I'm still pissed that GM decided to kill Pontiac! Just when the division was starting to get it right, they pull the plug. I can see them killing hummer ( overweight, no speed, crappy mpg AND sucks off road!), Saab ( didn't like the professor/dentist/hippy car). and Olds ( can't wait for grandpa to get his settlement checks!), but to kill Pontiac and Saturn was just wrong. To me, the only reason that they killed Pontiac instead of Buick is because Buick is big in China, and they didn't want too much competition for Chevy. Woulda been best if they sold it privately or let Holden have the rights to it. Pontiac is still missed by many of us.
I'd rather still have Saab over Pontiac. Saabs at least were original and the new 9-5 looked very promising, as well as the new 9-4. They tried to be different and be more than simply rebadged GMs, unlike Pontiac at the time. Sure, the 9-7 was the worst offender and the 9-2X was just a rebadged and redesigned Impreza, but at its death, the 9-5 was brand new and looked like nothing else from GM, the 9-4 looked interesting and potentially could have saved Saab would it have been unveiled a couple years earlier, and the 9-3 would have seen a redesign not much later. Saab might have been the smallest "division" (they were never a true GM brand IMO, just like Jaguar never was totally a true Ford brand), but it had the most loyal fan base and had the most promising future at its death, with two new cars. They were an alternative to the usual luxury cars available on the market and not only tried, but were actually anti-conformist. In fact, I believe the GM takeover is, at the very beginning, what began the process of Saab's death. Anti-conformism and originality doesn't fit with mass profit, cheap solutions and excessive budget cutting, which is what GM does so well (remember the ignition switch scandal? I do) and better than every other automaker group. GM is the most American of domestic car makers, and I mean this by its ideology and business practices. Constant budget saving, constant cost cutting, often if not always at the price of the consumer. Saab did not fit into this and was forced to share GM platforms at the maximum, and the best example of this was the 9-7. As for Pontiacs, they were basically rebadged Holdens and Chevys at that point and had been for the last decade (except for the Solstice), and Saturn was literally just Opel USA when it was killed off. I'd be interested to see how Pontiac would fare today, as the general car quality immensely improved after the Recession (I recall to you that the Corvette still had the same steering wheel as the Cobalt before the Recession, just as a little example), and I believe it would probably have had went back into performance a couple years ago. However, at the time it was killed, it simply wasn't promising at all. As for Olds, it doesn't really count since it had been killed for half a decade when the Recession made its first victims. It simply wasn't selling anymore and I cannot see how it would have looked like after the Recession since it had been killed for so long and was still based on GM platforms from the 1990s at the time. As for Buick, the thing is that China is the biggest country in the world and holds potentially the biggest market in the world. That, plus there's the fact that they're still insanely popular over here, simply because it is the equivalent of Mercury back then or GMC right now: a midrange luxury car ranging between the everyman's car (Chevy-Ford) and the all out luxury car (Cadillac-Mercury). People, especially older people, see Chevys as basic but Cadillacs as all out luxury cars, and they see Buicks as better Chevys for not much more. Same for GMC. The result? I probably see more Veranos than Cruzes, see more Encores than Traxs and definitively see more Sierras than Silverados. Plus, their performance line-up might still be deficient, but the Regal is definitively interesting (especially the GS), and the previous gen Regal was definitively an underrated car on a very healthy platform (Opel Insignia). I have to agree about your feelings over Hummer though. A useless brand based over what should have stayed an experiment between AM General and Schwarzenegger. Sure, the H2 had crazy potential off-road and the H3 was interesting, but they were way too focused (the Wrangler at least had the merit of not doing 8 mpg) and basically useless.
Saturns were pos economy cars and total trash. More in the junkyard than on the road but Pontiac was my fave of GM. They never should have gotten rid of the L67 supercharged 3.8. The 3.5 and 3.9 were not good replacments.
@Chris Atkinson the Saturn S-series were a lot better economy cars from anything else GM had to offer at the time. The S-series cars aren’t bad. Everything else Saturn made (except for the Sky) was trash.
B Ferg It is awesome! My only complaints are that the automatic shifts kind of slow and the traction control is way too aggressive. I have a Rotofab intake, Pypes headers, mid muffler delete, solo axle backs and a tune.
when Pontiac finally had a great lineup, they killed the brand. the g8 was technically Australian, but still. I drove a v6 g8 and it was a blast. oh, I miss Pontiac 💔
+9890jsp Thank years and years of sub-par models. The 08/09 Pontiac line-up was a band aid on a bullet wound. Too little too late unfortunately. I blame all the people that hated the cars like the 04-06 GTO too. Peoples negativity = poor sales
They had to that was the deal with the government had to remove a couple comanies because they were bankrupt thats why they got rid of hummer and pontiac because the sells were low
@@wiibaron The only SRT that could be compared to this car is the 2009 Charger SRT-8 which takes 4.7 seconds to reach 60 mph and 13.1 seconds through the 1/4 mile. The Firehawk is much faster and is even only a few tenths slower than the Viper ACR of the time which takes 3.6 to hit 60 and 11.6 through the 1/4. This firehawk is a beast.
@@Viper81766 lol I had 2 SRT vehicles and they were reliable. 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and a 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat but the old 2004 Chrysler Sebring sedan is a whole different story 😅. I'm not going to lie I'm a GM guy at heart and YES I was worried about Mopars reliability without a warranty. It was always in the back of my mind When will this car break down 🤔
I bought a G8 GT with the supercharger and Kooks long tubes from SLP. I can tell you these cars are a beast! You can't touch any other car with this power for anywhere close to the price!
