Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Comp G
Robert Farago samples the 260bhp American lilo
I’m convinced my local highway on-ramp was designed by the Pawtucket (Rhode Island) Fire Department. Drivers have just 100 yards of tarmac to join the outside lane of a three-lane road that immediately and violently kinks left. The ramp ends on a bridge, so there’s no breakdown lane for failed mergers and there’s an off-ramp 200 yards ahead. As you’d expect, cars line up like F16 pilots on a carrier deck. It’s the perfect Death or Glory test track for the Pontiac Grand Prix GTP with Competition Group Package: the “Comp G”.
Pontiac gave me a fighting chance by transversely mounting a supercharged V6 under the bonnet. The 3.8 litre unit may be older than Abba, but it stables 260 horses. Equally helpful, the super six cranks out 280 ft. lbs. of torque at 3200rpms. By all accounts, it should have been sufficient oomph to keep Pawtucket’s paramedics in front of their soap operas.
Plant it!
The instant I mashed the go pedal I realized that a Comp G at full chat handles just like a Ferrari. Not the car; the logo. The one with the rearing stallion. This front-wheel-drive Pontiac simply can’t put its power down from a standing start - or anything resembling a standing start. For the first few seconds, I was literally spinning my front wheels. Finally, with the smell of burning rubber wafting through the AC, with the sound of porcine torture ringing in my ears, the Comp G was off and away.
Obviously, I made it. Once the Comp G’s front hooves found purchase, once the ironically named StabiliTrak system tamed the torque steer tsunami, the Comp G rocketed forward with welcome determination. It was fast enough to give credence to Pontiac’s claim that their car will sprint from zero to sixty in 6.5 seconds, and finish the quarter mile .564 seconds behind a BMW 330i. Whether or not the Comp G is a credible sports saloon, well, that’s another matter…
It sure doesn’t look like one. In fact, the Comp G’s exterior might have been cobbled together by GM’s Performance Car Plausibility Testing Team. Their half-hearted designers grafted every sports car cliché known onto a rental car shape. (Tiny) red painted brake calipers, (blobby) rear spoiler, (faux) quad pipes, and side skirts and a chin spoiler that wouldn’t stand out on a mountain bike. The Comp G’s front end is its only distinctive feature. It resembles nothing so much as a slightly demented Pokemon character.
Plastic
The interior also fails to advertise or promote the Comp G’s sporting intent. Where the nifty little Mazda6 S, superswift VW Golf R32 and other Comp G enemies boast sexy brushed-aluminum dashboards, clever knobs and multi-colored dials, the Comp G has a dark plastic dash, disco era rotary controls and white-on-grey dials. On the positive side, the XM satellite radio provides plenty of distraction, and the Comp G’s “heads-up” speed and radio display is exactly the kind of cool feature that gets the Playstation generation’s fingers twitching.
Pontiac proudly promotes the fact that twitching fingers can use the Comp G’s wheel-mounted Tapshift buttons to “transform its automatic transmission into operating much like a manual”. That depends how you define the word “much”, as most manual transmissions have more than four gears. Although the Tapshift’s a slick shifter, the limited gearing options restrict its utility to changing down a gear for overtaking or “hey watch this” wheel spins - either of which you can do just as easily by simply flooring it.
Fun? No
Even if you baby the throttle, the Comp G is no hoot to drive. Those of you who know about such things will have already clocked the fact that the Comp G’s weight transfers rearwards under hard acceleration, resulting in an inevitable and dramatic loss of front end grip and control. It’s what the technically-minded call “excessive understeer” and anyone attempting to blast the Comp G around a corner would call “a bad thing”. The Comp G may be relatively safe - the front tyres squeal at the onset of an understeer slide - but it wouldn’t be my first choice for a high-speed romp down an unfamiliar twisty.
