http://www.motorauthority.com/gallery/2010...n-line-001.html

Great pix. Saw the car in-person at the Philadelphia Auto Show yesterday. Based on its price point, I wasn't all that impressed. Especially in terms of its potential as a track vehicle, it seems large, heavy and cumbersome with typically underdesigned brakes. GM just can't give up on the practice of trying to dictate to, rather than listen to the performance enthusiast market. Expect the cobalt SS to replace the Camaro as the pracical GM performance track car.

Yeah....I was kinda looking at the new Camaro at being a hot rod with a back seat......as I have 2 kids under 9.....but have been looking at pics of the Challenger vs. the Camaro and I keep liking the Challenger better....

This weekend I went and saw a Challenger in person for the first time......VERY SWEET looking car.....

...damn.....and I already have ONE Chrysler product......do I need TWO SRT8s?????

Hotrod with a back seat? Don't forget the G8. Nice. A friend who is a Vette-guy (and autocrosses a BSP C4) got one for his wife and says it's a very nice car. The GXP looks good, and with 430 HP should run pretty well, too.

I too, recently saw the new Camaro, and it will have to grow on me. I'll have to take a ride in one, but yeah, it even _looked_ heavy. They had a v6 version at the Houston Autoshow with a line to the door. The SS or Z28, or whatever, was cordoned off with a GM guy standing guard beside. It looked nice, but you couldn't even get close enough to look inside. The crowds around it allowed me some extended time with the C6 Z06..... nice.

I love the exterior, but the interior is not the best. I don't understand it - they spend all this time perfecting what the car looks like to other people - but then, when it comes to impressing the guy that actually shelled out $30 grand to buy it, they screw it up.

BTW, I've got a G8GT. not quite the GXP, but fun. On the road, it's at least comparable to a BMW 745i and Mercedes CLS550. It beats every 5-series I've been in. I'm talking road-performance, practicality, interior, cargo space, etc. You know, all those "Motor Trend" metrics.

On the track (technical 1.8 mile circuit), in 100% stock trim, it runs comparable times with road-race-prepped BMW E36s and Porsche 968s, and street-legal C4s. But, if you going to a track day with it, bring tires and swap the brake pads. The brakes fade out after only a few laps. And, the Potenza RE055s simply can't handle lapping. The outside shoulders chunk badly. The good news is that stock 17x8 BMW wheels fit - same offset, bolt pattern, etc. Just grab a used set for a couple hundred bucks with some half-used race tires.

Is the bolt pattern on the BMW wheels truely the same or is it off just slightly like it was with the F-bodies? They worked on F-bodies too, but had trouble staying torqued.

How much do G8s weigh?

Truly the same. Because it's based on the Australian car, it's in mm, not the 4.75" that we're all used to. In fact, the only thing that I had trouble with is that the BMW holes are a bit small (their lug studs are smaller). You have to have a thinwall socket to get to your lugnuts.

I think the G8 weighs a little less than a blue whale.

Couple other things.

- The G8 actually feels much smaller at the limit. This bodes well for the Camaro. Yeah, you can tell it's a big car, but it doesn't wallow or feel too mushy.

- The throttle response is a bit delayed - you have to get on it about 1/4 second sooner than normal. Don't know if it's the auto or the drive-by-wire that's responsible. (BTW, this teaches you GREAT lessons when you get back to an F-body; I was hitting the gas sooner in turns on the next session and ended up gaining some time.)

- There is a weird "double squat" that the rear does. Beware of it. When you hit the gas out of a turn, the rear will squat, without breaking loose. Then, if you keep on it, it will squat some more and break loose. The recovery is where it gets dicey. The tires will regain traction on the first "unsquat". It is VERY abrupt and means that you are regaining traction while sideways and usually before you get the wheel completely turned into the spin. Makes for a hairy recovery. I'm told it has to do with the bushings in the back. There are rubber bushings that hold the suspension to the rear subframe. Then, another layer of rubber bushings that hold the subframe to the car. I'm guessing that one set compresses before the other, thus the "dual squat".

I'm excited that the Camaro and the G8 use the same (or 99% the same) suspension geometry. That means that go-fast parts for my G8 should be much cheaper soon. So far, prices are astronomical for things!

Guess we should peel this thread off to another, as I have another question. What kind of mileage do you get when you aren't chunking tires? ;-)

The GXP I saw at the autoshow looked like it had bigger front brakes, so that should help the on-track experience. Maybe you can hide some solid bushings between the body and suspension mounts to see if it helps the squat issue?

Another advantage of living in Canada is you get first crack at the cars. We still end up paying more even though they are made here!

http://www.lsffa.com/viewtopic.php?t=3694&highlight=

I'm not looking at any new cars any time soon... but even at full MSRP, a base corvette is only $8k more than the GXP. If you can get the GM partner discount (or just talk the dealership down to around deal invoice), it's only a $6k difference. I'd have a hard time swallowing a G8 over a Corvette for only $6k in savings.

Okay, but how much does it cost to put 4 doors and usable back seats on a Corvette? Apples to Oranges, really.

I think you're confusing the blue whale with the pilot whale.

I knew it was some kind of whale!

I got the G8 because I've got newborn twins. Before they were born, I was looking at a used C6.

The SS has 4 pot Brembos on all 4 corners with discs big enough to make a 20" wheel mandatory. I'm hoping a set of pads and it should be good to go Solo Sprint at least.

I've heard the good comments about the G8 quite frequently and word from those is the know seems to be that the SS steps it up quite nicely.

I'll post up with pics when I get mine.

I heard some talk of the G8 cloning itself into an El Camino SS. Now THAT would be cool.

I had heard that too. From what I've read in the past few days though, that project is still-born with the restructuring going on at GM.

It's a car that is being built already called the Ute. They were gonna throw a G8 fascia on it and bring it over as the G8 ST. It was always going to be a limited production deal, but it was canceled.

I thought it could be a good idea if they brought over multiple versions of it, like a utilitarian version for contractors and parts-runners. Seems like it would be a good alternative to a 2wd mini truck, and they sell those versions down under so not much development needed.

I guess they need to focus on volume vehicles right now, though.