Holden Special Vehicles already did this with the Club Sport R8 Bathurst edition. Take away the Pontiac and Firehawk badges, change the body kit, and add a supercharger. Razor sharp, fast, and when you combine the high pitched whine of the supercharger with the bellow of the V8, they make quite an impression
You should see its Australian HSV Cousin, the Club Sport R8 Bathurst Edition. Supercharged as well, they will do the quarter in 11 seconds, or disappear into a cloud of tyre smoke, whichever you're in the mood for
Theyre not really a "sleeper". Their aggressive styling kind of gives away the secret under the hood. A sleeper would be something like a Ford Taurus SHO that doesn't look aggressive or give any clues that it's actually a fast car. But, I agree, G8s are bad fucking ass as are the newer version of it the Chevy SS.
I wish Pontiac was still in production. They were so cool. The Grand Prix, Bonneville, Tran Sport, Trans Am, Aztec, Catalina, GTO, Sunbird, Solstice, etc. They were all so cool.
I suppose that was a good one for Pontiac to go out with. Pretty much true to the original GTO formula of a family car that had real guts. Sad that Pontiac is gone. They contributed so much to the auto industry for all those decades.
I've never been a GM guy but was ok with Pontiac. Makes me want them to revive it so it can compete against Dodge. I also wish Ford would revive a RWD V8 sedan against Charger
I've owned a few Pontiacs, Bonneville, Grand Prix GTP, Grand Am GT, and now currently an 09 G6. I loved them all in they're own ways and now I want this modded G8.
What a good shout by Pontiac. Normally only manual cars are interesting but when cars are this rowdy and go 0-60 in under 4 seconds, I would want both hands on the wheel
The last devision I was have chopped was Pontiac. Buick and Oldsmobile had the same feel across the entire platform, and axing one of them would have made NO difference. Pontiac built excitement until the bitter end.
That's a bad ass car. 500 HP, with almost 500 lb-ft of torque? Nice! The only (minor) complaint I have is they should've at least given you an option to be able to stagger larger sized rear tires. 245 series are pretty small for all that torque. And PLEASE tell me there's an available manual transmission.
Agreed. There's something all true sports cars need. A manual transmission. Controlling any car is a lot more entertaining with a manual. You can hold a lower gear in anticipation of punching the throttle. With an auto, you're forced to wait on the kickdown. What a bummer.
And we loved it. It was a bargain compared to ANYTHING from the Germans, and today, it still is. It combined great power & performance with everyday usability & value.
While this is wild...it's also very strange. I still have my 2002 Firehawk Trans-Am that I bought in 2002. What gets me is...why didn't they do this with the very last Trans-Am? The bird in Firehawk is all Trans-Am.
@sexyboi142 Wrong. The Cobalt and G5 are not J-Bodies. Not are they "essentially" cavaliers. The G5, Cobalt, and Ion all were built on the GM Delta platform. Not the J-Body.
@studpuppy69 No it's NOT a cavalier. The Cobalt/G5 are both on the Delta platform. Not the J-platform. The only thing they "might" have in common is an engine option. Nothing else is the same between those cars. And they last fine when you take care of them. So do Cavaliers.
I’m surprised they didn’t do a SLP Firehawk using the G8 GXP as a base car to start with. The larger engine would have resulted in probably at least 550 horsepower after adding the supercharger.
The Camaro and Firebird "F" body cars were made in St Theresse Quebec Canada. The new 2010 Camaro and G8 are based on the Australian Holden Zeta platform. ASC will make a Trans Am body kit for your new Holden Zeta camaro. ASC made the WS6. SLP made the RS/SS camaro...and Firehawks.
All these years and I've never seen a Firehawk on the road. I truly hope they're being cared for. All 200❤😢. I have a 08 GXP Grand Prix and I love it and would never get rid of it. I've always loved Pontiac's
vf 2017 hsv clubsport lsa (550hp) is 62000usd brand new , commodore ss v redline 42000usd in oz . G8 Firehawk ( 500hp) was good value for 56000usd back then
@TEAMLSX i would, this thing is super fast for a 4 door and even fast for a firehawk..... faster and quicker than a 92 firehawk actually. 92 0-60 in 4.6secs and 1/4 mile in 13.2. this does 0-60 in 4secs and 1/4 mile in 12.1.
I want one. I hear that the Twin of this car is still being made in Australia by Holden. But I forget the model name but it has a different body kit and it's right wheel drive in the drivers compartment....
@studpuppy69 - Cobalt was ground-up a different design than the Cavalier. It just happens to fill the same niche. The Cavalier was outdated. Much of the vehicle remained the same between its beginning circa 83 and the end of the run. The thing lacked character, lacked identity, and lacked soul. I owned an 86 and my friend had an 01. We found the vehicles to be different mostly aesthetically. The driving experience remained the same - poor.
@AlexanderRozhenko well i partially agree with that. however I assume they are banking bringing more of the Asian designs to the USA since everyone was buying Japanese for so long. And since Pontiac is in a smaller market it makes sense i guess lol. I feel bad about it going though.
the headlights remind of a 2000 era Maxima a rare look, kind of a down under styling. They either SLP or MOtorweek should of done a break job before filming the show, as it was used by other media folks and the brakes likely got trashed.
Actually you may wanna get your facts correctly. Street Legal Performance= SLP Performance. A performance company specializing in aftermarket upgrades for certain vehicles. It's not a GM compnay This is what killed GM
@sixstringCM06 Ok, well idk what your def. of "firehawk" is, but a 5 seater sedan that runs a 12.1 at 124 is amazing! So it might not be a firehawk to you but its an amazing machine that rivals any super sedan, and the performance is very close to first year GTR.