Given the firepower lurking in the engine bay and the average American petrolhead’s distaste for anything other than a straight road, even these handling “issues” would be put to one side if the Comp G was cheap. Thirty thousand US dollars says it isn’t. Truth to tell, the only good news is that the top-end Grand Prix is a lame duck. Next year, GM will rebadge and sell the Holden Monaro: a rear-wheel-drive, V8-powered, Australian-made, 2+2 sports sedan with an optional manual gearbox. Sources suggest it will cost only slightly more than a loaded Comp G. The Pontiac GTO will go like Hell and handle like a dream. American onrampaphobics’ salvation is at hand.
As for the Grand Prix, I agree with the styling. I also agree with the poor judgement of making this a front wheel drive car.(that has always been my complaint against Audi, and why I never bought one) Pontiac had the oportunity to use one of thier new platforms, but instead tried to squeeze five more years out of the old one. Granted... they have improved it, but not enough for me to buy it.
I had considered buying one for my every day driving around LA, but decided not to once I looked at the interior.
Keep trying GM.
Thirsty said:I'm inclined not to believe American Reviewers either (isn't our man Farago a septic anyway?) as I had the dubious pleasure of hiring a Chrysler 300M whilst on holiday in the states. It was a motorcar I was lead to believe, having read glowing reviews in various American magazines, a sports saloon on a par with the best that Europe could produce. It was utter toilet, its only redeeming features were the Bling-Bling chrome (effect) wheels.
If you read most of the reviews, it's actually pretty good.
Back to the Pontiac Thingy, I quite like the styling
One thing this writer didn't comment on was the Grand Prix's rims. That "sawblade" style was cool 10 years ago. Ugly and outdated.
Cars I would rather buy with the same money: Hyundai Tiburan, VW R32, Audi A4, BMW 318i, Suburu WRX STi, Acura RSX, the list goes on and on.
Only a moron from Lansing would buy this thing, because in Michigan, there are hardly any foriegn cars on the road. Maybe that's why GM thinks the cars they build are cool.
haze1123 said:
GM simply needs to STOP designing cars. GM owns SAAB, Holden, and Opel -- all manufacturers that build very nice looking cars. Use those designers, guys!
One thing this writer didn't comment on was the Grand Prix's rims. That "sawblade" style was cool 10 years ago. Ugly and outdated.
Cars I would rather buy with the same money: Hyundai Tiburan, VW R32, Audi A4, BMW 318i, Suburu WRX STi, Acura RSX, the list goes on and on.
Only a moron from Lansing would buy this thing, because in Michigan, there are hardly any foriegn cars on the road. Maybe that's why GM thinks the cars they build are cool.
I live in Birmingham, MI - right in the middle of GM, Ford and DCX headquarters and you might be forgiven for thinking that you're in Europe here. There are numerous Audis, VWs, Mercs, Jags, Volvos, Saabs, Porsches here.
GM has got Anne Asensio working on future product - she is very astute and I was impressed when I met her. But GM peddle cars to the mass market, so if it starts and drives reliably most of the people that buy them are happy. Not dissimilar to my attitude about washing machines really.
And why - after all these years - would anyone expect much from a GM-USA trying to do Euro - it does much better doing US - from Corvettes to Suburbans and owns enough Euro brands anyway. Prediction - the Monero (however good or bad) will flop in its GTO guise.
$30K? That's because GM has 0% financing so they have to make it up somewhere and nobody pays retail for a GM.
And the comment about wheel spin and the Ferrari logo...what a joke. Has the author never driven a car the has the power to break the wheel loose before?!!? Let off the gas a bit!!! What a lame comment! 0-60MPH in 6.5 seconds is pretty dang good for a car that can double as a family hauler!
>> Edited by Highlaner on Thursday 9th October 19:21
>> Edited by Highlaner on Monday 9th February 19:02
You can't even write about a REAL car without revealing your limeyness, using terms like "bonnet" (oh PLEASE) and "Tyre". And the only car even YOU compare this fine piece of American engineering to is (not British but) GERMAN! And while they charge too much for a vehicle that (at least in America) basically says, "I've got more money than style or creativity", at least it is a good car and fairly speedy. And (mind you) more expensive than the 30-grand you bitched about with the Comp-G!
