Ask the Best and Brightest: Pontiac G8 GT Now or Later?

If you’ve been following my travails on a new car, you already know that GM won’t extend my lease or sell me my Saab anywhere near a realistic market price. That ticked me off. So I was forced to seek out a new car. Looked at the BMW 328i Coupe and the Infiniti G37. Neither car was making my day. There are very few Bimmers with manuals (unless I wanted a stripped black sedan—price leaders for the dealers) and the Infiniti simply lacks soul.

Just for kicks, I test drove the Pontiac G8 GT. Wow . . . much better car than I expected in terms of driving dynamics. Not only is it powerful with its pushrod V8, but it has excellent road manners. It really does drive as well as a Bimmer 550i, but the interior is more on par with what we’ve come to expect from GM with chintzy plastics and less-than-quality switch gear. And it’s kind of “Guido” looking with the fake hood scoops. But for the money, well, screw it, I want one!

So should I buy a new Pontiac G8 GT now or wait until after the GM bankruptcy in two weeks? There are two major issues involved: 1) there’s only one G8 GT in the color and options I want in the entire region; and 2) there’s a great incentive of 0% financing for 60 months available (or a big rebate of $3K) now. If I wait two weeks . . . the car could be gone. On the other hand, it’s likely that the incentives will get even better as GM seeks to blow out cars from closed dealers and dead brands (like Pontiac, Hummer, and Saab).

Would you wait for a new round of GM incentives to purchase BUT face the risk that there’s only one color/option car on the ground today you want could be gone? Or take the car today with excellent financing (or big cash rebate) available now and not worry about leaving money on the table in a few weeks?