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Overall I think I would really be happy with the Pontiac G8 GT ( I actually like the idea of a 4 door sedan which would be my daily drive and rides much taller which I do like out Charger for to actually be able to see a little more in front of us in this SUV/truck world ) or sticking with a 2004 GTO . If price didn't matter as much then a 05-06 GTO would still be the one , The GXP is horrible gas mileage & Prices are outrageous GXP . If I ran into a a steal of a deal (unlikely) I still would consider a 2007 Monte Carlo SS . Low mileage G8 GT are still up there in price .
The Caprice cop car doesn't sound at all appealing. The Chevy SS is out . Camaros are out ,Vettes are way out , way to low of a car for me . Don't want a another Dodge since we have one .
Mustangs I would consider , But seems there always way overpriced for the name alone and there so many kinds I have no idea what to look for and many just seem cramped inside .
I guess we covered it all . Any imports worth looking at that have the power and look nice or will this just get too crazy . I'm already almost overwhelmed . My ideal price is around $10k with max $20k and under 60k miles (I know i'm gonna pay a premium for low milage ) . No VW or KIA . At least 25 highway mpg would be nice .
I know not all that much i'm going to find with at least 350 ish HP (or more and Automatic Transmission is a must , coupe or sedan either is fine .
Prefer to not have to use premium gas , but if it's not a daily driver I suppose then its fine . I never take my 2000 Monte SS in snow anymore since it might be getting to be a fred flintstone car and I will break with my feet . LOL so I can live with a non daily driver , So more HP the better . I guess it all boils down to price .
Well again thanks so much for all that information , Gives me a lot to think about .
Looking over all the used car sight's , I'm gonna have to lower my expectations . Hardly anything under $20k for what I would like . many well over $25k ++.
Even this has a ton of bids and shipping and tax is gonna get really high even with the shady history on this 2007 Monte SS and then have to eventually worry about the trans , https://www.ebay.com/itm/36425994023....c100667.m2042
For practical purposes, all of these cars you're considering get about the same gas mileage in the real world. They're all variants of the same engine and in roughly the same ballpark on weight with an automatic behind them. Some might be a couple mpg better on average, but there won't be much deviation. The DOD cars will do a few better pure highway, but then you've got the concerns related to that system (which could negate the fuel savings if it failed).
Not sure what their ratings are, but Id bet the auto GTOs are almost identical fuel economy to the GXP in the real world (a little lighter and a little less power, but with a 4 speed auto instead of a 6). I'm also fairly sure they're all 'premium reccomended' to get the rated power as they're fairly high compression for a port injection engine.
Any imports worth looking at that have the power and look nice or will this just get too crazy . I'm already almost overwhelmed
No clue, I honestly didn't look at them at all when getting my last daily driver. As I do all of my own maintenance, I try to stick with what I'm familiar with. Almost all of my repair experience has been GM. Frankly, even that Ford we had was strange enough to work on - their parts system is a mess compared to GM from my limited experience (in one of a few examples, the dealer couldn't even figure out what front rotors my car took with my VIN after the 2 different PN they sold me wouldn't fit - they wanted to special order a 3rd rotor PN to "see if that worked").
A bit of a gamble, but another option is sit to things out for a bit. Used prices are still very inflated from the covid mess. Certainly some of that is actual inflation that won't go away, but car values spiked much higher than inflation alone when dealers flat out ran out of new cars. Dealer lots are starting to fill back up again though (although timing with interest rates isn't great), but perhaps that'll start drawing some buyers away from the used market and start feeding supply to the used car market again.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; May 22, 2023 at 01:09 PM.
Thanks , That's is some very great points and I may wait it out till things settle down .
If anyone does see a decent car for sale please let me know . I'll check out the gto forum as well
Do you have a firm mileage cap? Do you have a limit to how far you would travel?
I played around a bit in autotrader (as there's almost none of either local to me at the moment, which is a bit odd for a major metro) and theyve got about 70 of each GTO and G8 across the US. But, as expected with the age, the majority are 100k+.