About the only thing you got RIGHT in your whole article was your point that the forthcoming GTO will prove miles superior to any "wrong wheel drive" car, even the Comp-G. But those of us familiar with the original GTO's know that this Aussie sedan falls short of earning the GTO name.
Both pipes exiting on the same side is so NOT GTO! And, though the LS-6 is a fine engine, no GTO should have to live with the legacy if being the slower cousin of a foreign car.
You reveal your latent love for Japanese rice burners in your romantic waxing about Mazda ... and .. Volkswagen???? Cripes! VW has been a sissie's car ever since the 60's! Nothing has changed! The golf is a GIRL CAR, no matter what's under the hood.
So what do YOU drive? One of those English muffins ... those roller skates with cookie cutter wheels?
The finest, fastest and most impressive cars ever made were all American V-8's. That will never change. Years of demasculization of the auto buying public has relegated true auto muscle to that of the increasingly rare classic muscle car owner.
Bragging about cornering is something that was started by the lovers of little impotent nasty sounding dink-mobiles who were getting their butts handed to them at redlights and sought a carefully controlled environment that would give them the advantage. But I'm a street racer from way back and WE know that, on the REAL ROAD, what triumphs (no British pun intended) is HORSEPOWER and TORQUE!
The Comp-G is what is claims to be. It's a "safe" sedan that you can haul kids & groceries with and also go faster than the average Joe. It's not a straight up competition car, but it tromps many who claim to be. Wheel spin is a byproduct of POWER, my pale, limey friend. And that's a down side I can live with!
Disko Don
DiskoDaddy said:
You Brits haven't made a car to brag about since Henry Ford and Eli Whitney (both Americans) afforded you the ability to suckle off the American teet of ingenuity and begin attempting to be competitive.Disko Don
Thats just the point, we dont brag. Our cars do the talking and 'yanks' just live in their own little world.Surely you jest (as you boys often do). Exactly WHAT vehicle are YOU guys proud of .... the Jag (pronounced JAGWAR .. not Jag-you-are!!) What the English are famous for, worldwide is for making the goofiest, boxiest, poorest running puddle jumpers on the planet ... ok, next to the French .. but still!
The Japs build fairly reliable UGLY chick cars, but they'll never get a dime of my money. I haven't forgotten how barbaric they were before we lit them up like the 4th of July! The Italians build beautiful machines that have balls, but I simply can't afford them and few can, so they hold a niche that's virtually irrelevant to the world of real guys smokin' tires (yes, thats TIRES!) on the money they actually earned themselves.
None of these fart-pipe, coffee can exhaust, 4-banger, plastic dink-wagons of today can hold a candle to the truly cool, classic cars like the late '60s / early '70s Camaros, Chevelles, GTOs, Oldsmobile 442 W-30s, etc.
I'm not a huge Dodge / Mopar fan, but that 426 Hemi made power that few pump gas burning motors could dream of. And that 440 was a KILLER too!
And I'm not a big Ford fan, but this year's SVT Cobra looks to be one of the last of a breed of V-8, rear wheel drive, AFFORDABLE muscle cars available. And it will TROMP anything NEAR it's price range, making 390 supercharged, V-8 horsepower at $35-$40,000 (sorry, I don't know how many POUNDS!). But it's not a car for you boys. You whine when your wheels spin, and wheel spin WILL be an issue with that car. Besides, the steering wheel's on the LEFT!
Disko Daddy
DiskoDaddy said:
None of these fart-pipe, coffee can exhaust, 4-banger, plastic dink-wagons of today can hold a candle to the truly cool, classic cars like the late '60s / early '70s Camaros, Chevelles, GTOs, Oldsmobile 442 W-30s, etc.
but that 426 Hemi made power that few pump gas burning motors could dream of. And that 440 was a KILLER too!