@sexyboi142 Not really. They are heavily revised exteriors and interiors. the Cavalier's belt line isn't near as high, the greenhouse isn't as tall, the front and rear styling has nothing in common. There's no real styling in common between these cars. and shape has nothing do with it's platform. They are still Delta cars, not J-bodies.
Steep price for 2009 but then again this was more then just a car, it was also an investment since Pontiac was to be no more and this was a rare special SLP Edition. Real beauty !
@tobythesandwich shape wise...they are j-bodies.and the G5 and cobalt may be on a new platform but they are stuck in its past life, the car it replaced. THE CAVALIER! i've parked my DD (02' cavi coupe) right next to a cobalt coupe and thought..hmm the cobalt is just a fat version of the cavalier....
thay. made this car only for two years from 2008 to2009 the Pontiac g8 was a great gorgeous and strong car with all trimmed level it was pmw 5. killer even the. pmw m5 to saad Pontiac brand gone in 2010 and i hope it comes back again because they use to make gorgeous cars
the G8's look better than any transam, ita faster, quicker stopping, better grip, better cornering, better gas mileage, and still lets people ride in comfort. and SLP owns the firehawk name. so they decide what is or isnt called a firehawk.
I like all the idiots that have a problem with this G8 being labeled a "Firehawk". This is SLP's car, they can call it whatever they want. Stop fucking crying.
I'm not a gm fan at ALL! I bleed the darkest of ford blue. But this ausi is the shit what a great package half the price of an m5 with great looks and ls power reliability! Plane out in out awesome!!!!!!!!
im a gm man and i hate that pontiac isnt going to be around too much longer but if im going to spen over 50 G's on an sports sedan im goin to get the CTS-V.
no launch control, no 10 speed autos, no bullshit, and still a 4.0 second 0-60! this car is the absolute limit of speed without any of the computer stuff we have now
Unfortunately they don't sell well as more people want a sedan and insurance companies hate 2 door cars. They once charged a guy the same insurance rate as a CR-X when he had a Civic 2dr DX. Now this is one badass Ponitac , this is a true collectors item. I've never seen it up here (Canada) but I wish they had. Sad to see Ponitac discontinued , I thought maybe Chevy. Oh! Well. GM had to many brands anyway. I guess the 300M is going to need a V10 to compete with that. Warp drive!!!
Pontiac should have supercharged the 04, 05 and 06 GTO. I bet Pontiac would have still been around today if they did. Love Pontiac. I've owned 4 Fiero's, 84 firebird, two 98 ls1 Firebirds and two 04 GTO's and currently drive a 01 ls1 Firebird formula.
did you see the complete video, and any other videos on the pontiac g8 gt, or gxp? pontiac has had bad cars over the last decade, but these cars from GMs holden division are great. The older american cars, the muscel cars. didnt fair well at corners, that is true, but werent built for that, it was a different time, where the 0-60 counted more, the how much G's you can pull out, or the times at the figure 8.
It kinda looks like a 3 series from the side. But Pontiac wont be gone for more than 15 years I guarantee it. They're going out with a bang cuz when they bring it back they'll be able to build anticipation. It's called Marketing.
At least I get to drive it’s baby brother, got myself an ‘09 G6 GT, with the 3.5, V6, loaded optionally A-Z. Got a Super Tune chip , got rid of the resonator and run only 91 octane pump gas (at $6.50/gallon Canadian), but worth it. Love my Pontiac 👍🇨🇦
What the T/A Firehawk would be if it were a slushbox-carrying sedan. It is simply amazing although i really don't think this car reached 22 mpg given this kind of test cycle.
I think they may have been a bit conservative with that horsepower rating. It takes more than 500hp at the crank for a 2-ton car to hit 124mph in the 1/4 mile. Wow.
TheRealestEver 1/4 mile trap speed is a pretty fool-proof way of finding out the true power to weight ratio of a car. Ask anyone that's spent years racing at sanctioned tracks.
TheRealestEver Air density affects how much power the engine can make. That effect is smaller on engines with forced induction, due to the fact that they compress air far beyond atmospheric pressure. That can't be used as an argument against me, because we're talking about power production anyways. Track prep has almost nothing to do with trap speed. It can have a huge impact on 1/4 ET, but not trap speed. Fuel mapping has an effect on trap speed, because like air density, it affects the power the engine is making. Once again, power production. That's helps my argument, not yours. It's assumed with modern cars that the gearing is close to optimal to keep the engine in it's power band, so throw that argument out the window. I spent over 4 seasons racing at NHRA and IHRA drag strips in 3 different classes. If you know the weight of a car, and it has fairly typical factory gearing, you can tell roughly how much power it's making from 1/4 mile trap speed. This is common knowledge to anyone who has spent a significant amount of time at the drag strip. Not even up for debate.
TheRealestEver My point stands. Even with a professional driver on a perfect day, a car weighing 3900+ lbs with 500 crank horsepower and streetable gearing can't hit 124 mph in the 1/4 mile. The car must have significantly more power than that to hit such a trap speed. Look at the trap speed of a 505hp C6 Z06, which weighs under 3200 lbs. They hit 122-125, depending on driver and air density. This isn't hard. It's not "bubba science." It's observation of repeatable results (experience). The numbers don't lie.
