Have you ever noticed that most fast cars have letters after their names? BMW has M, Hyundai has N, Toyota has GR, Porsche has GT, etcetera, etcetera. Even American brands have been on board with this convention for decades with badges like SVT, SRT, SS, and V. But what about fallen performance letters, characters denoting quick cars that belong to brands that don’t exist anymore? Well, you know we have to talk about Pontiac’s GXP, right? Welcome back to GM Hit or Miss, where we wade through the muck of Old GM’s product planning in search of clarity.
Back around the turn of the new millennium, GM was all-in on performance trims. Oldsmobile was floating around the OSV brand before the entire division was axed, Chevrolet was trying to SS all the things, and Cadillac launched the V-series of seriously fast cars. As for Pontiac, its GXP trim first started popping up with concepts like the Sunfire GXP and Vibe GXP in 2002, the latter of which I’ve already written about. While neither the Sunfire nor the Vibe got production-spec GXP trims, it wouldn’t take long for the first GXP product to appear.
In The Beginning
In 2004, Pontiac dropped a Northstar V8 in its Bonneville full-size sedan to create the Bonneville GXP, a 275-horsepower tire-frying monster. With de Carbon-branded rear dampers, a strut tower brace, beefier anti-roll bars, and 235-section W-rated tires, the Bonneville GXP wasn’t just a straight-line wonder. Granted, due to the aging platform and numb steering, the reality of the Bonneville GXP never quite met with the marketing materials. For instance, Pontiac claimed in a full-line brochure that “The GXP’s engine produces more power than a BMW 330i, BMW 530i, and Lexus ES 330.” While that’s entirely true, comparing a Bonneville GXP to a BMW 530i is like comparing Taco Bell to carne asada. Come on, guys.
The Bonneville GXP also wasn’t relevant for long. Soon after the Bonneville GXP dropped, Chrysler unleashed the 300C and the rest is history. Who am I to argue with rear-wheel-drive in a large sedan with a V8 engine? Sure, the 300C chewed through front end components, but it felt like muscle was well and truly back, a mission the Bonneville GXP didn’t accomplish.
Torque-Steer For America
After pulling the Bonneville GXP out of a hat, Pontiac’s next trick for its GXP brand was…another front-wheel-drive V8-powered sedan. Feeling original, aren’t we? The Grand Prix GXP took things much further than the Bonneville GXP and was a more entertaining car because of it. For a start, you can forget 275 horsepower, this thing made 303 from a 5.3-liter LS4 V8. Sure, the 4T65-E HD four-speed automatic gearbox wasn’t rated for this engine’s torque, but how much of a problem could that possibly present during the warranty period?
More importantly, Pontiac put a much greater focus on handling with the Grand Prix GXP, to the point where it could justify a g-meter. To combat the W-body’s propensity for terminal understeer, GM fitted a reverse-staggered wheel and tire setup with wider boots up front than out back. I’ve done a much deeper dive into this unusual factory hot rod if you want more information, but the tl;dr is this: The Grand Prix GXP fucked.
Top-Down Approach
Just as it seemed like GXP was hitting its stride, it hopped on a moving sidewalk and broke into a superhuman sprint with the 2007 Solstice GXP. The recipe was simple: Take one hot-looking roadster with a fairly pedestrian powerplant and drop in a turbocharged two-liter four-cylinder engine boasting 260 horsepower. At the time, that was more power than a Porsche Boxster, a Mazda RX-8 or a Honda S2000, making the Solstice GXP one spicy drop-top. It went like stink too, with a zero-to-60 time of around five-and-a-half seconds. Not bad for $25,995 in 2007 dollars, or around $38,000 today. Ah, inflation.
The Solstice GXP was quick and nimble and fascinating to look at. So what if it had the storage space of Borat’s mankini? This was a sports car intent on bridging the gap between Miata and Boxster. With a five-speed manual gearbox from the same family as the R154 in the Mk4 Toyota Supra and a limited-slip rear differential, it was a baby Corvette in all the right ways.
Wacky Wings
As 2008 rolled around, so did the G6 GXP, the right re-brand at the right time. See, this was 2008 and GM was broke, but molded plastic parts are pretty cheap. Pontiac just took the G6 GTP, added a choice of two loud body kits, stuck on some GXP badging, and that’s about it. This meant it had a 252-horsepower 3.6-liter V6, a six-speed automatic gearbox (hello, modernity!), crashy suspension, and the option for one of the greatest body kits ever to come out of Detroit.
