“We Build Excitement!” was one of Pontiac’s best-known taglines. Pontiac as a car brand has been gone since 2010, but this General Motors performance nameplate has a rich legacy that still lives on among a core group of owners and enthusiasts. Pontiac’s vehicles had DNA that emphasized fun-to-drive dynamics and aggressive (if not polarizing) styling. It’s hard to believe that the GTO and the Aztek came from the same brand, but both were important vehicles in their own way. Today, we look at two significant P-cars: a Trans Am WS6 and a G8 GXP.
2000 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am WS6
I recently took delivery in Phoenix of a well-kept Trans Am for a friend in Seattle who has a special fascination with the Pontiac brand. It would be a shame to let his new car sit in my driveway without at least adding a few miles to the odometer before it got transported out of state. Dutifully, I fulfilled my obligation as a certified car-nut to sample this special F-body from nearly a quarter-century ago. And, I fell in love.
This 2000 Firebird came from the fourth generation which launched in 1993 with styling that was derived from a concept car called the “Banshee” dating back to the late 1980s in General Motors’ design studio. One of the best characteristic aspects of the vehicle was its removable roof panels. No Firebird experience is complete without a little open-air motoring. Removing the T-tops in the Trans Am was as easy as flipping a lever on either side. The panels stowed cleanly in the hatchback and allowed for some cargo room to spare.
Rumbling under the hood was a 5.7-liter LS1 V8 rated at 305 horsepower when new, feeding torque to a six-speed manual transmission. The Trans Am featured here had over 118,000 miles, but it still looked hot in its Flame Red exterior. Its WS6 performance package added improvements to the suspension, special 17-inch polished-aluminum wheels, unique exhaust tips, and badging. Most notably, the Ram Air hood with multiple inlets made for optimal breathing for the motor. Pontiac was known (and sometimes criticized) for over-styling its performance cars.
2009 Pontiac G8 GXP
Accompanying the Firebird during its glamour photoshoot was my friend Kyle’s 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP. While bearing Pontiac badges both inside and out, the G8 was in reality a full-size sport sedan produced by Holden in Australia as part of a General Motors partnership. It was sold there as the Commodore and made its way stateside for just two model years – 2008 and 2009. Kyle’s car came from 2009 and showed over 190,000 miles on the odometer (although it definitely didn’t look the part of a high-miler). The exterior color was called Red Hot (62U).
And hot it was indeed: torque for this performance Pontiac came from a 415-horsepower 6.2-liter LS3 V8 sending power to the rear wheels to a six-speed Tremec TR-6060 transmission. All GXP-trimmed models like Kyle’s came with a tuned FE3 suspension package, ventilated Brembo brakes, and of course unique front and rear diffusers. Worth noting: the GM-Holden relationship continued when the Commodore later went on to be sold as the Chevrolet SS on the same “Zeta” platform. That car, too, was discontinued after 2017, however.
Impressions
The fact that both cars were powered by LS-derived V8 powerplants was one of the few things they had in common. I found the driving experience to be strikingly different between them — and that’s not to say that one was better than the other.
The Trans Am had a much “rawer” feel to it thanks to a notchy shifter with a Hurst shift knob, a low-grabbing and heavy clutch, and a cabin rumble that could set off car alarms. The G8 by contrast felt like it had split personalities: It woke up under heavier acceleration but could also be comfortably cruised at low RPM without knowing there was a 415-horsepower engine up front. Both cars were surprisingly tight, nimble, and rattle-free despite having some years and some miles under their respective belts.
If Pontiac’s mission was to build excitement, it succeeded admirably with these two performance cars. And the collector market has already started catching on to how special they are. Check out the classifieds on ClassicCars.com to browse the listings for the red-hot Pontiac of your dreams!
