2009 Pontiac G8 GXP: The LS3 Sedan That Arrived as Pontiac Was Leaving

On April 27, 2009, in the middle of its reorganization, General Motors announced that it would phase out the Pontiac brand, which by then was more than 80 years old, by 2010. That put an end date on the G8 GXP almost as soon as it arrived. Pontiac had promised it to dealers for late 2008, carrying a Corvette-derived 6.2-liter V-8 and an available six-speed manual in a rear-drive Australian sedan. It would be offered for the 2009 model year and no other, and a club registry counts 1,829 of them.^1,2,3,4

The car underneath was not a Pontiac invention, and nobody pretended it was. MotorWeek described the G8 as based on the Commodore from GM's Australian Holden division, with a rear-drive chassis that shared its heritage with the Chevrolet Camaro. Pontiac announced the GXP at the New York Auto Show as the newest of its GXP models, and MotorWeek later judged the car track-capable right out of the box. The GXP added a front fascia with a lower splitter, a rear diffuser, suspension tuned, in Pontiac's words, for the highest performance in the G8 family, MacPherson struts in front and a four-link coil-over rear, heavily bolstered two-tone sport seats and a 230-watt Blaupunkt stereo with XM satellite radio.^3,2

The heart of it was the LS3, and its rating tells a small story about certification. Pontiac's announcement gave 402 hp at 5,900 rpm and 402 lb-ft at 4,600 rpm, "pending final SAE certification," and forecast 0-60 mph in about 4.7 seconds and a 13.0-second quarter mile at 108 mph. Those were expectations, not tests. By the time the price was published the engine was rated at 415 hp, and MotorWeek listed 415 lb-ft. The two ratings describe the same engine at two stages of certification, and the production figure is the one that stands.^2,5,6,3

What the buyer could order was short and clear. The GXP cost $39,995, including $685 destination and a $1,700 gas-guzzler tax. The standard transmission was the Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed automatic with a 3.27 final drive; the TREMEC TR6060 six-speed manual, RPO M10, cost $695 and came with a 3.70 axle. A sunroof was $900. Brakes were 14-inch, 355 mm vented rotors with quad-piston calipers in front and 324 mm rotors at the rear, and the car rode on 19-inch polished wheels with P245/40R19 summer tires, on a 114.8-inch wheelbase and 196.1 inches overall.^6,2,4,5

The registry's numbers are where the car's character shows. The Australian Performance Pontiacs chapter of the Pontiac-Oakland Club International records 1,829 GXPs, of which 846, or 46.25 percent, carried RPO M10, the TR6060 manual, and 983, or 53.75 percent, RPO MYC, the 6L80 automatic. Nearly half the cars, in other words, were built with three pedals, even though the manual was the extra-cost choice and the automatic the default. The registry does not say how it compiled its counts, so every figure from it is reported rather than verified, and forum lists that match it are not independent confirmation.⁴

The same registry breaks the 1,829 cars down by paint, and the colors run from common to rare. Panther Black Metallic leads with 470 cars, then Liquid Red with 377, Maverick Silver Metallic 333, White Hot 299 and Sport Red Metallic 171. The last three colors are the scarce ones: Magnetic Gray Metallic with 78, Stryker Blue Metallic with 56 and Pacific Slate Metallic with 45, fewer than one GXP in forty. The eight paint rows add up exactly to the registry's total, which is at least internally consistent. Inside, the registry lists two leather trims: 1,255 cars, 68.62 percent, with Onyx (code 463), and 574 with the louder Onyx and red combination (code 473), close to one car in three.⁴

Options tell the rest. The registry counts 1,466 GXPs with the $900 sunroof, 80.15 percent of the total, and 363 without it, which makes the $900 roof a more popular extra than the $695 manual, 1,466 cars against 846. Those counts cannot be stacked into a portrait of a typical car. The registry gives each feature its own total but does not cross-tabulate them, so it cannot say how many manual cars lacked a sunroof, or how many Liquid Red cars had the red interior. A club list answers one question at a time, and a reader should not answer the combined question for it.^4,6

MotorWeek tested a manual GXP with a sunroof, stickered at $41,590, and put measured numbers on the sedan: 0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds, the quarter mile in 13.2 seconds at 112 mph, and 117 feet from 60 mph to a stop. It averaged 22.6 mpg on MotorWeek's own driving loop against EPA ratings of 14 city and 20 highway, on regular unleaded. The testers found nimbleness that defied the 4,050-pound curb weight, quick steering, and a manual shifter with shorter throws than they expected. The Brembo brakes performed strongly, though the ABS produced a distinctive shudder at higher speeds.³

Those numbers belong to that car: a manual with a sunroof, on MotorWeek's test. Pontiac's own forecast of about 4.7 seconds to 60 mph was made before certification and is not a test, and it should not be quoted as one. MotorWeek's verdict on value was plain: at its price the GXP was at least $10,000 less than any rival European V-8 sport sedan. For a performance buyer in 2009 that was the pitch in a sentence: a Corvette-derived V-8, a manual gearbox for those who wanted one, four doors, and a sticker well under the imported competition. It was also a pitch with very little time left to run.^3,2,6

The G8 GXP did not get a second year. The 2009 model year was its only one, and GM's April decision meant there would be no Pontiac to carry it forward. What the car left behind is a compact and detailed record: 1,829 cars by the registry's count, broken down by gearbox, paint, interior and sunroof, each figure resting on a club list that has not published its method. Of all those numbers, 846 manuals in 1,829 cars is the one that best describes the GXP: a big four-door Pontiac that nearly half its buyers ordered with a clutch pedal, in the only year it was offered.^4,1