If you ordered a G6 GXP coupe, you could tick a box called the Street Edition package that equipped it with the most outrageous whale tail since the Porsche 911 Turbo. We’re talking about a spoiler the size of a Geo Metro bolted to the back of a relatively mediocre midsize car. Oh and since Pontiac was going over the top, two mail slot-sized hood scoops were also included. How weird. While I certainly wouldn’t want to own a G6 GXP, I can’t help but smile when I see them. Plus, the G6 GXP wasn’t without star power — Wards Auto reported that 50 Cent owned one.
Family Ties
Also in 2008, Pontiac released the Torrent GXP, which might be the first modern mass-market performance crossover. It featured a 3.6-liter V6 known for putting out a solid 264 horsepower and suffering wicked timing system issues mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox. Like other GXP models, it got specially-tuned suspension, a meatier wheel and tire package, a handful of interior upgrades, and some cosmetic tweaks. In practice, this was probably the most mixed bag of all the GXP cars.
See, Toyota offered its 3.5-liter V6 in the RAV4 of the same period, and that thing waxed the Torrent GXP to 60 by half a second. That doesn’t sound like much, but the RAV4’s sheer pace meant it stayed ahead through the quarter-mile too. While the performance image of the Torrent GXP was neat, the marketing wrote checks the car couldn’t cash. Once again, Pontiac compared the Torrent GXP to a BMW, this time with the X5 3.0i by claiming a quicker zero-to-60 time. While true, not a single person in the known universe would’ve cross-shopped those two vehicles.
Thunder From Down Under
After the bankruptcy, Pontiac was on its deathbed, but it didn’t flatline before producing one of the greatest American cars of the 2000s – the swansong of the Pontiac’s performance brand, the G8 GXP. Pontiac took its tire-frying rear-wheel-drive V8-powered G8 GT, swapped out the cooking-grade 361-horsepower six-liter V8 for a 6.2-liter LS3 V8 making 415 horsepower, and added the option of an honest-to-god six-speed manual gearbox. Figure zero-to-60 in 4.7 seconds and the quarter-mile in the low 13-second range.
As for handling, Car And Driver reports that several engineers on the Australian-market Holden Commodore worked on the E39 BMW 5-Series, and the top dog version of the Holden-rebadge G8 took things to another level with stiffer FE3 suspension tuned on the Nürburgring. Finally, Pontiac had a car that could genuinely kick BMW ass. Unfortunately, it arrived too late. Pontiac only managed to sell 1,829 of these gnarly sedans before closing up shop for good, but they all scratched an itch for Aussie muscle.
Was GXP A Hit?
So, was the GXP brand a hit or a miss? Well, let’s chart the minuses first. The marketing largely sucked and the model line had its fair share of stinkers, but most importantly, the brand could’ve gone further. A hotted-up GTO would’ve ruled pretty hard, and a G5 GXP would’ve been a no-brainer considering Chevrolet sold the force-fed Cobalt SS, a supercharged or turbocharged twin to Pontiac’s Sunfire replacement.
However, despite a few obvious demerits, I reckon GXP was a hit. The G8 GXP ruled so damn hard that the other five production models could’ve all been terrible and the brand still would’ve been a hit. However, some models aside from the G8 GXP were also great. The Solstice GXP is the sort of fun car we’ll never see from the General again, and the Grand Prix GXP was a hilarious torque-steering battle between engineers and bean counters with a cannon-fire exhaust note and the whole nine yards. While it’s easy to look back at old GM with dour contempt, it’s worth remembering that some people deep inside the company still knew how to have fun. Nowadays, the cars are generally better, but main model lines still need a kick in the trousers. Release a Trax SS, you cowards.
(Photo credits: Pontiac)
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Its funny – I just commented on the Vibe article that Pontiac should have considered a second gen Vibe GXP with AWD and the Cobalt SS’ supercharged engine. I think THAT would have been a gamechanger to pull in a few Evo/WRX buyers – if done right. I own a G8 GT – I elected not to get the GXP as that 6.2 at the time didnt have cylinder deactivation and as this was a daily driver, so stopping at every 3rd gas station wasnt something I wanted to do. Now that the G8 is a garage queen I wish I bought the GXP!
The world deserves a Trax SS the same way it deserves a Crosstrek XT. TAKE MY MONEY, YOU COWARDS!