TheRealestEver Yes, I can. www.motortrend.com/cars/bmw/m5/2014/2014-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-s-vs-bmw-m5-competition-pack-comparison/ "The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Model is a monster. Under the bulging hood sits a nicely juiced-up version of the now-familiar M157 AMG engine. It’s 5.5 liters in displacement, has two turbochargers fitted directly to the exhaust headers, and fills the combustion chamber with direct-injected gasoline at 2000 psi. Such a motor, especially in the new S Model tune, creates 577 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. Of course those power numbers are GMFN, or German Minimum Fantasy Numbers. Meaning that we stuck this particular gray example on K&N Engineering’s dynamometer and discovered that the M157 in this car churns out 541 wheel-horsepower and 508 lb-ft of torque. As the S Model E63 is AWD, and since you typically factor in a drivetrain loss for AWD cars of 20 percent (the transmission and drive shafts tend to suck a lot of power), the actual crank numbers on this car are much closer to 676 hp and 636 lb-ft of torque. "
TheRealestEver The car they tested in the review I linked to weighed 4511 lbs and had a trap speed of 121.8 mph. A 2013-14 GT500 weighs between 3850 and 3962 lbs, depending on whether it's a coupe or convertible. They tend to trap between 125 and 127 mph. The 2 cars are 600-700 lbs apart in weight, and have a difference in trap speed of about 4 mph on average. That's right in the ballpark of what we should expect. Given the fact that the GT500's Tremec 6-speed transmission has exceptionally long gearing, versus the 7-speed in the E63, the numbers all add up. The E63 has the advantage of more aggressive gearing. That's definitely worth a mph or 2. I never denied that gearing (and time between shifts) have an impact on trap speed. In fact, the G8 in the video we're posting on has a pretty lazy transmission compared to the E63. That makes it even more obvious that the G8 has a lot more power on tap than they're letting on. They underrated the crap out of it.
I'm still pissed that GM decided to kill Pontiac! Just when the division was starting to get it right, they pull the plug. I can see them killing hummer ( overweight, no speed, crappy mpg AND sucks off road!), Saab ( didn't like the professor/dentist/hippy car). and Olds ( can't wait for grandpa to get his settlement checks!), but to kill Pontiac and Saturn was just wrong. To me, the only reason that they killed Pontiac instead of Buick is because Buick is big in China, and they didn't want too much competition for Chevy. Woulda been best if they sold it privately or let Holden have the rights to it. Pontiac is still missed by many of us.
I'd rather still have Saab over Pontiac. Saabs at least were original and the new 9-5 looked very promising, as well as the new 9-4. They tried to be different and be more than simply rebadged GMs, unlike Pontiac at the time. Sure, the 9-7 was the worst offender and the 9-2X was just a rebadged and redesigned Impreza, but at its death, the 9-5 was brand new and looked like nothing else from GM, the 9-4 looked interesting and potentially could have saved Saab would it have been unveiled a couple years earlier, and the 9-3 would have seen a redesign not much later. Saab might have been the smallest "division" (they were never a true GM brand IMO, just like Jaguar never was totally a true Ford brand), but it had the most loyal fan base and had the most promising future at its death, with two new cars. They were an alternative to the usual luxury cars available on the market and not only tried, but were actually anti-conformist. In fact, I believe the GM takeover is, at the very beginning, what began the process of Saab's death. Anti-conformism and originality doesn't fit with mass profit, cheap solutions and excessive budget cutting, which is what GM does so well (remember the ignition switch scandal? I do) and better than every other automaker group. GM is the most American of domestic car makers, and I mean this by its ideology and business practices. Constant budget saving, constant cost cutting, often if not always at the price of the consumer. Saab did not fit into this and was forced to share GM platforms at the maximum, and the best example of this was the 9-7.
As for Pontiacs, they were basically rebadged Holdens and Chevys at that point and had been for the last decade (except for the Solstice), and Saturn was literally just Opel USA when it was killed off. I'd be interested to see how Pontiac would fare today, as the general car quality immensely improved after the Recession (I recall to you that the Corvette still had the same steering wheel as the Cobalt before the Recession, just as a little example), and I believe it would probably have had went back into performance a couple years ago. However, at the time it was killed, it simply wasn't promising at all. As for Olds, it doesn't really count since it had been killed for half a decade when the Recession made its first victims. It simply wasn't selling anymore and I cannot see how it would have looked like after the Recession since it had been killed for so long and was still based on GM platforms from the 1990s at the time.
As for Buick, the thing is that China is the biggest country in the world and holds potentially the biggest market in the world. That, plus there's the fact that they're still insanely popular over here, simply because it is the equivalent of Mercury back then or GMC right now: a midrange luxury car ranging between the everyman's car (Chevy-Ford) and the all out luxury car (Cadillac-Mercury). People, especially older people, see Chevys as basic but Cadillacs as all out luxury cars, and they see Buicks as better Chevys for not much more. Same for GMC. The result? I probably see more Veranos than Cruzes, see more Encores than Traxs and definitively see more Sierras than Silverados. Plus, their performance line-up might still be deficient, but the Regal is definitively interesting (especially the GS), and the previous gen Regal was definitively an underrated car on a very healthy platform (Opel Insignia).
I have to agree about your feelings over Hummer though. A useless brand based over what should have stayed an experiment between AM General and Schwarzenegger. Sure, the H2 had crazy potential off-road and the H3 was interesting, but they were way too focused (the Wrangler at least had the merit of not doing 8 mpg) and basically useless.
Diatribe Much my lord🤷
@@oliviersavard8676
I put a bookmark in the middle of your comment, I'll finish it later! 👌
Saturns were pos economy cars and total trash. More in the junkyard than on the road but Pontiac was my fave of GM. They never should have gotten rid of the L67 supercharged 3.8. The 3.5 and 3.9 were not good replacments.
