Pontiac G8 from jalopnik's photostream

Via Kicking Tire's movers and losers, the Pontiac G8 has been sitting on lots for 16 days; tieing it with the Toyota Camry Hybrid and only the Toyota Prius beating it with 15 days spent on the lot. As Kicking Tire's notes the Pontiac G8 is still new to the market having only been on sale for three months in the US.
Cam Riley: South Sea Republic. Freedom, liberty, equity and an Australian Republic.

Comments
  • Interesting. After my TDI stopped on the freeway two times in a week, I spent some time looking around for a new car. My brother has a G6 and my sister has a Vibe, so they both wanted me to look at Pontiacs. The G6 isn't too bad, but Saturn has a newer version (Aura) of the same car and Chevy has a version newer than that (Malibu). All are Opel Astras in one way or another. The Vibe is a (in my opinion) better looking Toyota Matrix. Neither seem to fit me, but who know? I might change my mind.

    Other available Pontiac cars include the Solstice sprts car, the G5 which is a rebadged Chevy Cobalt and the Grand Prix which is being replaced by the G8. The Grand Prix was never a big seller, but with a base price about $5k higher, the G8 is probably going to have problems out-selling its predecessor. Kicking Tires also lists the G8 among the New Models Not Breaking Through in Tough Market.
    • cam . # .
      I think the G8 will be like the Mustang and the Ute in Au; one where the large majority bought are V8s. People will probably buy them as performance sedans. They arent going to be big sellers like the Camry or F150.

      A friend in Phx got a Solstice. It is a nice car. I prefer the looks of the Saturn Sky though. Lots of convertibles in Phx. Must be the weather.

      What do you think you might end up with? Lotus Elise? You are probably over-due for a super fun car ;)
      'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
      • The Solstice is nice - kind of a Corvette junior. The 'vert top is not as good in Virginia as it would be in Arizona. Back in the day when we had a Del Sol, I don't remember more than a dozen days when I really wanted to be out with the top off. That Lotus is very nice, but a little extreme. I might actually look around for a second hand GTO. The railroad fleet vehicle look could come in handy.

        Right now, VW repaired my EIGHT YEAR OLD TDI under warranty. It will probably pay me to keep it until the warranty expires.
        • cam . # .
          Wow, how long is the warranty on it? That is pretty good.
          'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
          • 10 years/100,000 miles on the powertrain. The engine is known for out-lasting the car and 250,000 rebuild cycles are common, so they weren't taking too much of a chance. I didn't even consider this a factor when I bought it.

            Long version of the problem I had and its resolution:

            It was traced to a VW service part failure. At 60,000 miles I had the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump replaced. Only the belt itself was scheduled, but the cost difference to replace the tensioner and water pump is so low, I had them done as well. The new version of the belt and tensioner has an 80,000 mile service life. The water pump has no scheduled maintenance and is usually considered a break-fix component.

            The first time the car stopped running, they diagnosed a failed injection pump (an $1800 part!). The injector pump is driven by the timing belt. While installing the pump, the replacement tensioner was found to be defective and replaced. No charge for fixing these, but I was concerned. They couldn't tell me why the tensioner failed. They also told me the injector pumps never fail while the engine is running. They always fail at the start/stop boundry, just like code :).

            The car stopped again after driving just about 120 miles. This time, the new tensioner failed and damaged the timing belt. The theory is that there were bad tensioners in the stockroom. The injector pump failure may have been caused by improper tension on the belt, or it may have been just a premature part failure. We'll see. The thing runs great now.
            • cam . # .
              Cool
              'Sworn to no party, and of no sect am I.' Frederick Vosper's republican motto.
              • Note also that the G8 (the subject of your post) has a 5 year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. They also plan to release the G8 Stort Truck soon. GM hasn't had a ute to sell since the old El Camino.