[77GP]

Don't know much about these so I may need help...But I sure love it..Excuse the GT Muscl plate, that was on my Mustang. Too bad I cant just add a O.

[Sirrotica]

I have a Yellowjacket 05 that I bought new, and after owning it for over 7 years it still puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. Mine is also an automatic, I've done my share of gear changing over the years.

I've not done any power mods to it as 400 HP is really adequate for 99.9% for all occasions I run into. The haters seem to gone away here and more and more people are warming up to the 21st century GTO. There are some diehards that will never relent and detract from any mention of of the new GTO, just ignore them and enjoy your new ride. They aren't making anymore of them so you have one of the last GTOs made.

One other thing, although the owners of the 64-74 GTOs usually feel their cars are the only ones that get any attention, you'll have plenty of people ask you about your car.

Couple pics of mine:

[68lemansman]

I love the 04 to 06 GTOs . I am hoping to get lucky and find a nice one myself. I hear these cars are good on gas and you have the power also.

[Sirrotica]

Combined city/hwy I get 20-21 MPG if you keep your foot out of it same as any car. When I use it to pull the enclosed 6X10 T shirt trailer to the shows I get just a hair over 15, trailer loaded goes a little over 2,000 lbs.

As Pontiac claimed it will doe 0-60 in less than 5 seconds (4.8 is what was claimed by Pontiac for the LS2, 5.0 for the 04 LS1), stick or automatic makes no difference. It will hit 0-100 MPH without breaking a sweat and it's smooth too, kinda like an electric motor just gathers speed and keeps you pushed into the seat, before you know it your over 100, deceiving. With no special tuning or tires it should crack 13.5 on a dragstrip.

[77GP]

Thanks guys, I am really looking forward to playing with it. Couldn't hardly bring myself out of the garage....

[pont3]

I have a 2004 with just over 40k, and a 2006 with less than 5k, both bought new. I love them every bit as much as I do my 1972 and 1971. I don't race so I can't provide any PERSONAL confirmations as to what they will do on the track. However, after driving them back to back, I find it difficult to discern a seat-of-the-pants difference. What I do know, is that I like the sound of the 2004 better, and I like the cable driven throttle better than the drive-by-wire.

Bottom line is that despite the hate you witness here, these cars are every bit TRUE GTOs. And there are few here who have owned original GTOs longer than I have. Both of my "new" GTOs are totally original and unmodified in any way. In fact, the only thing not original on the 2004 is the tires and the battery.

[66bonne]

That Poncho will be fun !!

Jim

[rexus31]

Did you check with the previous owner to see if the wheel lock cylinder was replaced? This is a known issue on these cars and cost me over $400 to have fixed. Apparently the lock cylinder itself isn't a serviceable part so they had to replace the entire column. I was just outside of warranty but GM provided the part ($1,000) and stuck me with the labor.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthr...729&highlight=

A couple of months later at around 60K miles my Brake Warning Light came on. The hard line under the car was rubbing on the tranny dipstick tube, causing it to fail. I had never been under the car and figured this would be covered by GM as it was definitely a safety issue. Nope, they boned me for another $300. This also turned out to be a common issue.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthr...566&highlight=

Needless to say, that was the final straw as I didn't want to hold onto the car to see what else was going to fail. I traded it in for a new at the time '07 Dodge Charger R/T, Road and Track Package. I really loved the GTO's performance though; a very fun car to drive. It was unfortunate it had reliability/quality issues. As for the Charger, after 140,000 miles of trouble free driving, I traded it in in November for a '12 Charger R/T, Road and Track Package. I don't think I will buy another GM product.

[Garry Sr]

Originally Posted by 68lemansman

I love the 04 to 06 GTOs . I am hoping to get lucky and find a nice one myself. I hear these cars are good on gas and you have the power also.

I was checking prices on line last night and they appear to be holding a decent value. To me they look like Cavaliers and lack any true GTO heritage. (no offense to any new GTO owners)

[Old Blue 66]

I was never a fan of these cars. Not because of the name or anything, just really never liked the way they looked. Now if they made one in a convertible.....that might be another story. But sadly they didn't.

[bonneville Joe]

I drove my 05 like an old lady the other night and got 23.7 mpg in it. When I drive it like an A-hole I get about 18. Amazing car. Have fun with it.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by rexus31

Did you check with the previous owner to see if the wheel lock cylinder was replaced? This is a known issue on these cars and cost me over $400 to have fixed. Apparently the lock cylinder itself isn't a serviceable part so they had to replace the entire column. I was just outside of warranty but GM provided the part ($1,000) and stuck me with the labor.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthr...729&highlight=

A couple of months later at around 60K miles my Brake Warning Light came on. The hard line under the car was rubbing on the tranny dipstick tube, causing it to fail. I had never been under the car and figured this would be covered by GM as it was definitely a safety issue. Nope, they boned me for another $300. This also turned out to be a common issue.

http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthr...566&highlight=

Needless to say, that was the final straw as I didn't want to hold onto the car to see what else was going to fail. I traded it in for a new at the time '07 Dodge Charger R/T, Road and Track Package. I really loved the GTO's performance though; a very fun car to drive. It was unfortunate it had reliability/quality issues. As for the Charger, after 140,000 miles of trouble free driving, I traded it in in November for a '12 Charger R/T, Road and Track Package. I don't think I will buy another GM product.