Are you for real!!!!!!!!
Seriously, that is your opinion
Do you by any chance come from the deep south
Yessiree bob, let's not bother with progress or investment, let's just keep pumping out the same low tech pig iron engines we have done since the early 60's, attach them to the crudest, cheapest, ill handling chassis we can muster and sell them in the bucketload to simple hicks who know no better.
Is there anythink i have missed, don't think so!!!!
oh yeah, pick a yank tank, any yank tank and see if it could see which way a TVR typhon went, either in a straight line or round bends, take your pick. We would have to MAIL your butt back to you
DiskoDaddy said:
The finest, fastest and most impressive cars ever made were all American V-8's. That will never change. Years of demasculization of the auto buying public has relegated true auto muscle to that of the increasingly rare classic muscle car owner.
Disko Don
Hmm it's both brave and uninformed to come onto a TVR forum and say that !
Good Lord Man, even the new C6 Corvette doesn't have coil springs at the back, even 25yr old Land Rovers can manage that.
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dragstar wrote:
"does diko-daddy need a big engine to compensate for something?"
jerk
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So make up your mind; are you into performance or not? If not, then why are you here? If so, then your comment equating the joy of powerful engines to some latent phallic insufficiency has equal application to any of us prone to the love of automotive style & performance.
If anything, your defensive reaction to my boasting of the accolades of big engines betrays the thinly veiled chip on your shoulder toward those who pass you & leave your low slung, pretentious, impotent-sounding Euro-Buzzer spinning out in the slip stream. Coughing from the dust and the smell of an over-rev'ed 4-banger, you shake your fist at the behemouth V-8's tail lights, shouting, "If that had been a sharp left corner, followed by some orange cones, I'd have kicked your ass, you mean old American, with your unbridled, gauche RAW HORSEPOWER! .. Blast you YANKS!!"
Look, we invented cars. And we still take the auto sport to the mountain in every relevant category (sorry, Grand Prix and LeMans hardly compare to Top Fuel drag racing!). What do you guys make that spits out over 3,000 horsepower? Can you even BUY nitromethane over there in Sherlocksville?
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greg_d wrote:
"....let's just keep pumping out the same low tech pig iron engines we have done since the early 60's...."
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Greg,
We have this little group over here, called NASA. Maybe you've heard of 'em. They dispelled you Eurofairys' assertion that the Earth was flat. By the way, have YOU guys put a man on the moon? How about Mars, ... anyone....? Let's here it for the American made F-1 engines that poured out RAW HORSEPOWER .... enough to get us to the moon .. and we did so back when we were making those "low tech pig iron engines" you scoff at. Well, the boys at NASA have a policy. If it ain't broke, they don't fix it. Many components still used today seem outdated. But unlike the rest of the world, NASA"s stuff needs reliability and performance more than impressive shows of cutting edge, unproven technology. When something works, they WORK IT!
Old 2-valve per cylinder, pushrod V-8s (and V-6s) still make a midrange torque that the mor exotic DOHC 4-valve boys can't touch .... even the Cult of VTEC over at Honda knows to watch out when comparing equal horsepower across those lines.
Pontiac has a good engine in the 3800. This year is it's 3rd generation .. and for the GTP ... the 5th gen. Eaton supercharger. Other similar displacement engines make more horsepower but not as reliably or economically. It's not the very finest of anything (as previously stated, Mopar & GM's v-8s hold that distinction). But what the engine (and the entire vehicle) represents is, a fine vehicle with intelligent compromises.
It's a running joke in the performance world that everyone wants the perfect vehicle; one that anhialates the competition in 0-60, 1/4 mile, lateral acceleration, top end, handling, smooothness, braking, stability, safety, ruggedness & reliability, leg room, looks, and gas mileage ..... and at a reasonable cost. That vehicle DOESN'T EXIST! ALL vehicles represent compromises. McClaren's F-1 doens't ride as comfortably as the Cadillac Seville. My brothers notrous injected, big block Camaro doesn't corner well with drag slicks & cookie cutter front wheels. But you'll lose bladder control when he rolls up to you at a light! But you guys never see that over there if KidneyPieville. Nothing sounds like a healthy V-8 with headers and 12:1 compression pistons and a healthy camshaft. When you boys tape a coffee can onto your Mazda, it gets louder, but the sound is unmistakably impotent in comparison. Again, that will never change.