@Chris Atkinson the Saturn S-series were a lot better economy cars from anything else GM had to offer at the time. The S-series cars aren’t bad. Everything else Saturn made (except for the Sky) was trash.
Just bought a G8 GT!!! I watched just about every G8 video on youtube and looked at all the auto sale websites for years and I finally have one!!!
How you like your car?
B Ferg It is awesome! My only complaints are that the automatic shifts kind of slow and the traction control is way too aggressive. I have a Rotofab intake, Pypes headers, mid muffler delete, solo axle backs and a tune.
So you actually brought a HOLDEN COMMODORE SS
@@ToranaA9X308 yes I did. Now it has more done. A cam and a stall converter
when Pontiac finally had a great lineup, they killed the brand. the g8 was technically Australian, but still. I drove a v6 g8 and it was a blast. oh, I miss Pontiac 💔
I definitely agree with you, I miss Pontiac too.
I actually have a 2006 Pontiac GTO.
+9890jsp Thank years and years of sub-par models. The 08/09 Pontiac line-up was a band aid on a bullet wound. Too little too late unfortunately. I blame all the people that hated the cars like the 04-06 GTO too. Peoples negativity = poor sales
+LS260GTO MIY I loved the Gto. they had cool gauge clusters, even for their time. plus they were well built imo
+chevyfan1251992 I always liked the grand Prix, it was tacky and plastic but they'd haul ass
If I got one now it would have to be a supercharged series 2 3800. The series 3 just never got the aftermarket support like the 2 did.
It was Stupid for GM to get rid of Pontiac they were my favorite car company from the general now all they make is boring vehicles
C7 zr1 and camaro ZL1 1LE are boring?
They had to that was the deal with the government had to remove a couple comanies because they were bankrupt thats why they got rid of hummer and pontiac because the sells were low
I’ll second that, should have been Buick & Hummer instead.
@@josiahthibodeaux While I agree, Buick makes a shit ton of money in China and they sell an okay amount of cars in the U.S.
@@johnlukach4091 rhetorical question farley
I am stunned that this car went over 120 mph in the quarter mile......very impressive
The American AMG of its time
Australian*
SRT says stfu...
@@wiibaron The only SRT that could be compared to this car is the 2009 Charger SRT-8 which takes 4.7 seconds to reach 60 mph and 13.1 seconds through the 1/4 mile. The Firehawk is much faster and is even only a few tenths slower than the Viper ACR of the time which takes 3.6 to hit 60 and 11.6 through the 1/4. This firehawk is a beast.
@@wiibaron as the SRT sits in a garage 95% of the time being repaired
@@Viper81766 lol I had 2 SRT vehicles and they were reliable. 2011 Dodge Challenger SRT8 and a 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat but the old 2004 Chrysler Sebring sedan is a whole different story 😅. I'm not going to lie I'm a GM guy at heart and YES I was worried about Mopars reliability without a warranty. It was always in the back of my mind When will this car break down 🤔
Getting this recommend in 2020 and wondering why, but I'm totally okay with it at the same time
No doubt?
2021 and I agree
Dec. 2021 here.
2022
Because you're ignorant
I bought a G8 GT with the supercharger and Kooks long tubes from SLP. I can tell you these cars are a beast! You can't touch any other car with this power for anywhere close to the price!
The Chevy SS is the G8 underneath. They still sell rwd fun, for fairly cheap
+9890jsp Not what I would call cheap but it is fun to drive. I have a 2015 M6 SS
+Ralph L Well, no it's not cheap but it's a far cry from expensive. A comparable BMW costs way more for example.
9890jsp That it does. At about 1/2 the cost with less maintenance cost to. Cars just aren't cheap anymore.
Alan Garrett unless the police are on you
Holden Special Vehicles already did this with the Club Sport R8 Bathurst edition. Take away the Pontiac and Firehawk badges, change the body kit, and add a supercharger. Razor sharp, fast, and when you combine the high pitched whine of the supercharger with the bellow of the V8, they make quite an impression
You should see its Australian HSV Cousin, the Club Sport R8 Bathurst Edition. Supercharged as well, they will do the quarter in 11 seconds, or disappear into a cloud of tyre smoke, whichever you're in the mood for
Pontiac was my favorite GM brand
that's a bad ass g8. there growing on me for sure. ultimate sleeper.
Theyre not really a "sleeper". Their aggressive styling kind of gives away the secret under the hood. A sleeper would be something like a Ford Taurus SHO that doesn't look aggressive or give any clues that it's actually a fast car. But, I agree, G8s are bad fucking ass as are the newer version of it the Chevy SS.
That'll stomp the crap out of a new SS. I can't believe I don't remember hearing about the Super Hawk version.
Same, I remember the GT and GXP but not the Firehawk version ... I must be slipping ...
Same. Just now heard about it
They're rare cars. The original SLP Firehawk only had 25 examples.
@@1rstGear Yeah I was using the original '90s Firehawks as a reference since I didn't know how many SLP G8s were made.
@@badlydrawncars6460 yea re-read your post and realized I missed the word origional.....🤦🏾♂️ so I discarded my comments lol
I never hand the chance to buy one,When the SS came out in 2014 I bought one.Love the car
love this guy! Doing this for a long time, lucky guy he gets to test drive all these cool cars
I wish Pontiac was still in production. They were so cool. The Grand Prix, Bonneville, Tran Sport, Trans Am, Aztec, Catalina, GTO, Sunbird, Solstice, etc. They were all so cool.
@@THE-xp3hp the tent was cool though
grand am too
Holy shit, I don't even remember them making this car
Because they didn’t it AUSTRALIAN
The new tag price for those was a damn good deal, I wish you get a car with that much to play with for that price these days brand new
I suppose that was a good one for Pontiac to go out with. Pretty much true to the original GTO formula of a family car that had real guts. Sad that Pontiac is gone. They contributed so much to the auto industry for all those decades.