I'll say I was really shocked on the GTO prices. Ive not seen $30k+ GTOs in a long time (as they were only mid 30s new). Even for my 05, it looks the price has practically doubled what I paid in just the few years Ive owned it.
Do you have a firm mileage cap? Do you have a limit to how far you would travel?
I played around a bit in autotrader (as there's almost none of either local to me at the moment, which is a bit odd for a major metro) and theyve got about 70 of each GTO and G8 across the US. But, as expected with the age, the majority are 100k+.
I'll say I was really shocked on the GTO prices. Ive not seen $30k+ GTOs in a long time (as they were only mid 30s new). Even for my 05, it looks the price has practically doubled what I paid in just the few years Ive owned it.
I like to have a car with no more than 69k miles , Travel well if the price was right and I can get a cheap one way air fare , 600 miles . from zip 60140 chicago area . after that I would probably have to get it shipped .
I have been running into the same thing well over 100K miles , even if there highway miles those cars are gonna be beat up in side and out in . For instance if its a big dude driving , the driver seat will be ripped apart . floor board and carpet etc....
Yes Prices are nuts , we had a piece of garbage brand new Jetta we were leasing from 2020-2022 and paying $400 a month , Now our Charger V6 $611 a month to own not lease . To me that's nuts . If it were at least a Hemi and in the mid $500 i'd say well ok .
Now used cars are skyrocketing and with gas cars going out like the Dodges , It's going to make these later model muscle cars cost much more . I almost can't see prices ever going down . IDK what do you think ?
One interesting car I noticed , a 2010 Mustang Boss did 0-60 in 3.9 seconds , Is that for real ? Aside from some dodges and vettes , It's the fastest american car not in the insane price category . I still rather have a 05-06 GTO or 2009 G8 GT (I like that's it's a sedan and i'm not 20 years old anymore LOL . One other thing that I would like is a car that can do 0-60 under the 5.0 second mark .
Now used cars are skyrocketing and with gas cars going out like the Dodges , It's going to make these later model muscle cars cost much more . I almost can't see prices ever going down . IDK what do you think ?
Yeah, that's why I mentioned waiting is a bit of a gamble. The transition of these gas muscle cars to favor electric is certainly a once in a lifetime kind of event. So it's hard to predict how things will go. Its certainly possible people will start to hoard them all as the gas models become a finite quantity.
Usually the flow of newer and better models always continues to drive the price of the older stuff down (corvettes being a good example), but if that flow gets shut off completely (for an electric changeover that not everyone is on board for), then it could do crazy things to the market.
One interesting car I noticed , a 2010 Mustang Boss did 0-60 in 3.9 seconds , Is that for real ? Aside from some dodges and vettes , It's the fastest american car not in the insane price category .
No clue TBH, I don't really follow mustangs that closely. Honestly 4 seconds isn't really a big deal for modern RWD stuff - I think a new Camaro SS is right around 4 flat also. Sticky tires are the key. People love putting cheap all seasons on everything, but you can get so much more performance out of a car with good quality summer tires - especially when you're traction limited with 400++ hp.
What do you think ? would I be happy after driving the 04 gto ?
Personally, I can't see buying a car I haven't been able to investigate myself. I'm sure there is some kind of protection in place, but $1300 shipping each way sure puts a lot of money on the line if it doesn't check out to be 100% what you expected. I'm just a bit old fashioned that way.
Thanks , I agree as well . Have to pass on ebay auction , Plus a little surprised it only does 6.2 0-60 , which is about what are V6 Charger does .
Don't need to of the same speed cars . And then have to worry about Monte transmission blowing which would be inevitable .
Well i'll keep an eye out on the Pontiac's and ask over at the gto board to see if anyone is selling anything or hads a leads , In the meantime I got some things to fix up on the 2000 SS that i have been meaning to get done .