A G5 GXP or an Astra Red Line (OPC/VXR) were indeed no-brainers, but one does not simply compete against Chevy within GM (unless you released it first, then Chevy can have it and compete against you)
Q: Pontiac performance? 3 letters? A: GTO
I am still baffled that Chrysler managed to make the 300c work. They had so much front drive stuff, it made no sense to those of us with 4 seasons. But the AWD versions did help. I think that is why the GXP V8 FWD made some sense around here, but for those in states below Arkansas basically, the ill handling characteristics of a front heavy torque steering monster were hard to stomach if looking for a bavarian crap wagon alternative.
I’ve driven most of these. The Bonneville GXP was very underwhelming. It replaced the SSEi with the Supercharged 3800. The Northstar and the indestructible 4T80 transmission are both very, very heavy. It was technically rated more horsepower than supercharged 6, but wasn’t faster due to the weight. All the weight over the front wheels didn’t help handling either. I’d take the SSEi. Bulletproof 3800 and it’s really easy to make them go quicker with smaller pulleys and an intercooler.
The car should have gotten the LS4 like the Grand Prix GXP. That car was a riot. An honest-to-God LS V8 in a platform that when it debuted came with a 4 cylinder or optional 125hp V6. I’m sure it’s actual 0-60 and 1/4 mile times weren’t breath-taking, because thats largely due to it being wrong wheel drive and had ZERO traction. I remember one of the car mags estimating its 0-60 would be over a second quicker if it was rwd. I believe it. They would fry front tires for days. Tons, tons of fun until the 4T65 said “No more.” Definitely took the GTP’s Supercharged 3800 up a notch.
The G6 GXP, I see the 50 cent reference, but as I recall it, he supposedly worked with the designers to put that huge chrome grill on it. The better car in my opinion, is the 3900 powered GTP with the 6-speed manual. Very rare. Kind of a holy grail car for the G6.
2008, FLL rental car counter: I had reserved a “full sized” car, and was presented with three options: Nissan Altima, Ford Taurus, Pontiac Grand Prix. I owned a Mercury Sable at that point, so the Ford was out. I briefly thought about the Nissan, but ended up choosing the Pontiac.
As I was walking through the garage, I had to walk by a long row of fourth gen Mitsubishi Eclipse convertibles, still a relatively new car by the day’s standards. Thinking how nice it would be for a couple days in Miami with a drop top, I figured I should go back in and ask how much extra it would be. However, I was close enough to the car I had chosen (and thinking the Eclipse would be too much cash for a fresh out of college dude), I’d stash the bags in the car before I asked.
When I was a few spots away, I saw the car, and saw what seemed to be larger than normal wheels. Then the fender “vent.” Then: GXP.
I couldn’t believe it, literally! I threw my bags in the trunk, went to the driver’s door and popped the hood just so I could look at the engine and truly believe. Under the hood certainly was the cover with “5.3L V8” inscribed on it.
I never gave another thought to asking about that Eclipse upgrade.
Brings a new meaning to the term “rental spec”. I guess we can throw the Mustang GT350H in that camp as well.
I’d do some disgusting, dirty things to get my hands on a G8 GXP. As someone who was 18 in 2008, living in SE Michigan in a household with more than GM employee in it, cool cars like the GXP were a sign of hope that my family wouldn’t lose their jobs and that the whole region wouldn’t go under. That hope didn’t last long.
This era was so weird; pontiac started to make actually interesting cars, and then BAM, dead. But they kept buick, which… hasn’t produced anything memorable since the Grand National, and even that sucked. I understand Buick is crazy profitable in China, sure…. but I will never understand keeping buick and killing pontiac. It was GMs answer to Dodge. And they made interesting stuff.
I understand the “Buick is profitable in China” argument but what irked me about that was that it’s GM, the first name in badge engineering. Most of the cars that ended up in Buick’s lineup could have had any badge on the front – and often did, since they were shared with Opel, Vauxhall, Holden at times, and were supposed to be badged Saturns initially. I could see it being more likely that discontinuing Buick in the U.S. might have lead to a negative impact to its cachet in China, but just a theory.
I understand keeping Buick way more than I understand keeping GMC, which does nothing but make the exact same models of trucks and SUVs that you can already buy in similar trim levels from Chevrolet or Buick or Cadillac (other than their commercial trucks, which is honestly the only thing they do that makes them worth keeping around by now, if the whole thing was about GM saving money and reducing duplication).
Also, you say that about Buick as though the Regal TourX wasn’t a thing.
No, I said that fully aware of the Regal Tour X. That car sucks. The styling is nice, but the visibility is awful with the ultra thick pillars, and the fact it never even offered a manual transmission kills it for me. HAD POTENTIAL, but as usual GM ruined it.
Because lots of people in the US market were pining for not only a station wagon…but a manual station wagon?
