vrfour

Leaving aside any preferences you may have for smaller cars, I'm curious, as an Australian, to know what you guys in the States think of the car that will be the re-born GTO.

It is extremely popular here as the Holden Monaro...

link to pics here

Pimpson

looks good, I like it better than the new Z.

pjal84

Looks more like a GT car than a true sports car (maybe the word I'm looking for is "big", but then I could always say its a muscle car and that's a whole other debate ). Nice lines though. I'm lusting after your VR4 though... OT but does your Galant have the Evo style hood vents?

vrfour

They make the Evo style hood as an aftermarket thing in Japan. They never came with them from the factory, and unfortunately my car doesn't have them. Click on my homepage for more info.

astondg

Mmmmm 98 VR4 . We've got a 91 VR4 but I want the 2.5TT. I noticed your spedo only goes to 180 but have you taken the restrictor thing off or is it still limited? Also do you know the 0-100k/h and 1/4 mile times, all the magazines have different times from 6sec 0-100 to 7sec 0-100(can't be that, our VR4 does that!). Pity the top model doesn't come with a manual transmision. Lastly, how does it handle the power, we can floor the accelerator in ours out of roundabouts and stuff and it doesn't affect it (only 150kw but it's still fairly fast), but whats yours like with 206kw, but newer awd and suspension?
Thanks
Aston

LanEvo

hell yea! holdne are fawking awesome!!!!

o and p...alot of cars aren't true sports cars...but unfortunately, the new ford tbird is, a true sport car by definition

LiLAzNBaLLa1

Pretty Hott!...Not much too say!..I'm about import cars

pjal84

Oh I know Lan. It would just be nice to see a nice RWD car with sport buckets, two doors, a small back seat, a nice high output inline 6 mounted behind the front axel(V and I8's are to big for my tastes and I like NA more), and weighing hopefully no more than say 3200 lbs. Buuuut...that's just my opinion about what a sports car should be.

DaTenshi

Damn 5.7L V8 heh nice car though~

Pimpson

Has anyone seen the concept Grand Prix? Not much changed except it was a 8cylinder supercharged beast with 19" wheels. I hope they make this, AWD also, would be a huge boost for american racing cars to have a serious AWD candidate.

WestSideBilly

iTrader: (1)

vr4 - I think the Monaro is a great car, and I hope Pontiac doesn't ruin it in the process of bringing it here as the GTO. The LS1/6 V8 is one of the best engines on the market today, the car is very stylish and doesn't have all the traditional GM ugliness, and because it is based off a popular engine, the tunability is very good. Lingenfelter offers a twin turbo LS1 setup (for the Vette) that is rated for 650 HP, with a drivetrain and brakes to match.

Pimpson, the concept Grand Prix (dubbed the GPX, I believe) was not a V8. There could have been another concept Grand Prix in the meantime, but the one making the rounds at last year's car shows had a supercharged 3.8L V6, same as is in the current Grand Prix GTP. Also, AWD carries such a large weight burden, and today's already overweight cars don't need the extra fat. RWD is plenty good for a sports car.

Score

From SCC Oct 2002:
"By its size and the fact that it will be imported from Austraila, Pontiac's upcoming 2004 GTO qualifies as a sport compact. However, the name implies pure American muscle, and the engine is the OHV 5.7 liter V8 that once had residence in the hazily rememberd Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird..."

LanEvo

i like the holden monaro commerical...the one that looks like "Best motoring"'s intro some cg graphic of driving in city streets and then like "GAME OVER"........"THE MONARO IS BACK" or somethign like that

vrfour

Aston - all the specs arehere... I think that is the auto, but given that Australia doesn't get 100 octane, those figures sound about right.

As you already know, Japanese cars are speed limited to 180km/h - I haven't bothered to remove it, but I've hit it a few times . No problems with traction - the AYC is very effective. In the wet's a different story - oversteer out of roundabouts is relatively easy to achieve!