Yesterday I was sitting at a light in the GP GXP and got rear ended by a semi that pushed me into another car. Unfortunatley the GP is toast. It still runs and drives fine, but almost every body panel except the doors is damaged. Too bad since it was in perfect shape and only had 60k.



Anyways, I need to find a replacement daily driver. Must be RWD. Would strongly prefer a v8, woud strongly prefer manual. I know I'll have to put cash on top of what insurance gives me (although I have no idea how much that'll be yet), but I'm not looking to get anything brand new. I'd like mileage to be close to or less than what I had on the GP.

Some options I'm considering in the current order of preference that I can think of right now:
-CTS-V1.
-LS2 GTO.
-5th gen Camaro SS
-G8 (may not be possible as its hard to find a manual that isn't crazy priced)
-Solstice/Sky turbo (may be a little too small though, I've never driven one)

Any thoughts on the above from those that have one or know someone that has one?

 

Depends on the 4 door aspect... If you don't mind going down to 2 doors, I'd say an LS2 GTO all the way.

 

My ideal car would be a 2 door, 4 seat car. 99% of the time itll just be a commuter for me. There is an off chance I may need to take my wife and my <2 year old daughter, but that's literally a once or twice a year potential.

I do really like the GTO. The one downside is that the prices seem to have crept back up for a decent mileage car. So it's right about the same price as much newer camaro and also doesnt have the ls3 or tr6060.

Regardless, given current local inventory, that's where I'm leaning right now. There is a blue/blue for $16k with 16k private party locally and a orange one for $18k with 50k at a dealer in LA.
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Glad you're safe, sorry I didn't mention it prior.

Good points, the prices on GTOs have stayed up there... I just think they look better than the Camaro. Moar powah on the other hand... Then again, what do I know about those cars anyway? I have a FWD Monte Carlo and a beat up Z71, and the next purchase will probably be a van...

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. I do appreciate the input regardless what you own as well.

I do agree with you, I like the styling better on the gto as well. I also like how they're not nearly as common. It looks like the power doesnt make any real difference, they seem to be very close due to the camaros higher weight.

I guess we'll see what the insurance adjuster gives me and go from there...

 

WOW! Are you OK? Was anyone with you? What about the car you were pushed into? Did the rear window crack (hard to tell from the pic). That really sucks.

 

I'm just glad to be alive. That was by far the hardest hit I've ever had. My left arm is still extremely sore, I couldn't even make a fist the two days after. I've got a bruise under my bicep which I assume is from hitting the steering wheel. I also hit the steering wheel with my forehead, so I ended up with a big bump and some minor bleeding (not quite enough of a gash for stitches). Of course I've got the usual neck and back soreness that pops up the day after. But just glad I walked away. Luckily no one was with me, I was just commuting to work.

The car I hit and the car he hit both pulled off the road a but ahead. The car I hit (looked like a newish Maxima) is probably totalled also. His back end was similar to mine where every panel was damaged. Plus his trunk floor pan was mangled as the latch was way out of place. The car he hit probably just needs a bumper cover and a new bumper bar.

The back window is destroyed. If you look at the top right of the pic, you can see into the car on the top 1/5 (it's 5% tint, so you wouldn't normally be able to see in at all). I am going to try and buy it back. I don't think it's worth fixing due to all the sheet metal damage, but the interior is mint, the powertrain only has 60k on it, and I'd love the wheels for the monte. We'll see what insurance says.

 

One interesting thing about the pic, if you look at the flat part of the bumper cover, a little off to the drivers side, there are two hex shaped holes. These were bolt heads on the truck bumper that perfectly and cleanly poked holes in the cover. Just had never seen anything like that before.

 

Wow you are lucky to be alive. This same thing happened to my Dad back in 1971 the Truck hit him and he had a 1964 Buick Electra. They kept asking to settle with my Dad but he held off for almost a year or more. He always had neck problems. So have that checked it will cause some serious headaches in life.
I will check to see what may be around here on your wish list. I like the G8 another would be the Chevy SS but they are real rare. A few years back I found a black one at a dealer with about 20K on it but they wanted almost $45k for the thing. May as well get a Vette then.
Stay safe!!

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm very curious to see which, if any, of these symptoms last beyond the first week. I'm hoping none do, but as you've mentioned, I've also had friends and relatives that e ended up with lifelong pain from it.

I like the SS, the problem for me is the price. An initial glance through autotrader at the start of my search found none for less than $40k in the country (new or used) with a manual. Honestly, that's way more than I can justify spending on a daily driver.

The G8 is in the same boat unfortunatley. I'm trying to stick to my guns on a manual trans, so that forces me into a gxp which seems to be about $30k to get into something with similar mileage as what I've got now or better. I also have a hard time swallowing paying another $30k just to get thr same remaining life expectancy as i had in the GP. I'm also more leery of the autos in these too since they're the 6l80 in the v8 models. The trans in my vette has held up fine at good power, but I know the aftermarket is tiny for that trans and very expensive to build.

I totally get you on the vette thing, and honestly that's part of what Im using as my yard stick here. I'm not particularly interested in another one since I've already got a boosted c6, but like in the case of a SS, I can get a low mileage c6 z06 and still be $5k ahead (especially since many are mid 40s to 50 flat). Same for really anything much over $20k, there are tons and tons of c6s out there in the $20s with low mileage.

Although it wouldn't be ideal due to being a little short on seats, it's certainly my 'if all else fails' option at this point.