"This g8's hardcore facial" - dude, listen to what you're fucking saying lmao
At 3:41 "hard core facial". Yeah, I have a really dirty mind.
I'm not sure how else you could take it.
you could take it on the boobies, the booty, you know ?
G.R.A nothing like giving her a pearl necklace
always preferred a hot body shot makeover
Giggity
Holy SH*T that thing is FAST!! I am sure the existing Firehawks are trailer queens now.
I've never been a GM guy but was ok with Pontiac. Makes me want them to revive it so it can compete against Dodge. I also wish Ford would revive a RWD V8 sedan against Charger
THUNDERBIRD! Update the 90s T-bird to look like the ones they drove in NASCAR. Big ass 4-door body.
Very cool! The G8’s were awesome cars. I like the 98-02 WS6 Trans AM and 05-06 LS2 GTO a little better though.
I've owned a few Pontiacs, Bonneville, Grand Prix GTP, Grand Am GT, and now currently an 09 G6. I loved them all in they're own ways and now I want this modded G8.
when GM gets its balls back, they should bring back Pontiac with a badass Firebird to unveil.
What a good shout by Pontiac. Normally only manual cars are interesting but when cars are this rowdy and go 0-60 in under 4 seconds, I would want both hands on the wheel
Was trying to hear the exhaust but John Davis wouldn't stfu
Bobby Johnson cut it out man, he’s just doing his job. Show the man some respect please.
I too was so waiting to hear that exhaust note in the review but nooooo, all talky-talk. Too bad 😔
Bobby Johnson same
Bobby Johnson Davis is a legend
Leave Mr. Davis alone. His voice can never be replaced for this show.
The last devision I was have chopped was Pontiac. Buick and Oldsmobile had the same feel across the entire platform, and axing one of them would have made NO difference.
Pontiac built excitement until the bitter end.
That's a bad ass car. 500 HP, with almost 500 lb-ft of torque? Nice!
The only (minor) complaint I have is they should've at least given you an option to be able to stagger larger sized rear tires. 245 series are pretty small for all that torque.
And PLEASE tell me there's an available manual transmission.
124mph trap speed? id say 500hp is a conservative number.
Down under , vorteh supercharger can give a 2006 ve ss 420kw
About 563hp, also if you are curious about something like this in the future just google "kw to hp" or whatever units you want to convert
The speed is electronically limited. With only redline limit and proper gearing it should do close to 200 mph.
500 at the wheels
@jayjaylen75 Giving people the tools to answer their own questions isn't being a smart @$$, it's being helpful.
Agreed. There's something all true sports cars need. A manual transmission. Controlling any car is a lot more entertaining with a manual. You can hold a lower gear in anticipation of punching the throttle. With an auto, you're forced to wait on the kickdown. What a bummer.
And we loved it. It was a bargain compared to ANYTHING from the Germans, and today, it still is. It combined great power & performance with everyday usability & value.
@ptwxxx the G5 and cobalt are just bubbly J-bodies. its essentially a cavalier.
@TEAMLSX i would, this thing is super fast for a 4 door and even fast for a firehawk
I wish MotorWeek had done a review of the G8 GT. There are way more of those on the road than the GXP and Firehawk GT's combined.
NEVER knew there was a Firehawk G8. I love those G8s, still !!! Always wish I had one, still do!!
Saw a MINT GXP a few weeks ago close to my home.
While this is wild...it's also very strange. I still have my 2002 Firehawk Trans-Am that I bought in 2002. What gets me is...why didn't they do this with the very last Trans-Am? The bird in Firehawk is all Trans-Am.
@sexyboi142 Wrong. The Cobalt and G5 are not J-Bodies. Not are they "essentially" cavaliers. The G5, Cobalt, and Ion all were built on the GM Delta platform. Not the J-Body.
Nice performance and styling. Good job Pontiac & SLP!
@studpuppy69 No it's NOT a cavalier. The Cobalt/G5 are both on the Delta platform. Not the J-platform. The only thing they "might" have in common is an engine option. Nothing else is the same between those cars.
And they last fine when you take care of them. So do Cavaliers.
I’m surprised they didn’t do a SLP Firehawk using the G8 GXP as a base car to start with. The larger engine would have resulted in probably at least 550 horsepower after adding the supercharger.
We're you one of the engineers?
Yes
wow I never knew that there was a firehawk version of the G8 🤯
Would Love to have one in White
The Camaro and Firebird "F" body cars were made in St Theresse Quebec Canada. The new 2010 Camaro and G8 are based on the Australian Holden Zeta platform. ASC will make a Trans Am body kit for your new Holden Zeta camaro. ASC made the WS6. SLP made the RS/SS camaro...and Firehawks.
All these years and I've never seen a Firehawk on the road. I truly hope they're being cared for. All 200❤😢. I have a 08 GXP Grand Prix and I love it and would never get rid of it. I've always loved Pontiac's
queremos q PONTIAC vuelva al mercado.
será un momento histórico y de resurgir pir una marca PERFORMANCE.
4:01 that is one sweet rear end. Love these Poncho's.
It’s a holden commodore
They can come back. Hopefully the time off has taught them something.
