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2004-2006 Pontiac GTO – Is it worthy of the GTO name?

Pontiac is guilty of revisionist history in the 2005 GTO sales brochure. The brochure presents a timeline of significant milestones in the GTO’s 41-year history. The 1964 model naturally falls out of the timeline. After all, this car flagrantly violated GM’s 1957 anti-racing edict and single-handedly defined a whole new category of automobile. The 1966 GTO also earns mention as the first of the Ram-Air models, followed by the 1967 400-cubic-inch and then the legendary GTO Judge in 1969. However, from 1970 to the 2004 revival, the timeline is in white. It’s as if Pontiac has erased all memory of the powerful but porcine 1971-72 GTO or the underperforming Nova-derived 1973 models. And, of course, there’s no mention of the childish Grand-Am-based GTO concept that GM showcased on the show circuit in the early ’90s.

With the missteps that tarnished the reputation of the most famous icon in muscle car history, we can appreciate Pontiac’s selective corporate memory. However, they do raise legitimate questions about the 2005 GTO. Is this car worthy of the GTO name? Will the new GTO be remembered 20 years from now as one of the “greats” or will its memory fall victim to a Stalinist purge of the record?

In our opinion, the 2005 GTO is the real thing, and in many ways a perfect modern interpretation of the legendary 1964 GTO. We urge you to drive one, because to drive this car is to love this car.

We had the honor of driving an Impulse Blue 2005 GTO six-speed at Josephs Pontiac in Norwell, Massachusetts. Josephs has been selling and servicing Pontiacs since 1928 and to this day is an honored and loved South Shore landmark with some of the friendliest people you are likely to meet. This family knows Pontiac and talks about classic and future Pontiacs with obvious passion. It’s a place where locals drop in for a chat over coffee and you’re likely to see Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler walk past a fuel tank. Compared to soulless car mega-malls, Josephs Pontiac is a direct link to a better time, and there’s no better place to test drive a legendary Pontiac brand.

Let’s start with styling, possibly the most contentious issue surrounding the 2005 GTO. Auto magazines have roundly criticized Pontiac for its ultra-conservative styling that belies the car’s performance capabilities. We say the reviewers are idiots, or at least totally ignorant of GTO’s original design philosophy. The 1964-67 GTO was NEVER about visual flash. John DeLorean and Jim Wangers started with the stock, no-frills Tempest body. They added a sleek rounded hood, attractive wheel covers, and sophisticated subtle badging on the grille, fender, and decklid. You had to look closely to catch the visual cues, and we’d bet a lot of people walked past those early GTOs without even looking twice. The GTO was not marketed to self-service posers. It was a serious performance machine that kept a low visual profile and got the job done at the stoplight and the racetrack.

Economic and political considerations also played a role in moderating the early style of the GTOs. The market for the GTO was uncertain, so in order to minimize capital investments, Pontiac needed to deliver on the most elegant midsize coupe in the existing product portfolio. Pontiac division chief John DeLorean also had to tread carefully for fear of drawing unfavorable attention from GM’s horsepower-phobic executive team. Whatever the reasons, the 1964-67 GTO stands as one of the most elegant and timelessly styled muscle cars of the era.

The 2005 GTO is a perfect stylistic and economical interpretation of the original. To keep costs low and time to market short, Pontiac raided its worldwide parts bin to create the most beautiful rear-wheel drive coupe in the stable, the Australian Holden Monaro. Its lines are tight, clean and tasteful. The GTO badging is subtle, as are the non-functional twin bulges on the hood. Just like in 1964, you have to look for the subtle visual clues to the true nature of this car. Back in the day, gearheads learned to quickly tell the heavy hitters apart from the palookas. It was rarely about shiny paint, flashy graphics, and chrome wheels. The most serious cars were often the least visually noticeable, and you learned to look for the little “426 Hemi” fender emblems or the steel wheels with DOT-legal Mickey Thompsons. He learned to listen for the choppy idle of a solid 305 degree cam. And so it is with the 2005 GTO. You have to know what to look for.

Automotive posers won’t understand and likely won’t recognize it. And that’s fine with us. The 2005 GTO is for self-assured people, people who prefer to kick some ass and go under the radar. People like you and me.

In 2005, Pontiac responded to styling criticism by adding the aforementioned air intakes and an optional Sport Appearance Package. Fortunately, our test car did not have this option. We urge you to boycott the Sport Appearance package, as it represents an ominous return to Pontiac’s worst styling excesses of the 1980s. The front fascia is blocky and ham-shaped, as are the vestigial “gills” over quad exhaust tips. Our concern is that if enough people buy this silly option, GM will interpret this as market approval of the flash-over substance and we’ll be back to the days of the “Screaming Chicken” and the Mustang Cobra II. Just say no!

