1976 chevy impalla

2008-2009 Pontiac G8 « Autopolis

In our on going theme of parallel universes, our Pontiac G8 was Australia’s Holden Commodore. Built in only one factory in Elizabeth, South Australia, the Commodore was sold in three variations: sport ute (a El Camino like small truck), sedan and station wagon. The sedan was the only version to be exported to the States. Although Pontiac considered bringing the sport ute here and even ran a national campaign to find a name for it. Europe got a version sold by Vauxhall called the VXR8, it was perhaps the most aggressive looking with all the lairs and fins usually associated with Japanese cars. The G8 was probably the most balanced looking of the trio with looks somewhere between the restraint of the Holden and the boy racer look of the Vauxhall.

When the G8 arrived in late 2007 as a 2008 model, it replaced two big front wheel drive Pontiac’s that had long been associated with rear wheel drive in their heyday, the Bonneville and Gran-Prix. In fact, there had not been a large rear wheel Pontiac since the 1986 Bonneville. The slow creep towards front wheel drive had all but taken the excitement out of the Pontiac Division – a division that was supposed to be all about excitement. The arrival of the G8 was part of a continuing movement for Pontiac back to rear wheel drive, already evident in its new halo sports car the Solstice.

In many ways the G8 was an update to the Chevrolet Impalla SS concept of the 90′s with big bad V8 tire smoking power coming from the rear wheels with family car practically. In reality the G8 was much more and made the 94-96 Impalla look quite crude in comparison. The attention to detail was much higher in the Pontiac. Instead of the living room like front bench setup in the Impalla, the G8 featured modern leather seats with an instrument cluster and dash design that was much more refined than most of what GM was offering in the States (Save for Cadillac). The trend established with the departed GTO found its way to other Pontiac cars in varying degrees, bring Pontiac quality and detail up to some Japanese and European competitors.

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