...something like don't forget the t-tops/targa top.
vf 2017 hsv clubsport lsa (550hp) is 62000usd brand new , commodore ss v redline 42000usd in oz . G8 Firehawk ( 500hp) was good value for 56000usd back then
and this car looks very good
Thank Australia
@@ToranaA9X308👍🏻
@TEAMLSX i would, this thing is super fast for a 4 door and even fast for a firehawk..... faster and quicker than a 92 firehawk actually. 92 0-60 in 4.6secs and 1/4 mile in 13.2. this does 0-60 in 4secs and 1/4 mile in 12.1.
A 124 mph trap in a 4k lbs car is a lot more than 500 hp
Yeah I agree that doesn't add up. I suspect some numbers "massaging" as GM has done before. What was the rated hp of the top Corvette that year?
I love the G8 so much I bought one, Gt !!!
I want one. I hear that the Twin of this car is still being made in Australia by Holden. But I forget the model name but it has a different body kit and it's right wheel drive in the drivers compartment....
It's called the Holden Commodore and they don't make it anymore. The car being built now is the HSV and it's what the new Chevrolet SS is built from.
@studpuppy69 - Cobalt was ground-up a different design than the Cavalier. It just happens to fill the same niche. The Cavalier was outdated. Much of the vehicle remained the same between its beginning circa 83 and the end of the run. The thing lacked character, lacked identity, and lacked soul. I owned an 86 and my friend had an 01. We found the vehicles to be different mostly aesthetically. The driving experience remained the same - poor.
Great car never heard of it till now . Was better then the GXP version that crazy
Great car, this G8 is last car of Pontiac
@@fernandorocha8459 the last good car was a G8 but the very last Pontiac was a G6 and it was in a accident. Last check it was in a junk yard
@AlexanderRozhenko well i partially agree with that. however I assume they are banking bringing more of the Asian designs to the USA since everyone was buying Japanese for so long. And since Pontiac is in a smaller market it makes sense i guess lol. I feel bad about it going though.
the headlights remind of a 2000 era Maxima a rare look, kind of a down under styling. They either SLP or MOtorweek should of done a break job before filming the show, as it was used by other media folks and the brakes likely got trashed.
wow allways been a hawk fan but didnt know these had that much power id want one if i didnt have a CTS-V 09
Actually you may wanna get your facts correctly. Street Legal Performance= SLP Performance. A performance company specializing in aftermarket upgrades for certain vehicles. It's not a GM compnay This is what killed GM
@sixstringCM06 Ok, well idk what your def. of "firehawk" is, but a 5 seater sedan that runs a 12.1 at 124 is amazing! So it might not be a firehawk to you but its an amazing machine that rivals any super sedan, and the performance is very close to first year GTR.
Launched at a time as bad as 1973. If I settled in the US I'd be driving a rare beast like this.
I mean the second gen CTS-V is basically the same thing right? ZR1 supercharger and everything
I think the CTS-V has 550+ hp
DAM THIS CAR IS FAST
Thank Aussies
@sexyboi142 Not really. They are heavily revised exteriors and interiors. the Cavalier's belt line isn't near as high, the greenhouse isn't as tall, the front and rear styling has nothing in common. There's no real styling in common between these cars.
and shape has nothing do with it's platform. They are still Delta cars, not J-bodies.
Wow and I thought I knew about of Pontiac’s performance cars… but I’ve never even heard about this thing until now!!!
Putting the window and mirror controls in the center mean they wont get rained on when you open the doors. Way better place to put them in my opinion.
Steep price for 2009 but then again this was more then just a car, it was also an investment since Pontiac was to be no more and this was a rare special SLP Edition.
Real beauty !
I'm not crazy about most 4 door cars, but I'd own this one!
PANTYEATR1 not to many people like 4 door cars anymore
I had no idea they branded a G8 Firehawk.
12 sec quarter mile. More than 500hp if u ask me
@tobythesandwich shape wise...they are j-bodies.and the G5 and cobalt may be on a new platform but they are stuck in its past life, the car it replaced. THE CAVALIER! i've parked my DD (02' cavi coupe) right next to a cobalt coupe and thought..hmm the cobalt is just a fat version of the cavalier....
thay. made this car only for two years from 2008 to2009 the Pontiac g8 was a great gorgeous and strong car with all trimmed level it was pmw 5. killer even the. pmw m5 to saad Pontiac brand gone in 2010 and i hope it comes back again because they use to make gorgeous cars
I am looking at getting a Pontiac G8 GT
the G8's look better than any transam, ita faster, quicker stopping, better grip, better cornering, better gas mileage, and still lets people ride in comfort. and SLP owns the firehawk name. so they decide what is or isnt called a firehawk.
I like all the idiots that have a problem with this G8 being labeled a "Firehawk". This is SLP's car, they can call it whatever they want. Stop fucking crying.
***** we can only hope.
a genius sedan like GM a sedan should build again in present & future ! RWD + V8 + all american styling = must have
Haven’t heard slp or firehawk since the fourth gen camaro/TA
I'm not a gm fan at ALL! I bleed the darkest of ford blue. But this ausi is the shit what a great package half the price of an m5 with great looks and ls power reliability! Plane out in out awesome!!!!!!!!
im a gm man and i hate that pontiac isnt going to be around too much longer but if im going to spen over 50 G's on an sports sedan im goin to get the CTS-V.
no launch control, no 10 speed autos, no bullshit, and still a 4.0 second 0-60! this car is the absolute limit of speed without any of the computer stuff we have now
put a 10A behind this engine and it's doing the 1/4 in mid 11's.
Unfortunately they don't sell well as more people want a sedan and insurance companies hate 2 door cars. They once charged a guy the same insurance rate as a CR-X when he had a Civic 2dr DX.