1 ) being I have the part turn signal switch for the high beams / brights . I'm just not sure how hard this will be with having to take the steering wheel apart . Is this hard ? and the biggest concern are the airbags , I have heard mixed stores that they could deploy . Not something I want to experience ,
2) Fuel filter will have to be cut off to get a new one on and changing the Oil Pan which is leaking . These 2 things I can't do and will have to take it somewhere . The quotes I have received have had me put this off for a long time but now my car stalls every so often while driving and that fuel filter has to be replaced . And while there at it might as well replace the transmission filter and gaskets , Does this require a new trans pan as well , I have to get some fresh trans oil in this car badly . I doubt anyone ever replaced the filter , Most oil change places say its not needed which is baloney , I wish I insisted but that's ancient history now .
3) Need new door speakers , I can do this no problem , But I also need to install a passenger side mirror that I cracked going into my garage . Got a used one from ebay original from a 2000 . How do I install it ?
4) one side of my rear window has fallen off that is attached to the window for the antenna and my radio gets no reception (no big deal ,never use the radio fm/am ) But my rear defrost doesn't work either ? I can't see any tears in the lines all through the rear window . Is there a way to attach it back ? Tape doesn't do a thing . Probably needs some kind of soldering . One person told me a new window . I'll pass on that . I attached a picture of what is not connected . ( the residue is electrical tape i had stuck on it to try and see if it would work , didn't !
One other thing that really bugs the heck out of me , Why did Chevy take my engine cover that said 3800 when they did the valve cover recall. I did this years ago and remember getting home and looking at a ugly engine , called them and said where is my cover and they said we throw them away after the valve cover recall work is done . Did this happen to everyone ?
Plus a little surprised it only does 6.2 0-60 , which is about what are V6 Charger does .
That's the downside to front wheel drive, especially with that much torque. Natural weight shift of the car on acceleration unloads the drive wheels which is the opposite of what you want for traction.
Having owned one for many years, I truly think the v8 works against a quick launch too. A lot of the quickest FWD 0-60 factory cars are turbo 4s. From a dead stop, they're not really making any torque - the boost builds as you get rolling which is much easier to apply. With the LS4 in the monte / GP, it makes over 300 lb ft before 2000 rpm (about where the converter will flash to). So right out of the gate the tires are fighting for their life as you do all you can to peddle it. The flip side of course is having that much torque down low is great for cruising. It's got plenty of power down low to pass on the highway with having to scream the engine to do so.
Honestly 6 seconds 0-60 is pretty good for stock FWD (especially keeping in mind that was with 15 year old tire and traction control tech). Even if you look at the top 10 quickest 0-60 FWD cars of all time through today, virtually the whole pack ranges from 5 flat to upper 5s. Even upgrading to a good set of modern high performance tires on the monte would easily put it in this pack.
I'll answer the handful of items below that I know the answer to:
And while there at it might as well replace the transmission filter and gaskets , Does this require a new trans pan as well , I have to get some fresh trans oil in this car badly . I doubt anyone ever replaced the filter , Most oil change places say its not needed which is baloney , I wish I insisted but that's ancient history now .
No, you can reuse the pan (unless you want to add one with a drain plug to make future changes easier), but Id definitely buy a new gasket. Make sure to get a stock type one - the robust rubber gasket. Some of the ultra cheap aftermarket ones leak.
I do find it interesting that OEMs are moving away from replaceable transmission filters. Both of my wife's two latest vehicles had non serviceable internal filters - the transmission case is split in half vertically down the middle, so there isn't even a traditional pan - just one simple pipe plug on the bottom of the case as a drain (and no dipstick either...).
One other thing that really bugs the heck out of me , Why did Chevy take my engine cover that said 3800 when they did the valve cover recall. I did this years ago and remember getting home and looking at a ugly engine , called them and said where is my cover and they said we throw them away after the valve cover recall work is done . Did this happen to everyone ?
Any car that went in for the recall with it had to be removed. If the tech followed the procedure correctly, you'd leave without it. They claim it was tied in to all of the engine bay fires.
People that wanted to save them just removed it before the car went in for the recall. Theres always a plethora of them on ebay if want it back - generally for under $100. Just don't ever go to a dealer for service with it on.
Last edited by bumpin96monte; May 23, 2023 at 10:01 AM.
and Automatic Transmission is a must , coupe or sedan either is fine .