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greg_d wrote:
"..oh yeah, pick a yank tank, any yank tank and see if it could see which way a TVR typhon went, either in a straight line or round bends, take your pick."
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Ok, see I don't even know what that is. Do you know why? Because NO ONE CARES! But there's no question that that a 1970 ZL-1, Yenko Camaro, making 800 hp from the factory would smoke it on the 1/4 mile. My friends blown Oldsobile makes over 1,000 hp from a V-8 and runs high 9 second 1/4 miles (sorry, don't know the METRIC conversion!). Hell, for that matter, until Chevy quit making the Z-28 Camaro, any yahoo could walk into the dealership and order a plain, off the rack Z-28 and make 305 hp and pull off better than a .8g turn. And those things are everywhere. That LT-1 350 represents the every day V-8 that struck fear into the hearts of 90% of the vehicles on the road for years. And the SS version posessed added ferocity. And those cars took well to aftermarket superchargers and NO2. With a few mods, that 305 HP could be doubled. So educate me; tell me about this TVR that has your weenie at attention! What's it packing? And what can it be modified to produce? And what does it cost?
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Guy Humpage wrote:
"...Good Lord Man, even the new C6 Corvette doesn't have coil springs at the back, even 25yr old Land Rovers can manage that."
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Ok, so you think the C6 needs different springs .. mor like the Land Rover???? Is that because you think it corners poorly? As you know, it corners quite well. But your Euro-pomposity won't let you admire anything that's accomplished with older or more conventional means. The new Corvette will be one of the finest ports cars in the world overall. But again, ALL cars represent compromises. Some $400,000 EuroPhallus will outperform in on some spec and you boys will do your dance and jeer at the 'Vette, much the same ways as young kids in the ghetto boast that they could beat Mike Tyson.
Now, I'll grant you boys this much. There is some serious crap rolling off American assembly lines lately (someone mentioned that Chrysler abomination). I can't defend these sad products of a pathetic buying public.
Soon, we'll see the end of combustion engines anyway. I'm not sure where my passions will go at that point (maybe boasting about my giant American hydrogen thermocouple and 40 JigaWatts of coil smoking torque). But for me, the '55 Chevy Bel-Aire started an era that all but ended in the early '70's. Only a few cars are still made that have style and balls. Cars that only the wealthy can afford have always been an entirly different beast to me.
Back when a guy in high school with a job at McDonald's and enough aptitude to read the Holley carb. book (in one or two sittings on the toilet) could afford to by a Nova or Firebird or Camaro, used for $1,000 and put $1,500 (along with some blood, sweat & tears) into it and garner the admiration and respect of bystanders everywhere .. THAT was what Hot Rodding was all about. Now, it's the game of those with more money than mechanical aptitude. The ratchet and dwell/tach. meter have been replaced with laptops & EPROM burners. I have a Comp-G and I can't get into any races because it's so quiet, no one knows when I'm challenging them! I read that this car doesn't benefit appreciable from a different exhaust (no more than 10-15 hp). They say, the easiest power boost on this setup is a pulley change on the supercharger, gaining 20-30hp (and voiding the warranty).
I don't expect to smoke Mustangs & 'Vettes with this car. And even those stinky little WRX's will eat me off a light. But that's ok because this car represents my choice in COMPROMISES. Anyone who can smoke me is fast enough to earn it. And for the other 95% of the Integras & Hondas & Mazdas & other fart-pipe insects on steroids, they'll continue to be surprised when a 4-door sedan with a baby seat in the back eats their luch for them!
Disko Daddy
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