Did GM turn down your warranty claims or the dealer? Because these cars were limited production cars most dealerships knew little about them and when I had the strut bearing issue on my own car the dealer flat out told me it was my baby. At 17,000 miles I contacted GM and got them to pay the whole thing, the extended the warranty to 6 years 60,000 miles for the hassle I got from the dealer for no good reason, no charge on the extended warranty either. The dealer was the problem and the agent from GM made me happy with the way she handled the problem.

The ignition lock can be fixed for nothing with a Dremel tool and just smoothing out the wear groove in the casting, you really don't have to replace the whole column. Taking a spray can of white grease and using the little straw provided you can lube the lock cylinder through the key opening and you can head off this issue before it becomes a real problem. Mine has 78,000 miles on it and as soon as the lock started acting up I did the white grease deal and it's been fine since.

The brake line is new to me and I'm going to have to take a look at mine to be sure there is clearance there.

I also know the plastic engine covers were not properly installed on some of the cars and had a tendency to rub a hole in the rubber section of fuel line where it goes under the plastic cover to the injection fuel rail, one good thing to check on these cars too.

Since GM killed off Pontiac I will also never buy another new GM car, however it's not from any bad experience with my GTO, nor them not handling warranty claims.

[rexus31]

Originally Posted by Sirrotica

Did GM turn down your warranty claims or the dealer? Because these cars were limited production cars most dealerships knew little about them and when I had the strut bearing issue on my own car the dealer flat out told me it was my baby. At 17,000 miles I contacted GM and got them to pay the whole thing, the extended the warranty to 6 years 60,000 miles for the hassle I got from the dealer for no good reason, no charge on the extended warranty either. The dealer was the problem and the agent from GM made me happy with the way she handled the problem.

The ignition lock can be fixed for nothing with a Dremel tool and just smoothing out the wear groove in the casting, you really don't have to replace the whole column. Taking a spray can of white grease and using the little straw provided you can lube the lock cylinder through the key opening and you can head off this issue before it becomes a real problem. Mine has 78,000 miles on it and as soon as the lock started acting up I did the white grease deal and it's been fine since.

The brake line is new to me and I'm going to have to take a look at mine to be sure there is clearance there.

I also know the plastic engine covers were not properly installed on some of the cars and had a tendency to rub a hole in the rubber section of fuel line where it goes under the plastic cover to the injection fuel rail, one good thing to check on these cars too.

Since GM killed off Pontiac I will also never buy another new GM car, however it's not from any bad experience with my GTO, nor them not handling warranty claims.

Yeah, the Regional Rep for GM told me to pound sand on the brake line and helped me out on the wheel lock cylinder. Being as I drove my car a lot (60K miles in 2 years) I was one of the first ones to have the wheel lock cylinder issue. The only know fix then was to replace the whole column. I was upset I even had to pay the labor on the job. Like I told the GM rep, "My '64 GTO has the original ignition cylinder and it works fine." When that happened I was barely out of warranty; 38,000 miles or something like that. They should have covered it. As for the brake line, same deal. They accused me of tampering with the brake line. Again, my car was one oft he first to report that issue as well so it wasn't a "known issue". I still thought they should have covered something that was obviously a safety issue. I wanted to dump the car for fear of something else going wrong. Sad too, because I really like driving the car.

I've had two Charger R/T's for a combined 150,000 miles plus with no issues whatsoever. All they've required was/is routine maintenance. Their warranty is nice too. My '07 Charger came with a Lifetime Powertrain warranty and my '12 came with 10 yr/1000,000 mile Bumper to Bumper Warranty.

[Skip Fix]

I also know the plastic engine covers were not properly installed on some of the cars and had a tendency to rub a hole in the rubber section of fuel line where it goes under the plastic cover to the injection fuel rail, one good thing to check on these cars too.

My 04 was starting to do that so I replaced it with a SS and left off the covers. Dealer covered the strut rub with new tires. Rear seat seams popped after warranty-$900 for the covers and head rests. Clear coat especially on the rear bumper and bottom plastic trunk piece,above doors are delaminating.

With a computer tune, sticky Nittos and good air ran 13.44. I like the peformance just not the quality of mine.

[rexus31]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

I like the peformance just not the quality of mine.

That's exactly how I felt about mine.

My rear seat seams also started to pop at the top corners near the package tray.