So what’s it like to drive the 2005 GTO? Manna baby, pure manna! Full-frame doors open and close with a thud, and the upper window frame promises wind-, rattle-, and leak-proof glass. The interior is simply GM at its best. Ever. The entire instrument cluster is legible: edged in brushed nickel and color matched to the exterior paint. In our Impulse Blue fitting room, this was an unexpected and stylish touch. The interior panels are finished with matte gloss soft-touch padding, a dramatic improvement over GM’s traditional gloss hard plastic interior finish. The interior space is good, the seating comfort is excellent and the visibility is good. The only criticism we can make of the interior is the steering wheel. While it feels good in the hand, the center pad looks like a giant, goofy Shriners hat. This car needs a steering wheel that better emulates GM’s gorgeous rosewood wheels from the 1960s.

Turn the key and the starter engages with a substantial, satisfying hum, like it’s spinning on a high-compression big block. The 6.0 LS2 V8 roars and the exhaust note is heady. Deep, smooth and guttural without an ounce of smallness. Step on the throttle and the tubes open up and spit out as the revs drop. Think big block motor boat and you would be close to effect. Close your eyes and it’s 1969 all over again!

Clutch grip is smooth and precise. With 400 pound-feet of torque (SAE net!), the GTO launches clean and crisp with little driveline pull. The Tremec six-speed transmission shifts easily, with just the right number of mechanical notches to remind you of what’s going on at the other end of the lever. An especially nice touch is the slight vibration from the gear stick you feel when accelerating hard in third gear. Anyone who has ever rowed a Muncie M22, Ford Toploader or MoPar A833 with a Hurst shifter knows that feeling. There’s a generation of drivers raised with rubber-insulated transaxles and cable shifting who have no idea what it’s like!

The ride is firm and precise, with no impact harshness over rough bumps. Steering is satisfyingly precise with excellent turn-in and good road feel. The GTO rolls straight and true with little speed over rough pavement. There are no squeaks or rattles, and the GTO exudes a great solidity and rigidity reminiscent of the Porsche 928. This is a car you could easily live with every day, as adept at taking Grandma to bingo as it is at tearing up the back roads. .

The GTO LS2 makes a real 400 horsepower. On pre-1972 SAE gross ratings the number is likely to be around 470 BHP on the flywheel. Compression is a stratospheric 10.9 and the lightweight valvetrain, efficient cylinder head port design, and 90mm throttle body make this engine a smooth, torquey, rev-happy whoop. Think about that for a moment. 400 horsepower for $33,000, or about $82.50 per pony. And you can get it fixed at any of the thousands of GM outlets nationwide for pocket change. And it gets an EPA-estimated 25 MPG per highway cycle. Given the monumental advances in GM product quality over the past decade, it’s reasonable to expect that the GTO will only require routine maintenance in the course of prudent and conscientious ownership.

The 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo made 400 horsepower and cost around $120,000 ($300 per unit). The 2000 BMW M5 made 400 horsepower and was estimated at around $80,000 ($200 per unit). And the sticker price of these Teutonic supercars was only the bare minimum. Think $200 oil changes, $1,000 routine maintenance bills, and you’ll have an idea. These are not cars for you and me. These are cars for the trust fund kids you knew and hated in college. The GTO is a car for normal people, just like in 1964.

This car starts flat, and the LS2 pulls cleanly in every gear, from idle to redline 6500. The LS2 really comes to life above 3000 RPM, and when you hit the pedal in first or second position, you must have the steering wheel pointing forward, because the tires are going to come loose. Under smoother throttle inputs, the GTO accelerates without histrionics, just a seemingly limitless liquid rush to the speedometer’s upper limits. Modern engine management ensures that there are no flat spots in the fuel supply and sparks. Think of a well-tuned Chevelle LS-6 and you’re in the low-end ballpark of how easily the GTO revs. The shifter is direct with well-defined gates and a shift effort appropriate for a supercar. The exhaust note is heavenly, but not loud enough to make his wife cringe in her seat in embarrassment.

This is a very serious performance car, and we’d be surprised if the GTO wasn’t good for a sub-5 second run at 60. Quarter mile times should be around 13.30 at 108 MPH. These are huge numbers and far superior to ANY standard GTO of the past, including the legendary 1969-70 Ram-Air IV. It’s simply a matter of time before companies like Lingenfelter start shipping LS2 stroker engine and supercharger kits, so if stocks aren’t fast enough, the days of 500-hp GTOs may not be far off.

So what is the conclusion? We believe the 2005 GTO is for the real thing and, in many ways, a true spiritual successor to the original. The styling is elegant, the interior exceptional and the driving experience comfortable and exciting at the same time. This is NOT a car for the “bling bling” crowd that lives to be seen and endlessly chases the approval of their peer group. It’s a car for confident performance enthusiasts who value substance over style. It’s a car for GTO people.

We want this car to succeed because it will herald the permanent return of such cars not only from GM but also from Ford and Daimler-Chrysler. We urge you to drive it, because you will probably buy it!

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