Boomers buy new cars. It was a car for boomers, not cool people. Transmission was garbage, car is not elite. Could have been cool but they biffed it.
The Regal TourX could have been a Saturn. Or a Pontiac. Or really even a Chevy, let’s be honest.
I remember being stunned by the G8 as a teen. I just couldn’t believe that GM would bring back a RWD sedan at that point. It’s also hard to beleive they kept it around for a bit longer as a Chevy. I have always felt the G8 had a tasteful but purposeful appearance. The G8 felt like it would have been the genesis of a real performance brand. I heard some rumor that prior to being axed, Pontiac was going to get a sedan based on the Cadillac ATS, that would have ripped so hard. It’s weird, as I get older, I just get more fond of Pontiac.
I had a friend with a G8 GT, and that thing was an absolute hoot. When he sold it I really wanted to buy it off him, but I just couldn’t afford it at the time. Now I wish I had tried harder to do so.
My 2017 SS sedan is basically a G8 GXP in a different jacket with more modern tech. I love it. I don’t plan to let it go any time soon.
I had a 2014 SS and a big part of the draw was that I always sorta liked Chevy and I had missed out on the G8 GXP before it went bye-bye.
I bought my ’17 manual Red Hot 2 from a guy in Austin in the fall of 2020. He’d owned one before, and bought this one at the very end of the run for 20% off. Was a total garage queen with just 1300 miles on it. Honestly thought I overpaid, but I’m sure I could sell it for what I paid, even though I’ve put 20k miles on it since.
I’ve driven Grand Prix GT, GTP, GrandAm GT, Cavalier Z24 (Jbody Sunfire equivalent), Solstice, and current have a Sky Redline (Solstice GXP equivalent).
The cars were always fun, exciting even, but they lacked some of the subtler qualities that got everyone more excited about other cars. I think it was the marketing and the feeling that foreign cars are somehow more exotic than something from Detroit (which again probably has to do with marketing).
It still happens today. People love the s2000 and yet the solstice GXP will eat it for breakfast. I’ve drive both, in the same day. Not to say the s2000 isn’t cool but the only time it was as much fun as the Solstice GXP was for the one second it was at 8,000 rpm. People will say “the overall experience” is better, but I think its just some weird prejudice against domestic cars.
No, it’s the build quality. I’ve been in a solstice, here are some examples:
This is like a microcosm of that entire car; it’s just built like shit. Great specs, awful build quality. If you’re feeling defensive, just go stare at the godawful rubber mess hanging on top of the windshield, that’s visible whenever the top is down, and tell me I’m wrong.
Their contemporaries had similar issues in different ways. I’ve driven them all. Take a look at the radio in an S2000. It looks like a bad aftermarket installation. And the sloppy way the top (kinda) stowes behind the seats and still sticks up, if you want you can cover with a cheap snap-on cover.
You kinda made my point actually. People seize upon certain qualities in domestic cars and overlook other things in foreign cars. I’m not defending GM interiors from that era, they aren’t great… but they weren’t any worse then so many of their competitors. Honda especially.
Yeah, no man. Honda interiors were literal light years ahead of GM at the time.
The G6 GXP had the look it just needed a turbo 4 or a better v6
I was a broke college student who owned a base model Bonneville when the Bonneville GXP dropped. I remember being pretty excited about it, as even the base Bonnie was surprisingly quick for what the N/A 3.8L was factory rated for. I then had the sads when I realized it got the Northstar instead of an LS. When they released the Grand Prix GXP I was even less excited because it was a far crappier car with the drivetrain that should have ended up in the Bonnie. Oh well, the Trans Am I had after that more than made up for it all.
As an old school Pontiac fan boy (in my teens through 30’s I owned 6) I can’t disagree with anything you said here. I miss my GTO with every fiber of my being but when I get around to getting it’s replacement, it won’t be a Pontiac, it will be a Vette (because I was a Vette guy long before I was a Pontiac guy) or a Chevy SS because that is what the next Pontiac G8 would have been and it was magnificent. They will come down in price eventually, right?
I’ve never been as squeamish about big, front-drive sedans with transverse power. Torque steer is only an issue if you’re lighting them up, which only makes you accelerate slower. Turn-in can be rough because of all that weight up front, but the big motor makes up for it on exit.
Granted, my wife and I have owned many large FWDs over the years, so I have a lot of experience wrangling these beasts. Not ideal in downtown Tokyo, but perfect for the American Midwest.
