportunity. Mileage simply isn’t an issue with the G8. Those hood scoops, however…

The Volvo V70R is a Q-Ship, as are cars like the old Forester XT and (front-drive) Impala SS.

Anything with hood scoops like those is not a Q-Ship. No way.

If was the first, why does sell by the bucket here and not in NA,if it was the second, you guys cant complain about the design as it is done by yourselves,or the third option.
What should have happened is that the car was marketed as a true import and not tried to be an “American car” with all the expectations and connotations of what that means. That would have eliminated the Chevy/Pontiac/Buick badge engineering issues and demographics. They could have been at all of the dealerships. It would have been a drawcard to the showroom and perhaps the dealers could have moved other metal as well.
That would allow the G8 ST to be sold at Chevy/GMC, G8 v6/v8 to sold at what ever Buick sell, the HSV G8 v8 to Pontiac (the excitment brand?) and possibly the Caprice alongside the Caddillac or what ever the upmarket dealer is at GM these days. That would have made sense, plus only one dealer would have to put up with that abortion of a hood/nose design. You could have had lots of different designs, easy to knock up out of China, and choose the best.

2008 Max. You are probably comparing 2009 Max to 2008 G8.

Max has a 290 HP 3.5L V6. I’d say that’s damn good power vs a 6.0L V8. I fail to see how it’s debatable, esp if you look at Nissan’s 330 HP 3.7L V6. A 6.0L putting out 360HP is unimpressive.

Fuel efficiency comparison is at the issue here, and as I have shown before, it is not significantly different. Given similar fuel cost, I would rather take larger displacement.

G8 produces 361 hp, 385 ft-lbs with 19.5 mpg.
Max produces 255 hp, 252 ft-lbs with 22.0 mpg.

That means a gain of just over 11% in fuel efficiency (and using premium) reduces horsepower by 29% and torque by 35% vs. its regular-fueled opponent. I fail to be impressed by Nissan’s supposedly superior technology. Even starker is this comparison when we look at the fuel cost difference. In that case, savings of 6.5% reduce horsepower by 29% and torque by 34%.”

Where are you getting your figures? Max has a 290 HP 3.5L V6. I’d say that’s damn good power vs a 6.0L V8. I fail to see how it’s debatable, esp if you look at Nissan’s 330 HP 3.7L V6. A 6.0L putting out 360HP is unimpressive. Are you impressed by a V12 that makes 400HP?

VQ is great, no matter how you look at it.

If you are an enthusiast, whether it be American Muscle, Honda high-revvers, or German Thunk, you need to go look over every inch of this car.

A few interior details worth mentioning:

-The doors are immaculately done in THICK, nicely stitched padded door pulls and arm-rests. Go scope out a similar 28-32k ride. G35, Legacy GT, Honda Accord, whatever. None have as nice of doors to grab onto or rest your arm on. It’s a detail you’ll touch everyday.

-Center mounted window switches are great and needed in more cars.

-The fit and finish of this car, especially around the window switches is somewhat poor. Granted, this car has some cool designs there such as the emergency brake integrated into a grab-handle-look-alike design, but the plastics have some gaps you’ll feel when running your hands over it.

-As Jonny mentioned, the glovebox is sub-par. I mean feels-like-its-going-to-break when you open it normally subpar. Whatever.

-The drivers door, with the window down, shuts with all the oiled precision of a Dodge Colt. It doesn’t sound good, and the door vibrates. Again, whatever. My 08 legacy GT does the same thing with the window down, and has a nice “Whump” shut with the window up.

-The rear seat is positively cavernous and the seats are very deep with plenty of thigh support. Damn nice.

-The rear seats don’t fold, and that’s usually a game-ender for me. However, as Michael Karesh mentioned above, the pass-through is gi-normous. Here’s my criteria: I need to be able to fit my road bike inside my trunk, without a front wheel. Most cars require fold-down rear seats for that to happen. I’m willing to bet the G8’s trunk is large enough for my bike to fit in. And the pass-through will allow me to probably fit about 6 sets of skis if I wanted (that’s how big it is).

-People who speak about horsepower per liter and volumetric efficiency really are missing the point (and I say that with my 2 vehicles putting out 100 hp/liter). This car has everyday power. In-gear power. As people have said, it has all kinds of torque at all sorts of engine speeds and yet it returns pretty solid mileage when driven sanely. At damn near 4000 pounds, that’s an impressive feat. It does this with a simple, time-honored engine design that will age well.

- If you are a Simpsons fan, chances are you’ve seen Milhouse without his glasses on. His eyes are pinpoints set very far apart. Now look at the rear of the G8. Any questions?

- I pray the GXP fixes the G8’s front end. The “Exciting Ugly” metaphor is perfect for it in it’s current state.

- This is not a BMW. It’s not meant to be a BMW. But the fact is, it’s the size of a 5-series with better driving dynamics. So it beats BMW in that regard, but it’s not trying to beat BMW in other areas.

If you love cars, scope this one out. It’s what many enthusiasts have been asking for from the general. A holy-s*&t real RWD 4-door family hauling done-right everyman’s muscle car.

Joe

You could find a Holden Commodore owner to swap.

“When Gordon Murray was designing the F1, the BMW V10…”

The F1 had a V12 not a V10. I’m not sure where you got the info regarding the GM back-up, but Murray naturally wanted to use a Honda engine given they were quite good at making race engines for Mclaren, but unfortunately the supply relationship was all but over by then and Honda declined the offer.

I think the V6 has the scoops too, and as of now, there is no delete option.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=124876