Now this is one badass Ponitac , this is a true collectors item. I've never seen it up here (Canada) but I wish they had. Sad to see Ponitac discontinued , I thought maybe Chevy. Oh! Well. GM had to many brands anyway. I guess the 300M is going to need a V10 to compete with that. Warp drive!!!
Pontiac should have supercharged the 04, 05 and 06 GTO. I bet Pontiac would have still been around today if they did. Love Pontiac. I've owned 4 Fiero's, 84 firebird, two 98 ls1 Firebirds and two 04 GTO's and currently drive a 01 ls1 Firebird formula.
I absolutely need one of these
I am in love
This is still one of the best cars ever built.
Wish they did that SLP upgrade on a GXP
did you see the complete video, and any other videos on the pontiac g8 gt, or gxp?
pontiac has had bad cars over the last decade, but these cars from GMs holden division are great.
The older american cars, the muscel cars. didnt fair well at corners, that is true, but werent built for that, it was a different time, where the 0-60 counted more, the how much G's you can pull out, or the times at the figure 8.
It kinda looks like a 3 series from the side. But Pontiac wont be gone for more than 15 years I guarantee it. They're going out with a bang cuz when they bring it back they'll be able to build anticipation. It's called Marketing.
At least I get to drive it’s baby brother, got myself an ‘09 G6 GT, with the 3.5, V6, loaded optionally A-Z. Got a Super Tune chip , got rid of the resonator and run only 91 octane pump gas (at $6.50/gallon Canadian), but worth it. Love my Pontiac 👍🇨🇦
super tune chip??? it's all done by odb now
My client has a 2008 commodore ss ute with a vorteh supercharger 420kw
*Vortech
I’ve never seen a fire hawk variant in person
What the T/A Firehawk would be if it were a slushbox-carrying sedan. It is simply amazing although i really don't think this car reached 22 mpg given this kind of test cycle.
I think they may have been a bit conservative with that horsepower rating. It takes more than 500hp at the crank for a 2-ton car to hit 124mph in the 1/4 mile. Wow.
TheRealestEver 1/4 mile trap speed is a pretty fool-proof way of finding out the true power to weight ratio of a car. Ask anyone that's spent years racing at sanctioned tracks.
TheRealestEver Air density affects how much power the engine can make. That effect is smaller on engines with forced induction, due to the fact that they compress air far beyond atmospheric pressure. That can't be used as an argument against me, because we're talking about power production anyways. Track prep has almost nothing to do with trap speed. It can have a huge impact on 1/4 ET, but not trap speed. Fuel mapping has an effect on trap speed, because like air density, it affects the power the engine is making. Once again, power production. That's helps my argument, not yours. It's assumed with modern cars that the gearing is close to optimal to keep the engine in it's power band, so throw that argument out the window.
I spent over 4 seasons racing at NHRA and IHRA drag strips in 3 different classes. If you know the weight of a car, and it has fairly typical factory gearing, you can tell roughly how much power it's making from 1/4 mile trap speed. This is common knowledge to anyone who has spent a significant amount of time at the drag strip. Not even up for debate.
TheRealestEver My point stands. Even with a professional driver on a perfect day, a car weighing 3900+ lbs with 500 crank horsepower and streetable gearing can't hit 124 mph in the 1/4 mile. The car must have significantly more power than that to hit such a trap speed. Look at the trap speed of a 505hp C6 Z06, which weighs under 3200 lbs. They hit 122-125, depending on driver and air density. This isn't hard. It's not "bubba science." It's observation of repeatable results (experience). The numbers don't lie.
TheRealestEver Yes, I can.
www.motortrend.com/cars/bmw/m5/2014/2014-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-s-vs-bmw-m5-competition-pack-comparison/
"The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Model is a monster. Under the bulging hood sits a nicely juiced-up version of the now-familiar M157 AMG engine. It’s 5.5 liters in displacement, has two turbochargers fitted directly to the exhaust headers, and fills the combustion chamber with direct-injected gasoline at 2000 psi. Such a motor, especially in the new S Model tune, creates 577 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. Of course those power numbers are GMFN, or German Minimum Fantasy Numbers. Meaning that we stuck this particular gray example on K&N Engineering’s dynamometer and discovered that the M157 in this car churns out 541 wheel-horsepower and 508 lb-ft of torque. As the S Model E63 is AWD, and since you typically factor in a drivetrain loss for AWD cars of 20 percent (the transmission and drive shafts tend to suck a lot of power), the actual crank numbers on this car are much closer to 676 hp and 636 lb-ft of torque. "
TheRealestEver The car they tested in the review I linked to weighed 4511 lbs and had a trap speed of 121.8 mph. A 2013-14 GT500 weighs between 3850 and 3962 lbs, depending on whether it's a coupe or convertible. They tend to trap between 125 and 127 mph. The 2 cars are 600-700 lbs apart in weight, and have a difference in trap speed of about 4 mph on average. That's right in the ballpark of what we should expect.
Given the fact that the GT500's Tremec 6-speed transmission has exceptionally long gearing, versus the 7-speed in the E63, the numbers all add up. The E63 has the advantage of more aggressive gearing. That's definitely worth a mph or 2.
I never denied that gearing (and time between shifts) have an impact on trap speed. In fact, the G8 in the video we're posting on has a pretty lazy transmission compared to the E63. That makes it even more obvious that the G8 has a lot more power on tap than they're letting on. They underrated the crap out of it.
This is close to the performance of an 09' Shelby GT500. I'd rather have the Shelby with the 6 speed, but this is still a cool package.
Music at 3:38???
@TheTrinibuggy the aussie version is nearly identical
I think it's safe to say that everyone including me misses PONTIAC. The people at GM were idiots for killing the brand.