The death of Pontiac was a sad thing, and I think had they stayed the course and eliminated Buick instead, we’d all be better off, including GM. GM kept Buick for China, and look at how that’s going for them now.
After I take off my rose-colored glasses and shed a single tear, I’ll collect myself and remember that some of these late era Pontiacs did in fact, suck. The Solstice/G8/Vibe were great and should have been the future of the brand. But as usual the more typical volume cars like the Torrent (of shit), the G6 and this last Grand Prix were pretty awful. It’s cool that GM was willing to throw ridiculous powertrains into them all, but it would have been cooler to learn how to assemble an interior first.
Thomas’s articles are always the shizz.
I was a preteen just getting into cars and thus at a very impressionable age when the GTO and then the Bonnie and Grand Prix GXPs came out and I am hugely nostalgic for these cars. For a brief moment it felt like Pontiac could finally become an American BMW, but just as it was coming to fruition with the G8 GXP it all ended.
That was GM’s MO with Pontiac for decades ever since corporatization. See also: the way they screwed up the Fiero at launch, finally got all the bugs worked out by its fourth year and started making it the way it should have been made in the first place, just in time for it to be canceled.
That LNF could be tuned to 300 hp pretty reliably.
Another interesting tidbit is that Chevy had a Cobalt SS sedan with the LNF. Something like 1000 were made. It was definitely a sleeper since it didn’t look much different from a regular Cobalt.
There was a GMPP tune that could be dealer installed for $800 That gets it to 290hp 340ftlbs. AND it was covered under the factory warranty.
Too bad they never made a Sunfire or Vibe GXP. The Sunfire GXP could’ve had the 2.0T Ecotec 260 hp (the regular 2.2L was the standard engine in its final years)
An Aztek GXP with the supercharged 3800 would’ve been cool. You can probably swap one in anyway, or better yet, the LS4 😀
The Vibe GXP could’ve had the supercharged 2ZZ from the Exige
Why no G5/Pursuit GXP? They already made a Cobalt SS (and even an HHR SS too!)
A Wave/G3 GXP would’ve been cool too.
A Montana GXP with the LS4 would be awesome as fuck. The LS4 is probably swappable in it anyway, and the Torrent too.
Pontiac never got a GMT360 variant. If they did, GXP that like a TBSS.
A tip of the hat to Bob Lutz. He was on the right path to reviving Pontiac when the lights went out.
Iirc the plan for Pontiac, if they had kept it post bail out instead of/alongside Buick, was to down market all the rwd Cadillacs and make them more sport focused.
Bob Lutz said this in an interview and my god would I have loved it. I was always into Pontiacs and would have bought a Pontiac version of the CTS in a heartbeat
Several people at GM will burn in the hottest seats in car-guy hell for murdering Pontiac, GM’s performance brand for decades, just as the American horsepower renaissance was beginning. Instead, they kept GMC, whose mission statement seems to be “we sell fancy Chevy trucks and SUVs that are basically the same thing as the Chevy except for the different badge on the front, that you could just as easily buy from Chevrolet or Buick.”
Picture if you will the new-for-2009 Pontiac Tempest, which shares the RWD platform of the Cadillac CTS, except in “stripper” form with basic options, coming in at an MSRP equal to, or even several thousand less than a Dodge Charger. Then add the GXP package, with either AWD, or an LS under the hood, or both. Hell, maybe even make a fancier version with more CTS-like treatment to take on the 300, and call it the Bonneville. I’m no expert on the automotive industry or automotive marketing, but my gut tells me that would have been a license to print money in that atmosphere.
I like to imagine an Alpha platform Firebird with styling that continued the theme of the 4th gen, so something sleek and sports car like, as opposed to the retro Camaro. How cool would a wedgy, LT4 powered, M3/4 slaying Trans Am be? Or a Formula or Turbo Trans Am be with that Blackwing turbo V6?
Today I learned there was a Torrent GXP. I think if they had made one I would honestly rather own an Aztek GXP.
Given they did give the Rendezvous the option of the 3.6 (though with a 4AT) for a few years, an Aztek GXP could be cobbled together perhaps…
My knuckles hurt just thinking about wrenching on the rear bank of a transverse V8.
Apparently, that was Ford’s original plan for the 4.6 modular V8 too, but it then decided to just stick with RWD applications.
…but Ford did use the 4.6 in a front wheel drive car: the ’95-02 Lincoln Continental.
D’oh – I don’t know why I forgot about that one! I even have a friend who’s into them, he’s got 2 even.
Back in the day I was on a forum with several folks who had those cars. They bought good engine parts since once was enough.