Pontiac G8

Export Strength

All the mouldy excuses GM executives parroted for decades for not bringing Holdens to the States - suspect quality, long supply lines, the preference of frost-bound Americans for front-drive - were wiped away in a flash when Robert Lutz kicked in GM's door in September, 2001.

His directive as vice chairman and product czar was to inject car-bloke sparkle into GM's insipid, fluorescent-lit catalogue. All rev heads know that fun lives largest in rear-drivers with more evenly distributed weight and balanced dynamics. Lutz knew that Australia served as the ark for GM's rear-drive legacy during the three decades that front-drivers flooded American showrooms, and it was time to tap it.

The Monaro's subsequent 2004 invasion of the US as the Pontiac GTO went slightly worse than Gallipoli, but Lutz still loves Australia and Holden.

"I have never experienced an automotive company, including my three years at BMW, that has so much passion for excellence and dedication to the product," wrote the sterling-haired ex-Marine jet jock with the Gatling gun mouth in an October '07 blog on GM's website.

By now, everyone knows of Lutz & Co.'s plan to pull Pontiac's performance bona fides out of mothballs using various VE Commodore derivatives. Will Yank buyers bite when an imploding dollar and exploding petrol pump prices are already hurting sales of large imported vehicles? Time will tell, but now that the G8 is Stateside, it's clear that it's the best thing to happen at Pontiac since KITT, the chatty Trans Am.

GM desires to keep the configurations simple, so the G8 lives within a narrow price band and the options are few. The base G8 - basically the Commodore SV6 with a 190kW Alloytec 3.6-litre dohc V6 and 5L40 five-speed automatic - starts at US$27,595. The GT, essentially an SS V with its 268kW 6.0-litre V8 and six-speed 6L80 auto is US$29,995.

With all options, including a $1250 leather package with a colour choice of all black or black with red seat inserts, a $900 sunroof, and a $600 sport package that buys aluminium pedals, a sport steering wheel, and 19-inch alloy wheels and summer Bridgestone tyres, the loaded GT rises only to US$32,745. American buyers also score a few goodies the Aussies miss out on, including tyre-pressure monitors and heated seats.

American big-sedan buyers will no doubt cross-shop the Chrysler 300C and Dodge Charger with its similar range of engines. The Hemi-equipped 250kW Charger R/T starts at US$31,430, but offers more checkable boxes, including all-wheel-drive. Compared with the Charger, the G8's wheelbase is 132mm shorter and the overall length is 102mm less, while the width and height are within a few dozen millimetres of the Dodge's.

The VE's steering, body control, and braking will be a wonder to those long steeped in the slushy controls and tyre-torturing understeer of GM front-drivers. Quite happy being fast pitched into corners, the G8 doesn't complain with tyre squeal, nose wandering, or body bounding... it just stays cool and in control. GM considered offering Americans both a base and a sport tune suspension but settled on the stiffer FE2 set-up (albeit tweaked specifically for Pontiac) for the whole line.

A good decision, apparently, as the G8 inhales a mountain road with aplomb but also rolls over America's decaying urban freeways with a compliant ride, even on the 40-series summer rubber standard on the GT.

There's power in the L76 V8, enough to pull 100km/h sprints in a claimed 5.3sec. To avoid the stigma of a federal gas-guzzler label and the approximately $2000 surcharge, the G8 is first to receive the cylinder deactivation system, which will go on V8 Commodores late 2009 or '10.

For the US, the system is aggressively programmed and not altogether transparent. A faint flutter through the steering wheel and floor means half the cylinders are asleep and the engine is making unnatural vibrations. It's an acceptable trade-off for a claimed 10 percent economy gain. US government testing says the GT will consume 9.8L/100km on the highway; the best we saw from any one fill was 13.1.

The manual transmissions offered in Australia are a non-starter for American V6 buyers and would tip the GT into the guzzler tax. A six-speed manual will be offered only on the 300kW G8 GXP coming later in 2008.

Despite testosterone injections such as the square chin, quad tailpipes, and boot spoiler, the G8's bloodline to an Aussie family car is clearly evident. The deep boot will appeal to Americans, who always have stuff to carry, as will the interior measurements and seat sizing, the latter wide enough to welcome athletically trained (or, more likely, McDonald's fed) torsos. With the low dash and side-sill heights, the nation's legions of Camry and Accord drivers would find little to criticise in the G8 except the lack of folding rear seats.

Of the three dashboards offered on VE, the G8 gets the 'performance' trim with its chiselled centre stack and digital volt/amp meter cluster. The SS V's coloured dash isn't offered in the States, nor is satellite navigation.

Chrysler gets due kudos for being first to remind America of affordable rear-drive with the 300C. Ford is still two, maybe three years away from showing us its plan, if it even has one. With the G8, GM proves it's serious about tearing down the old bureaucratic walls separating American buyers from the best of its global operations.